Is this okay or bad?

[Moochie]

I desperately want clear skin, so my mom wants to do what her brother did to her when she had acne. She told me that "i have nothing" (HAHA, HA), compared to when she had acne, so her brother would wash her face with after shave stuff, or something like that. She said the pain was terrible, she was bleeding, (

), but after roughly 10 days she cleared up. She said she was happy with it and would let her brother (my uncle) wash her face with it anytime the acne came back.
I'm kind of afraid. I've tried 4 different things for my face and it just doesn't do anything or makes it worse. I've tried ProActive, Clinique, Neutrogena, and Clearsil. These things either made the acne go away for a short period of time, made the redness go away, or just made things worse. I'm sick of it and I want my soft beautiful skin I had 2 years ago!
I love my mom and I trust her but I want second opinions. I don't want unneeded pain! (weird thing is is that I wash my face everyday with neutrogena and it does nothing and I've been getting new bumps

)

The most painful thing I've ever done was when I put toothpaste on my face.

Lemme tell ya, it HURT. My forehead felt like it was on fire! I was literally tearing up in bed so I went to the bathroom to wash it off. Afterwards my forehead was cooling, tingling, and burning. I overheard a conversation at school that you can use it as a zit zapper so I figured I would just put it all over my forehead. Never again. And it didn't do a thing.

Some of you might tell me to see a cosmotologist or a doctor.. My parents don't have the money. Sounds weird but my parents can't afford dental either. Mom doesn't have a job and dad gets his money from his retired thing (has to do with military, i don't know what it's called), and VA. VA is some other military thing, veterans something. I don't know. I think my dad gets money from some other things too, not sure.

 

[BrattishTaz]

The aftershave should dry up the acne but it will burn and dry out your skin too. I used alcohol as a spot treatment (just dab the actual acne with a soaked Q-Tip) which helped when I was a teen. If your acne is really bad, maybe you could convince your mom to take you to a dematologist.

I see you edited while I was typing. I guess the dermatologist is out of the question.

 

[Lothiriel]

You should check out Mario Badescu . They have some amazing products, and a guide to find which ones are suited for your needs. My mom had lots of skin problems and she started using their Buffering Lotion and Enzyme Cleansing Gel and her skin is great now. I haven't had as much trouble -- my skin problems come and go with hormonal fluxuations. But when I need things "fixed" I use their Drying Cream and Healing Cream, along with washing with the Enzyme Cleansing Gel.

If you don't want to buy stuff, rubbing alcohol and peroxide work well and are the key ingredients of MB's Buffering Lotion.

 

[Moochie]

She got me a bottle that says "astringent" on it aswell. It's blue and it scares me, I think that will burn too. Sigh, why is the price for beauty so painful?
I have a moisturizer for my skin. I do want to do what my mom did when she was my age, I mean she has no acne scars at all! I would love that when I get to mom age or older. I see so many people my age with acne scars already, it makes me shudder. Most of them are guys though.
I'm going to try something for 2 weeks. If this aftershave, astringent, noxzema (something my mom gave me also), and moisterizer work, I will

to my mom everyday for the rest of my life. If not more

 

[frostbite]

When all else fails, remember that when you get through puberty, these problems will ease up.

Think too about being over-fixated with beauty. You are worth very much more than a pretty face and a sexy body. Women are led to believe that's where their value is, and it's a lie. Be kind, patient, gentle, smart, generous, and self-controlled, get involved in things that help make your community a better place, work hard on your education so you can get career that you really love that has meaning for you. The people that avoid you because of your acne are shallow, and you don't need them in your life. Best of luck to you.

The acne is a fleeting thing.

 

[HHandbasket]

The active ingredient in the aftershave is just alcohol. Other posters have commented that if you dab it (alcohol or aftershave) directly onto the pimple/lesion with a Q-Tip, it should help dry it up.

I did not have severe acne as a teen, but I would get BAD outbreaks from time to time, particularly in the summer months when I was more active. I would use Q-tips dabbed in alcohol and would cleanse my face every night with Noxzema. It would help clear up outbreaks.

