Proactiv—The Good and Bad: all links so far

Proactiv—the good and bad

• Proactiv—Solution? Part I

• Proactiv—Solution? Part II: Donn’s story

• Proactiv—Solution? Part III: Good & not so good

Also see

• Clinique’s 1-2-3—Just Say NO!

Proactiv—Solution? Part III: Good & not so good

When I started on Proactiv, my skin looked great. It dried everything out. Then I guess as my body adjusted to the new program, I was mega-oily all the time and developed little red bumps. It seemed while I was on the Proactiv products, I had many red bumps all the time. I finally went off Proactiv, and it took my skin about three weeks to get back to normal.

My skin is doing better although I have really been working on eating better. When I choose to be bad and have a treat, there are usually consequences, but they are under my control—I choose when.

That email was written by my client, Tori. She started using Proactiv four months ago. Within a few weeks, she said it was like a miracle. Most of the old spots had cleared up, and there weren’t many new blemishes coming up; her skin truly had cleared up.

After two months on the program she started noticing an overall oiliness to her skin that hadn’t been there before. Her forehead was especially oily and in fact little whiteheads were starting to form there. I told her it was probably the benzoyl peroxide—that it both helped to temporarily clear her skin and was also creating an oil slick on her face. She was essentially drying out her skin, and in rebuttal, her oil glands were pumping more oil than necessary to compensate for the dryness on the surface.

I think Tori’s story exemplifies the need to monitor your skin when you are using new products. This is especially true if they are products meant to clear problem skin. If your skin is clearing up, great, but is it also showing signs of dryness? Remember, over time the dryness can have detrimental effects negating anything positive you may have achieved.

Here are comments from another client:

I thought Proactiv was pretty good when I first used it. Thankfully I never had full-blown acne. It did make my skin look very ragged out, not subtle and balanced-looking. It seemed to enlarge my pores as well.

Two of my friends use it and seem to like it. Using the abrasive cleanser every day cannot be good for skin. Proactiv did not make my skin dry, just flat and not very good-looking.

The flat look is probably due to moisture loss in the surface skin cells. They lose their plumpness and aren’t able to reflect light, which does make the skin look dull or flat.

This client, like so many people trying to clear up their problem skin, has run into the main problem with using benzoyl peroxide. It dries out the skin and creates its own set of problems. It is great that her friends use Proactiv and like it, but for her skin this product just doesn’t deliver the results she is looking for.

There are so many product lines available to choose from. Not all products will fit the needs of all people. Proactiv may be what you have been looking for, but be careful and watch the hydration level of your skin. Don’t trade one problem for another; trading in blemishes for dehydration. I believe that you can have all good results with none of the bad if you follow my recommendations for healthy skin. Mine is not the quick-fix remedy, but perhaps the long-term solution—the real proactive solution.

For more information, see:

• Proactiv—Solution? Part I
• What is causing your breakouts?
• Help for Breakouts
• Sugar & Skin Problems 

Proactiv—Solution? Part II: Donn’s story

Donn is a beautiful young black man. He is fit, happy, and healthy. He eats a good diet and yet was still experiencing skin troubles—mostly located in his beard area.

Men—especially African-American men—have a propensity to develop a condition called pseudofolliculitis barbae. This is where the hair coming up to form the beard cannot find its way straight to the surface. For black men, this is primarily because of the curly nature of their hair. But men of all races can face this dilemma. The result is what seems like acne in their beard area. Some men have so many problems with pseudofolliculitis, they may simply let their beards grow and not deal with the daily hassle of these ingrown hairs.

Donn had to take daily medication for an unrelated condition. Although he was only on the medication for a year, it caused a lot of his skin problems. Once he got off the drug therapy, his skin problems persisted, and all he wanted was clear skin. So he turned to the advice of some people who had used Proactiv and decided to give it a try. Why not? He felt he had nothing to lose. After the first month on Proactiv Donn’s skin improved dramatically, and he has enjoyed clear skin ever since.

Donn’s is a success story. He approached me one day and asked if I could tell he used to have skin problems. His skin looked clear, without scars, and his beard didn’t seem to be housing any infected spots—all looked good. That is when he announced he had been using Proactiv for the past eight months—faithfully and successfully. He was so happy he had found something to help his problem skin.

I include Donn’s story for several reasons. First, it is not my goal to knock down every skin care regime out in the marketplace although I don’t find many products that are very effective. Proactiv has “torn up” many of my clients’ faces, but it has also helped some tough cases of problem skin.

A 20-something co-worker of Donn’s also used Proactiv. She said it seemed to work at first, but after a month or so her skin looked dull and felt dry. She didn’t get the results she was looking for and was asking me for recommendations.

This seems to be a common complaint about Proactiv. It helps, or seems to help, at first. Then it either stops working or the skin just can’t adjust to all the drying out and starts to look worse. In my opinion, this isn’t a good enough reason to use Proactiv. However, there are many people who swear by it. Try it and see. It’s pretty inexpensive, but beware if you don’t cancel your required membership after the first shipment you receive, the company will automatically send you a new batch of products on a regular basis—and charge you for them too.

