I copied and pasted a comment I made on a blog. This will get rid of your acne. READ THE ENTIRE POST.

Theacne was gone for some time and came back until I've discovered how to get rid of it FOREVER (recently about a year ago I discovered the missing piece). Before I tell you what to do, I'm going to educate you on how the skin works. Many people like to buy products or start harsh treatments without knowing what they do. It is important to know how the skin functions before using anything. First of all, your skin likes oil, the issue is you keep stripping that oil which makes your skin create EVEN MORE OIL TO COMPENSATE (you're super oily because your skin is getting a response that it has been stripped of oil and it NEEDS TO MAKE MORE, AND THEN THAT OIL MIXES WITH DEAD SKIN CELLS, BLOCKING THE PORE, CAUSING ACNE). YOU'RE THE CAUSE OF YOUR OILY SKIN (YOU'RE WASHING YOUR FACE TOO MUCH OR MAKING IT ALKALINE, OUR SKIN IS NOT ALKALINE, IT'S ACIDIC TO KEEP INVADERS SUCH AS ACNE AWAY).

Sebum, also known as an oil or fat is naturally acidic to keep bacteria away. Our skin is at a ph between 4-5-5.5 to keep acne away and healthy bacteria on our skin. The issue is humans like to strip their acidic mantle (oil) and dry out their barrier, which makes our skin OVERPRODUCE OIL ANDMIXES WITH DEAD SKIN CELLS (your pore gets clogged). You are breaking out because you have dead skin cells sitting on your surface that aren't being properly shed. You have DRY dead skin cells. Our skin knows how to desquamate or shed unless the barrier is dry and damaged. We have certain enzymes that shed our skin but when it's disrupted we get inflammation or dry skin or acne. Our skin needs to be properly balanced with the right amount oil and water, similar to our natural barrier. Too much oil, you get acne. Too much dead skin you get acne. Cleansers and certain alkaline products do this (SOAP). Think about it: Why do you think some of your friends who do nothing to their skin have great skin? They aren't stripping theacidic mantle, or oil from their skin. Most of these people probably cleanse once a night or never. Now I'm going to tell you what todo for clear skin FOREVER.

At night ONCE A NIGHT: Use Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser (not the daily facial one) and warm water (not cold or hot, lukewarm)for thirty seconds up to a minute max. Why? cleansing the skin too long causes dryness which in turn causes skin cells to dry out and clog your pores. They stick to the pore and do not know how to exfoliate properly. You need to keep skin acidic. If you cleanse too long skin becomes alkaline and a breeding groundfor bacteria to invade.

BTW, you will break out in the beginning bc all of your acne is under tons of layers of dead DRY SKIN. SEEING ACNE THE FIRST TWO WEEKS IS NORMAL. YOUR SKIN IS BRINGING THEM TO THE SURFACE AS WOULD A MEDICATION. A MOISTURIZER WITH OIL AND WATER FUNCTIONS LIKE ACNE MEDICINE, IT EXFOLIATES THE SKIN WHEN LEFT ON. OUR SKIN NEEDS WATER AND OIL TO PROPERLY SHED. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACNE MEDS AND MOISTURIZER IS YOU WON'T BE TEMPORARILY FIXING THE PROBLEM OR DRYING OUT SKIN!!!!!! WHY DO U THINK PEOPLE WHO USE A SIMPLE CLEANSER AND MOISTURIZER DON'T BREAK OUT? BUT REMEMBER, THE MOISTURIZER YOU USE COUNTS. HAS TO BE WATER AND OIL EMULSION. THAT'S THE KEY. MOISTURIZERS THAT DO NOT ACT LIKE THAT, WILL NOT WORK AND THEN YOU'RE WONDERING WHY YOU HAVE ACNE.. AND TRUST ME THERE ARE A TON OF MOISTURIZERS THAT DON'T EFFECTIVELY MOISTURIZE THUS GIVING YOU ACNE. THAT IS WHY I STATE THE CETAPHIL MOISTURIZING CREAM, THIS ONE WORKS (I KNOW A FEW OTHERS THAT WORK TOO, MESSAGE ME FOR INFO).....

the products mentioned above can be found in any drug store or supermarket and I don't work for the company btw. Those are the only products I like by cetaphil, the other ones haven't been good to me, for other reasons not due to acne.Other water in oil emulsions aka moisturizers can do fine but I just mention this one bc it's correctly ph-balanced and it has oil/water to dissolve that sticky layer that sits on your face. My skin is clear now and it glows every morning.