Youngsters (and even adults!) that have to deal with severe acne are brave folks.

If your parents carry you on their health insurance, it would behoove you to discuss ANY potential acne treatments with your family doctor.

 

[LegginMF12]

Over washing your face, using abrasive cleansers and using acne agents can dry out your skin. This cause small open areas in the skin that can let in bacteria, actually making acne worse. Peroxide is really good to use as it is not so drying and will help kill bacteria. Acne is not caused by oil on your skin but bacteria. Change your wash cloth daily, keep your pillow cases and towels clean, they absorb the oils from your skin and can harbor the growth of bacteria. I am 43 and never had a pimple in my life. Then I was having problems with black heads on my chin and cheek bones. I got one of those facial scrubbing pads to use to wash my face with. I started getting huge painful pimples all over my face. I went to the doctor and this was the advice I was given. It worked great and my pimples cleared up. If I start to get the nasty little black heads I take a hand full of salt and GENTLY scrub my face with it in the shower. Hope this helps.

 

[Mattemma]

I would try it on a local spot rather than the whole face. Some have luck with tea tree oil. My friend swears that dietary triggers are the cause of her increased acne. Have you tried a derm doc? For some an antibio and ben peroxide mix is the key. My dd has a mix like this.

Hormones are a big thing in my opinion.Even after puberty you can have a flare up if your hormones are all over the place.Keep things clean to keep the bacteria in check,but don't be harsh on the face or you will make things worse.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Hey Moochie, check it out:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=610551
Even if you can't afford the program, looking at the website can help you determine what kind of acne you have (very important for treatment), and I listed some major foods to avoid in my post that had immediate and positive effects on my face. Iodine and commercial milk is only important for hormonal acne though.

Tea tree oil is one a lot of people like. It has antibacterial properties and will also help with pigment spots. If you get really bad cysts (they are huge, throbbingly painful, and deep under the skin, so they don't come to a head like other zits), I have found preparation H hemeroid cream or generics of that will help shrink those suckers immediately *if* the cyst is caught early. It has to be a cream that does not have an added steroid like hydrocortisone though. I have found steroids just increase acne activity in the long run, even if they have short term effects. There are many blends of Prep H and like minded meds, some with steriods, some without, so check the ingredients carefully. You also have to put that bad boy through a grocery line, which is too embarrassing for some. I only use it for the few stray cysts that try to escape these days...it would be hard to use it as anything but for spot treatment with just a stray cyst or two. The Face Reality program I am on is what mainly keeps my acne from forming these days.

Haha, I got the, "your acne isn't anything compared to what mine was", thing from my mom as a teen. Also, "my eyes are a muddy green brown, not a rich brown like yours", and, "my hair is drab and brown, but you have highlights and lighter hair". Well, as an adult I have terrible adult acne (now controlled beautifully with Face Reality), muddy green brown eyes, and dark hair. Only thing is, I love the latter, just not the acne.

 

[Moochie]

I don't think my parents will pay alot of money for a program. Unless it's my money. "You want it you buy it"- Even for birthdays and xmas my parents will give me money to buy stuff myself. I'm okay with that, mom never buys the kind of clothes I like because she won't take one step into stores like Hot Topic, Tilly's, and Spencer's. Haha, my uncle was freaked out when he saw a worker at Hot Topic with hot pink and black dreds, she also had some piercings. IMO she was pretty as heck. My uncle had this face on - O_O
Anyways, the astringent didn't dry out my skin but it felt cool and tingly. I like it. It stung for a couple seconds. I didn't use the aftershave stuff though. I'm still afraid to use it.


I get cysts every once in a while. I don't have severe acne.. But I get breakouts and they seem to stay in one spot, but then after awhile it tries to spread. My forehead has the most acne and it stayed on my forehead but after awhile it started spreading, then my temples, then my cheekbones, it's trying to go on my upper cheeks near my nose (I've been stopping it as much as I can), and my chin started breaking out in 7th grade with a huge and painful pimple.