Carley's : Clear and Smooth Skin Treatment

I tried Carley's based on the great overall acne.org review rating, and what I learned after looking at their ingredients and approach. But, it didn't work out for me. I think that my skin is going to need a while hidden from view to make the switch from a conventional benzoyl peroxide regimen to Carley's products, or just a loooooong transition period of sloooowly phasing down my BP regimen and phasing up Carley's, over a couple months--something that I'm not going to be able to do anytime soon. I'm a very very veery natural and holistic-health person, but I swallowed the proverbial pill and got on BP in order to get consistently clear enough to a) do atrophic scar treatments (in the past, I would break out badly after microneedling); and b) move and interview for new jobs and make new friends. Once clear on BP, I thought, 'Ok, now I can go back to my healthy natural cosmeceuticals, and Carley's seems good.' But, no, that was a mistake. I really like the ingredients and what they're doing, but right now I have to return everything because I started to break out worse than ever while I was on Carley's, so I had to stop.

 

Once I started to break out, I read many, many of the 1-star acne.org reviews for the Industrial Strength KickA** scrub, to see what other people were experiencing -- a lot of people complained of getting tons of small hard red little bumps all over, about 7-14 days in. That is exactly what happened to me; so it seems there's a consistent type of skin response out there. The first 14 days were perfectly fine for me, but then literally overnight, the bumps and stinging started. The bumps were so dense and sudden, it felt like a rash. But, I don't think I'm allergic to BP, because I've been on a Face Reality BP regimen for a while. I don't think I'm allergic to any of the herbs or oils in the scrub, because I've either used them before or am familiar enough with them to not suspect them as problems. I didn't think I'd get a purge period, because my skin was already really clear from BP. So, I really don't know what caused the breakout. Perhaps it was the sudden use of oils and ph 7 products after using no oils and ph 5-ish products for so long? 

So I got a million little superficial bumps on my forehead, temples, ear area, neck, and jaws, and eventually they spread more toward the center of my face on on my back and chest too. I stopped the Kickass and just used the natural soap for a couple days, to see if the bumps would go down; they just stayed put, no real change. Then I added in the sample of the MSM cleanser they sent for a few days, and that seemed to be having some effect, but not enough to take hold; my skin was responding really inconsistently day to day. I know that skin needs more time to get used to a new product, but I quit all Carley's after 20 days, because the bumps were starting to grow, and I couldn't risk them all turning into cysts, because that would have been a horrorshow. So, I went back to my BP regimen, and now I'm almost completely cleared up again after 4 days back on that. Phew!!!!

 

I am keeping the Sea Buckthorn / Rose Otto / Broccoli moisturizer (I think it's the "anti-aging / acne prone moisturizer"?) , because I like the ingredients a lot. I little does go a long way. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that I can incorporate it into my BP regimen to help nourish my skin, since it gets pretty dull looking with BP over time. It's non-comedogenic too, according to the long list of comedogenic ingredients that Face Reality programs tell you to avoid.