The bottom line is no one product or product line works for everyone. Sometimes, especially if you have problems with your skin (whether breakout or sensitivities like rosacea, for instance), you will have to go through a trial and error period—trying out perhaps many products until you find the one(s) that work.

As you’ve read, Proactiv works for some people and not for others. If you have problem skin, I hope you will utilize the many articles on this blog that, no matter the products you’re using, can help you understand more about why the problems exist.

For more information, see:

• Proactiv—Solution? Part I
• What is Folliculitis? 
• What is causing your breakout?

Proactiv—Solution? Part I

I have a mixed report on this infomercial product-by-mail. I have had several clients come into my clinic telling me how Proactiv “tore up” their skin. And I have also had experience with a few people who have had success with it. Over the span of a few articles, I will include some stories of how Proactiv helped or hindered the clearing of their problem skin.

What’s in Proactiv Solution?

This is a benzoyl peroxide-based skin care product line. The most basic Proactiv Solution program consists of four products: Cleanser, toner, moisturizer, and mask. The pH values of all but the mask are acidic, which is good. The mask tested to be alkaline, so if you decide to use this product line, I would be careful about using the mask. As you know, alkalinity can dry out the skin’s surface. Proactiv also contains fragrance; something that cannot be ignored once you smell the different products. This should raise a red flag if you have known reactions to fragrance in products, so be aware and be careful.

• The Renewing Cleanser has 2.5% benzoyl peroxide (BP).
• The Revitalizing Toner has glycolic acid as its second ingredient, along with aloe, chamomile, and witch hazel as some of the top ingredients.
• The Repairing Lotion Acne Treatment (moisturizer) also has 2.5% BP.
• The Refining Mask Acne Treatment has kaolin (clay) as its second ingredient, which is actually a good thing. Too bad it’s an alkaline mask.

The ingredients in this system are predominately synthetic, with a few organic ingredients thrown in, mostly in the toner.

Proactiv has definitely worked for many people—although some for just a short period of time. If you are at the end of your rope, you might want to give these products a try. By this I mean you have really looked into your diet and lifestyle habits and cannot determine a source for your breakouts. Or at least no source that you are willing to give up, perhaps. Ingredient for ingredient, I am not impressed with Proactiv, but if it works for you then that is what really matters.

Kerry’s story. Kerry was pregnant with her second baby. Her skin, like with the first pregnancy, had gone completely haywire. No matter how good she was about doing all the right things, her skin was still at the mercy of the baby growing inside her. Hormones are funny things, and when a woman is pregnant, they control just about everything, including her skin.

Kerry came in for a facial with what looked like chapped skin all over her face. She was so dried out and dehydrated I couldn’t believe it. I asked her what she had been doing, and she reluctantly admitted the truth. She had gone to the store and purchased products that promised to clear up acne. What they had done instead was dry out the entire surface of her face, which did relatively nothing for the infections and cysts coming up from below the skin.

I got her to stop using the harsh, drying products, and considered the options with her. She shyly asked me what I thought of Proactiv. I said I honestly didn’t have any personal experience with it, but that several clients in recent years had said it was one of the worst things they had used on their skin.

A month later I saw Kerry for another facial and noticed an improvement in her skin. It was perhaps 25% better than the previous month. She went on to tell me she had purchased the Proactiv products and decided to use them and see how it went. She, too, had noticed a difference in her skin; it seemed to be clearing up a bit. Here is what Kerry had to say about her Proactiv experience.

Proactiv worked to dry my skin out pretty well, but nothing really helped to clear it up. It definitely improved the bright red, breakout pus things, but didn’t help with the blackheads that were so bad. The cleanser and toner are the best products. The lotion (moisturizer) was okay, but the mask was horrific. Let me put it this way, using Proactiv made me feel like I was doing something to sort of help my skin, but nothing really could make it better. It finally cleared up in my fourth month of pregnancy.

One of the side effects I noticed with Kerry’s skin was dehydration; in fact it was flaky. This was no doubt from the benzoyl peroxide contained in Proactiv. Benzoyl peroxide, although sometimes effective for blemishes, can really dry out the surface skin. Although Kerry had some success with Proactiv, she ended up going back to her regular routine with the products she had used for years. Products that didn’t dry out her skin.

Proactiv does work for some people. But if the cause of the problem skin is dietary and the diet is not altered dramatically to ensure a healthy body and therefore healthy skin, the problems will continue to occur. You may go through an initial period of clear skin. Then three, four, or maybe six months later (even while still using Proactiv), your problems might seem to be returning in full. This is because you did nothing to stop the acne from occurring in the first place. You took the short cut, which usually leads you in a circle back to where you started. It’s about causal healing, not quick fixes. Remember, you must fix the system, not just the symptom.

If you have problem skin, these articles and others on this blog may be of interest:

• Why does skin break out?
• Help For Breakouts 
• Benzoyl Peroxide: Use it or lose it? 
• Proactiv—Solution? Part II: Donn’s story