Acne.org Products
If youve read my previous posts you kno im dealib g with what i think is extremely stubborn comedonal acne. Is resistant to everything and never gets better. Geys worse in summer & when i sweat. I Actually ended up getting a comedone extractor. I steamed my face, pricked my comedones with a safety pin and extracted the crap inside. Mostyly the big ones cause there too many for me to extract manually. My face is a lot less bumpy now but now im waiting for these tiny scabs to heal. This freakin sucks. Ive got to make an appt with the dermatologist asap. The only thing that had gotten rid of tjis completely was clean n clear foaming facial wash with salycilic acid. So I wanna try the aspirin mask at night. In the morning im washing with clean n clear, toning with neuteogena stress control 2% salycilic acid toner and moisturizing with neutrogena combination oil free moisturizer. Night time is the same but with panoxyl 10% bp wash in stead of clean n clear. But its not doing much help. Anymore tips or advice for this depresses girl??????
Aspirin is acetyl salicylic acid, which means it's buffered and it doesn't exfoliate nearly as well as salicylic acid. Plus, aspirin pills have about 40% fillers and binders to hold it in a pill form.
Rather than crushing aspirin, you can mail order 8 ounces of salicylic acid powder for about $15 -- salicylic acid powder is cheaper, easier to dissolve, and results in better exfoliation.
Salicylic acid is most solvent in 100% isopropanol (go to a chem lab supply store for this), although it's also solvent in 100% USP glycerin (at any pharmacy), or in 95% ethanol (at liquor stores its 190 proof EverClear, but which is illegal in some states). Salicylic acid is not soluble in water. Ethanol causes lotions to separate into clumpy water, so isopropanol is the best solvent.
Start with a 5% mix, which would be 1 part salicylic, 3 to 4 parts isopropanol, and 17 parts of lotion. Mix the salicylic into the isopropanol first until it dissolves, then add the lotion. Mix small test amounts in a shot glass before making big batches. Store any left over mixes in a sealed container because isopropanol evaporates very quickly into the air.
The maximum useful amount of salicylic acid is 10%. More than that and the benefits of exfoliation are exceeded by stinging and redness. But to determine if you are super sensitive, before you use any mix on your face, try a spot test on the inner crook of your elbow, where the skin is thin and sensitive like the skin on your face.