Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash

Active Ingredient:

Salicylic Acid (2%):

• What it is:        Salicylic acid is an ingredient used in many over-the-counter acne medications. It is also an exfoliant agent.

• What it does:     Acne is formed when skin cells inside hair follicles shed too fast and clump together, plugging up the follicle and causing a pimple. Salicylic acid helps slow down shedding of the cells inside the follicles, preventing clogging. Salicylic acid also helps break down blackheads and whiteheads.

* Avoid using other acne medications at the same time as Salicylic acid such as Benzoyl Peroxide, etc. Or it can cause severe dryness and flakiness.

Claims:

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash gets deep into pores to treat the breakouts you have now and helps to prevent future breakouts.  This effective, yet gentle cleanser deep cleans without overdrying or irritation.  Rinses clean, leaving no pore-clogging residue.  Skin comforters soothe and condition, helping to prevent irritation.



My opinion:

I have oily skin and when I wash my face, it gets shiny after only a few minutes. When I started using this as a face wash regularly, I noticed something. My face felt really tight and it was really dry around my mouth. I had to use heaps of moisturizer every time I washed my face and I'm too lazy to do that. I was confused because it was summer and my face didn't even get that dry in winter. Then I caught the culprit. It was this face wash of course. I should've known but I was new to the anti-acne, medicated washes at that time. It has 2% Salicylic Acid which is why it's super drying. (Usually medicated moisturizers or toners have 0.2% to 0.5% SA.)
I stopped using it like a face wash immediately. Then I got an idea:
I used it like you would use an ointment. Oh no, I didn't spread the gel on my face and leave it on. Nope. Every time I got a pimple, I squirted out a tiny amount of this gel, moistened and made it into a lather and only applied the foam on the pimple area and then washed it off. Voila! No extra, unnecessary dryness. This way, you treat only what needs to be treated. It really works. It's awesome like that. It instantly(I mean, within the day) reduces the size of the pimple, dries it out and the next day, it's gone. Good, eh?

Do I recommed it?

Not as a regular face wash but if you use it my way, as a medication then definitely. ^_^