Okay so a little history first: I've had acne ever since I hit puberty which was when I was around 12 years old (I am now 19). It was never so severe to the extent that it was socially embarrassing but it's definitely something that has always bugged me. The fact that I have oily skin also didn't help. I never really paid that much attention to it until recently, thinking it was just a phase and that it would go as I enter adulthood but that doesn't seem to be the case. I started really paying attention to it when I was around 16 and have tried several over the counter medications which either weren't effective or would work for a while and then the acne would return. I actually started using benzoyl peroxide about 2 months ago but I did not use it in the way recommended on this site since I did not know about it, rather I just applied a tiny blob of it on each of my pimples everynight.
So I came across acne.org through a random google search and I decided to give it a go. I was excited but a little bit discouraged after viewing several posts from people claiming it doesn't work or that it "made their face worse than before". I decided to try it nonetheless. I use a whole finger-length's worth of bp day and night. I decided to go with the full dosage since I thought that my face had already got used to the bp since I was using it before. For the first few days I noticed my face got alot darker and started to get really dry and it looked like some areas were burnt (especially under my mouth) but still my acne hadn't got any better, then around the 4th day my face started flaking and I used tons of moisturizer. However by the end of the first week my face looked perfect, no acne, no darkness, no flakes. I am now at the end of the second week and my face is looking really bad; extreme dryness, flakiness, darkness,horrible breakout.
My problem areas are my jaw area and my forehead (more severely, my forehead), and I occasionally get a pimple here and there on my mustache area or my chin. I would consider my acne to be moderate but I also suffer from generally unclear-looking skin with brown spots and bumps.
All the success stories that I've seen on the forum have been from those who've followed Dan's regimen exactly. The extreme dryness and flakiness I can guarantee is from using 1 full finger length of BP. Do you use it twice daily? Cause then you are definitely using way too much. Even if you've used BP before, Dan's regimen uses a LOT of BP, so your skin needs to learn to adjust to the amount, not the BP itself. Purging is normal, and you're probably having a particularly bad breakout from using that much BP.
Honestly I would advise you to start over with the BP. Go from once a night, a much smaller amount of BP and gradually increase it. Yes this may take longer, but if the regimen will work for you, then it WILL work. There's no cure over night, or even a week. But if you damage your skin irreversibly by burning it with the BP then that might be something you can't fix. Try getting jojoba oil and mixing it with your moisturiser to combat the dryness. I wouldn't start exfoliating...but that's just my opinion. Or if you do, do it once every 3/4 nights.
All the success stories that I've seen on the forum have been from those who've followed Dan's regimen exactly. The extreme dryness and flakiness I can guarantee is from using 1 full finger length of BP. Do you use it twice daily? Cause then you are definitely using way too much. Even if you've used BP before, Dan's regimen uses a LOT of BP, so your skin needs to learn to adjust to the amount, not the BP itself. Purging is normal, and you're probably having a particularly bad breakout from using that much BP.
Honestly I would advise you to start over with the BP. Go from once a night, a much smaller amount of BP and gradually increase it. Yes this may take longer, but if the regimen will work for you, then it WILL work. There's no cure over night, or even a week. But if you damage your skin irreversibly by burning it with the BP then that might be something you can't fix. Try getting jojoba oil and mixing it with your moisturiser to combat the dryness. I wouldn't start exfoliating...but that's just my opinion. Or if you do, do it once every 3/4 nights.
Thanks for the quick reply. Something I also forgot to add in my post was that I use a 5% bp, have not found the 2.5% one anywhere in Cairo. So I'm guessing it's my fault that I started so quick. When my face gets really dry, I usually easy up on the bp for a couple of days and then I go back to the full dosage when my skin goes back to normal, that's not right is it? so you're saying I should be consistent with the amount of bp I use until my skin gets accustomed to it, THEN increase the dosage little by little? thanks! hopefully that works and I don't break out too bad
All the success stories that I've seen on the forum have been from those who've followed Dan's regimen exactly. The extreme dryness and flakiness I can guarantee is from using 1 full finger length of BP. Do you use it twice daily? Cause then you are definitely using way too much. Even if you've used BP before, Dan's regimen uses a LOT of BP, so your skin needs to learn to adjust to the amount, not the BP itself. Purging is normal, and you're probably having a particularly bad breakout from using that much BP.
Honestly I would advise you to start over with the BP. Go from once a night, a much smaller amount of BP and gradually increase it. Yes this may take longer, but if the regimen will work for you, then it WILL work. There's no cure over night, or even a week. But if you damage your skin irreversibly by burning it with the BP then that might be something you can't fix. Try getting jojoba oil and mixing it with your moisturiser to combat the dryness. I wouldn't start exfoliating...but that's just my opinion. Or if you do, do it once every 3/4 nights.
Thanks for the quick reply. Something I also forgot to add in my post was that I use a 5% bp, have not found the 2.5% one anywhere in Cairo. So I'm guessing it's my fault that I started so quick. When my face gets really dry, I usually easy up on the bp for a couple of days and then I go back to the full dosage when my skin goes back to normal, that's not right is it? so you're saying I should be consistent with the amount of bp I use until my skin gets accustomed to it, THEN increase the dosage little by little? thanks! hopefully that works and I don't break out too bad
The 5% one is probably a little too strong so that adds to your dryness, but using the 5% is fine too as long as your skin can adjust to it. If you're changing the dosage of the BP so much your skin never really adjusts to a consistent amount of BP and you probably won't be able to work up to the full finger (at least not without a lot of flakes). Try increasing the amount every 5 days or so? For me when I was using BP, I increased it weekly 'cause my skin's fairly sensitive, so just be observant with how your skin's reacting.
Good luck!
I second everything tatii has said. Give yourself a few days break and then start again with a much much smaller amount and slowly build up.
In the first 4 weeks you should change your mindset from "trying to get my skin clear" to "trying to get my skin accustomed to BP". Review the regimen instructions again and follow them exactly and in a few months you should hopefully not be disappointed. Right now your skin looks very irritated, red and dry so I can imagine how painful it must feel.
Its a shame that you can only get 5% BP, but all it means is that you go even slower with building up the amount.
Good luck, we are all behind you! 
I second everything tatii has said. Give yourself a few days break and then start again with a much much smaller amount and slowly build up.
In the first 4 weeks you should change your mindset from "trying to get my skin clear" to "trying to get my skin accustomed to BP". Review the regimen instructions again and follow them exactly and in a few months you should hopefully not be disappointed. Right now your skin looks very irritated, red and dry so I can imagine how painful it must feel.
Its a shame that you can only get 5% BP, but all it means is that you go even slower with building up the amount.
Good luck, we are all behind you!
I followed your advice and reduced the amount to about 1/3 of a finger once a night. Will slowly increase it as time goes. thanks for the advice!
I'm glad I joined the forum, not only because you get a lot of useful information but just knowing that someone else went through exactly what you're going through and communicating with them is very encouraging. Thanks!