Acne.org Products
I'm not really understanding the situation with the tea tree oil here. Am I supposed to buy 100% TTO and put a few drops into my moisturiser or buy 15% TTO and use that?
Pretty much. You can do either, but we're talking more than a few drops, you need to put in 10% of the volume of the moisturiser. If you put just a few drops in, then it would probably stop working after a few weeks.
A 15% TTO product should work, but it's stronger than you need.
For example my moisturiser is from the 'simple' range. Which TTO do I need to buy and how much do i put in the moisturiser.
I would bin the simple range moisturiser, it's cheap crap that would work just fine for people with normal skin, but people with acne have very sensitive skin. For this you need some oil that the bacteria can't chow down on; normal moisturisers have cheap oils.
Some moisturisers may even protect the bacteria and stop the tea tree oil from working as well, but I don't know which ingredients specifically do that; I tried baby lotion for example, and I started breaking out.
The only one I know for sure works is the Sainsbury's Skin Therapy day cream. Any 100% strength TTO should be fine with it (there's standards for TTO, so any pure TTO product should be absolutely fine). Just add 10% by volume (~1/4 ounce in 2 ounces, 5 ml in 50ml).
TTO comes in a little bottle, so if it's 15ml pour 1/3 of the bottle in and stir it with a knife into 50 ml of face cream for a few minutes till it disappears.
edit: temp can you tell me what you think of this product www.boots.com/en/Thursday-Plantation-tea-tree-blemish-gel_870209/
It's probably not the sort of thing you want, but it would work.
You want something like a cream, you can just apply over a large-ish area.
Thank you for explaining about the TTO 
hm are you sure about the Sainsbury moisturiser? There must be others out there too, which moisturisers have you used in the past? Also what about Olay as I have that? The 'simple' moisturiser I have hasn't given my any big problems so far, however mind I have mild acne (a few zits a week).
It's probably best if you start with what is known to work and then change to other moisturisers later. If you find it still works if you later change over for a few weeks then you can let us all know.
Even if it doesn't break you out, it doesn't necessarily mean it works for this.
Says who? Actually ibuprofen is a known treatment for acne. There is at least one doctor here, he more or less laughed and said we could take the pills; and I tried the pills, and it works, but you would have to take the pills for months at relatively high dose, and there are risks with that (it ups stroke and heart disease risks by 10-20% and is hard on the stomach as well), whereas the topical form is very low dose and very safe and really does work (for me at least), and is quick to apply.
Incidentally, you need to cut down on your vitamin A intake, 40,000 IU is a toxic dose. That really isn't a recommended treatment for acne; there's people on this board who still have nasty side-effects from vitamin A poisoning well over a year after they have stopped taking it.
Just been reading all the info on this thread....I have ibuprofen gel, and teatree mattifying moisturiser and a night time lotion (both from the body shop). I also have their tea tree facial wash.
Could someone advise me on application please?
I can't wash my face too often because while it's greasy, it somehow still gets dry under the grease!
I've already washed my face today. When I wash tonight before bed, shall I apply teatree night lotion, or moisturiser?? Which do you think?? and do I then just apply some ibup gel ontop of it??
Hope it works...my face is throbbing from all the red, angry, lumps and bumps!
Thanks, Kat.x
You don't need to wash at all for it to work. Washing more than once a day won't help- you want to bash the spots around as little as possible. Tea tree oil 'cleans' your skin better than soap will, and hopefully (counterintuitively) it will make it less greasy as well; at least I find it does.
Just don't wash it off immediately after applying it; it needs to soak in; I'm not sure how long it needs to be honest, I just wash my skin once a day before application in the morning.
Just apply the ibuprofen everywhere you get acne, and then put the moisturiser on top, and any coverup on top of that. Just let it soak in. Do this twice a day, everyday, morning and night. Use the absolute thinnest layer you can, don't rub it in (you can a little bit to make sure it's even).
You can also apply the ibuprofen gel on existing spots, *particularly* if they're throbbing, an extra time per day (you don't need to apply the tea tree oil three times though, although you could do, there's not much point.) Don't apply the gel twice within a few hours. You should find that they resolve more quickly with ibuprofen gel on them; or at least mine seem to.
Also, if you miss applying them (try not to) then apply the ibuprofen three times the next day to make up for it.
Hey temp123,
I've been on this regimen for a month or so now, and it's so great! I think I've broken out with only one small pimple since I started! I'm really hoping it stays this way!
I just have one question- Im running out of the Skin Therapy day cream and ibuprofen gel, so I bought more at Sainsburys today, however I still have tea tree oil left from when I bought it all last month, and I wasn't too keen on buying a new bottle, so I didn't.. is the tea tree oil I have left still ok to mix with the moisturizer? It hasn't like gone off or anything has it?
