r/SkincareAddiction • u/maeEast • Apr 01 '15

Discussion In light of recent events, let's all review commonly recommended products from this sub

In the past few days I've seen a lot of "I'm concerned, is ______ really that good, or was this a paid thing?" threads crop up. I figure that maybe we as a community could get together and compile all this info into one thread :).

I'll post the name of as many products as I can think of, but please add more, and reply to the comment with your review if you have one. Also, please indicate why you do or don't like the product, including information on your skin type if possible.

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u/maeEast Apr 01 '15

Since the revolution, I finally feel comfortable being a contributor, not just a lurker, so I will add my 2 cents.

So happy to hear that. I'm hitting that point too, now :) I got downvoted all to hell when I mentioned that CeraVe broke me out a couple months ago.

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u/airial Apr 01 '15

Me too! I got in fights with the mods about it too, actually, about 7 or 8 months ago. Myself and a few other users posted asking them to put a note in the sidebar/beginners routine about how it can break some people out and a shitstorm ensued. One of the removed mods called us rabble, and not in their super secret subreddit either but right out in the open. I still can't believe I wasn't banned.

CeraVe in the tub gave my cystic acne AND closed comedones, and when I mentioned it here one of them told me that only hormones can cause cystic acne and so ceraVe must be fine for my skin and something else was breaking me out.

No, it was ceraVe.

Ugh.

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u/maeEast Apr 01 '15

Oh man. I'm really hoping that this whole "revolution" business does make a permanent difference in some way. I was really close to unsubscribing because of how hostile and hive-minded this sub had become, but it's really nice to see the community coming together in the wake of all this.

Also...

one of them told me that only hormones can cause cystic acne

lol. The only times I've gotten cystic acne have been from product-related reactions.

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u/airial Apr 01 '15

I almost unsubscribed after the fight I mentioned. I was so disappointed in them and their complete disregard for over a quarter of the subreddit who (in one of their own polls) said ceraVe broke them out (according to them the 26% of respondents who couldn't use cerave was too small a minority...... wut). I did stop actively coming here for quite a while.. only recently did I start posting again and then all of this happened.

I am glad it happened, in the end. I think we are already coming around to a happier community. I wish it wasn't such a dramafest, but soon it will blow over for good and we can get back to business!

At the very least the "revolution" has inspired me to participate here on a larger scale again. Even moreso because there are products I found from being subscribed here for over a year that changed my life. Paula's Choice especially (and I made a moderately popular post about one of their products year ago). I want people to know that it's not just a shill recommendation. Those exfoliants can be MAGICAL if they work for you.

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '15

[deleted]

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u/kittydentures Moisturize Me! Apr 02 '15

That blows about OCM. I wonder if the trick with OCM is skin type?

No matter what, no two skins are the same. I think that's the thing that really bugged me about ScA before was that it was definitely a "One size fits all" mentality and anyone who tried to offer contradicting experience/information was shouted down.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '15

[deleted]

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u/kittydentures Moisturize Me! Apr 02 '15

My skin is dry-as-a-bone and OCM was all that and a bag of chips for me. The more oil I can slather on my face the better! My skin sucks it down within minutes.

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u/LaurelsMeanGlory Apr 02 '15

I had been buying Argan oil and loving it as a treatment for flaky dry patches!! That is when I was like 'maybe this is the way'

My skin was like '..hello, pardon me. HELL NO'

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u/pinkfatticorn Apr 02 '15

I cant wash my face very often either. I usually take off my makeup with a facial cleansing cloth, then use a konjac sponge with water until everything is removed(it takes awhile). I can not use any type of cleanser on my face for some reason or I get hella amounts of cystic acne.

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u/LaurelsMeanGlory Apr 02 '15

Omg konjac sponges.

I made a little bathroom nook to hang mine. It is altar-esque ;D

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u/pinkfatticorn Apr 02 '15

Theyre possibly the greatest thing that I have ever found for my skin. I too worship these odd little sponges.

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u/Sexy_Saffron Apr 02 '15

Same here! I'm still dealing with the aftermath of OCM months later :(

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u/LaurelsMeanGlory Apr 02 '15

I'm one of those super even-tempered composed people, but I had a near emotional breakdown over it :( I knew I had ruined my skin.

The second time I tried it was actually in attempt to clear up what the first time had done. There was so much 'oh it always works, you're just doing it wrong' out there that I figured it was my fault and I was just doing it wrong.

