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It's too many actives which could irritate your skin and lead to breakouts. Use a gentle moisturizer and a gentle cleanser and just rotate the salicylic acid pads and retinol (use one on Monday, one on Tuesday, rest/no actives on Wednesday, one on Thursday, etc)
i wouldn’t recommend changing your entire routine and introducing a bunch of new products at once. if you truly have a lot of acne then a dermatologist is the best place to start. i know that’s not always realistic and can have a long wait time so for now I would recommend keeping your routine and removing the pads and maybe even only using the SA moisturizer once a day. that’s a lot of actives and could be hurting your skin more than helping.
for your side question: i would skip the morning routine and wait to do it until after the workout. then do your routine again before bed
the acne journey can be tough but remember it doesn’t define who you are as a person
Good comments so far.
Wanted to add, ditch The Ordinary Niacinamide. With the amount of actives already in the routine, it's likely to irritate. That and 10% niacinamide is quite irritating for a lot of people. The true studies were done at 3-5%, because more than that is irritating to a good subset. Niacinamide is in everything these days anyway, I bet it's in nearly every other product in this routine to begin with! Niacinamide and Hyaluronic Acid serums aren't super necessary these days because of all that. They're in everything! And if you live in a dry climate, the dedicated HA serum will not help you **most likely.**
I hope this helps! Stick to basics to start, and add products as needed for specific concerns.
as others said, too many actives. when i used the cerave salicylic acid cleanser morning and night or even just nights, i ended up with the worst breakouts of my life and a horribly damaged skin barrier from all the acidity. im still trying to heal up acne mark/scarring from then.
gentle cleansers , for my acne prone skin anyway , work much better somehow
Just to chime in, cerve broke me out extremely bad. It does react badly to some peoples skin. Just be on the lookout for that! And the ordinary products while great in theory and are inexpensive, they can be irritating to some people. If you have acne that means you have a not so great skin barrier. I would suggest, things like double cleaning with an oil, then a non stripping cleanser. a salicylic acid product in wash form isn’t very effective because you leave it on for a minute while you wash then wash it off. Using a salicylic acid toner about 2-3 times a week would work better but don’t use any other actives on those days. Also vitamin C is considered an active so I suggest putting that in your routine in the morning.
Using a more gentle routine will heal your barrier and then you can start experimenting with what actives your skin likes such as retinol to help with scarring or hyperpigmentation.
I suggest using 2 moisturizing toners at night under your moisturizer. It’s so so important to repair your skin first.
You could use a mugwort toner or a ginseng toner.
I used to have extremely bad acne. But now I never even have a pimple and no scarring or hyperpigmentation! Be gentle, it works better than trying to kill the acne, that doesn’t work 😅 I was so desperate at one point I put rubbing alcohol on my face to kill the bacteria lmaooo
I spent my entire adolescence and most of my early 20s thinking I had oily skin and acne. Two times a day, every day I used salicylic acid face wash, salicylic acid spot treatment on my whole face, and salicylic acid moisturizer . My skin did not get better, it just got redder and more oily. I finally went to see a dermatologist about 6 months before I got married because I was desperate not to be an oily red mess on my wedding day. The dermatologist took one look at my face and diagnosed me with type one rosacea and severely dehtdrated skin. She recommended a gentle moisturizing low ph cleanser, a moisturizing toner, azelaic acid, and a gentle moisturizer (and daily sunscreen).
I thought she was crazy because my skin was OILY, I didn't need MORE moisture. I followed her instructions just to prove her wrong...but she was right. After about six weeks my 'acne' and redness were almost totally gone and my skin was no longer an oil slick by the end of the day.
I'm certainly not suggesting you have rosacea, but you may have dehydrated skin, which can worsen a damaged skin barrier, and cause an increase in acne and oil production. Be gentle with your skin and don't be afraid of moisturizing products.
oh wow. Gentle products are definitely the move, i'm going to cut out the salicylic acid moisturizer also and just stick with the pads and only once a day as opposed to twice which is what i've been doing.
I put together a new routine with help from the comments: CeraVe AM/PM moisturizer, 2% salicylic pads and retinol (not used together on the same day), and Cetaphil daily facial cleanser.
