FWIW I'm trying a slightly different thing with the TTO.
I've got some Aloe Vera and tried to mix it with TTO. It didn't want to dissolve, the TTO just sat on top, and it over-dried my skin.
After a couple of days of hoping it would soak in, I dripped a tiny, tiny blob of hand soap on it, and stirred it. The TTO immediately emulsified and I ended up with a white jelly, TTO-laced aloe vera.
So far I don't like it as much as the face cream I usually use, but it's probably usable.
I'll see how it goes over the next month or so.
On the upside the Aloe Vera is virtually dirt cheap, but it doesn't seem to be as moisturising, and the ibuprofen gel and TTO are both somewhat drying.
Long time no speak Temp123!
Is it possible to apply Aloe vera from a plant directly onto the skin?
I've ditched the tea tree cream too as I suspected it was breaking me out slightly. I'm currently using Clearasil Day and Night Lotion (Poundland special!) and ibuprofen gel with positive results!
You could probably make it, particularly if you know a friendly chemist, it's just ibuprofen dissolved in alcohol, I've never done it, but it's probably not rocket science.
You can also break open ibuprofen gel caps, they have dissolved ibuprofen in them, but the danger there is that whatever is in the pills could break you out, since they're intended for stomachs, not faces.
I haven't tried that specifically. Basically they all work, but some of them have too much gelatine and it tends to sit on top of your skin and roll off in clumps, which is just a bit annoying.
I just use Sainsbury's own brand, it's cheap and seems good, it soaks in well.
I'll have a play around with it and see what happens. Thankfully i'm past the stage of debilitating face bumps thanks to Dan's regime but everyone here knows the story about import costs etc.
I appreciate the knowledge bomb you dropped temp.
Hopefully i can shave a massive cost off the regime.
I was in Boots today and i thought of this topic so i've bought Nurofen ibuprofen 5% and TTO. I'm planning to mix the TTO with the rest of Dan's moisturiser i've got, it's about a half bottle of 8oz and i've stuck in 30 drops. sounds good?
I'll have a play around with it and see what happens. Thankfully i'm past the stage of debilitating face bumps thanks to Dan's regime but everyone here knows the story about import costs etc.I appreciate the knowledge bomb you dropped temp.
Hopefully i can shave a massive cost off the regime.
I was in Boots today and i thought of this topic so i've bought Nurofen ibuprofen 5% and TTO. I'm planning to mix the TTO with the rest of Dan's moisturiser i've got, it's about a half bottle of 8oz and i've stuck in 30 drops. sounds good?
Not sure whether 30 is enough, how much did the bottle level go down by?
You need about 10% by volume of TTO to moisturiser, but it should work fairly well from 5% up to 20%.
So somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 ounce of TTO in 4 ounces of moisturiser.
Yup.
IRC it will work down to under 1% strength, but some of the key bacteria you're trying to kill can fairly easily evolve around it, but 5% is easier to aim for and should kill the resistant ones, and gives some leeway.
Even so, some types of bacteria don't die even at 20% strength, but the main one, P.Acnes, is dead at 4%.
I think the high alcohol content in these ibuprofen gels is contributing alot to ppl skin staying clear. Alcohol is an antiseptic. The ibuprofen probably just helps when you get an inflamed pimple.There is a cream I just found online that uses 15% Ibuprofen with no alcohol. They use liposomes for the delivery of the drug. The ingredients list looks to be very skin friendly. I may order some and cut it 3 ways: 1 part ibuprofen cream/2 parts regular moisturizer. If this works it would be a good indicator if the alcohol does or does not play a part in the clearing of acne.
The alcohol probably does play a role, but not only because it is an antiseptic but because it alters the structure of the epidermis allowing substances (i.e. ibuprofen) to more easily penetrate, this is one of the reasons why they add alcohol to skin formulations
Hi guys,
I started the BP regimen about a week ago. My acne is very mild although very persistant. I'm using Panoxyl as it seems to be the only 2.5% BP available in the UK but my skin is horribly dry. Scaly, flaky, really tight and now starting to get irritating wrinkles...The dryness is much worse than the acne!
