Inkling

Day Two Hundred Thirty-Nine So I had a minor chin breakout while I was clearing up again, and I'm still getting rid of those stupid forehead bumps, but it's fantastic. I've noticed that if I use RA a few more times than normal in a week, I'll get the peeling. Nothing some light exfoliation with my stuff from CVS or jojoba and gentle rubbing can't take care of, but it can still ruin a makeup application. I don't really have much to update on, but I really love answering questions and giving wha

I had mild-moderate acne, I'd say. I never had cysts, but I had a lot of pimples and whiteheads. The peeling wasn't really that noticeable unless I wore makeup, which is why I stopped wearing makeup for a while. It's also better if you don't rub your face, because that disturbs the flakes. The salicylic acid pads are really too harsh for using while your skin is on Retin-A, in my opinion. If you absolutely have to get rid of flakes, try using a washcloth gently or find a very gentle exfoliant th

Day Two Hundred Six Hello! As you can tell from the lack of updates, everything is going really well. That sensitivity subsided, but the flakes came and went sometimes. I eventually ran out of clindamycin ahead of schedule, and had to go without it for about a month. During that time I got a lot of bumps without heads, and even a few whiteheads (countable on one hand, lucky me). I also switched to using makeup again, Bare Minerals in particular. I'm not going to go on about how amazing it is,

I use bare Minerals, which I know tends to be unpopular on acne sites because of the bismuth, but I haven't had any breakouts or irritation. I didn't wear makeup for a while just because I was really sick of the look, feel, and fuss that went into it. I tend to have oily skin with flakes everywhere because of the Retin-A I'm on, but with regular exfoliation my skin behaves and plays well with the BM. I'm also very very pale (NW 10-15) and it's a pain to get something that matches me. BM has don

Just in response to the post above me, I masturbate (sometimes several times a day and sometimes I won't do it for more than a week, it just depends on where I am emotionally, hormonally, etc) and I don't have acne anymore. When I did, I never found any link between masturbation or diet and acne. I went several months without masturbating to test that one, and there was no change, same with diet (I was on a very restrictive diet, the sort that has been touted a lot on the holistic board). The on

Day One Hundred Sixteen Hey, I'm back! Nearly a month later and I still haven't had a single pimple (which is awesome). The salicylic acid thing is a bit harsh on my skin, so I stopped it a while back, and the flakes have for the most part stayed away. These past few days they've come back a bit, which is bad. I think it might be from a walk I took. I really should have worn a hat. So basically I can't wear makeup again until they go away. My skin is also a bit sensitive. When I wash it I have

Day Ninety-One Breakthrough! Even though the peeling didn't stop on its own, I remembered that salicylic acid dissolves dead skin. I've used aspirin masks a few times to try to fight the peeling from Retin-A, and it's always helped. Why didn't I think of this before? So I picked up some of the store brand acne pads that use 2% salicylic acid (on sale, but they're basically the same as Oxy Maximum pads), and voila, perfect skin. So basically I've fixed the only problem I had with the Retin-A. I