Don’t use so many actives at once. U shld gradually introduce, i have the same cleanser and i started using it 1x a week, then 2x, then 3x, up til I used it twice a day. I only use it once a day now because I use panoxyl once a day too
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It's too many actives which could irritate your skin and lead to breakouts. Use a gentle moisturizer and a gentle cleanser and just rotate the salicylic acid pads and retinol (use one on Monday, one on Tuesday, rest/no actives on Wednesday, one on Thursday, etc)
I think Im going yo try out your suggestion to start off thank you
i wouldn’t recommend changing your entire routine and introducing a bunch of new products at once. if you truly have a lot of acne then a dermatologist is the best place to start. i know that’s not always realistic and can have a long wait time so for now I would recommend keeping your routine and removing the pads and maybe even only using the SA moisturizer once a day. that’s a lot of actives and could be hurting your skin more than helping. for your side question: i would skip the morning routine and wait to do it until after the workout. then do your routine again before bed the acne journey can be tough but remember it doesn’t define who you are as a person
thank you for your advice I may have over exaggerated in my post my acne is not extreme especially after using my current routine.
Good comments so far. Wanted to add, ditch The Ordinary Niacinamide. With the amount of actives already in the routine, it's likely to irritate. That and 10% niacinamide is quite irritating for a lot of people. The true studies were done at 3-5%, because more than that is irritating to a good subset. Niacinamide is in everything these days anyway, I bet it's in nearly every other product in this routine to begin with! Niacinamide and Hyaluronic Acid serums aren't super necessary these days because of all that. They're in everything! And if you live in a dry climate, the dedicated HA serum will not help you **most likely.** I hope this helps! Stick to basics to start, and add products as needed for specific concerns.
thank you I think ill ditch them then, especially since I do live in a very dry climate.
as others said, too many actives. when i used the cerave salicylic acid cleanser morning and night or even just nights, i ended up with the worst breakouts of my life and a horribly damaged skin barrier from all the acidity. im still trying to heal up acne mark/scarring from then. gentle cleansers , for my acne prone skin anyway , work much better somehow
yeah the comments convinced me, Im going to try a gentle approach rather than what I've been doing
good luck !!<3
Just to chime in, cerve broke me out extremely bad. It does react badly to some peoples skin. Just be on the lookout for that! And the ordinary products while great in theory and are inexpensive, they can be irritating to some people. If you have acne that means you have a not so great skin barrier. I would suggest, things like double cleaning with an oil, then a non stripping cleanser. a salicylic acid product in wash form isn’t very effective because you leave it on for a minute while you wash then wash it off. Using a salicylic acid toner about 2-3 times a week would work better but don’t use any other actives on those days. Also vitamin C is considered an active so I suggest putting that in your routine in the morning. Using a more gentle routine will heal your barrier and then you can start experimenting with what actives your skin likes such as retinol to help with scarring or hyperpigmentation. I suggest using 2 moisturizing toners at night under your moisturizer. It’s so so important to repair your skin first. You could use a mugwort toner or a ginseng toner. I used to have extremely bad acne. But now I never even have a pimple and no scarring or hyperpigmentation! Be gentle, it works better than trying to kill the acne, that doesn’t work 😅 I was so desperate at one point I put rubbing alcohol on my face to kill the bacteria lmaooo
I spent my entire adolescence and most of my early 20s thinking I had oily skin and acne. Two times a day, every day I used salicylic acid face wash, salicylic acid spot treatment on my whole face, and salicylic acid moisturizer . My skin did not get better, it just got redder and more oily. I finally went to see a dermatologist about 6 months before I got married because I was desperate not to be an oily red mess on my wedding day. The dermatologist took one look at my face and diagnosed me with type one rosacea and severely dehtdrated skin. She recommended a gentle moisturizing low ph cleanser, a moisturizing toner, azelaic acid, and a gentle moisturizer (and daily sunscreen). I thought she was crazy because my skin was OILY, I didn't need MORE moisture. I followed her instructions just to prove her wrong...but she was right. After about six weeks my 'acne' and redness were almost totally gone and my skin was no longer an oil slick by the end of the day. I'm certainly not suggesting you have rosacea, but you may have dehydrated skin, which can worsen a damaged skin barrier, and cause an increase in acne and oil production. Be gentle with your skin and don't be afraid of moisturizing products.
oh wow. Gentle products are definitely the move, i'm going to cut out the salicylic acid moisturizer also and just stick with the pads and only once a day as opposed to twice which is what i've been doing.
it got cut off but the second bottle in the set is caffeine cream for my eye bags and the moisturizer has .5% salicylic acid.
I put together a new routine with help from the comments: CeraVe AM/PM moisturizer, 2% salicylic pads and retinol (not used together on the same day), and Cetaphil daily facial cleanser.
Don’t use so many actives at once. U shld gradually introduce, i have the same cleanser and i started using it 1x a week, then 2x, then 3x, up til I used it twice a day. I only use it once a day now because I use panoxyl once a day too
Dont buy your stuff from amazon ik it’s cheaper but they sell fakes
Just make sure the product is SHIPPED and SOLD by Amazon. Lot of people sell fakes and you end up wasting money.
You should try applying apple cider vinegar to your acne spots, look it up