I've been on the regimen for about 2 years now (I'm 18) and my skin is getting worse by the day. Using benzoyl peroxide has annoyingly never worked well for me, I have never seen a significant improvement in my skin and a lot of people ask me why I use it, and that is because whenever I stop using it, my skin breaks out like never before.

I cleanse my skin in the morning with Johnson's Top-to-Toe Wash, and then exfoliate with St. Ives Apricot Scrub, these products work fine with my skin and I have used them for the whole of the time I have done the regimen. After I cleanse I use Johnson's Blackhead Clearing Cleanser (Astringent) which I use as my toner. (Note: I have only recently started using this and it has worked WONDERS for my blackheads!!) after this I then apply my Neutrogena Visibly Clear Oil-Free Moisturiser to my face which I mix with about 4 drops of Jojoba Oil. I then apply my Benzoyl Peroxide which I get on prescription from my GP which is branded as Duac Once Daily and also had an antibiotic ingredient called Clindamycin. After this I then do the same step as before where I apply my moisturiser with the jojoba oil. I have to moisturise twice both times with Jojoba because my skin is SO dry from washing twice a day. At night I preform this exact method except I do not use my apricot exfoliator.

I cannot work out what is drying out my face so much, Is my cleanser safe? Even though the BP is called duac ONCE DAILY is it safe for me to carry on applying it twice a day?

The only time my skin is actually moisturised is when I only wash it once a day and let my natural oils come out, this obviously breaks me out more but it makes my skin feel nice. When I cleanse twice, the skin under my eyes gets extremely dry and flakey and then cracks and sometimes bleeds, in which i have to apply E45 cream just on that part of skin even though it is comedogenic because it is moisturising, but even that doesn't make it feel soft and I have to apply it every half an hour. Other parts of my skin are also extremely dry and even moisturising twice (before and after BP) doesn't stop the tight, dehydrated and flakiness. The only parts of my skin that aren't dry are my nose, forehead and a small part of my chin which are always extremely oily.

Sorry for rambling on, I have a hard time trying to explain things carefully and quickly.. haha.

I hope someone can help me with this problem, if it persists then I'm just going to have to come of BP all together since it is drying out my skin and not really do much for me but then I will have no clue what to do.

Im not currently on the regimen that this site promotes, but Ive tried it. You are not on the regimen either. It seems to me that you may be using too many things at the same time causing the dryness. The BP in the Duac is drying in and of itself; you also have an exfoliator and a toner in the mix.

The regimen here calls for gentleness and plain ol' BP; not in Duac form, and moisturizer. Thats it. I would suggest maybe eliminating those other steps to see if that is whats causing you the problem. Good luck

Well you're 18, so in a year your skin should start to get better on it self right?

I think maybe you should look into the products your using, research the ingredients, a lot of products have pore clogging ingredients without us realizing.

Your skin is probably dry due to the BP and your scrubs and cleanser

From what I know johnsons stuff have a lot of irritating ingredients, and have strong smells, which means a lot parfum. Not to mention the scrub will dry your skin out too, I was using that one at some point, too it didn't work nice at all, probably broke me out and had some harmful stuff in it.

I agree with goodz19 that you're using way too many irritating things in your regimen and that this is probably what's causing the dryness. Also you should not be using Duac gel more than once daily because a) it contains 5% benzoyl peroxide not the 2.5% you'd need for the regimen on this site b) it contains an antibiotic as well and although I don't understand the science of it I would imagine that if you're using more than you're supposed to the bacteria causing your acne will become resistant to it more quickly and c) you should always use prescription medications exactly as instructed by your doctor. With a topical like this using too much is very unlikely to be dangerous but neither are you going to get the best results from doing so.

In terms of your other products it totally depends what works for you but personally my skin hated that Neutrogena moisturiser because it made it sting really badly and I avoid all exfoliants and astringents because my skin is too sensitive for those as well.

My advice would be to definitely cut the Duac back to once a day or find a straight benzoyl peroxide 2.5% gel as an alternative if you want to keep applying twice a day and maybe cut down on either the exfoliant or the astringent as well until your skin calms down a bit. Best of luck!

Edit: Also Rheks I'm 21 now and have had the worst breakouts of my life this summer so sadly it doesn't always work that way.