My Skin Care Routine & How I Cleared My Skin

Here’s my new skin care routine!! 🙂

Face Wash: Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Cleansing Gel with Hyaluronic Acid Fragrance-Free

I’m almost done with my second bottle of the Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Cleansing Gel with Hyaluronic Acid Fragrance-Free. I’m not having any issues with it. I tried switching over to a benzoyl peroxide-based face wash. The benzoyl peroxide-based face wash did nothing for my skin. It didn’t clean my skin well and didn’t help with acne at all. It was such a waste. Here’s the benzoyl peroxide-based face wash I was using — PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%). I’m better off just sticking to a leave-on benzoyl peroxide product. And that’s what I exactly did. So I’m going to keep using Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Cleansing Gel with Hyaluronic Acid Fragrance-Free. It works on my skin. It doesn’t dry my skin out, moisturizes, and hasn’t caused any breakouts. Yay! It works! I’m moving on to my third bottle soon. I think I found the one.

Skin Treatments: Neutrogena Stubborn Acne AM Treatment & Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10

I started using Neutrogena Stubborn Acne AM Treatment two months ago. This was after I stopped using other skin care products on my skin. After switching to the Neutrogena Stubborn Acne AM Treatment, I started seeing results within the first 2 WEEKS!! It helped to decrease sebum in my skin and reduce blemishes. This BP treatment absorbed so much faster and better compared to my Acne.org BP Treatment Gel that I was using for many years. I thought about purchasing the Acne.org BP Treatment Gel again but decided to try something new. I needed something quick. I ran to the store and picked up the Neutrogena Stubborn Acne AM Treatment. So far, it’s been working very well. My skin stays clear when I use it. I stopped using it a few days and that resulted in my skin going back to extremely oily with a few blemishes. Once I start using it again, my acne vanishes. I’m trying my best to use it as often as I can. I’m currently using it mostly in the morning while I use something else at night…

At night, I use Clean & Clear Persa-Gel. I don’t really need to use Neutrogena Stubborn Acne AM Treatment twice a day. I know it says AM treatment, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s just a benzoyl peroxide treatment product. As for Clean & Clear Persa-Gel, this product brings back so many memories! I’ve been using it for so many years. I guess it’s back! I use this product to treat stubborn areas like my nose (blackheads begone!) and any blemishes that pop up out of nowhere. The 10% is much stronger and more effective on very stubborn acne. With this combination of acne topicals, my skin is clear. I couldn’t believe it either. I’ve been struggling with acne for years now. I can actually look at my skin in the mirror now.

Sunscreen: Trader Joe’s Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40 & La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-in Milk Face & Body Sunscreen Lotion SPF 100 & Altruist Sunscreen SPF 50

I’m currently using 3 sunscreens. It’s Trader Joe’s Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40 (not pictured, I ran out), La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-in Milk Face & Body Sunscreen Lotion SPF 100, and Altruist Sunscreen SPF 50. Trader Joe’s Daily Facial Sunscreen SPF 40 works on my skin now, haha. It’s great since it’s silky smooth and easy to apply. It doesn’t burn my eyes and that’s awesome. La Roche-Posay SPF 100 is my favorite sunscreen right now. It’s moisturizing, hasn’t caused any breakouts, and the high SPF is much better for my complexion! I was still getting freckles when I was using SPF 30 and SPF 50. I decided to bump it up to SPF 100 and noticed that my skin feels and looks better. I like it a lot more EXCEPT for the fact that it burns my eyes. I only use it on my face. I have another sunscreen that I use around my eyes and that is Altruist Sunscreen SPF 50. I’m not a huge fan of using this sunscreen on my face. It’s greasy, causes acne, and makes my face look very shiny and oily. I only use it around my eyes and neck/body. I love that it’s high UVA. So those are the 3 sunscreens that work on my skin.

That’s all I use. I thought about adding at least a serum in, but I’m so afraid that it might cause breakouts. I am very acne-prone. I don’t want to make any changes that’ll revert my skin back to a field of acne. I’ll wait it out just a little bit more.

Back to tret! 1 Week Results & My Skin Care Routine. Did it work? 🤔

I’ve officially started tret again. It’s been a month off of tret. My skin has settled down. It’s not red, itchy, inflamed, and falling apart. Well, besides the mishap with a particular moisturizer (Vanicream). I think it’s time to add tret back into my routine to help unclog some more stubborn clogged pores. My skin is about 99% clear. I’m ready to take on this journey once again to clear up my skin fully. Since I’ve added more moisturizers into my routine, I’m going to stick to what I was using before (0.05%). From what I remember, it was pretty harsh on my skin. The lower concentrations of tret did nothing for my acne. It was just a waste of time. So, let’s get started! Here’s my skin care routine!

Note: It changes often, haha!

