Skin Care Review: Proactiv

A few months ago, I bought the travel size version (I prefer to buy travel sizes before I buy the full amounts of anything, to make sure it'll be worth buying the full amounts) of the proactiv "solution." It comes with a benzoyl peroxide cream cleanser, toner, and a solution of benzoyl peroxide.

The cream cleanser is very grainy. As my ex put it, "it feels like I'm rubbing my skin with bits of sharp glass." And though I think exfoliation is a very important skin regimen, I don't think a granulated or coarse exfoliation is beneficial to the treatment in acne. It's best to use non-granulated exfoliants like enzymes (Philosphy has an enzyme kit), lactic acid (which is non-irritating, or glycolic acid (tends to be a bit more irritating, yet not as expensive as lactic acid and its treatments). And actually, I realized that after toning my skin (I use a non-alcoholic, natural Origins product), the cleanser really didn't have any sort of "cleansing" ability, besides washing off excess sebum.

The toner is a joke. Why do they have to add color and fragrance to it? It's better to use a natural, non-alcholic toner. Such as the ones Origins has, or just witch hazel.

The benzoyl peroxide (2.5% concentration) is very good in the fact that it goes on clear and DRIES that way, but after continued use, you have to apply constantly in order to maintain the effectiveness. And touching my skin so often on acne-prone areas seemed to only irritate and cause an increase in inflamations and blemishes.

Although it DID help my acne for a while, in the long run it was no longer effective.