TIPS ON HOW TO PREVENT ACNE (EXTRA INFO):

- Never dry out your skin. Your skin is naturally acidic in the range of 4.0-5.5. When you use a soap that is alkaline, your acid mantle is stripped aka sebum aka fat that keeps external elements out of your skin and protects against bacteria, harsh winds etc. When you strip your skin it produces extra oil and guess what? YOU BREAK OUT. STOP OVER-CLEANSING!

- Never scrub, tug, or pull. For all you exfoliators out there, stop now. Your skin can easily be exfoliated by applying an oil and water emulsion called a MOISTURIZER. This sheds dead skin cells inan hour, but the trick is the moisturizer needs slight oil without absorbent properties such as minerals like silica or magnesium silicate. When slight oil is left on skin for at least an our,skin cells loosen after an hour. DEAD SKIN CELLS AND OIL CAUSE ACNE NOT OIL ALONE!!!!!!!! DEAD SKIN CELLS GET TRAPPED IN THE PORE WHICH MIXES WITH OIL/sebum. Humans have oil on their skin for a reason! OIL ACTS AS A NATURAL BARRIER AGAINST ACNE, HARSH WINDS, DRYNESS, ETC. BC IT HOLDS ONTO WATER, WHICH PREVENTS TEWL (TRANS-EPIDERMAL WATER LOSS).WHEN YOU KEEP STRIPPING THAT OIL AND DRYING YOUR FACE OUT, MORE OIL WILL BE PRODUCED AND NOW YOU HAVE "OILY SKIN". YOU DON'T HAVE OILY SKIN, YOU ARE STRIPPING YOUR BARRIER. STOP NOW.

- Cleanse face once a day not TWICE!!!!!!! When you wash your face, you are stripping your acidic mantle and your skin will produce more oil and dry dead skin cells to over compensate.

- Cleanse for 30 seconds or a minute max. Be gentle and do not scrub.

- Avoid long contact with water. Even better don't let water touch your face in the shower. Once a night, cleanse face in the sink and that's it. Water dries skin out, causing more dead skin cells,which clog pores. The key is to avoid DRY, DEAD SKIN CELLS. THAT CAUSES ACNE. IT'S NOT OIL, ONCE AGAIN IT'S NOT OIL. GETTING RID OF OIL IS A TEMPORARY FIX THUS CAUSING ACNE. Tap water has chlorine too which is drying and damaging to our barrier. Water is a ph of 7 (neutral). Our skin is acidic. Keep it acidic. Use products in the 4.0-5.5 range. Simple.

- DON'T BE AFRAID OF SWEAT- sweat has NMFS which arenatural moisturizing factors. The urea in sweat naturally exfoliates skin while the water hydrates dead skin cells. The cell gaps become filled with water, and are able to exfoliate properly. Remember acne-induced skin is caused by irregular skin shedding. Irregular skin shedding is due to dryness and oily skin (aka combination skin which is bc you aren't balanced). THE REASON FOR COMBO SKIN IS BC YOU ARE NOT BALANCED.

- If your skin is combination or dry it is bc you are using the wrong products. Stop now.

- In order to avoid acne, your skin needs the proper balance of oil and water to effectively shed itself. The purpose of acne meds is to shed dead skin layers, where the acne is hidden. That is why is takes a long time for acne meds to work bc all the dead skin layers need to be shed BUT GUESS WHAT???? A MOISTURIZER WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT ACNE MEDS DO IF IT IS WATER AND OIL BASED. THE OIL LOOSEN THE DEAD SKIN CELLS AND THE WATER IS HELD WITHIN THE SKIN CELLS. A MOISTURIZER THAT DOES THIS IS CETAPHIL MOISTURIZING CREAM. PAT IT AND MELT IT IN YOUR SKIN, IN AN HOUR YOU'LL SEE ACNE EMERGING AND SHOWING UP THAT'S BEEN HIDEN UNDER YOUR SKIN.

