So after a disastrous recent run-in with my now-sworn-enemy, Biotin, months of skin-clearing progress went down the drain in a matter of 3 days. My entire face, neck, and chest were covered with oily, plugged pores, comedones, black heads, cysts...you name it. I was back to square one.

After getting back on track immediately with a a full metal jacket megadose of Magnesium, Vitamin D3, Lysine, and 2 nightly sulfur masks, just about all of the active acne was gone in 2 days. However, I was left with SEVERELY shedding reptile skin. It was pretty disgusting, and no amount of exfoliation or moisturizing could make a dent in it. It literally looked like I'd smeared Elmer's glue all over my face and let it dry. Blech.

So I did something I haven't attempted in years, which was taking straight-out-of-the-capsule Vitamin E oil to my whole face. I tried this once when I was a teenager and broke out something horrid for weeks, so I've since never gone anywhere near the stuff, topically.

But this time, I tried something I didn't do the last time. Epsom Salt Scrub!

Here's what I did:

1) Smeared a whole capsule full of Vitamin E oil all over my whole face, and rubbed it DEEP into my skin. Some of the really stubborn scaly stuff started rubbing off almost immediately. I rubbed it into every nook and cranny of my face. Then I let it sit there for about five minutes. I couldn't risk leaving it on any longer than that.

2) I soaked a washcloth in HOT water and draped it over my face until it started to cool. Then I re-wet it with more hot water and went to work scrubbing at all the oily dead skin, which was coming right off with a vigorous sloughing.

3) When I'd made sure I had lifted up everything (it was pretty much an entire layer of skin), my face was raw and red and 2-3 zits were uncovered on my cheekbone that I hadn't even felt underneath all the rough skin.

4) I thought about washing it off with soap but instead decided I didn't want to risk drying my face anymore, so instead I dipped my wet hands into my big bag of epsom salts and lifted out a small handful, which I rubbed between my palms and then rubbed onto my face. It burned like a MOTHERFUCKER for 10-15 seconds. Like, literally, felt like my face was on fire. But it subsided pretty quick, and when it did, I *very gently* rubbed it around my wet face everywhere I'd oiled and scrubbed.

5) I washed the salts off with coolish water and then splashed my face 2-3 times with very cold water.

6) Skin was still very pink and red in areas where I'd scrubbed hard. I put fresh aloe vera on the very raw spots and just used my Clinique Visible Difference moisturizer over everything else. Face was no longer burning or raw feeling.

7) I dabbed a tiny bit of 10% sulfur ointment JUST over the newly uncovered zits and left it on for only 15-20 minutes before washing it off with cool water. Reapplied aloe vera over those spots.

Within 45-minutes to an hour, my face has already started to return to normalcy. I was sure the spots where I had to remove the most dead skin would be dry and tight and rash-red, but they just look normal and healthy and only very slightly pink. The pores look very clean and fresh. The new zits are already starting to go down thanks to the sulfur.

So, if anyone else is experiencing that horrible alligator face that nothing else will touch, I recommend giving this method a try. It's pretty much the only mega-exfoliation I've tried that's actually given me the results I was hoping for (as opposed to something that feels similar to a draino-facial immediately after).