In 6th grade i got my first pimple, my mom immediately told me to use Dial Bar Soap... the worst possible suggestion to give anyone dealing with acne or oily skin.
I used it every morning in the shower and lathered it on my face. Of course my skin dried out, got irritated and thus created more acne and my skin became more oily because the soap dried it out bad.
Years later on to freshmen year of high school i have bad acne and oily oily skin. So we hear of this clarisonic magic spinning vibrator face brush. Its a brush that vibrates... So we buy the acne brush head and we get the special cleanser with it. First month my skin feels really good and clean, its not as dried out anymore. So then i realize my acne hasnt budged.. Im still getting bad breakouts and my skin feels oily still. My sister reccomends this face lotion from clinique i think. Few days of this left my skin so oily i remember using my shirt to wipe off the oil in class. So naturally i cut that lotion out and said no to moisturizers.
Couple months later i stopped the clarisonic and the cleanser that came with it because i figured my acne wasnt getting better at all.
I tried a couple different face washes for acne, including scrubs and exfoliating ones. Everything left my skin dry and then it got oily again.
At this point i started using spot treatments with salycilic acid in it. Which just dried out the acne too so now my skin was not only oily but also burning.
As i went into college i believed in moisturizers again and tried this vitamin added moisturizer and tried this benzoyl peroxide spot treatment along with a face wash called Rapid Clear that seemed to make my skin feel clean without drying it out too much.
The peroxide worked for a good month, i had confidence i barely even remembered. Then mother nature decided to flip my life upside down and my skin built a resistance? i guess? it stopped working. Literally sometimes i would either dot it on after i clean my face or i would just sit in the day with the dots on my face to make the pimples go away and it just didnt affect my acne at all.
So instead of pimple creams i tried toners, and i got the tea tree gel from Lush to use as a spot treatment.
Toners dried out my skin BAD, my skin was already clean why did i clean it again...
The gel felt really good but i used it too often and so my skin built a resistance and it really didnt do much after that.
Still using this rapid clear face wash twice a day.
Next i tried a Burts Bees Moisturizer because my skin was dry and i needed something for that.
Then i saw burts bees made this spot treatment too that wasnt as strong as the other and it was like vegan or something idfk..
oh boy those babies worked like a charm.
a year or so later i start reading about how not washing your face 2x a day is good for you skin because your not stripping it of oils it needs.
Mind you, my skin hasnt been oily since freshmen year of college. Its pretty normal/oily like not near as bad.
So i start doing a routine where in the shower i just use water to run down my face and lightly rub my hands to wash the top layer off without stripping the oils off.
And out of the shower i would use the spot treatment and the moisturizer
At night I would just do the same but with my face wash in the sink.
Sometimes for exfoliation I would hand use the brush from the clarisonic, I found it to be abrasive enough to exfoliate but the brush itself was too irritating.
For blackheads Id use nose strips btw.
My skin was fine but I still had a lot of acne. It wasnt oily or irritated.
It felt balanced and clean but still acne
So in fall 2017 I try this peach sake pore serum, ive tried serums before, most worked but were way too expensive to keep buying like who has that many coins
This peach thing works like a real girlie. My skin feels matte after it and hydrated. I still use the moisturizer and spot treatment.
Long story short the moisturizer really left my face too hydrated at night and so I decided I wouldnt use it any more unless I neeeeeeddd it.
My acne cleared up pretty much as soon as I started the serum and it only got better after I quit the moisturizer. I didnt even need the spot treatment anymore.
So now here I am its been like a year since I started this regime.
I wash with water in the shower in the morning and use the serum when im out of the shower.
At night I use Rapid Clear face wash and the serum again. I just bought this face mist that should be a little hydrating for those dry days when im in the mountains or something. But yeah, I dont have acne anymore. Nor is my face oily.