Hi Natalie! Currently on my 2nd week (14th April) of using differin to sort out my acne. My texture seems to have gotten worse and it seems that there are a lot more closed comedones on my cheeks and forehead (where my main acne issue was) but the redness is going down. I’m going to keep you everyone updated on my journey!! Current routine: cetaphil moisturiser simple face wash Differin gel April 19th: a lot of texture has gone down on my right cheek, however still a lot of texture on my left cheek and forehead. I’m planning to bump up the use of differin from 2x a week to 3x a week as my skin has tolerated 2x for 4 weeks now. 🤪 30th April: both cheeks seem to be a lot less red and the closed comedones have flatten down massively!! Still a lot of small spots left though and still tiny spots on my forehead. I’ve increased the frequency of using differin to 4x per week
So glad to see you on RU-vid! This was such a great breakdown 😄Your tiktok videos helped me so much with my clog prone skin - I started using the cetaphil moisturizer (US version, but I think the formula is still pretty similar) because of you and it's made such a difference in the random CCs I would get along my cheeks!
I am honestly so confused by all the suggestions. I have comedonal acne and honestly haven´t find a perfect balance in my skincare despite being "in the game" for three years. Honestly my biggest concerns are, that you get so many different suggestions from experts. Like for example use a salcily acid wash in the evening. And incooparte a retinol. But don´t over exfoliate and don´t use retinol with an acid. I honestly don´t know what to do.
Hi. Not a doctor. I’ve suffered from closed comedones and cystic acne for a couple years now. I tried everything that was suggested ie acids, retinoids, benzoyl peroxide, etc. It turns out, i was doing too much. My skin barrier was ruined, which made the acne worsen. Every the cerave moisturizing cream burned on my skin. My face was so dry and flaky and red. I just stopped using everything except Vanicream facewash and vanicream moisturizer. I did that for two weeks and things started clearing up! I now use the cerave sa cleanser 2 times a week. I will have a routine like this: day 1 wash vanicream facewash, then with sa, then use Vanicream moisturizer. Day 2 vanicream facewash, vanicream moisturizer. Day 3 vanicream facewash, vanicream moisturizer. Day 4 vanicream facewash, vanicream moisturizer. Repeat day 1-4 over again. I’m sorry this is so long, its a lot of info. Hope my english is also easy to understand as well.
You can use retinols and acids. Best to alternate nights or use one AM one PM. You can also use a salicylic wash with a retinol serum/treatment. I've been using The Ordinarys Salicylic Acid with squalene. A couple drops covers your whole face and it doesn't dry your skin out. Most SA products dry me out. Double cleansing can be helpful too- if your skin isn't dry, use a BALM. Followed by a plain water based or gel cleanser. I think the best rule of thumb is to keep your cleanser, toner, moisturizer basic. Maybe tweak the toner to a bit Moisturizing or clarifying, depending on your needs. Focus on the actives in serums/treatments instead. Azelaic Acid has also been extremely helpful for my super stubborn closed comedones!
Hi, I’m not a doctor but after fighting for a few years, the only thing that worked for me is medical hydrafacial. It’s expensive (180€ in my country) but works great
I stopped eating oily and spicy food only eating fruit and vegetable's and doing exercises to clean body I noticed a drastic change maybe it'll also help you🙂
Hi Natalie, love this video & I really hope you keep posting! Love your tiktoks and blog, but also getting the info in a long-form video is soooo good!! Some ideas for future videos: -Hormonal acne and products -Sunscreen recommendations -Non prescription retinoids recommendations -Barrier support recommendations -Why don't you cleanse in the morning -Products that you hate and why -How to deal with a compromised skin barrier Hope you have a lovely day & thank you for your advice!!
Holy shit! Amazing video! I thought this was going to be really basic info, but there were a lot of great tips that aren’t mentioned elsewhere. Good job!
