GL is short for GreenLeaves, I'm guessing.

I have some exfoliating gloves and I use them on my body (with bodywash) and also on my face with a cleanser (so it cleanses and exfoliates at the same time). Exfoliation helps my skin feel soft, and I exfoliate fairly vigerously every day to try and help cyctic acne too. I used to use a St Ives face scrub but find the exfoliating glove gives me the same result for less cost.

I'm not so good at using a toner (not sure about it - don't really want my pores to close) but I do use an SPF moisturiser that is oil-free.

That was interesting what you said about the anti-biotics, Sunshine. A while back I got this little lump on my face. It started out as a pore that wouldn't drain. I tried to drain it but I couldn't. Over time... The little lump got bigger. Eventually it got infected (and the lump swelled up so people kept asking if i'd just had a tooth removed). I went to the doctor about then and she said that it was a sebaceous cyst. I looked it up on the internet and it said 'epidermoid cyst - formerly known as sebaceous cyct'. sebaceous cysts... seem to be similar to (the same as) cystic acne. anyway... she said that the pore had blocked off so the oil couldn't drain - but that i should try to drain it if i could (or it would only get bigger). that i needed to see a plastic surgeon to get them to remove the whole pore (cutting from inside my mouth since it was on my face so i wouldn't want a scar) but that if i could keep draining it then i wouldn't need to bother with that. she gave me some anti-biotics (oral) and it worked WONDERS to really shrink it (she said they wouldn't shrink it they would just stop the infection). i took the antibiotics for two weeks and it shrunk to a fairly small size (not really noticable) and now i can drain it ok. weird, huh.

i swear by taking a fairly hefty dosage of anti-biotics about once every year. i know that they shouldn't be prescribed for no good reason etc etc etc and that we should be careful with them because resistent strains can develop etc etc etc. but... i seem to be prone to developing these kinds of low level infections (e.g., cyctic acne, sinus infections, coughing up all sorts of weird %#@&#!) and a good cleaning out with antibiotics really seems to help my system clear some of that out which seems to prevent me developing those more serious localised infections. seems like my body can reduce the symptoms but not properly clear out the bacteria by itself...

could be superstition of course.

ew. sorry if this is gross...