Hello fellow forum people,
I would like to start off by summing up my life as of late. I grew up with really oily skin that gave me very bad cystic acne when I was younger, which was taken care of very poorly, up until high school when I tried Proactiv which solved all my problems. Legit I had not one pimple to complain about. Then in recent years (I'm 21 now) I stopped using Proactiv and switched over to multiple other OTC face wash products that hve done little justice on my problematic skin. The real issue at hand here is every "daily face wash" or scrub I use seem to be making my face very dry to the point even moisturizing generously doesn't bring my skin back to default, and I mean VERY dry which doesn't make sense.... My skin used to be oily so I dont understand. Was it the Proactiv I been using daily for over a year? I cant even wash my face everyday because its so bad. Probably twice a week will be my best bet.. Any tips? By the way I eat very healthy and drink plenty of water!
anyways I hope you understand my struggle.
Thanks
Dry skin doesn't heal itself. Get aveeno moisurizing bar soap with oatmeal. lather it up in shower for 20-30 seconds so that you have enough foam for the entire face. Start from the top and without touching your face with your hands touch the foam with your face. Three circular motions is enough to cover whole face. Let it settle for 10 seconds. Rinse face using shower head starting from the left side and ending on the right. Only rinse face for 10 seconds. Get out the shower and pat dry OR take a wash cloth and put it on your face and pat it starting from the stop only touching each part of your face one time. lift off the wash cloth from the bottom. within 10 seconds use aveeno daily moisuirizing lotion for dry skin. don't rub in. use your fingers to glide the lotion on your face, only touching your face in each area once. don't wash your face or get it near water or steam for 3-5 days. then do what i just said again in 3-5 days. then after that don't wash your face for a month, or get near water or steam. If you sweat leave it on your face. then your skin will be healed.
Interesting. Is your skin dry as in it feels very tight? Or is it flakey? Any other changes like redness or irritation?
Also, I know you said Proactive helped your acne. Did it also make your skin more normal as opposed to very oily? What skin issues are you having now?
Sorry for all the questions! My initial thought is that the cleansers you are using are too harsh. I find that a lot of cleansers advertised as "daily cleansers" really shouldn't be used more than a few times a week for many people. I don't know too much about Proactive but I assume their cleanser is more of a mild one, because there are 3 steps in total so they wouldn't want to make the cleanser too overbearing. If the cleansers you are trying are very harsh daily washes/scrubs designed for oily skin, and you are still using other products/treatments afterwards that might be the problem. I would try a more mild, creamy wash similar in texture to the ProActive one. Also, I think part of it has to do with you changing your regimen in general & your skin adjusting to new products after using the same ones for so long!
1 hour ago, kelbell812 said:Interesting. Is your skin dry as in it feels very tight? Or is it flakey? Any other changes like redness or irritation?
Also, I know you said Proactive helped your acne. Did it also make your skin more normal as opposed to very oily? What skin issues are you having now?
Sorry for all the questions! My initial thought is that the cleansers you are using are too harsh. I find that a lot of cleansers advertised as "daily cleansers" really shouldn't be used more than a few times a week for many people. I don't know too much about Proactive but I assume their cleanser is more of a mild one, because there are 3 steps in total so they wouldn't want to make the cleanser too overbearing. If the cleansers you are trying are very harsh daily washes/scrubs designed for oily skin, and you are still using other products/treatments afterwards that might be the problem. I would try a more mild, creamy wash similar in texture to the ProActive one. Also, I think part of it has to do with you changing your regimen in general & your skin adjusting to new products after using the same ones for so long!
yes actually my skin does feel very tight and not as malleable as it was before I had this problem. My skin does get irritated but its probably just from being so damn dry all the time. Haha. My only concern now is the dry skin, I have a lot of pimples but its mostly cysts (which I believe is from clogged pores) from not washing everyday. Thanks for all these very important questions I feel as if someone reached to me on a personal level. I will look into less harsh cleansers and continue to fight this dry skin if it takes my last breath!
To add to my primary post, I would like to note that my skin isnt able to withstand any type of drying. This means any time i wash my face i must use moisturizer, even if i just wash my face in the shower like everyone else. I cant just do that, so i turn my head the opposite direction of the shower to keep from getting wet. The only time my face gets wet is when i wash with cleanser or exfoliate. Another thing I might add is its still pretty dry in the summer but tons better compared to in the winter. I am slowly learning more about my skin as i post along on this forum so thank you for consideration and reading my post 