I'm a 25 year old male that has had issues with acne dating back to when I was 17. I know how much acne sucks. It's embarassing! Especially once you reach your early to mid twenties, and are supposed to have reached early adulthood. I've been there and obviously the large population on this forum suggests that plenty of others are or have been there as well. Just know that it won't stay that way so stay positive. I love the fact that there are forums full of support from others. This will sound cheesy and incredibly cliche, but it's a beautiful thing.

My skin is somewhat oily (has gone down a decent amount over the past year) and I don't grow facial hair except for peach fuzz on the sides of my face and rough hair on my upper lip and chin. If you don't feel like reading the following couple sections which are basically just some brief history about myself and my acne struggles when I was younger, just scroll down to the 5th paragraph where I explain the eventual solution to my acne problem.

Between the ages of 17-19, I would say it was on the more severe side. During that time I would say I had anywhere from 25-40 pimples at any given time, varying in sizes from small to medium to large, and all over my face. This was awhile ago, so I don't really remember all of the different treatments I had been using. I do remember being very impatient and jumping from one to another without giving each a reasonable chance to do any good. I also remember my parents sending me to a dermatologist at one point, who ended up putting me on a doxycycline antibiotic along with Differen, a topical cream. I will say this did help some and perhaps it could have eventually cleared my skin, but I didn't make any real effort to follow a skin care regimen. I kind of just put the cream on randomly and took the antibiotics whenever I remembered.

Between the ages of 20-23 the acne had subsided a little bit - probably somewhere in the range of 15-20 pimples at any given time. It was at this time that I started using a basic skin wash that utilized a 2% salicyclic acid. For the most part my acne still never really went away. I was a normal early twenties college student ie: I drank a good amount and had a pretty awful diet filled with a lot of greasy foods. This could have had some effects on my skin condition, but I can't say for sure. Similar to my late teens, I did jump around from different over the counter washes, all of which utilized salicyclic acid as the active ingredient, with no real changes. Some weeks were better than others, but I never saw any drastic improvements in my acne severity.

At 23-24 years old I still had the same issue with 10-20 pimples on my face at any given time. I was fed up with my acne at this point, since almost all of my friends by that time had mostly clear skin with maybe a minor blemish here or there. I started to browse around and research some different skin care regimens that had received good reviews. The one I tried was from Murad. I realized after looking at their website just now that they have changed their products since then. However, I remember using their 10% benzoyl peroxide spot treatment cream in conjunction with their 2% salicyclic acid face wash and a mild soap cleanser. My regimen was wash with the cleanser twice a day, followed by the 2% salicyclic acid face wash, finishing with the 10% benzoyl peroxide spot treatment on my pimples. Honestly, I saw no change in my face other than my skin started to turn a pinkish red and the areas around my larger pimples got fairly dry. I stopped using this after several months and decided to just go back to the over the counter Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit scrub (has some beads or something in there and the 2% salicyclic acid). Again, no real change.

This last part is probably the only review of any real significance.

I turned 25 and the acne was still in the moderate range of 10-20 pimples. My skin condition did fluctuate a decent amount - some weeks I had only 5 minor zits to others where I had 15-20, some of which were medium sized. It was shortly after my birthday that I gave the Exposed Skincare Regimen a try. I bought the 9-Piece ultimate kit, which ended up costing $95 and change. The products included are:

Facial Cleanser: (Fash Wash) Salicyclic acid, Pro-vitamin B5, and Sage Extract

Clearing Tonic: (I believe this is a toner of some sort) Salicyclic acid, Green Tea Extract, Passion Flower, Azelaic Acid

Acne Treatment Serum: Benzoyl Peroxide, Gree Tea Extract, Tea Tree Oil

Clear Pore Serum: Salicyclic acid, Green Tea Extract, Licorice Root

Moisture Complex: Pumpkin Seed, Green Tea Extract, Caffeine

Microderm Scrub: Corundum Crystals, Green Tea Extract, Passion Flower

Clarifying Mask: Sulfur + Resorcinol, Active Charcoal, Bentonite

Probiotic Complex: (Pills) Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Zinc, Copper, Chromium, Lactospore, Fructooligosaccharides, Black Walnut

I don't feel like typing out the exact dosages of each, but here's a link to it.

Anyways, I used this for the first 3 months, initially seeing some noticeable improvements, then back to the same old fluctuating acne conditions. The suggested regimen that comes with the kit have you do the following:

Morning:

1. Wash face with facial cleanser for 15 seconds

2. Apply clearing tonic with hands

3. Apply acne treatment serum to affected areas.

4. Wait 5 minutes and apply moisture complex all over the face

Night:

1. Wash face with facial cleanser for 15 seconds

2. Apply clearing tonic with hands

3. Apply clear pore serum all over the face

4. Apply moisture complex all over the face

The suggested usage for the microderm scrub and clarifying mask are once to twice per week. The microderm scrub exfoliates the skin, and the clarifying mask is supposed to be applied to affected acne areas, left on for 15 minutes, and washed off. The microderm scrub is a useful, but I only use it once a week at most (I'll explain in a sec). Also, I've only used the clarifying mask once so I have no real input on that product.