- Stop taking hot showers. Dries out skin. Stop putting cold or hot water on skin, breaks blood vessels. Lukewarm aka tepid water for the face. Any extreme temp. damages the skin/lipid barrier causes dead skin thus causing acne. WARM WATER PEOPLE.

Why do you get acne: Simple. You have layers of dry, dead skin cells that get stuck within the pore and sticky oil that's trapped. If you suffer acne, you are doing one of these things:

- Cleansing too much which leads to a disrupted skin barrier(cleansing strips the acid mantle which keeps your skin acidic and keeps acne away). You should be cleansing for 30-60 seconds tops once a day. Drying out your skin causes your skin to produce/make more oil (sebum aka fat) that builds up in your pores and clogs it. CLEANSE ONCE A DAY, MORNING OR NIGHT

- Using an alkaline cleanser (cleansers should be under the ph of 6.5 but remember some acidic cleansers are actually bad too). Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser is a goodoption, contains less than 1%sulfate which doesn't strip your barrier

- Taking hot showers that strip your acid mantle. Hot water or cold water breaks blood vessels in your skin, you won't see the damage now until later. Extreme temps dry out your acid mantle, causing dry dead skin cells that trap the pore. You have layers of dead skin cells in which acne is underneath. You need to stop drying out your skin, that tight feeling you get is BAD! WHY DO YOU THINK SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS WHO HARDLY DO ANYTHING HAVE ACNE? THEY ARENT OVER-CLEANSING. SIMPLE. YOU OVER-CLEANSE LEADING YOUR SKIN TO PRODUCE MORE OIL. YOU DON'T HAVE REALLY OILY SKIN, YOU'RE DOING THAT TO YOURSELF BY STRIPPING YOUR SKIN AND DRYING IT OUT. IF YOU HAVE VERY OILY SKIN, YOU'RE CLEANSING WITH THE WRONG CLEANSER OR DRYING YOUR SKIN OUT.

- When you shower, avoid water touching your face. Water dries out skin. Long exposure to water causes dry skin (extra dead skin cells form and trap oil in the pores). When I shower I tilt my head back, the only time water touches my skin is once a day, when I cleanse for 40 seconds and moisturize. I don't ever splash my face with water during the day or even in the morning. Water is the enemy. it's ph is 7 our skin's ph is 4.0-5.5 that keeps acne away. get it?My face literally gets 40 seconds of water time a day. I have zero bumps.

- Using the wrong moisturizer also doesn't help. Some moisturizers have absorbent properties which do not allow the water and oil emulsion to break down dead skin cells. You need something to do that. Your pores are clogged bc of the dead skin cells not shedding. A well-made moisturizer does that. Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream does the trick. Melt it into your skin and pat, no rubbing or circular motions. The water and oil needs to be melted in the skin to effectively break down those cells, you're acne is under 20 layers of skin, that's why you get worst before better. Acne meds do the same thing but this works bc it doesn't dry out the skin. You will see those nasty bumps come to the surface once you melt that moisturizer on. yuck.

- LASTLY, READ THIS ENTIRE POST BC IF YOU DON'T YOU WILL MISS SOMETHING. ITS VERY SIMPLE AND TAKES THREE MINUTES A NIGHT, ONCE A NIGHT. IT TAKES TWO PRODUCTS FROM THE DRUG STORE. AND IF YOU DON'T WANT TO USE THOSE PRODUCTS, THERE ARE OTHER ONES (thousands)THAT DO THE TRICK BUT THE POINT IS YOU NEED A PH-APPROPRIATE CLEANSER AND WATER/OIL EMULSION AKA CREAM. IT MATTERS WHAT YOU USE. Use the wrong thing, and mess with the acidic mantle.

btw, I did your treatment, it causes inflammation and dryness, leading to more acne. You have tons of dead layers of dead skin, your bumps are under them. That is why you are on this med, to shed the layers in which your oil gets sticky and gets trapped under dead skin, causing acne. SO THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION IS HOW DO I GET RID OF THOSER LAYERS OF DEAD SKIN SO MY ACNE CAN RISE TO THE SURFACE AND GO AWAY? WITHOUT USING PRESCRIPTIONS? READ MY BLOG. THIS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.