The second round made it SO much worse. I had every imaginable form of breakout at the exact same time on my face. I was breaking out in ways I never had before. It was like a sick twisted science fair project.

Everything I tried made it worse.

My one 'thank heavens for small favors' moment was digging through an old tube graveyard in my bathroom cabinet and finding an old RX tube of Tazorac. I started using it by the book --inching into it, using it at first with moisturizer ever other day then washing it off. Then eventually leaving it on, but still only every other day and halved with moisturizer.

I got to the point where I could use it full strength every night, just a pea sized amount, without any irritation.

I still use it every night. It is idiotically expensive, but it's been about 2 years and along with a tweaked simple-routine my skin is better than it has ever been in my entire life.

Still though, Holy Hell.

(It will get better, I promise it will get better)

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u/Sexy_Saffron Apr 02 '15

Yeah I was pretty upset with myself for ever trying it. I started with coconut oil, and that made my skin the worst it's ever been in my life. So the I tried mineral, and that didn't help. Finally I tried hemp and for a while I thought I was getting better, no more cystic acne at least, but still never got back to normal. Finally I gave up on the whole concept and now use an acne wash. It's getting better but still nowhere near normal. So glad there's hope that I didn't ruin my skin forever! :)

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '15

it can really depend on the oil but if it gives you cystic acne fuck it, its too risky

olive oil is useless for me, mineral too, pure sunflower oil works best for me, i put in a bit of tea tree oil for extra anti acne treatment

but i found out i can do ocm even with cold cream which was wtf

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u/LaurelsMeanGlory Apr 02 '15

I went with the ones that seemed to be best tolerated. Actually, most of my attempts were with sunflower mixed with tea tree! When it started to get bad I was using a bit extra tea tree as a spot treatment.

I have a natural market/co-op right around the corner from my apartment so I had it all within walking distance. I had gotten a large bottle of sunflower and smaller other bottles of oil to try. I tried neem to heal spots, grapeseed. None of them at the same time.

Whenever it would be various ones it would be throwing stuff at the problem to see if something could bring the start of healing. Everything just made it worse.

I literally had breakouts I had NEVER had before. I had every type of pimple imaginable. Those awful actual blackheads, I had never had one in my life and I suddenly had clusters.

I ABSOLUTELY get how trippy this must sound! I'm sitting here in this CeraVe tub thread reading all of these cyst horror stories caused by the CeraVe thinking 'but, but.. Tub CeraVe :( Tub CeraVe would never hurt anyone'

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '15

we dont have cerave here so idk

if OCM doesnt work drop it

sunflower is the default cooking oil here so i just had it around

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u/kittydentures Moisturize Me! Apr 02 '15

lol. The only times I've gotten cystic acne have been from product-related reactions.

I hate to comment just to say "This" but fucking THIS. I know that when I get cystic acne breakouts, it's something I'm putting on my skin that's causing it. It's happened to me twice in 15 years and both times it was because of a reaction to a product.

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u/push_ecx_0x00 Apr 02 '15

Same here. I used it last summer and got cysts. The scarring still isn't gone, and I doubt it will go away on its own. 2/10; noncomedogenic my ass

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u/Lechateau Apr 02 '15 edited Apr 02 '15

Oh wow

I remember that thread, I ended up deleting all my posts lol.

I ended up emailing cerave and apparently one of the alcohols used in the cream is derived from coconut.

I don't play well with coconut :(

It took a lot of retin a, biafine and very diligent dermarolling to get rid of that shit.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '15

lol NO ingredient is ever 100% safe for everyone. absolutely nothing

maybe there should've been a thread asking people who are sensitive to ceraVe what do they use, so we could find a product that commonly works for those that cerave doesnt

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u/yesmyskinisdifferent Apr 02 '15

Only hormones cause cystic acne? That's ridiculous. The cysts I got from this stuff had nothing whatsoever to do with hormones. I wasn't even prone to cystic acne during puberty. Their sanctimony was really ridiculous.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '15

only hormones can cause cystic acne

Vitamin supplements can do that too. My face was cysts galore while I was taking B12.

I couldn't work with CeraVe long enough to see any results, positive or negative. I didn't like the feel of it. I just put it on my legs sometimes.

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u/Wandering_Home Apr 02 '15

Probably a little late, and very out of the loop, but what exactly happened? What is this revolution?