I"m on my 3 weeks of diffrin. I am having the purge. Hope it gets better😭. Like the comment so i can come back and watch the video again and keep myself motivated Xx❤ Edit: it's been more than 4 weeks, but there's no significant improvement in the texture of my skin .. It's getting worse day by day.. I'm quiting retinoid..Guess it's not meant to be🥲
hey natalie, i love ur vids! ive watched half so far, and plan to watch it after my class later today. tysm for all ur quality content n ur seriously underrated!
This is very interesting, thank you. I need to try this cleanser because until now water works better than every cleanser for me. Do you think these products work for oily combination skin?
I’m on week 4 of Avene A-Oxitive retinaldehyde. I’m applying 2 or 3 times a week while using purito centella serum and cetaphil daily moisturiser. The purge is purging 😢. It definitely sounds like all the symptoms of a purge so I know I need to push through but I’m starting to panic as my wedding is on the 7th of June. I only ever had mild comedones (quite like your before photos on tik tok) so I’m hoping the purge will be over in the next few weeks 😅. Literally don’t know whether to stop immediately or keep going and risk being a spotty bride 👰🏼♀️
hi! its already been 2 weeks since you commented here so im sure you've noticed the improvement yourself already but i just wanted to lyk that your skin might definitely clear clear up by the end of May!!! Personally My purge started out really slow because my closed comedones were in clusters so it took almost a month of benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid (alternatively) for my skin to start the purge. Im still in the midst of it but my forehead gas cleared up and my cheeks are still going through it but they're somewhat better imo so don't give up!! i hope you get your results soon :3
@@vdotcommm Thank you for replying and for your positivity. It can feel quite isolating going through this. I am definitely through the worst of the purge. It started to clear up really quickly last week. Thankfully the spots come and go very quickly. I am not getting any new or big whiteheads but I am kind of left with a lot of closed comedones all over my cheek and jawline. My face looks extremely textured. I think this is a part of purging, but I'm finding it hard to believe these will go. It kind of feels like I'm back to square one with texture...so doubting tretinoin has had any benefit at all... I will hopefully be back in a few weeks to say the close comedones went away too! When I commented 2 weeks ago I was at my lowest point, so tbh, I am just happy to be out the other end! thanks again for your words of wisdom! I hope you see more results too :)
Commenting again as I’m 2 weeks from my wedding and my cheeks are covered in the usual closed comedones. I don’t know what to do next and I have never been so desperate to sort this. It is beyond depressing! 😢
Hi Natalie! What are your thoughts on Geek & Gorgeous hidration station moisturizer (remember the unboxing on your Tik Tok but didn’t see any update on it). Xo
in Morocco i just go to the pharmacy and ask the salesperson for what product i want and they hand it to me. plain and simple Tretinoin or retinoid you name it
Hello sisy...😊 Pls add one more reason to get closed comedons which is some usage of medications.. For me, its the use of lithium (currently i'm on 900mg which is a high dose) its a bipolar medication.. and no 1 reason for me to always get this thing on my face and my entire body.. (back and chest), and not only Lithium, but several long term medications can cause Acne/CC.. For my face, i was doing some things according to dermatology videos and videos like this.. But still i learned so many things from your video.. i'm going to double cleanse from now on.. Thank you..
Unfortunately, I can't oil cleanse. I've tried several different types of oil cleansers and all of them have broken me out. I ended up with closed comedones all over my face.
And what if the skin is very sensitive, that double cleansing damages the skin barrier 😭😭 my condition atm, if I use double cleansing method, it damages my barrier and if I don’t my pores get super clogged 😭😭 help please
Loved this video, I’m dealing with CCs atm and will implement the OCM to check if that’s the cause. I checked your alternative moisturiser list to check what’s on there and have a question now: have you ever checked the geek & gorgeous hydration station? The formula seems to be pretty good and I’d love to know your thoughts on it
Hi Natalie! Thank you so much for this video, it is very helpful. Is is true existing closed comedones can only be removed via extraction? Or will the retinoid push them out eventually?
how do you suggest we avoid over exfloliating? because i find that using retinol so often makes my skin vulnerable, and im too scared to wear makeup over it. do i just need to firm it?
