Best BHA: Stridex or Paulas choice Clear

BHA's should be the basis of any acid tone for oily skin, acne and clogged pores. A BHA is salicylic acid and it clears pores, works on discolouration (red or brown marks) and reduces inflammation. Products can range from £1 and up but today I'm going to be comparing 2 alcohol free options.

Alcohol and denatured alcohol (alcohol denat) is in many cheap products, the problem is it damages and irritates the skin but also dries out skin which leads many people to think it helps with acne (it doesn't). If you've ever used a product with alcohol after shaving or on broken skin you will know it hurts. Alcohol is best avoided especially when high up on ingredient lists, avoid products where you can feel you face getting tighter.

Stridex Max VS Paula's Choice Clear

Stridex (£8) is sold in many US drug stores, sadly only available on Amazon in the UK. It does contain irritants such as methanol and detergents (ALS).  Get them here.

Paula's Choice (£22) is sold only online. As far as irritants go... its a clean slate!

How to useStridex is pre soaked pads, for PC you need to soak a cotton round. I usually only soak half a cotton round as I find that's enough to wet my face and not waste any. Use both after cleansing before anything else.

How it leaves the skin feeling
Stridex does leave my skin feeling dry, although it doesn't irritate much but I find using an AHA cream over to sting more then usual. PC is a different story, it could be water for all I know as it doesn't dry me out at all.

Effectiveness
I used stridex first for a month and found it did help a bit towards acne control but it didn't really work enough. PC on the other was great, after about two weeks I noticed I wasn't breaking out even though I had run out of benzoyl peroxide.

Conclusion / TLDR
PC is the clear winner. There's not much to say other than it left my skin looking great without drying or irritating. After using this I will definitely try the stronger strength or use their original BHA liquid.

January Favourites

Here are some short reviews of what I've been using the most this month.

Stridex

Stridex is an american brand but easy to find on Amazon. I use the maximum version which contains 2% salicylic acid. I like this as they cost around £8 for 90 pads, they do the job and they don't contain alcohol (win), my only complaint is they do contain irritants which can be quite drying. I use these after cleansing and before a serum, cream or moisturiser.

FAB Ultra Repair Cream

When stridex makes be dry I have this to turn to. Its a thick moisturiser although I find it doesn't break me out as it does contain Shea or cocoa butter. I find its a great cream to keep on hand when my skin is dry or irritated. I use this as a night cream as it doesn't contain SPF, although I believe there is a version that does.

Dr. Organic Tea Tree Face Wash

This is a good SLS free cleanser. Great for acne and any skin type and I would recormend this for sensitive skin. I use this in my night-time cleanse with a muslin cloth.

Eucerin Even Brighter Day Cream

My favourite day cream at the moment. If you have seen the review then check it out:

http://obsessedwithskin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/goodbye-hyperpigmentation.html

A Practical Guide to Acne

As someone who's had acne and who's researched it a whole lot, this is my straight forward, no nonsense guide to acne.

Myths

• You can dry out Acne. It doesn't really work like that, if you dry out a spot, you're not drying what's inside the spot, your drying out the skin around it. This can make it more angry and more prone to scaring.
• A daily scrub will help. Imagine the grain of sand in your scrub and compare it to the size of your pore. There's no way it can possibly remove the dirt from it, and if it was big enough how would it get back out of your pore?
• It's sugar isn't it? This is where people split. Acne can happen for a number of reasons, I'm not saying sugar is or is not a trigger for breakouts, but a healthy lifestyle never hurt anyone.
• Baking soda, Apple cider Vinegar and Lemon Juice will solve all my problems. Never put any of these things on your face. Constant use of any of these things will make your face irritated as they are not the right pH for your face. Stick to properly formulated products.

Treatments

The ones that work the Best:

• Benzoyl peroxide: Anti-Bacterial. Recommended to be used at 2.5 - 5%, I recommend only at night and always where sunscreen of SPF 30 and above.
• Salicylic acid: Acid exfoliant + Anti-Bacterial. Recommended to be used at 2%, if you find you skin sensitive to it you can use 0.5 - 1% and work your way up to 2%. Recormend product: Stridex. 

The ones that don't work as well:

• Tea tree oil: Anti-Bacterial. Not as good as Benzoyl peroixde.

Skincare Routine

What should skincare routine be made up of? I break it down into 3 Steps.

