Okay so I'm new here and I don't quite know how these things work but I have some questions.
Anyways recently (like today) I got some Proactive product but I have no clue how to use it or if it even works. I tried to look on the acne.org reviews thiny but that was 100% no help at all. 90% of the reviews has no words at all and only a start rating and the ones that has words looked more like spam then a actual review. So i don't know how to use these products at all and I have about 6 or so bottles with very simple instructions ( IE not enough information). i'm confused on how i am supposed to apply these products and what exactly they do.
Here is a list of the stuff I got...
Proactive Deep Cleansing Wash ( I assume this is a body wash for in the shower)
Proactive Advanced Blemish Treatment ( I guess this is for spot use only)
Proactive Green Tea Moisturizer ( I don't exactly know when i am supposed to use this but i know what this does)
Proactive Cleanser ( I assume this goes on after washing my face)
Proactive Toner ( I have to put this on and let it dry after using the cleanser)
Proactive Treatment ( I think this goes over the toner but I don't know if I am supposed to have a wet face or not)
Proactive Cleansing Bar ( I think this is a bar of soap you are intended to use in the shower but i don't know if its for washing your face with or body and it came is next to no instructions)
If you guys could please help me figure this out so i don't screw it up that would be awesome. I was going to order some Acne.org products but these where cheaper and i figured I would try this first considering they cost me abour 1/3rd as much.
Also i don't know if this is the right place to post this but i'm new so please cut be a bit of slack. =)
I think with these systems it's usually cleanse -> tone -> treat -> moisturize. It doesn't seem like you should use all those products at once. What I would do is this:
1. Cleanse with Proactive Cleanser - wet face with warm water, lather cleanser in hands, apply lathered cleanser to face, gently brush it around with your fingers for 5 seconds, wash off thoroughly with warm water
2. Dry face. Apply Proactive Toner, let it dry
3. Apply Proactive Treatment to dry face, just a thin layer
4. Wait for it to sink into your skin for 10 minutes, then apply Proactive Green Tea Moisturizer as needed.
And then you're done. I'm guessing the bar soap is for body acne and the deep cleansing wash is a once a week thing or something, probably for comedones. And like you said, the blemish treatment is probably just a spot treatment, whereas the other treatment goes all over your face.
All that being said, because I don't want you to fall into the trap I did, I would recommend alternatives to topical treatment, depending on the type of acne you have. I regret bombarding my skin with benzoyl peroxide and then whole cleanse-tone-treat-moisturize routine; I don't want to say it permanently ruined my skin, but in the long run, it certainly only made things worse. If you use products like these, your skin will try to return to equilibrium, and thus become reliant on them in order to function at all. The result of this for my skin was skin that did not shed properly on its own, which led to comedones all over my face that I'm battling four years later. Oh, and dead skin that accumulates and must be manually removed.
If you have inflammatory acne, I would really really recommend looking into diet changes before doing anything else. I banished my inflammatory acne this way, and am now just dealing with the aftermath of topicals. If you want, you can describe your acne and the state of your health and maybe I can give you some tips.