I've been using salicylic acid for five years. From my experience, no, it does not give me dry, irritated skin and no, I have not become immune to it.
Some people experience a temporary dry sensation, but this usually goes away after the skin gets used to salicylic acid (around two weeks or so). You also could experience dryness and irritation if you over-apply it. Salicylic acid can be applied as often as twice a day or as little as every other day, but the only way to determine what works best for you is to experiment. Another thing that can promote unwanted side effects is if you are using a product with too high of a salicylic acid concentration. Salicylic acid works best for daily use in strengths of between 0.5% and 2%, though most people prefer at least a 1% concentration.
However, if you are using a salicylic acid product that containis irritants like alcohol, peppermint, menthol, lavender, ylang ylang, mint, camphor, eucalyptus, clove, oregano, witch hazel, ginger, arnica, rosemary, citrus, and rose (to name a few), then yes, your skin will most likely experience dryness and irritation that is likely to get worse over time.
Please note that if you are using a salicylic acid product, it should have a pH of 4 or lower. Many salicylic acid products have a pH that is too high to allow for effective exfoliation or contain irritants and thus should not be used.
My favorite salicylic acid products come from Paula's Choice (called "beta hydroxy acid). They are not likely to cause irritation and are pH effective. They can be ordered at:
www.cosmeticscop.com
By the way, where did you hear these rumors about salicylic acid?
Well I've been using a Salicylic Acid product pretty much 2 times a day since I was 14 (I'm 22 now). I started to get more zits around 18 and my face now feels irritated all the time. I read on here somewhere that you can become immune to salicylic acid. I was using Clearasil 3 in 1 for about a year, maybe it caused my face to become very irritated.
Yes it does. 2 years ago I had really mild acne on my forehead and my face was normal not oily or too dry. I started using salicylic acid and it completely dried my skin and as a result my face is now oily. I've actually stopped using it a week ago, as I figured its too rough for my skin like benzoyl peroxide (its a temporary fix for acne, but in the long term its not doing you any favours).
i used a cleanser that had Salicylic Acid in it and within two days my skin was red and very dry, had to apply moisturiser 3 times a day to stop the feeling.. after ending use it took around 4 days for my skin to settle down, benzoyl peroxide gave me the same red irritated skin but without the peeling