I was thinking about trying ibuprofen gel out, especially as I only get a few spots a week on the chin, eybrow area. I have a few questions before I do it though, d'you think you might be able to help?
I'm currently on antibiotics (erythromycin, have been on it a week). Is Ibuprofen gel compatible with it? I think it may have a mild anti-inflammatory so I don't know if I should use them at the same time?
Does Ibuprofen gel have any drying/irritation. At the moment my skin is sooo flaky I just don't know what to do.
Help would really be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the great thread!
Does Ibuprofen gel have any drying/irritation. At the moment my skin is sooo flaky I just don't know what to do.
The gels are drying because they have alcohol to dissolve the ibuprofen. The alcohol would tend to dry it more. You could stick a moisturiser on top though, that would stop any problems; my skin is very sensitive, and I'm perfectly OK provided I put moisturiser on, without it, my skin sometimes burns from the gel.
Obviously, the moisturiser has to be non comedogenic.
Interesting about the liposome laced ibuprofen though.
Wow, thanks for the quick reply 
I think I may switch to ibuprofen gel tomorrow, depending on what my face looks like tomorrow. Will also get Saisbury's moisturising cream and TTO. Sorry for asking this as you have probably answered it 2394012 times but, how much TTO do you mix in with the whole pot of cream (in drops preferably?).
Hopefully this will work as well for me as it has done for you!
Wow, thanks for the quick reply 😉I think I may switch to ibuprofen gel tomorrow, depending on what my face looks like tomorrow. Will also get Saisbury's moisturising cream and TTO. Sorry for asking this as you have probably answered it 2394012 times but, how much TTO do you mix in with the whole pot of cream (in drops preferably?).
Hopefully this will work as well for me as it has done for you!
5-10%; i usually aim for 5 ml in 50ml or 10ml in 100ml.
I've been experimenting with making up my own TTO face cream to go with the topical ibuprofen. The point of it is to deliver the TTO and to stop my skin drying out from the alcohol in the topical ibuprofen. You could just stir the TTO into Dan's (apparently excellent) cream, but his cream is really expensive in the UK, and it's probably total overkill- the alcohol doesn't dry the skin as much as benzoyl peroxide does.
The recipe I've come up with so far is:
1 teaspoon of TTO
1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
8 teaspoons of aloe vera
1/4 drop of liquid soap or shampoo
Makes about 50ml. Costs under 2, lasts about 3 weeks for me.
Seal in a jar . You have to shake really hard, for 2-3 minutes until it turns into a slightly odd pale yellow jelly and all the oil is gone from the surface.
I use it sparingly, after the ibuprofen gel, or on its own, 2-3 times a day.
The olive oil stops the gel drying out my skin too much due to the alcohol in the gel- I tried it without and my skin went all flaky. I tried it with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, and my skin was wayyy too oily. It can be varied. Other oils could be used instead, olive oil is stupidly cheap. I think I may try a bit less next time.
The liquid soap dissolves the TTO and oil into the aloe vera otherwise it will just sit on top. You could try other emulsifiers, and there's lots of recipe for facecream on the web, just add the TTO.
I also once tried adding some apple cider vinegar, it didn't seem to do anything magical, and it tended to go a bit runny, more like a lotion. The lotion lasted longer though because you could apply a thinner layer.
For those in the US having difficult obtaining Ibuprofen gel, you can have look a Voltaren Gel which is based on Diclofenac, a more potent drug than Ibuprofen (Same class of drug).
I think Voltarol 1% (UK branding of Voltaren) might be a bit stronger in anti-inflammatory effect than 5% Ibuprofen, so it's worth a try asking for it in a pharmacy if ibuprofen doesn't work out for you.
My gut reaction tells me that topical NSAID will might just work as an On-the-Spot treatment. Salicylic acid works under the same principle.
Temp, you might want to request to have the thread moved to the more popular section of the forum so you can get more people to try it out.
Voltarol 1% looks interesting. I'd have to look into it further. it seems to be prescription only in the US though.
Salicylic acid works two different ways, it's a fairly strong exfolliant as well as an anti-inflammatory. But as an anti-inflammatory I think it has much shorter effect and IRC the body builds tolerance to it.