My breakout started during the year, shortly before turning 23, the acne was almost the point of severe. Made me very uncomfortable during cafe work where I had to speak face to face all day.
In my search I found this site and read the idea of using BP and being extra gentle with the skin. I ordered the Acne.org products because drug store products here in Australia aren't exactly too cheap, especially considering the size. Three weeks into the Regimen, my acne was gone. Now I only have some marks left over which are fading away.
Now I'm five months into it, but I thought, what if the skin can be "trained" into fending off acne on its own without the use of chemicals?
Don't get me wrong, I love the Regimen as it brought back my confidence. And if this experiment of mine proves to be a success, I think it can further encourage people to geton the Regimen, because they'd know that it doesn't have to be used for years.
I've heard many stories of people going cold turkey on BP, and breaking out much worse than before, so I will make this a very very gradual process. Note that from Week 7 I had already decreased my BP dosage to half a pump, night only and I have still been clear for those past few months. I figured night is the best time because our skin heals the most during sleep, while applying it in the morning before going out to the sun just never seemed like the best idea to me.
I'm going to start off by applying BP every third night (eg. Monday -> Thursday -> Sunday -> Wednesday). I heard that acne takes about two weeks to surface, but starting from there is pretty much going cold turkey.
I am also currently using Trilogy Rosehip Oil Antioxidant as my night time moisturiser because I heard it's great for scars, marks and wrinkles.
So this is how my routine shall be:
AM:
Cleanse
SPF moisturiser
PM:
Cleanse
Rosehip Oil
PM (every third night):
Cleanse
BP
Rosehip Oil
I will post my progress here. Sorry but no photos, I'm very internet private, but I will be honest about the results, I will mention even the smallest breakouts. Please feel free to post your experiences or progress if you've started as well.
Sorry but this, "what if the skin can be "trained" into fending off acne on its own without the use of chemicals?", is impossible. Correct me if I'm wrong, basically, what you're saying is that after months or years of using Benzoyl Peroxide, that will somehow "train" your skin to magically have bactericidal mechanisms? Your skin can't produce Benzoyl Peroxide naturally, so how does "training" your skin create it? Or did you mean that you can train your sebaceous glands to stop producing sebum? Maybe I interpreted you wrong, if so please enlighten me on how to "train" your skin to fight acne.
Are you talking about some sort of adaption?
Sorry If I sounded harsh. What you're stating doesn't sound possible for the human body to integrate naturally.
Interesting experiment you're conducting.
Yeah the idea is to get the skin used to producing non excessive amounts of sebum, because that was my main cause of acne, my skin used to be extremely oily before I started the Regimen. I know I worded it badly there, I cant necessarily train the skin to fight off acne itself (or produce BP for that matter) but rather maintain it in a state that has minimal acne causing factors (it's probably impossible to have zero factors, since many things work together to form the infection).
End of week 1.
One thing to mention, I did say I was going to apply the BP once every three nights, but I felt confident and changed that to four nights. So this week, I only applied BP twice, once on Monday night, the other on Friday night.
I got a very tiny whitehead appear under my nose on Wednesday, but I let it alone and it went away the next morning. That's really about it.
I've also used Rosehip oil as my night moisturiser, and my acne marks on my left cheek have definitely reduced in appearance, I can't say the same about my right side.
Will continue applying BP just once every four nights, for maybe one or two more weeks.
If any moderators are reading this, could they possibly move this to the Personal Logs forum? I have only just realized that is appropriate.
End of week 2
Once again I changed my mind on the BP frequency. I said I would apply every four days, but this week I didnt touch BP at all.
Surprisingly my skin feels less oily than it used to. I did get a small whitehead on Wednesday right in the shade of my nose but it disappeared by the next morning.
I'm starting to believe the Regimen, or BP rather, is meant to be used temporarily while the user finds their cause of acne. This temporary period could be months or even years, BP seems like the crutch used when one's leg is broken.
While I was on the regimen, I did make some lifestyle changes, notably my reduction of dairy intake and exercising more. Though these changes were more for my gut problems and general health, they carried over as habits even now. This isnt the solution to everybody's different skins, but it might be for me.
Then again I may be speaking too soon. I will carry on this way and see how it goes.
End of week 4
I forgot to update week 3 because I had a cold, terribly sick.
Havent touched BP ever since. I got two small pimples the past two weeks but again they disappeared quickly. All the pimples I got through this experiment seemed to be on my nose area only, which leads me to believe theres definitely a cause that I can pinpoint.