I am 21 years old, living in a climate that is extremely hot and humid during the summer and very cold and dry during the winter months.
I had always been under the impression I had very oily skin. At the beginning of this year, I started getting small bumps in clusters around my face. Mostly under my cheekbones on the outer half of my face and around my mouth/lower cheek area. These (obviously) started breaking out more and more and I tried everything; washing my face every day, Clarisonic, every acne treatment you could think of, but I was stuck suddenly with the worst skin of my life and no idea what caused it.
In June I finally had enough and booked an appointment with an esthetician/dermatologist to look at my skin. She suggested a VI peel (if you're not familiar, it's a chemical peel) and i booked an appointment at the end of June.
My skin didn't peel as much as other people's did, and I was kind of not wowed by the immediate results. However, throughout the next few months, I was breaking out more in those specific areas i had the clogged pores. After a while, the breakouts stopped and my skin was more, but not completely, clear and I rarely had any active acne. that lasted for a month or two, before the little bumps started coming back.
I recently saw a medical dermatologist 2/3 weeks ago who finally took a look at my skin up close, and let me know that my skin was not, in fact, oily, as I had thought my entire life, but incredibly dry and that my pores were clogged because it wasn't hydrated enough to release the debris, and was slightly more acidic than it should be. My skin was also very flaky underneath the oil, which i had assumed was due to the acne treatments i had been applying in an attempt to rid my face of these little bumps.
She gave me a very gentle hyaluronic acid solution to use and recommended i majorly step up my moisturizer regimen. I booked a facial with her for about a month from now, since my skin was much too dry to extract anything from.
In the last several weeks i've been very diligent about applying moisturizer pretty often. I did have a little bit of random breaking out at first, and now I am having both deep, large, inflamed pimples come up and small whiteheads in the same areas that I had those clogged pores before, as well as a few other places on my face where i have always broken out but didn't notice as many raised bumps.
Today, I have 5/6 pimples on my face in those areas.
Is my skin reacting badly to the moisturizers and cleansers i am using, or is my skin finally starting to open up my pores and purge the clogged pores? I think I notice less of them, but I feel like I'm convincing myself because that's what I want to see.
I do notice now though how good my skin feels after a ot of moisturizing products, but still gets sort of flaky around my lower cheeks by the afternoon if i haven't applied a moisturizer since 6am, but it always looks oily in my t-zone still!!!. I also noticed that my blackheads etc. are much easier to extract without a lot of poking and prodding.
I need to find a good gel-cream moisturizer that works well for VERY sensitive, acne-prone dry?oily? skin!
I have the exact same skin type--combination dry/oily very sensitive skin. I absolutely swear by the Acne. Org Regimen Moisturizer. It's very soothing and hydrating for acne-prone skin, and dries with a matte finish, so no midday shine. It's great stuff! 
For additional oil control, consider trying hemp seed oil supplements. I've been taking hemp oil and have noticed a huge difference in the amount of oil my skin produces.
Most cleansers are too drying for my skin so I just use warm water to wash my face.
Try the oil free neutrogena combination skin moisterizer. Make sure your moisterizer is oil free.
You don't wAnt to clog more pores. Your face is just probably reacting to all the moisture though. Use a gentle wAsh. Apply a really low percentage bp and then moisterizer so it'll fight the acne all day. The moisterizers are just keeping your skin soft and unclogged in a way. You should have something like benzoyl peroxide to fight the acne while being moisterized. Does that make sense? Maybe not lol
I think I have the same. My mom always told me that we have really dry skin and that the only thing I should put on it are gentle products (if any) and no acne products at all. It will only dry it out = causing more breakouts. I am betting that you're skin is so dry that it will take a bit before it calms down. If it is indeed just a question of dryness (which whiteheads are a notorious symptom) then it might take a bit for your skin to go back to normal. Don't use any commercial products. Try using non-comedogenic oils (they won't break you out) so you'll know what you're putting on your skin. Argan or something like it. Pomegranate seed is really good but kind of expensive. Try not to pick. Use vaseline at night, you can sleep with it. Vaseline (when I had been experimenting with BP and other acne products) saved my skin by 50% in like one week. It will cause the pimples to rise to the surface but it won't cause actual acne.
I don't really know if this is your problem but acne products and other products with silicone (it's in every moisturizer there is) certainly won't help the situation. Try all natural (that is, as few products, with numerous ingredients, as possible for awhile) and see if it helps.
I'm on accutane, so I won't lie and say that this is what helped. But like a month before I went on it I tried it like this and my family actually noted that my face looked really good. So it might be worth a shot.
Good luck!