Hi Natalie! Can I use the Skin1004 Centella in the morning as a barrier serum? Thank you and so glad ive found you on RU-vid. I have started Dermatica and I have Adapalene in my formula so I want to make sure I can minimise the irritation as much as possible x
You’re welcome, thanks for watching. I used to but lately I stopped. As long as you don’t sunbathe your face and wear there should be no problem, though x
Girl, let me tell you. I get close comedones alk the time. I was thinking it was my mousturizer because every time I would apply it, id suddenly get the small bumps on my face...im going to try the cetaphil one and hipe for the best
I can't find the cetaphil moisturizer in the U.S., is the oil free hydrating lotion the U.S. version or do you recommend something different for those of us in the U.S.?
I’m so happy I found your RU-vid channel. Currently using medik8 crystal retinal and it feels like it’s alot more gentle then my previous bha how long do you think it’ll take for me to recognise a difference in my texture?❤️
The moisturising base of medik8 can definitely make it feel more gentle, but vitamin A is a powerful ingredient. I would give it at least 3 months to show a noticeable improvement. The only caveat being I recommend checking out which strength you're on, as the 1, 3, 6 strengths are 0.01-0.06 rather than 0.1-0.6 which many confuse it for x
do you know if the superdrug retinol booster (0.3% retinol?) is strong or good enough as a start or is it important to go get a prescription? sorry if you answer this in your guide!!
Is it normal for closed comedones to become blackheads? Are they coming out to the surface? And can I go for a facial to extract them so they go away easier? 🙏🏼
If I were you, I’d just wash my face after you’re finished in the gym with water. You could also use an anti bacterial spray afterwards if that’s more your thing. Obviously, continue with your regular routine just add this step in if you’re worried that sweat is causing you acne. Be mindful that the gym is a playground for bacteria and germs. Please spray things down before use and wash your hands before touching your face as that could cause acne.
Hi! I wondered if there’s anything you can do to help get rid of closed condones and milia spots under the eye when pregnant (I’m sure there isn’t much )but if there’s anything you can recommend to help instead of using retinol x
I think it can be helpful but probably isn't going to work as fast or prevent them as effectively as a retinoid or salicylic acid might. I used to use glycolic acid very regularly, for example, and still developed closed comedones a lot x
pls pls answer if i am cleansing with a benzoyl peroxide wash (oxywash) I have combination of dry and oily skin, how would i double cleanse? would i cleanse first with oil cleanser then use my peroxide wash? the peroxide wash is gentle and all but i’m afraid it doesn’t cleanse fully? (also i don’t use makeup just spf sometimes)
Sadly noncomedogenic products don't exist. We can't think that they're gospel, plenty of things are non com that still break us out. I'd suggest it's something in your routine! x
What if you use a retinoid for years and you skin is great and you get pregnant and you need to stop, what to use instead so you won't get pimples and skin texture all over again?
I do yes! its just a part of my routine so I only DONT use it if my skin is flaring up with PD or something similar. Lab muffin does a great video on whether sunscreen indoors is necessary and my main takeaways were: not all UV gets through windows but a fair part still does, so if anti ageing or pigmentation is a concern of yours then its definitely worth wearing. If, however, your house has barely any natural light then its less important.
"Retinoids are not for me!" - Exactly what I thought few years ago. My derm prescribed it for my back acne, but it was 1 hard to reach & inconvenient, 2 just started itching and 3 my impatient self didn't see results... I'm now back on it for about a year, it has completely removed my light chest and chin acne and now I just slowly started on my back. In autumn I will start using it on my whole face, hoping, I'll get rid of the goDdamNnn milia and occasional pimples. On my nose I've been using salcilic acid for about 2 weeks, cause I wanna tackle the sebaceous(?) filaments. 😊 And I have a question that is just tickling on my fingers, but I don't want to be rude... Do you get botox/filler anywhere?🙈 Much love! 🤍
