Neutrogena Acne Oil Free Acne Wash Daily Scrub Review

I am still using this product every night because it is so effective against my blackheads on the nose. You can get this product in most drug stores, Target, Walmart or online sources. This is one of my favorite products from Neutrogena. My skin is ultra sensitive and oily at the same time, but most Neutrogena products tend to be good for my skin. Okay, here is the complete review.

Benefits: So effective against blackheads. The little bead gets rid of all the most stubborn blackheads you have in a very gentle way. You just have to gently message the beads around the area that you have lots of blackheads for less than a minute. You will notice afterwards that all the blackheads are gone. This product is better than Biore's blackhead strip in two ways. First, it gets rid of the most stubborn blackheads. Second, it won't cause irritation to the nose because Biore's strip needs to be removed after it sticks to the nose (for me, this caused slight irritation). This is also very good for exfoliating your skin because the beads are just so gentle and effective.

Side-affects: Slight irritation to cystic acne. The little beads that help with blackhead removal tend to irritate the cystic acne.

Best for: Blackheads, slight to moderate acne. I wouldn't recommend this product for someone with moderate severe or severe acne because it can cause injury to a deep cystic acne.
Overall recommendation (out of five stars): 5 stars. This is the best treatment for blackheads and slight acne. Gentle yet effective.

Bare Minerals Review for Oily, Acne Prone Skin

**Update 1/5/2014: here is my recent review of the Bare minerals makeup after three years of continuous use.

 

So, my skin was bad enough that I wanted to cover it with some makeup. I was never a believer in makeup because of my skin being so sensitive. But at this point, it is bothering me when I am at work or have to interact with people. Those of us suffering from acne know that how much we are embarrassed by our skin. To be honest, I even notice people with bad skin and I have bad skin. It just how we see people and subconsciously judge people based on appearance.


OK, before I go on and on with this. Let's talk about Bare Minerals makeup. I bought this makeup more than a month ago because of the sudden outbreak of my acne. Here are all the products I have:

Matte SPF 15 Foundation in Golden Fair

Mineral Veil - original formula

Warmth All-Over Face Color

SPF 20 Concealer in Summer Bisque

Full Flawless Application Face Brush

Well-Care for Brush Conditioning Shampoo

Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush

Flawless Face Brush

Prime Time Oil Control Foundation Primer

I know it seems like a lot of products but I only purchased the SPF 20 Concealer in Summer Bisque and the Prime Time Oil Control Foundation Primer separately. All the other stuff came in a kit that was like supposedly save you money when you purchase everything all together. It came out to over one hundred dollars total. Yes, I know it's expensive. But my acne was so bad to the point that I just wanted to stay home. And I am sure that anyone that had terrible breakouts felt the same at some point. I got all this at Macy's and the lady there was very nice and put all the products on me. I didn't make the purchase right away because I was afraid that it can irritate my skin. So, I let it stay on me for a day to see if it itches or causes any discomfort. And at the end of the day, I felt fine and decided to go back and buy it.

If you plan to purchase this or any makeup for coverage, you should definitely have the sales person put it on you first. My motto is don't buy any makeup that you haven't tried because it will always have a chance to irritate your skin. No one wants to waste money!

Now, that I have been using this makeup for more than a month. Here is what I think of it. The coverage is pretty good even compared to liquid foundation. The redness is totally covered which is what I am primarily concerned about. Acne is raised so people can still tell you have acne when they are up close. It gave a boost of confidence and now I finally feel like I can look people in the eye when they are talking to me. My skin still gets oily at the end of the day; this makeup can only help me stay oil free for 1/2 day even with the oil control foundation primer. It makes my itch better.

Okay, here are some pictures of my skin before the makeup and after just for your reference. I know it's bad but bear with me.

Daily acne skin care routine for oily, combination skin

I have oily, sensitive skin ever since puberty. In my opinion, this is the hardest skin type to care for because it is highly sensitive and prone to acne at the same time. It all started with very mild teenage acne that is small and non-inflammatory. However, it developed into moderate to severe acne over the years. There are times in my life where I had many pimples covering the majority of my face. Over the years, I did a lot of research and tried several dozen skin care products. Here is my daily acne skin care routine that I use right now which works well for me.

Wash my face twice a day, once in the morning right after I wake up and once at night before going to bed. The cleanser listed below is used both times for washing my face. The blackhead eliminating scrub is great at getting rid of blackheads on the nose; this is used only occasionally. The eye contour cream is used around the eye area in the morning. Neutrogena’s on-the-spot acne treatment is used once in the morning and once at night on active pimples only. I also drink a cup of the home made medicine for oily skin / acne control and take 1 pill of the Kirkland brand daily mulit-vitamins & minerals.

Here are some more details about each product:

1. Neutrogena Cleansing Bar for Acne-Prone Skin
Active ingredient: none
More information: This is good for people with oily / combination and sensitive skin. It has no active ingredient because salicylic acid seems to irritate my skin. Many other acne cleansers contain salicylic acid for acne control causes lots of redness on my cheeks.

2. Neutrogena Blackhead Eliminating Daily Scrub
Active ingredient: 2% salicylic acid and small beads
More information: Don’t use this everyday if you are sensitive to salicylic acid treatments like me. It is very effective at getting rid of blackheads. I usually only use it on the nose occasionally.

3. Shiseido Bio-Performance Super Eye Contour Cream
Active ingredient: none
More information: Even for people with active acne or have acne prone skin, anti-aging products should be used too. The eye contour cream is anti-aging eye cream for younger people.

4. Neutrogena On-the-Spot Acne Treatment
Active ingredient: 2.5% benzoyl peroxide
More information: This is one of my most favorite products of all time. It is so effective at healing acne and preventing acne scars. Benzoyl peroxide will kill bacteria which is part of inflammatory acne. Instead of the acne popping, it will gradually go down. This will decrease the trauma on the skin which usually leaves you with no visible scars. This product is highly recommended on my list because it is super effective. However, it will cause the skin to dry out so make sure you only use it on the active acne itself.

5. Natural home remedy for acne, will explain this in a future post in more details

6. Kirkland brand daily multi-vitamins & minerals
More information: contains lots of essential vitamins and minerals. I think it might help with some biochemical process in our body by getting rid of toxic things. It is also highly recommended because it seems to make me less prone to acne with everyday use. You can get it at your local Costco.