Facial products - which ones do you use?

I haven't been taking care of my skin and I think it shows, but recently I got interested in taking care of my skin. It started with a bad breakout.

I thought it might be interesting to hear how others take care of their skin.

What kind of skin do you have?
What products do you use?
Do you notice a difference?

I have oily skin that breaksout often. I recently discovered glycolic acid and I love it! I use this 10% glycolic acid white clay deep cleansing mask. I leave it on for like an hour and afterwards my skin is so soft and smooth! I don't have any active acne anymore, I'm not sure if the mask helped, but it says it's for acne prone skin so it must help I think. I still have acne marks. Those will take some time to fade.

I also read about retin-A. Anyone use that? It's prescription only I think.

I'm 25, maybe I should start thinking of preventing wrinkles.

from what the dermatologists have told me, the strongest over the counter stuff you can get is creams that contain Benzoic acid. It is the active ingredient in one of the expensive acne treatments with lots of ads on TV in Australia - but here you can get it a lot cheaper from the chemist in a cream called benzyl; not sure about in Canada.
I have found with greasy skin, I was my face with a face cleanser and I use a toner and an oil free moisturiser.
I also make sure my moisturiser has sunscreen in it because sun damage causes lots of wrinkles. Over here the dermatologists say the best way to prevent wrinkles is to protect your skin from the sun and don't smoke.
I don't use any of the expensive stuff, I don't think they work any better and are just marketing.

i love what i use

I use a Saint Ives scrub for oily skin...i swear by Saint Ives...i love their products.

I recently been using Noxezema face stringet after the scrub...it makes me feel really tingly clean...

and always use a nice facial lotion afterwards...i use Oil of Olay ...combination oily with SPF 15

i know your face is oily ...as i think thats what you said....but you still need a face lotion because that keeps your face nice and hydrated without clogging pores and i use combination oily because i have an oily face with some dry spots....so i love it...it works great and its always great to have SPF of some number to keep your face protected always from the sun...plus not that it matters but always having lotion on your face keeps it from getting wrinkiler and saggier ...and the sunscreen helps with that too....

I have combination skin, really oily in some places but dry in others. Unlike some people with oily skin, my skin is very, very sensitive and can't tolerate a lot of the strong acne lotions with peels and acids and such in them. But yet I do have an acne problem and always have. (I am in my 40s and I don't think it much different now than in my early 20s.) A godsend for me was 8 years ago finding a dermatologist who understood all this. Previous to that, dermatologists would prescribe topical antibiotics for my acne and they just didn't work as my acne grew deep inside to painful "underground" cysts. My current dermatologist saw the problem immediately and said those topical anti-biotics would only help about 10% of my acne and he gave me oral antibiotics. These have worked miracles, as they work systemically and get those underground cysts. These antibiotics are very old and no longer used for treating infections, so their longterm use does not contribute to bacterial resistance. He says one of their main uses in acne is to keep the inflammation down (which makes the cysts so big and painful) rather than necessarily killing the bacteria (although that helps too). It is our body's immune response to the bacteria that creates the acne problem, rather than the infection itself. I don't have to take the antibiotics every day. I can sense when a cyst is starting and then take the pills for a day or two to knock it dead in its tracks. I also have a topical antibiotic that I sometimes use too. I use the original Sulfacet, which is in a clay-like solution. Works great. (The cream formulation, however, is useless to me.) I also sometimes use a topical cleomycin. Good to have several drugs in your arsenal.

I wash my face with liquid Clinique soap and use Clinique astringent and moisturizer, the gentlest ones possible. I am very prone to sunburn so always wear sunscreen if I go in the sun. Luckily, I live in a very cloudy and overcast part of the world so don't feel I have to wear sunscreen routinely every day.

There ya go. I hate acne, but it can be controlled.

i also have really sensitive skin...and i know exactly what you mean about the really painful..would you call them cysts? I dont know...round balls in my face and it hurt ...alot....i dont get them on my face anymore....but sometimes on my neck or leg or something like that

i also heard clinique is good i used it at one point however i never used it long enough to see results so im on the fence about that one...

I've been using Clinique products for several years, and I think my skin looks pretty good. I'm (oy!) "middle-aged", though I still get acne just before my period. I get those cystic ones, too. The best thing I do is try my best to leave them alone, and sometimes put the salicylic acid acne gel from Clinique on them to speed up the healing, or a dab of tea tree oil. But I've not found a good way to get rid of them.

GL, sunscreen and not smoking are the best way to avoid wrinkles. I've got very fair skin, don't smoke, and wear makeup or moisturizer with sunscreen everyday. I don't look my age at all from what I'm told.

gg

Thanks for all the replies.

I have a Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer with SFF 15 that's oil-free and non-comedogenic. I'm going to start wearing that everyday because of what you've all said.

I just started using Neutrogena Daily Cleansing Pads with salicylic acid and I really like them.

Before I was using a 2.5% benzoyl peroxide gel for my acne, but that made my skin peel.

I'm going to look into the Saint Ives Scrub, I've heard good things about them. Sometimes I use the ClearSkin blue scrub from Avon. I like how it makes my face feel minty.

I have the Clarifying lotion 3 from Clinque. Maybe I should use that. I use Clinique sometimes. I have a great lip gloss/colour from them.

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gardenergirl said:
GL, sunscreen and not smoking are the best way to avoid wrinkles.

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What is GL?

Good Lovin?

I've been using the products from this site http://www.shaklee.net/togoodhealth for many years. I always get compliments on how young and smooth my skin looks! I use the eye cream to keep them crow's feet at bay, I use the full skincare regimen and just love it! I use the cleanser, toner, moisturizer, a.m. and p.m. (heavenly!) creams, exfoliating cream, mask as needed. Just love their stuff! Best of all, I love to try new products and they let me return it without a problem. 100% money back guarantee.

I am allergic to salicylic acid (and I think others to). I have to use a product without acid. The one that works the best for me is Clean and Clear. It is the only one I have found without acid.

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...

My skin is clear right now, but I still have a few dark spots from where my acne was.

I used the glycolic acid and it made my skin really soft and smooth, but then I started breaking out again. So now I'm using the 2.5% benzoyl peroxide during the day and now I'm clear.

I think what I'll do is use the glycolic acid during the night and use the benzoyl peroxide during the day.

(Tangent) Oh, I learned something about benzoyl peroxide in my organic chem class and I was like , "I know what that is!" It was cool. You can use benzoyl peroxide in radical reactions. It's one of the safer peroxides to use so we use it in undergrad labs. Chemistry is sooo cool!

Good idea about the exfoliating glove. I have one too, but I've been using a St. Ives scrub.

for bonus marks... what is the difference between benzyl peroxide and a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution?

hydrogen peroxide is used as a steralising agent for cuts and wounds... but it is also used as a bleach...

just kinda interested... i've heard some people use a hydrogen peroxide solution for acne. it smells a little... but the smell vanishes as it evaporates (and it evaporates quickly)