My Skin Care Routine

So I’ve added a few (ahem, lol) more products into my routine. 🐰🙂

Face Wash: I’m still using PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash (10%), but I’ve also been using PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%) more often. It’s creamier, more moisturizing, and a lot more gentle on the skin. I haven’t made the jump to try another face wash yet until I finish my bottles of facial cleansers. I might even switch over to the 4%. I haven’t seen any changes in my acne when using the 10%. I think they’re both good, but I like using the 4% when my skin is a bit drier than usual, but the 10% works better when my skin is oilier. I think they’re both good considering the state of my skin.

Toner: I’m using Cosrx AHA BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner. This is a nice skin pH adjuster toner with a low concentration of glycolic acid (0.1%) and a more gentle form of salicylic acid (betaine salicylate, 0.1%). I like it. It’s hydrating. Not drying on my skin at all. For a low concentration exfoliant, it’s doing a pretty good job at keeping pesky little pimples away and hydrating my skin at the same time. I was complaining about the spray nozzle before, but I’m starting to like it. I don’t have to use cotton pads. All I do is spray some product into my palm and gently pat it into my skin. I’m falling in love with it! It’s so much more convenient and easier to use! Less wasteful too!

Serum: Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum is the only serum that I’m using. My skin was so dry when I decided to try it out again. I was searching for a serum with a bunch of good-for-skin ingredients too. This looks like it could work. So far, everything is going well. Go to the link provided to check out my thoughts on this serum!

Other Acne/Acne Scar Treatments:

• Olay Regenerist Collagen Peptide 24 Cream Cleanser

I was using Olay Regenerist Collagen Peptide 24 Cream Cleanser daily, but it’s not necessary anymore. Olay dries my skin out when used too often. I can feel my skin getting sensitive and raw. Also, I have Cosrx AHA BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner. I think using those two products with chemical exfoliants daily is just too much for the skin. Even though they are low in concentration, they’re still chemical exfoliants. I don’t want to dry my skin out even further. So I use Olay only a few times a week, while I use Cosrx almost every day (super gentle!!).

Go here to read my 1 MONTH update on Olay!

• Ascorbic Acid Powder

I’ve given up on brand name vitamin c serums. They all break me out due to the other ingredients in the product, so I use the powder form only. I haven’t had a breakout since doing this. My skin looks brighter and acne marks are slowly fading using the powder version. I mix a little bit of vitamin c powder into my essence in the am to boost my sun protection + brighten the skin + fade acne marks.

You can read my thoughts on The Ordinary 100% L-Ascorbic Acid Powder here! 👈🏻

Essences/Moisturizers: I made a list of moisturizers that I like. If you missed out, go check them out! My thoughts have changed on some of them. A new update on that soon!

Sunscreens: Here are my sunscreens! ☀

• Neutrogena Visibly Even Daily Moisturizer SPF 30
• Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ 

I was going to give up on Canmake due to some clogged pores, but I decided not to. Yeah, I know, using a product that clogs my pores??!! Why?? Well, I’m alternating my sunscreens. That seems to prevent the sunscreen from breaking me out, since I’m not using it too often. And this seems to be working! I love that I’m benefiting from the Canmake sunscreen too. It has a higher SPF, feels ultra soothing on the skin, and makes my skin less red. I guess I can use Canmake when I’m outdoors majority of the day, while I use Neutrogena when I’m mainly indoors or need an extra boost of moisture. 🙂

1 Week Results!

Dun dun dun! Here we are! My ONE week results! 😁

During the first week, I have to thank Cosrx Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask for nourishing and leaving my skin moisturized on this treatment. My skin would’ve been falling apart if it wasn’t for this moisturizer. I ended up using it more often than I thought I would. And it worked (the best it could)! If my skin soaks up all of the moisturizer, I would just reapply to prevent my skin from drying out. That seemed to happen very often too. I would apply a blob of this moisturizer, and my skin would feel dry after a few hours or in the morning when I wake up. That’s how drying tret is on my skin. My skin felt itchy sometimes too and looked awful some days of the week due to the dryness. That means more moisturizer needs to be applied to prevent the moisture barrier from being damaged. Moisturizing the skin helps dead skin to come off easier too.

And I purged this week! Purging occurred much quicker than I expected. I had a bunch of random pimples popping out of nowhere. A lot of blackheads (what??!!) that I’ve never had before. Some of them turned into whiteheads. Some of them healed quick, while others just lingered. It looks like it’s going to be a long, annoying breakout. Hopefully my skin improves before Christmas! 🤞🏻 But right now, I think tret just took my skin back from being almost clear to having breakouts again. *sigh* It’s not something I want to happen, but it’s bound to happen if I want to unclog these stubborn clogged pores that I’ve had for ages! It’s a chance I wanted to take. Who knows what may happen a few weeks from now! Along with my skin breaking out, I had a ton of skin shedding from my face. It was embarrassing sometimes when I had to meet people. I just hope that no one noticed, lol. It was pretty obvious though, haha! Skin would just flake off of my face and get on my shirt. 😳

There were times when my skin became extremely dry, I used CeraVe Healing Ointment to prevent my skin from losing moisture. I applied this ointment all over my face. Yes, I tried it! And you know what? This ointment is amazing! It did wonders for my skin! I woke up the next morning after my skin was feeling raw to touch with skin that’s soft, smooth, clearer, and less crusty. It helped heal my skin faster and helped with flaking. So it looks like my skin prefers CeraVe Healing Ointment over Aquaphor and 100% Pure Petroleum Jelly. It hasn’t irritated my face. My skin feels so much better after using this ointment. Must be the ceramides! 💕 But I can’t use it every night. It’s too occlusive, especially with other moisturizers I’m using. But it’s nice to have it around when I need it.

