Feeling dull and exhausted, and nothing helps
VentThis is honestly the best my skin has looked in a while, and the overall complexion just sucks. I'm at such a dead end. Gentle products, expensive products, literally nothing helps.
My face is scarred from a bad reaction to tretinoin. I used it for a year and it made everything ten times worse.
I'm so exhausted from hating my face every day. I just want to feel confident without having to cover it all up. What should I even do at this point?
This looks like the routine of a 50 year old with severe dry skin. It doesn't look like the right routine for a young person dealing with acne. The only acne fighting ingredient I see is the AHA.
There's a trend right now of focusing on super heavy creams, but those are often pore cloggers. I honestly wonder if your routine is giving you acne.
My advice would be to put everything in a drawer except the AHA cleanser. Then get a very simple cleanser with no actives, a basic moisturizer, and adapalene.
Wash your face in the morning, then moisturizer and SPF. At night, use the adapalene twice a week with nothing else, and just moisturizer on the other nights. After four weeks, move up to three nights a week. Over two months your skin should gradually improve, and then you can reassess.
This is very helpful and educational, and I really appreciate all your advice. Thank you so much.
This is the way. I was pretty much exactly like OP, using way too heavy products. I switched to a super gentle cleanser, a gel cream moisturizer, adapalene and an azelaic acid serum, and my skin is the best it's looked in years.
Give adapalene a try. I couldn't tolerate tretinoin either, but I tolerate adapalene very well. I purged for the first 6 weeks, but now my skin is so much better, with very few dark spots. I recently added a prescription azelaic acid and my skin is glowing.
Go slow with adapalene, focus on your skin barrier while your skin adjusts, and don't give up during the purging phase.
I will give it a try, thank you.
19F with super sensitive skin and acne here. My best advice is to scrap every active ingredient you're using. Pick up a boring, unscented, gentle cleanser and an equally boring moisturizer. I switched to just those two, plus a kids' SPF in the morning, about a year ago, and it's made the biggest improvement for me.
Always keep in mind that a huge industry runs on selling you solutions to a problem that is often as much genetic and situational, like stress, fluid intake and diet. Dealing with skin issues sucks, and it's so grueling to figure out what works. I've been in your shoes more times than I've been out of them. Good luck, friend.
After 10 years of constant dullness and acne, I discovered my skin doesn't tolerate panthenol, not even the tiniest amount. Since I gave up products with B5 in them, my skin is glowy and acne free.
My advice: think about all the products that did nothing for you and look at their ingredients. There must be something they have in common. And if any product did you good, look at that list too.
A random suggestion: do you wash your towel and pillowcase often? Or have pets? If I come into contact with my cat, a strong breakout always happens, and of course he sleeps on my bed near my face all the time. So I have to wash those things often.
29F. I tried everything to get rid of my acne, and products would work for a week and then stop. Then I cut out refined sugar and poof, clear skin. Maybe try it for a couple of weeks, although it's hard.
I'm in a really similar place, so this post and the comments are really helping me. I'd also splurge on a facial with a knowledgeable esthetician to get back to a good baseline. I just did that and it seems to have helped.
Tone down how many products you're using.
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