I Don't Like Proactiv and Here's Why [Part 2]

[04/30/10 - with makeup]

Continued from Part 1:

In a span of 3 months my skin problem went from moderately bad to severe. And the severe result is not something I’d experienced even in puberty. Yes, I had always had bad skin (and I know “bad” is a relative term, but you see what I mean now by bad) but this time it was WORSE! To be 25 years old battling severe cystic acne was probably among the worse and most painful, -emotionally and physically- experiences of my life. And for those who think that this could have been brought on by stress? Again, I say bullshit. Yes, hormonal changes (i.e.: menstrual periods) had an affect on my skin, but the breakouts I’d get were minimal and were easily manageable. I could wait 4 days or, just use the Proactiv sulfur mask as a spot treatment, and boom! Problem solved. Not to mention another devastating and stressful event I had been through a few years prior to my Proactiv fall-out that took a further emotional toll on me, and my skin remained intact and unaffected. 


Though rarely talked about, I have, in fact heard of other experiences where Proactiv had caused its more unsuccessful users to break out in cystic acne. Read comments 15 through 17 on this post at BellaSugar titled, What’s The Worst Skincare Advice You’ve Ever Received. Now I’m not saying that everyone should stop using Proactiv immediately, no. What I’m trying to pronounce is a warning: If you are using Proactiv, just be aware that it may stop working for you in the future. How long in the future, I can’t tell you. For me it took 4 years. And if and when it does stop working, you’re going to need another iron clad acne system to follow up with immediately. For me, it was the acne.org regimen - it was and IS the thing that is making me look the way I do today (I’ll talk about that system more another time). And although my skin doesn’t look 100% clear to the regular person, its 100% better to me and that’s all that matters.

Yes, I had some success using the Proactiv Solution, but I just had wished that someone would have warned me that stopping the product all together would make me look as if I had a disease, which might be exactly what the product is intended to do, who knows. People who stop using Proactiv and break out uncontrollably are inevitably forced back into using a product that might not work as well as it had before. Or in a best case scenario -for Proactiv-, would provide improvement enough, (because with breakouts like mine, ANY improvement would have been a great improvement) for the users to sing its praises. “As soon as I stopped using Proactiv my breakouts came back so bad. A week after I started using it again, my face cleared right back up! I learned my lesson, I love this product and will never again stop using it!” I see this exact statement, more or less, when I hear people talk about stopping and restarting Proactiv. But for me, I wasn’t willing to go back. Instead I did this:

-Followed the acne.org regimen (the most important factor in how I got my skin to improve dramatically).
-Drank lots of detox tea (2 bags at a time, 5-7 days a week) and eventually...
-Drank water (hot water whenever possible) with lemon, especially when dining out in public
-Used sunblock and moisturized EVERYDAY
-Ate very little dairy and grains (there’s that low glycemic diet talk again)
-Stopped stressing (which I know, is probably only possible after you’ve seen a drastic change)
-Realized it might get worse before it gets better and accepted it
-Stopped being so hard on myself

I took some time, but around the 4 month mark I saw a change, even if not visible to others - I do have residual acne scarring but thats to be expected. and thankfully, it's going away fast. Around 5 months, others around me started to see the change. And not at just having crossed the 6 month mark, I'm infinitely happier with the progress. But all throughout the healing process I was wondering if there were any other people out there that had the same experience as I did, which brings me to why I’m here today; To share my story and hopefully help others out there like me. To the people who have or had terrible sever acne, you can get through it. You're not alone and that there are others who got through this, and you too can get clear skin without the use of prescription drugs or expensive skincare products. I have proof! 

 [06/07/10 - without makeup]