Again, following this regimen I initially saw improvements, but eventually went back to fluctuations in skin conditions ranging from almost clear to mild acne. After experimenting a bit I believe I found the root to my acne issues, which is the reason why I wanted to write this post. If anyone else can find some sort of similarities in their acne history and gain some insight then it was time not wasted. I'll try to be brief about this and if anyone wants to ask me questions about something specific, feel free.

1. My skin does not respond well to salicyclic acid. I don't know what the reason behind this is, but I realized this after first eliminating the facial cleanser, then the clearing tonic, and eventually both from my daily routine, that my acne had improved. For the most part, I believe eliminating the products with this active ingredient to be the reason my face finally has cleared up. I had used salicyclic acid washes for the better part of 7 years and it never seemed to make a difference. Actually, products with it (especially the neutrogena pink grapefruit face scrub) would sometimes turn my face a bit red. Perhaps it was just not an effective ingredient for me.

2. My skin does not like to be exfoliated very often, which I believe has to do with increased irritation from the scrub (microderm scrub as well as all of the prior over the counter scrubs I had used on a daily basis in the past). Once I reduced the microderm scrub usage to once a week (sometimes once every other week if I feel like my skin is fairly smooth), my acne had improved even more.

3. My skin does however respond well to the benzoyl peroxide in SMALL amounts. I use the acne treatment serum on my problematic areas, but only a very thin layer.

4. The Exposed Skincare probiotics are in my opinion, a waste (at least for acne purposes) and expensive if purchased separately. When I started and stopped taking these (I took one a day for about a month), I saw no change in my skin condition.

5. My skin needs to be moisturized. Even though I develop a little bit of oil throughout the day, it is necessary. Otherwise it gets a bit dry. I should note that the moisture complex included in the Exposed Skin Care kit doesn't smell all that great, but it is effective and lasts all day.

My face cleared almost entirely about a month after I started following the regimen listed below. I believe this also has a lot to do with natural maturation (hormones) since I have seen a decline, albeit slow, in the amount of acne on my face over the years. Also, I should note that I LOVED to pop my zits. For whatever reason I found it to be a very enjoyable thing to do, although I won't say I miss it. To be honest, I never actually stopped this practice. Once the rest of my acne had disappeared, my face had some residual dark marks at first, but those have now gone away. This is probably a bad thing to write since the only things I've ever read about popping pimples all reference it as, "the worst thing you could ever do" and, "it will leave permanent damage." I did not experience the said permanent damage, but I'm sure it's different for everyone. However, I did have a bad habit of picking at the dry skin on my face for a very long time. I made a conscious effort to stop doing that, which may have helped clear up my face, but I can't say for sure. Anyways, this is the daily regimen I use now. Yes it is simple and short, but I believe that overdoing it with all of the creams, scrubs, etc. is possibly harmful for your skin, especially if it's sensitive like mine. Plus, I don't really feel like spending a whole lot of time in the bathroom. There were points in my life where I would spend 30+ minutes doing all sorts of washing, applications, etc. Now, including my shower I'm in there for roughly 15 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night.

My Effective Daily Regimen:

Morning:

1. Wash face in shower with just water for just a minute or so

2. Pat dry with a towel, wait a minute to air dry

3. Apply a small amount of acne treatment serum to only the problem areas (for me these are my cheek bones, temples, and the sides of my chin)

4. Wait another minute until that dries and apply a thin layer of the moisture complex over my entire face.

Night:

Same as the morning except I don't shower, I just wash my face with luke warm water in the sink.

I use the microderm scrub at most once a week and I do it very gently for only about 45 seconds (instructions say 1-2 minutes). As I said previously, my skin doesn't respond well to multiple exfoliations during any given week. This probably varies depending on the individual.

Regarding Exposed Skincare: In my personal opinion, this company has high quality products. I didn't end up including most of them in my skin care regimen, but the acne treatment serum is especially easy on the skin and does not cause excessive dryness (other benzoyl peroxide creams I've used in the past have had that effect). I would certainly recommend at least trying the acne treatment serum and the moisture complex to anyone searching for an acne solution.

I hope this has been of some help to someone looking for an answer. Again, if you want to ask me anything specific then feel free. I'm more than happy to help to the best of my ability.

Cheers!