I've given in and bought The Ordinary

[wobblebot]

After reading, researching and multiple abandoned online baskets I've finally ordered three different recommended products to try to reduce my acne and blackheads.

The products are;

• Lactic acid 10% + HA
• Glycolic acid 7%
• Salicylic acid 2%

--That's a lot of acid -- In fact, when I began to look into the above my acne was much worse in terms of cystic breakouts but my god, my pores are the size of the vredefort crater and so heavily congested.

I figure the next step is to work out how to use these disintegrated potions. Good ladies (and gents) of S+B, would you please be kind enough to offer me your hints/tips/experiences/mistakes??

What I would personally do is email the ordinary, I've heard they're really good with advice/building routines.

In the meantime don't start using them all!!!! Choose one and use it once a week, see how your skin reacts and build it up slowly

Sound advice there thank you!

You need retinol too. Personally however, I don't rate the ordinary at all but you well might.

I used salycilic acid for months with no problems at all and it cleared up my mild acne really well. Then after a break I tried it again as I had some mild spotty patches and it absolutely ruined my skin, basically burnt it. I ended up with red, sore, bumpy, dry patches across my face for days. So be careful! I don't know what changed, it was a new bottle but the same brand (the ordinary) so who knows

@Truckingonandon I've added 0.2% retinol to the order, I previously read it was important to build tolerance.

Any application advice?

Retinol at night. Couple of times a week to start with and/or buffer with Cerave, depending on how well you're tolerating it. Build from there until you're applying it 5 days out of 7 and on the strong stuff! Holy grail is tretinoin but that makes you shed skin like a 🐍

@Notaman I had a similar issue with Salicylic from TO! I used it for a few months and then one day reacted very badly to it - contact dermatitis. Now I can’t use anything with Saliylic because it basically burns my skin!

OP I’d email TO and ask for suggested routines. You’ve got a lot of potentially harsh products there and they could make your skin worse and/or very sensitive. Probably worth trying different acids and then just using one going forward.

I think if you use all of this in one hit, you'll be nuking your skin! Go gently, grasshopper! Definitely contact The Ordinary about a routine, though! You could be causing your issues by stressing it out!!!

Not sure why you bought all 3 acids. They vary in strength and you use one not all three. Often people will start out on lactic and work up but it's unnecessary to purchase all 3 at once.

I used salycilic acid for months with no problems at all and it cleared up my mild acne really well. Then after a break I tried it again as I had some mild spotty patches and it absolutely ruined my skin, basically burnt it. I bought some for my DS to use on his spots but DD (who is an early teen) used it without seeking advice and had a chemical burn to her forehead because of it. It's now been confiscated.

I use The Ordinary products in my routine. However, I always find that after 6 weeks of continuous use the products stop being as effective despite mixing up my routine for certain days etc.

My ‘go to’ product for blackheads and pore minimisation (and redness reduction!) is alpha h liquid gold. More expensive but lasts an age!

I appreciate all the advice and concerns.

I don't plan on jumping into a cocktail bath, my hope is to trial and error and have scope to mix it up to help prevent it stopping working (as pp's have said).

I've emailed and won't do anything until I hear a response