I just wanted to make sure it was all ok before I mixed it in 
Thanks
Tea tree oil does oxidise a bit over time. In my experience it's not so much a problem over a month though. Ideally you should keep it in the fridge, but I shouldn't worry too much. I bought a 60ml bottle of TTO once and it lasted ages and the end of that wasn't as good, in the end I just mixed a bit more in than usual, and it was OK.
I have also noticed that the face cream possibly doesn't do quite so well as I get near the end of a tub, but it still works though.
Anyway, really good to hear it's working for somebody else, I hope and expect it will carry on like that!
Tea tree oil does oxidise a bit over time. In my experience it's not so much a problem over a month though. Ideally you should keep it in the fridge, but I shouldn't worry too much. I bought a 60ml bottle of TTO once and it lasted ages and the end of that wasn't as good, in the end I just mixed a bit more in than usual, and it was OK.I have also noticed that the face cream possibly doesn't do quite so well as I get near the end of a tub, but it still works though.
Anyway, really good to hear it's working for somebody else, I hope and expect it will carry on like that!
How long would it keep in (or near) optimal condition in the fridge?
I have just bought a 100ml bottle. I understand that oxidation occurs as a result of exposure to light, heat and air - the fridge cuts out 2. Would it be a good idea to top my TTO bottle up with distilled water (ie diluting it) everytime I take some out, to ensure that no air remains inside when I replace the cap? That way I could just keep a record of how concentrated it is and adjust my recipie accordingly
You could try it; dunno if it will work. AFAIK it won't dilute-the TTO will float on water- it's hydrophobic. I would imagine keeping the air gap small and the cap on is a good idea. Make sure there's no detergent in there though.
FWIW I bought 60 ml, but transferred it into 2 30ml bottles I still had kicking around; so one's capped up tight and I'm using up the other.
These are all over-the counter products, and they are all to be used in appropriate ways that is entirely consistent with their packaging. By all means check safety issues with your doctor; but frankly, he'll laugh at those kinds of questions about putting tiny amounts of ibuprofen on your skin; and tea tree oil is in a *large* number of products.
I haven't found that with this treatment; the TTO face cream is very antiseptic.
*Between* applications though, it's critical not to touch your spots at all. Once the TTO has soaked in, it's easy to spread the infection around.
Also, bacteria can do all kinds of sneakily mad/bad things. It's possible for a spot to form weeks after you accidentally rubbed the bacteria onto your skin; some types of bacteria can form spores that hang around and germinate *much* later; that's another reason that spot treating doesn't work well.
I don't know about using ibupofren gel for acne but for the past month or so I have been using a 15% TTO lotion from Holland & Barrett at night. I just soak a small ball of cotton wool with the TTO lotion and dab it over my affected areas. It seems to be working very well. No irritation or redness, much nicer than even Dan's BP gel.
I do this 10 minutes after washing with a Neutrogena wash/mask that contains some salicyclic acid.
In the morning, when showering I use a TTO wash from Holland & Barrett that contains 1% TTO plus lemon, lemongrass & bergamot.
I don't know about using ibupofren gel for acne but for the past month or so I have been using a 15% TTO lotion from Holland & Barrett at night. I just soak a small ball of cotton wool with the TTO lotion and dab it over my affected areas. It seems to be working very well. No irritation or redness, much nicer than even Dan's BP gel.I do this 10 minutes after washing with a Neutrogena wash/mask that contains some salicyclic acid.
In the morning, when showering I use a TTO wash from Holland & Barrett that contains 1% TTO plus lemon, lemongrass & bergamot.
Sounds good.
You'll know in another month for sure how well it's working for you; it takes about 3 months for the effects of what you're doing/not doing to stabilize.
I tried just using TTO myself, but it didn't work as well for me; the results were clearly better with ibuprofen for me.
I may well try this again...
Funny story, back in August last year when I had lost all hope of receiving Dans products I ordered (it had been over 2 months) I was on this for about 2 weeks and it done wonders for my skin. The main problem with my skin is that altho I don't have many active spots my the redness from my old ones seem to linger for a long time - the ibuprofen seemed to help that massively. However, sods law would have it that Dans BP then arrive after about 2 weeks on ibuprofen and at the time I just though of it as a mere coincidence that my skin looked clearer on ibuprofen and tossed it aside to start on the BP. Almost a year later, I'm still on the BP, and whilst my acne isn't major I consistently have 3-4 annoying spots on my face at all times. I bought 3 bottles of BP and I've decided I'm packing it in after this I've finished the last one (which is about half empty) to start the ibuprofen again.
Don't know why but I thought I'd share that.
Adios.