• Cleanse, day and night: Cleansing is very important and must be done twice a day. If you wear make-up you can use a wipe but always cleanse after. Never use a scrub. Cleansing will not rid you of acne on its own, but if you don't cleanse any thing you treat your acne with will be much less affective.
• Treat, day and night: Use benzoyl peroxide at night and Salicylic acid at night and day.
• Moisturise and Sunscreen, day: Use an SPF of 30 or above in the day, every day, all year round. This is very important as Benzoyl Peroxide can pose a skin cancer risk if you don't use sunscreen. Even in winter. Moisturise if your skin feels dry, if your worried about breaking out from the moisturiser don't go oil free, opt for some thing like Simple's spotless skin moisturiser as it also has acne fighting ingredients.

Natural vs Chemical

Often the word natural is used to make a product more appealing but is it really better? The answer to that is complicated so I shall first go over each product in your routine then go over some specific ingredients.

Chemical means something made in a lab.

Organic vs Natural: what's the difference? Products that say they're natural most of the time don't mean they're 100% natural. In fact very few are. To be called natural they don't even have to contain much of a natural ingredient. Some products show what percentage of something is natural. Organic on the other hand means 100% natural unless its referring to a specific ingredient. Be careful when reading packaging. I will be using the word natural to refer to products that use natural ingredients for their main purpose such as active ingredients.

Cleanser

I don't often recommend using an acne cleanser unless you can pay a bit more to get something better formulated. In this case it doesn't matter whether its chemical or natural.

Moisturizer

This one can be controversial. Personally I use natural moisturizers as they break down on the skin unlike chemical ingredients although shea butter is best avoided as it takes longer to break down. A natural moisturizer is also good for supplying nutrition to the skin.

Treatment

In this category I'm grouping toner/liquids and serums/gels. Here are some ingredients that I like. Most natural and some chemical . I like them not because of their source but because of how well they work.

• Salicylic acid sometimes called Beta hydroxy (BHA) acid is natural as it come from willow tree bark. This is best as a leave on as will have a minimal amount of affect in a cleanser, especially a cheap one.
• Glycolic acid and Lactic acid sometimes called Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) are natural. The most important one for acne is Glycolic. They both help to fade and eventually can  remove acne scarring. This is also best in a leave on.
• Benzyl Peroxide is chemical. It work much better than Tea Tree and leaves your skin less drying. 2.5-5% works best. Not great for a cleanser as it can bleach clothing.

Nip + Fab pads are great as they contain Glycolic, lactic and salicylic acid.

Not sure where to start when looking for products? Follow my Blog for great tips that actually work.

Acids on the Cheap

If you're new to the concept, acids may sound scary but they're not. The right kind of acid can do great for your kind and they are a much better exfoliant than sand or plastic beads.

Glycolic acid

This is a great ingredient for acne and acne scaring. It smooths out complexation and can make you look more radiant. The main problem with budget skincare is that it can contain smaller amounts of glycolic acid and the amount often isn't specified. Also many cheaper products contain alcohol.

B. Revealed: Glycolic Cleansing Peel £7.99

Despite the name this product is neither much of a peel or great a cleansing. Despite that I still really like this product. It recommends using it for 3 minutes 2-3 evenings a week although I use it more as a mask every other night for about 10 minutes. I find that's enough to prevent a breakout the next day. Don't worry about using it too much as its a small dose of glycolic acid. I would go on how your skins feels, if it irritates your skin use it less. I would recommend this.

Naturally Radiant: Glycolic Overnight Peel £5.99

Again this is not much of a peel. As you can probably see this comes in a small 30ml tube. I bought this in the home that it meant it had good ingredients and lots of glycolic acid. I was a bit disappointed to find it contain alcohol can be drying. With constant and continued use I'm sure this will fade marks but I feel if you just spent more money you'd get a longer lasting more effective product. So I don't really recommend this.

Salicylic acid

This is a great ingredient for acne and is a must have to any acne skincare routine. Its the best acid for acne as it gets deep into the pores. Can be more irritating in cheaper products.

Deep Action: Pore Cleansing Pads x 40 £2.68

First of all don't use these to cleanse with. Much like wipes it doesn't properly emulsify and remove oil like a cleanser and water. I use these in the toning stage and these are greater for acne. I guarantee your will see at least a reduction. The down side is the amount of alcohol which will the skin and make it irritated easier. Always use a moisturiser after this. I would recommend this.