I need to write this before I forget and go on to post a different beauty tip! In my last beauty tip blog post, I wrote about St.Ives Apricot Scrub with salicylic acid and how it’s great for keeping blackheads and acne away. While it’s great stuff and does it’s job, some people suffer from worse break outs that the more gentle salicylic acid doesn’t help much. In the end we all want it gone right!

If your acne is more stubborn and won’t completely go away with St.Ives Apricot Scrub (blackhead and blemish version) there’s other products on the market that will help you get rid of those little spots. The active ingredient is called Benzoyl Peroxide (click here for the wiki) which is the key active ingredient in Pro-Activ that’s made it famous. I’ve personally tried proactiv in the past and it didn’t honestly do much for me, but I think it may be because I had already used another product called PanOxyl which in my opinion blows ProActiv way out of the water. I was interested in ProActiv because in Canada at least, it’s the only lotion that contains Benzoyl Peroxide and I wanted to use it during the daytime. The lotion ended up being too oily for my skin.

What’s the difference then, between ProActiv and PanOxyl? First there is the price, PanOxyl can be picked up at your grocery store for around $8 a tube (it comes in a little box in the pharmacy section). Depending on how often you use it, that should last you around 1-2 months. ProActive is around $40 and I think they say that lasts you 2 months and they will kindly re-bill your credit card and send you out new product every two months, and it’s a lot of fun trying to get them on the phone to cancel your re-billing subscription. Second, if you’re anything like me I don’t enjoy having to use a ton of product and take forever in the powder room spending time on my face. Proactive is a wash, toner, lotion, and refining mask. Pan Oxyl is a gel used as an after thought after you gently wash your face (preferably with something mild a la spectrogel or cetaphil) and you apply before bedtime and leave on overnight.

You can buy PanOxyl in different concentrations, 2.5%, 5%, and 10% although I’m pretty sure Canada doesn’t carry the 10%. I’d suggest starting with 2.5% anyway, as this stuff is incredibly powerful and although you have the mindset of “but I want these spots gone now!” the 5% or 10% aren’t proven as more effective than the 2.5% and you will more probably have side effects of burning, peeling, swelling. Yep, it’s powerful stuff.

When you start using it, don’t apply to your whole face. Your skin will have to get used to it (it is a peroxide!) so just spot treat. Definitely get the gel and not the cream, the way to get rid of acne spots is to dry them out, not hydrate them! That doesn’t mean you should skip your moisturizer in the morning, you just need a very light moisturizer depending on your skin type. Through the next week you’ll notice those spots will disappear pretty quickly (I still use this to spot treat and my spots disappear overnight!) but you’ll also have a little peeling with your skin since it’s so drying. Your skin will get used to it and you won’t peel or flake after about a week.

Since this is peroxide, if you accidentally get some in your brown hair you will end up with blonde wherever it touched your hair, your pillowcase may get some white spots from bleaching (I suggest wait the few minutes for the gel to dry then go to bed and you won’t have this problem). Also this product (since it’s a more concentrated dose than any other product I’ve found) is photosensitive, which means the sun will make your skin more sensitive to light (including tanning beds, sorry ladies!) and will either result in burning your skin (much like a sunburn) and peeling or leaving little red dots where the product sat on your face. For this reason it’s best to use this at bedtime overnight, and make sure you wash it off well in the morning (no scrubbing, just make sure you rinse it all off). Also, don’t use this in conjunction with your St.Ives or any product containing salicylic acid, they don’t play well with each other, and will irritate your skin badly and not get any of the positive effects you’re looking for! Since this is so drying, if you haven’t picked up those exfoliating mitts I told you about a while ago you’re going to want to now for a very light rub on your face to get rid of dead skin cells or your pores will get clogged and you’ll end up getting more blemishes that way. It really is easy once you get the hang of it, promise!

Where did I learn about Benzoyl Peroxide? This amazing website acne.org, I didn’t actually follow the guys regimen but noted the active ingredient in the products he used and researched and found some locally. There are some forums on that site though that may help you find other people who have the same issues that you may have which is really helpful.