Those are my thoughts and results after 1 week! I’m going through the initial breakout… 😭

Next up! My 1 month update! See everyone there! 😊

⭐ If you missed out on my previous experience with tret, check them out!! ~

My experience with tret the first week…

After 1 Month on Tret + Skin Care Routine. Here are My Results.

2 Months on Tret. My results. 🙂

Taking a break from tret…

PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%) vs Acne Foaming Wash (10%)

I moved on to another benzoyl peroxide face wash! I mean face washes. 🙂 They are PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%) and PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash (10%)! But why do I have two face washes? I use them both! I started off using the 4% first then decided to bump it up to the 10%. I noticed there were days where my skin felt dry, I would lean towards the 4%. On days where my skin became super oily, I would reach over for the 10%. Keeping my skin balanced has helped improve the condition of my skin by a ton. Giving what it needs instead of forcing it to use a harsh or stronger product than necessary. Listening to your skin is very important. ✨ This seems to be working for me, since I’ve seen improvements in my skin. So I’ve finished one tube of each face wash, here are my thoughts on them…

PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%)

After being let down by CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser (review here), I decided to try out other benzoyl peroxide face washes. They happen to be PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%) and PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash (10%). I started using the Acne Creamy Wash (4%) first. If the 4% isn’t strong enough, I could always increase the strength to 10%. With the Acne Creamy Wash, the first couple of washes went well. The texture of this face wash is truly creamy. It’s not as runny as CeraVe when dispensed from the tube. When applied to the face, it works just as described, which is a creamy face wash. No surprises. The product feels really nice on the skin. It’s soft and easy to move across the face. If I have active breakouts, I’ll spend more time massaging the product into those areas. I can feel the benzoyl peroxide working into my skin. That didn’t happen with the previous benzoyl peroxide wash (CeraVe) I tried. This felt new and different on my skin. It rinses off clean and doesn’t leave a sticky feeling behind afterwards. It didn’t leave my skin feeling dry or tight either. But after 2 weeks of using the Acne Creamy Wash, I decided to try the Acne Foaming Wash (10%), since the Acne Creamy Wash didn’t feel strong enough for my skin. I needed something that’s stronger and cleans my skin even better. The 4% isn’t a bad product. My skin needed something more. Don’t worry, I still kept the 4% for those dry skin days. 🙂

PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash (10%)

The Acne Foaming Wash (10%) is a lot thicker and creamier in consistency compared to the Acne Creamy Wash (4%). I fell in love with the texture of this face wash right away. It’s like a blob of creaminess. It feels soft and soothing when massaged into the skin. Surprisingly, it left my skin feeling cleaner but not stripped. It didn’t leave any residue behind after rinsing either. Didn’t dry out my skin. My skin felt clean and refreshed. After using the Acne Foaming Wash for a week, I started purging on my forehead and jawline. They were large bumps of acne that were painful to touch. I continued to use the face wash, and the new pimples eventually went away and healed. It took some time for them to go away too (ugh, cystic acne), but they diminished within time. It took some patience to get there. ha. So this face wash was more effective at unclogging stubborn acne. It is the 10% after all. Even though I’ve seen positive effects with this face wash, it didn’t get rid of my acne completely. It was more like a step towards to getting rid of acne. My skin looks and feels pretty good after using it, so it’s a good face wash. My oily skin seems to really like it! I use the 10% more often than I do the 4%. It just works better on my skin.

BP washes sealed. 🙂 I love opening a new one of these babies. It feels so refreshing!

Conclusion

I’ve used PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash and PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash for 3 months. My experience with both has been very good so far. They both work on my skin without irritating or extremely drying it out. It looks like my skin prefers the 10% over the the 4%. I use the Acne Foaming Wash (10%) most days of the week. Once in a while or a few times a week, I use the 4%. I haven’t had any new breakouts from these products besides the ones from the Acne Foaming Wash (in the beginning). Even though my skin didn’t clear up using these face washes, I still like them. I didn’t expect them to completely clear up my acne anyways. I do have more resistant, stubborn acne. It would be nice if it did. haha. I see it as another way of using benzoyl peroxide. I get really tired of using benzoyl peroxide as an all-over acne treatment sometimes. It’s a great acne treatment, but it makes my skin feel super dry and dull. I think these are a good option if you don’t want to slather benzoyl peroxide peroxide all over your face at night, or if you’re looking for a face wash with benzoyl peroxide to include in your routine.