Hey, I just wanted to share some of the success I've been having with witch hazel. I've been using it for around 2 months and wanted to wait before recommending it because I wanted to check that it's not a temporary measure.

Just a bit of back story: I've had acne since I was about 13 so going on 9 years now, I've been prescribed antibiotics which didn't noticeably affect my acne and then went onto use Yasmin birth control, which has reduced the frequency of my breakouts. I've also had considerable success with benzoyl peroxide but decided last year I didn't want to continue the ageing and bleaching side effects and since then I've been struggling to find something to help my comedonal acne....

I've tried:

Tea tree and peppermint cleanser

Tea tree oil (100%) as a toner

Head and Shoulders as a cleanser (thought it might be a fungal problem which it wasn't)

Apple cider vinegar as a toner

...and all of the above made very little difference

So I did some research and started using some distilled witch hazel on a cotton pad as a toner every night (after cleansing with Dove soap). It's a very simple method, it cost around 1.50 for the witch hazel and 1 for 100 cotton pads and has been the most effective treatment I've used.

My comedonal acne is mostly restricted to my forehead, I normally get a hormonal cyst once a month on my chin but apart from that the rest of my face is mostly clear. So I've only been applying the witch hazel to my forehead and I have seen a big improvement

I thankfully didn't get an initial breakout and it hasn't made my skin dry or increased oilyness or adversely affected the texture of my skin in any way. I'm amazed that such a gentle product has had such brilliant results! I'll be honest I still get some closed comedones but there is a significant reduction in the amount and my skin no longer feels 'bumpy' - when I used to touch my skin it felt grainy, and there were more comedones than clear skin.

For me personally it is a wonderful product, it has decreased my comedonal acne in a very noticeable way. Another thing is when I do get clogged pores they tend to get pushed out on their own like small grains of sand 80% of the time and the other 20% they don't sit on my skin for months like they used to, they become mildly inflamed and are easily extracted.

Sorry for the long post - basically I've found a product that has really worked for me and just wanted to spread the joy