Sorry went a little nuts with the tags on this thread probably.
Anyway, Ive been meaning to make a post about this for months. I literally cannot stop using BP gel (cream? gel? not sure its white).
I have been using it pretty much every time I shave/wash my face for years. I wash my face about once a day, sometimes every two days. I have good hygiene, but I find if I wash more than that my face looks 10 times worse. Also, the BP is necessary every time now. I will have the same areas (on sides of chin, neck around adams apple) cropping up with the same big red breakouts. They arent like normal pimple, there is no white head or core, its just a hard PAINFUL red bump. You cant even pop them, they are just big painful red bumps. These also show up on my legs and butt.
The products I use are the following:
- Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser (cleaning, also use for shaving as its better than any cream ive used))
- Neutrogena Healthy Skin Face Lotion with Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 15
- Store brand BP gel 10% (I try to dilute this a little with water before applying)
- Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 8% AHA Gel Exfoliant
- (I also use some crafting clay in my hair, professional Sebastian, figured should mention as I am a side sleeper, i use this rarely)
Not only am I having the red bumps problem if I dont use the BP, I also have large black pores and white clogged gross sebum pores. I know its terrible to go around squeezing them all, hence why i got the glycolic acid AHA gel. Even after using that for months its no better. I have researched far and wide for years, read every article out there I feel like. I am still having same issues.
Would love and appreciate anyone who knows anything else.
Thank you.
imo 10% bp cream is quite strong. if you must use bp cream, i would say use 2.5% or 5% strenght.
(bp cream is known to cause horrible redness.) - personally if i ever use it, i only use a tiny amount on a spot, not plaster it everywhere.
the acne lumps are due to blocked pores. the infection, instead of going outwards, goes deep down, under the skin. - could be due to hormones? diet? creams/ washes your using?
8 hours ago, MrBakery said:imo 10% bp cream is quite strong. if you must use bp cream, i would say use 2.5% or 5% strenght.
(bp cream is known to cause horrible redness.) - personally if i ever use it, i only use a tiny amount on a spot, not plaster it everywhere.the acne lumps are due to blocked pores. the infection, instead of going outwards, goes deep down, under the skin. - could be due to hormones? diet? creams/ washes your using?
Thank you for your reply, not sure if you read the entire post though. I mentioned I usually dilute the 10% gel with water before/during application. But you could still be right even in its diluted state, just wanted to be clear that it is diluted. Also, yea its a mystery to me what these sores/areas are. I am closer to 30 than 20 these days, and have had all kinds of acne/pimples in my day - these seem different. As I described, often times there never appears to be a "core" or a area of infection/whitehead. Just a hard red painful bump, that sometimes is a blotchy patch more than a symmetrical dot/circle. And the redness seems to go away after using BP, not other way around. Either way, I assume it is still just acne all the same.
As for my diet, I pretty much adhere to whats best described as a "Mediterranean" diet (nuts/fish/avocados/hummus/other veggies) And if you are correct in assuming I am using too much BP (which is entirely possible). I guess I am still in the same situation of needing a way to ease off of it without having my face go to hell. And also finding a solid replacement. I have been doing this for years.
Thanks again sir.
from what ive read, its not possible to dilute bp cream. if you want a weaker cream, you need to buy either 2.5% or 5%.
i also get those under the skin lumps sometimes. i did for a while think they were related to poor vitamin levels and noticed i stopped getting them when i was taking zinc / vitamin c... but im not 100%
1 hour ago, MrBakery said:from what ive read, its not possible to dilute bp cream. if you want a weaker cream, you need to buy either 2.5% or 5%.
i also get those under the skin lumps sometimes. i did for a while think they were related to poor vitamin levels and noticed i stopped getting them when i was taking zinc / vitamin c... but im not 100%
Gotcha, well.. I'm pretty darn sure anything in liquid form that is water soluble (or at least can be spread with water) is by definition able to be diluted. if you have 1 gram of pure benzoyl peroxide in blob of 4 grams of colgate toothpaste (0.25g BP per g of paste), and you put that combined blob into another blob of 4 grams of crest toothpaste - youd end up with 0.125g BP per g of paste. [I think my math is right there lol, you get the idea] and the same applies to water instead of toothpaste here.
And as for the vitamin suggestion.. thats actually a great suggestion. I wish I could try it, I already eat 3 vitamin C gummies a day equaling 3 times daily value (can never get too much vit C). and I also take regular multivitamin/mineral.
So I guess I still dont know what to do, I mean I feel like i am observing a healthy diet, using quality products (minus the 10% gel) and everything else seems good. Maybe I just need to go cold turkey on the BP and have a gigantic pizza face for months ( ive tried before it never seems to normalize even after 60 day)