Meet my skin care dream team!
Growing up, all through my teens and early 20’s, I had the best skin. Rarely did I have a blemish, and there was never much thought put into my skin care routine. Wash my face when I wanted, with whatever I wanted, and it was all good.
Then I turned 24 and it all went downhill. Adult acne, people. It’s a terrible thing. My once smooth and fuss-free face had turned into a greasy, itchy, broken out nightmare – seemingly overnight. Nothing seemed to clear it up, and I tried everything. Proactiv, Proactiv for sensitive skin, antibiotics, this face wash, that face wash, trip after trip to the dermatologist. Trial and error, trial and error, trial and error!
One weekend, about a year into my adult acne journey, I was at a makeup/skincare counter at a department store. As I was chatting with the woman working about some makeup, she asked if I would be interested in hearing about their line of skin care products. I launched into my whole sob story about adult acne, and all the products I’d tried that never seemed to work – in fact, my skin was just getting worse and worse everyday. She took one good look at my skin and said the statement that completely changed the way I had been going about clearing up my acne.
Oily skin doesn’t mean moisturized skin.
It sounds so simple, but it completely rang a bell with me! She could plainly see that although my skin was greasy & broken out – it was dry as a bone. All this time I’d been trying to get rid of the oil and breakouts by drying my skin out with harsh chemicals and products, but little did I know that it was making everything worse, and making me break out even more. For me, dry skin = broken out skin.
I switched gears right then and there, and re-focused on HYDRATING my face with moisturizing products that wouldn’t gunk up my pores with extra oil. Here’s the dream team that’s worked miracles for me:
Cetaphil Face Wash: Effectively cleans my skin and removes makeup without over drying. I use this every morning and every night.
Dual Action Moisturizer: a moisterizer with salicylic acid added for breakout treatment. All the products I’d been using before had benzoyl peroxide in them, which I figured out was way too harsh for my face. Salicylic acid is much more gentle, isn’t as drying, and works much better than benzoyl peroxide. Win, win, win! I use this moisturizer every morning.
UPDATE: I now use Oil of Olay Fragrance-Free Face Lotion in the morning instead!
Cetaphil Advanced Moisterizer: For really, deep down moisturizing. I use this every night to re-hydrate my face. It’s a little too heavy for use during the day (read: too much shine) but is perfect for repairing at night.
Put together, I saw results in mere weeks. My skin was much less inflamed, it didn’t itch so bad and miracles were happening with the persistent acne I hadn’t been able to get rid of in over a year.
I still have some dryness around my mouth where I occasionally break out, but my skin is 99% better than what it was before I started using this trio of products. If you are currently, or have ever suffered from acne, you know how it can start to run your life. When you find something that works, you share it with the world. I hope my story has helped some of you!
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mariasangria 08.20.2010
I have the exact same combination skin and pretty much follow the same skin care regime as you. One extra thing I do that helps tremendously, at the advice of an aesthetician, is use an alchohol-free toner to balance out the pH of my skin. I had no idea that was the purpose of toners until she told me that. I use the Neutrogena Oil-Free Toner in the light blue bottle and can really tell if I skip that step in the morning — it really helps keep the oil in check.
Julie 08.20.2010
Does that face wash have a lot of chemicals in it? I’ve been trying to go all natural or organic or just chemical free on things I put on my skin. Any ideas?
emily 08.19.2010
omg Thank YOU! my bf has had problems with this for awhile now.. his skin looks SO greasy all the time! so we thought he just needed to wash more and use toners… im going to buy all these products for him tm! i hope it works for him like it did for you!
Yasmin 08.19.2010
Your story sounds exactly like mine! Finally, I got some excellent advice from a random stranger who turned out to be a dermatologist from Germany that had moved to the states. He said to use a gentle cleanser like Cetaphil and Apricot Ive’s scrub. Moisturize daily with jojoba oil. The man is a genius!
Court & Whit 08.19.2010
Thank you so much for this post! It helps a ton :) Court and I both have skin just like yours, and we have struggled with acne for years. We have tried all sorts of products inluding Proactiv as well. lol (So not a good product! Anywho I have heard lots of good things about Cetaphil, and you have convinced me that it works. :)
-Whit
Ruth 08.19.2010
I had great skin in my teens as well. Then, suddenly when I got into my 40’s (yes 40’s!!!) I started to get adult acne, then rosacea. What a horrible combo! Cetaphil completely saved me. It is the BEST product. I also look for product with vitamin K, which is great for rosacea. Now that I’m 51, my skin seems to be changing again, but never out of control thanks to these products. Thanks for a great blog….enjoy it every day!
