A little background about my acne- i have huge cystic, Painful acne around my jawline. I changed my diet- cut out meat, dairy, bread, i ate more clean/green juices and cut out pretty much everything bad for acne and still suffered from painful cysts. I always suffered form acne, but never this horrible. This horrible cystic acne came near the end of last year. So earlier this year i got prescribed retin A .05%, started using african black soap, tea tree, and also used a clay mask (benonite) with sea salt once a week. That gave me the clearest skin i've had in my entire life. Then i slowly stopped using Retin A, and the acne didnt come back for at least three months. Then it slowly came back again, but this time in the form of small white heads. So i started to use retin A again, but it has not made a difference at all or is working like the first time i used it. Currently, I am using Retin A, african black soap, tea trea, and the clay mask. One thing I am doing differently is, drinking 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegarwith a huge glass of water(diluted), and so far no acne has come since Saturday. Acne is such a pain, and it makes me so depressed, but don't loose hope or give up, we all deserve acne free skin.
I absolutely agree, acne is some sh*t. I hate when people say its just acne, it could be way worse. If there is people with clear skin out there why the hell do I have to put up with acne!? No I'm never giving up on my skin. We all deserve to be happy and confident in ourselves! & have you ever tried Benzoyl Peroxide, I heard that some powerful stuff! and I'm curious what brand of African Black Soap do you have ? and where did you buy it ?
Thanks!
Hey,
Hang in there too. I am not giving up on my skin. You'r right, acne wether its a few spots or a cluster of it, it is still so flippen depressing. The african black soap brand I use is: [Edited link out]
the ingredients in it are so great and i think the lemon in that soap is what helped clear the dark hyperpigmentation from acne. You can get it from any african beauty store or african stores that sells wigs, they have a beauty section they always carry this soap. I am on my third bar of soap. I then moisturize with raw shea butter and ucuuba butter (which smells like sour milk but kills acne) and i mix it with tea tree oil, that cleared up my skin.
I have tried Benzoyl Peroxide, and it does not really help with my acne at all. I even tried a higher strength benzoyl peroxide, and it just burned my skin and made my scars even darker. Plus, Benozyl Peroxide leads to premature wrinkles, from what i read.
Hey !,
Finally somebody replies nobody ever replies back to me for some reason lol some community smh but anyways I have used a lotion it was a body lotion from Nivea its main ingredients were Shea butter and Mineral Oil and I used that all throughout High school and NEVER broke out. But now after I graduated from HS my skin went to complete sh*t, and I noticed that every time I used Nivea I would wake up to a painful , sensitive to touch under the skin bump like it even hurt to like wash my face but then I tested if it was the lotion and I wouldn't use it for days and then I'll use it again and then the next morning I would wake up to a huge ass bump sometimes 2 bumps maybe even 3. It was crazy ! So I stay away from Shea Butter and I actually used like Shea butter for stretch marks on my hips and I would get little whiteheads and pimples and pimple scars on my butt ! So I was just hoping you were using a African Black Soap that doesn't contain Shea butter 
hard to find a black soap that does not contain that 
.
P.s: do you have oily skin or combo skin doesn't shea butter like clog your pores with your oil on your face plus shea butter (being a extra hydrating) and then the other butter ? And I would also spot treat with tea tree oil on the under the skin bumps I feel like it made the bump bigger and more irritated 
if you use organic unrefined shea butter, it should actually not break you out and is good for acne. The nivea brand isn't pure shea butter. Maybe try the pure organic/unrefined kind and see what it does for your skin? The shea butter actually got rid of my dark stretch marks, after i lost weight and evened out my skin tone. i have very oily skin and surprisingly the Shea butter controls the excess oil my skin produces.
On 10/22/2016 at 11:44 AM, cystface said:if you use organic unrefined shea butter, it should actually not break you out and is good for acne. The nivea brand isn't pure shea butter. Maybe try the pure organic/unrefined kind and see what it does for your skin? The shea butter actually got rid of my dark stretch marks, after i lost weight and evened out my skin tone. i have very oily skin and surprisingly the Shea butter controls the excess oil my skin produces.
Legit terrified to try something with Shea Butter 
but I'll look into if I lose hope with whatever I'm using cause currently I'm losing. Breaking out more 
aww hang in there. I broke out a few days ago because I had a large pizza and cheetos. I ended up with HUGE painful cysts, four of them on one side of my face. Right now they are clearing up so fast because i have upped my doses of tea tree oil.
I was so scared to try shea butter too, but i was like what do i have to loose im always getting pimples no matter what I do. Shea butter helped clear me up amonst other things
That sucks , and I've tried tea tree oil on like cysts and I feel like it made them grow bigger like the tea tree oil was feeding those nasty sh*ts lol but I used it on cysts only just a spot treat I guess but I used the organic got it from an organic store and straight up just dabbed it on those fuckers but I feel like it was making it more inflamed and it like tingled/burn a little it was weird. I know theres a tingly feeling with tea tree but I just think the bumps were getting bigger and more upset looking lol Idk if your supposed to dilute it or if your even supposed to put it on active acne but ehh whatever I did and it just wasn't working.
Also for theclay mask (benonite) with sea salt did that really help? Cause every time I went to the beach my skin was like flawless so I know sea salt does work as for the clay (benonite) haven't heard of that.
ahah you are suppose to dilute tea tree. So in your moisturizer, you can add a drop of tea tree oil in it, that in a way is dilution Yes the clay really did help my acne alot, all the small and big bumps reduced in size just by one use. Benonite clay gets rid of the toxins in your face when you apply it and also drys out the acne.
right now, i am currently going through small breakouts of acne. I ate out with a friend, not knowing that the food had dairy in it. I am so upset with acne.
i feel like giving up this battle with acne, and let it reck havoc on my face. But I won't
Today I am going to stop using Retin A because it is not working as it use to.
I have painful cystic acne right now, I've dabbed some peppermint tea and sea salt toner on it. I'll see how things look in the morning. I've also ordered some healthy supplements online to see if they will get rid of my hormonal acne. Wish me luck guys, i am just feeling really down because of this acne 
Hi Cystface,
Go to walgreens and buy a "Neosporin" Put some on your pimples and keep it there at all times. Neosporin and drinking a lot of water helped me clear my face. Even if you feel that a new pimple is coming, put the neosporin and it will most likely stop it from ever showing in your face.