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STOPPING BENZOYL PEROXIDE BY WEANING OFF? (+ MY EXPERIENCE STOPPING BP COLD TURKEY)

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(@kawaiixlr)

Posted : 04/17/2017 10:04 am

hi, i'm wondering if there has been anyone that succeeded in stopping bp by weaning off? a lil bit of an intro, i've had mild-moderate acne since puberty. my acnes are mostly closed comedones and whiteheads (it started off from my forehead and then it went down to my cheeks). i've never gotten any cystic acne thankfully. since puberty, i have been trying many different acne products like differin, tea tree oil, antibiotics, clindamycin, manuka honey, vitamins and salicylic acid, however they don't really cleared me up (or maybe i was just very impatient). i also eat healthy - my mom is a health freak. so a year ago, i just decided to go to a chemist and buy a 5% bp, without even knowing what it is (i just looked around the skincare section and pick a random acne cream lol)

it turns out bp is so effective for me. it cleared up my skin VERY fast and i do not get any scars or dark spots from it. so i kept using bp for about 1.5 years now. i've only been using it as a spot treatment though, and wash my face with cetaphil's oil-control foam. i still get 3-4 small pimples sometimes but that's alright with me.

i then started to think, what if bp is preventing my skin to heal on it's own, because i've had friends who had acne but they didn't bothered to use any acne cream and their skin cleared off by itself after some time. those thoughts had me curious and so i stopped bp COLD TURKEY that day. 

first week - it was okay. been getting small whiteheads here and there but i dont mind cos it's not that visible

second week - still getting small whiteheads but the small whiteheads from last week has vanished so that's fine

third week - started to get these weird hard skin-colored closed comedones all over my jaws. i didn't mind cos i know i'm gonna get an initial breakout from stopping bp.

fourth week - the closed comedones are VERY hard to clear. i tried extracting them but there's literally nothing i can extract. my face is starting to feel like sandpaper. i still think that this breakout is normal since bp does dries our skin so MAYBE our skin is producing more oil to compensate with the dryness and because i'm stopping bp, nothing is no longer drying out my skin and so my skin is probably super oily, maybe that's why i'm getting all these clogged pores that become closed comedones

fifth week - Im getting all these weird pimples on my cheeks. i'm still not sure what they are until now. some of them i can identify as whiteheads, but some are pink-kish in color, and has a tiny bump but when i try to press it, it does not hurt (so i'm assuming it isn't inflamed) - it is however, VERY itchy. the whiteheads are also very itchy. I've never had such itchy pimples in my life. At this point, i was very depressed because my face has never broke out that bad and everywhere felt like sandpaper.

At that point i decided to give up and apply bp back. When i apply bp to the pimples, it itches like crazy. But after 3 hours of using bp, the close comedones on my jawline dissapeared and those pink-kish colored pimples' bumps are decreasing in size.

here is a pic of me before and after using bp in just 3 hours
IMG_5780.JPGIMG_5777.JPG

I am very amazed and scared at the same time.

1) i think my skin is too hooked to bp, it doesn't know how to heal my acnes without bp
2) i dont want to depend on bp forever - i dont like being dependent on something

so my plan at the moment is to use bp again, and then slowly i'll decrease the amount of bp i use. does that sound like a good idea? has anyone had success doig that? i appreciate any advices! thank you so much!

Eyelah liked
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(@thomaswayne)

Posted : 05/21/2017 3:14 am

Hi,

i am having exsctly the the same experience. After 4 weeks I too felt the skin was like sandpaper. I'm now on week 7 and it's starting to feel more normal, so I don't know if it's a case of the skin evening itself out a bit or if the skin is going to clear up on its own (though I highly doubt that).

how is your skin fairing now?

Eyelah liked
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(@fuckadick113)

Posted : 05/23/2017 4:23 pm

Hello, I did the same process a few months ago. I quit cold turkey and it turned out to be a very bad mistake for me. I got many breakouts, and decided to wean off of it instead. I got lots of acne, but im glad I got through the purging. I then later found out about the caveman regimen, and I decided to try it since my acne still wasn't going away. I am now on the 1 month mark, and my skin has gone through that purging. Still purging a bit, but something surprising I noticed was that each breakout I got by the end of the day it would form into a solid and would wash off with water. Definetly recommend it, I think it will help your skin. PS, you are subject to extremeley oily skin, as I did after using BP.

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(@smithvf)

Posted : 05/31/2017 1:11 pm

Hi! Please keep us updated! I've been having issues since quitting my Proactiv. My face has never been this bad in the past even before the Proactiv. It has been about 6 weeks for me and I still have so many little bumps everywhere and constant new pimples coming out every day. It's weird because I wake up better but gets worse throughout the day. I was thinking of getting the Proactiv again and maybe only using it a couple of times a week. I don't know...

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(@kd2)

Posted : 07/07/2017 1:53 am

Smithvf >>>> I used proactiv for 5years. It's so harsh to your face and basically u will have to use it your whole life. I couldn't imagine 50 still rubbing proactiv. Anyway ure face will be broken out to the extreme like for 2months. But it gets better. Everyday ure skin will be better. You can't go back to the proactiv. Use natural products to help ure face. Witch hazel. Aloe vera. Dove sensitive soap but most of all 100% black African soap!!!!!!! Yes<<<<<that soap is life!!!!

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(@smithvf)

Posted : 07/25/2017 2:32 pm

Kd2... I went about 2 months and it wasn't getting any better. I couldn't help myself... I have started incorporating the proactiv again. I have already seen improvement. I'll do it eventually.

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(@kd2)

Posted : 07/30/2017 8:28 pm

On 7/25/2017 at 2:32 PM, Smithvf said:

 

On 7/25/2017 at 2:32 PM, Smithvf said:

 

Listen I know it's hard to see you face like that but trust me!! U cannot stress about it or it will get worse. I been off proactiv for 4 months now!!!! My skin is healthy and glowing. I get a pimple from period days but that's it!! Use pure 100% African black soap. Buy it from amazon and get aloe vera gel<<< from the plant. You can buy it from publix. It works wonders. Don't eat greasy food and really the sun helped my skin as well.!!!

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