Lindsay @ The Ketchup Diaries 08.19.2010
I still get breakouts here and there, but my skin was SO HORRIBLE growing up. Literally traumatic. Let’s just say that for my 3rd grade – 3rd grade!!!!!! – school picture, I have a noticeable huge zit on my nose that all the boys made fun of.
Nikki Sue 08.19.2010
I have always had super dry skin. It would get so bad that big dry patches would form on my face, forehead, sides of cheek, and by mouth, and get red and then eventually break out. I couldn’t agree more about moisturizing! I found Moisture Surge by Clinique and live by it! My face is nice and moisturized which reduces my break outs. Glad to hear you found a product that works for you!
Erin (penny. LA) 08.19.2010
I’ve heard great stuff about Cetaphil – I remember, too, one of the Olsen sisters gushing about it and saying it gives them nice, dewy skin.
Yesterday I picked up Pond’s Cold Cream, and to me that stuff is a dream already. I have extremely dry skin, so this is a fabulous moisturizer!
My mom suffered from acne at age 30. I have never had it, so I’m waiting for it to approach…
Susie 08.19.2010
Proactiv has always been my saving grace! I have been using it for 6 years and love it!
Amanda 08.19.2010
It’s funny you mentioned this today. I have sporadic breakouts and recently it has been really, really bad. I’ve been slathering my face in that Ice Neutrogena spot treatment for days now. Well, last night, I used my proactive moisturizer… and BOOM this morning I noticed a HUGE difference.
Hilary 08.19.2010
I use the EXACT same product combo, and it works wonders on my skin. Great minds thinks alike! Although, I’ve been using the Clean & Clear name-brand moisturizer… I’ll have to give the generic Target version a try next time!
Kacy 08.19.2010
I’ve never suffered from acne, but my skin has gone downhill in the last year or so – my pores are clogged and it looks pretty gross close up. Not really sure how to fix it.
I’m going to look into those moisturizers though – my skin is really dry!
Lauren 08.19.2010
SO TRUE!!! I think moisture is the BEST piece of skin care advice to give anyone. I moisturize 2x a day because I think its that important. By the way, I think you have beautiful skin!!!
Terin 08.19.2010
I have suffered from acne for as long as I can remember. I have used every product on the market, antibiotics, topical creams, proactiv, proactiv knock offs, even accutane! (which worked for a while, but then I got ezcema as a side effect so I quit taking it.) I wash my face with cetaphil twice a day and use their facial moisturizer. They are the best products I have ever found. I also use toner to strip some of the excess oil before using the facial moisturizer. That along with taking the pill and using retin a topical cream has helped keep my breakouts under control. My best tip, no matter how tired you are ALWAYS wash off your makeup at night!
Tia @ Birch Courage 08.19.2010
Wow, that yogurt bowl looks flippin devine! Mannn, I’m jealous!
I love Cetaphil products, I use there Moisterizers because I have super sensitive skin, most things make my psoriasis on my hands break out like crazy and it gets SO painful; like to the point I can’t type it hurts that bad :( Thank goodness I found something that works or I’d be covered in harsh steroid creams all the time which I DO NOT like.
kate 08.19.2010
I had a delicious Greek yogurt bowl for breakfast, too! Yum!
Jenny 08.19.2010
I had acne when i was a teenager, but just a little bit, and mostly on my forehead. I had bangs and the zits weren’t bad, so you couldn’t really tell. Then when I was about 22 it got really bad. All of a sudden I had it everywhere, and it was leaving marks. I remember seeing my face one day in the rear view mirror and freaking out. All my friends said it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it was bad enough for me. I ended up using proactiv, and also went on birth control, and that combo cleared up my skin really fast. I had also hidden from most of my friends that my back was horribly broken out. That was the worst part. It hurt and I didn’t want to go swimming or wear tank tops or anything that might show my back. The proactiv body wash helped that get better (with no scars!) Now I just use neutrogena acne bodywash to prevent a reoccurance (just on my chest and back.) I also use oil of olay face lotion with spf for oily skin. In the winter I use a facewash with salycylic acid and skip the proactiv so my face doesn’t get too dry.