Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash causing dry itchy, irritated skin?
Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at
10:49 am
I recently started using the oil free acne wash from Neutrogena about a week ago, and now my face is now full of dry itchy irritated skin. I had a mild case of acne breakout around my forehead and heard this was a good face wash for acne, but now my face is so dry and it is really itchy in certain spots around my mouth and nose.
What can I do? I use face lotion often, but its not helping!
Suggestions? Thanks!
Filed under: Skin and Hair Health
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
I had the same problem when I started using the same acne wash. I switched my regular lotion to this moisturizer, by Clean & Clear:
http://www.cleanandclear.com/productDetail.do?productid=52&productpos=0
It leaves my skin feeling SO soft and smooth. This is one of my favorite beauty products! I definitely recommend it!
heyy
neutrogena is such a great brand. either you had an allergic reaction OR you’re not moisturizing your face.
try moisturizing your face. try cetaphil!
if it’s not the moisturizing, switch to a different wash.
hmmm, i use that cleanser and it works really well for me. i’m guessing that it was too strong for your skin. that’s kind of weird because i don’t break-out, but i have really oily skin. it’s probably just too strong, so it irritated your skin. i suggest that you stop use and try using a much gentler product.
NOTE…I HAVE WRITTEN THIS LONG ANSWER TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS RELATING TO BECAUSE THEY COME UP SO OFTEN:
OILY SKIN
ACNE
FACIAL LIGHTENING
DEALING WITH ACNE SCARRING
DEALING WITH STRETCH MARKS
IMPROVING SKIN TONE
PIMPLES
BLACKHEADS
EMERGENCY SPOT TREATMENT
INGROWING HAIRS
BODY ACNE
…THE INFO’S BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCE. I’M 36 NOW SO I’VE HAD TO DEAL WITH THESE ISSUES FOR QUITE A WHILE AND THOUGH MUCH OF THIS ANSWER MAY BE IRRELEVANT, I HOPE THERE’LL BE SOMETHING THAT CAN HELP YOU!
GOOD LUCK!!!
RECOMMENDED SKIN CARE…I use clean and clear cream wash (good for sensitive skin or those that dry to easy) or Neutrogena clear skin make up remover wash. Both contain salicylic acid which prevents breakouts and gradually evens the skin tone out too. This is the most important thing you can do. I’ve tried various ‘oil free’/’salicylic acid’ moisturisers but the best I’ve found is the clean and clear on…I found the Neutrogena one actually seemed to aggravate my skin.
EMERGENCY SPOT TREATMENT!…The toothpaste things works! Put on a blob at night and put a bit of tissue over it so it doesn’t make a mess. It cools the area down and reduces the inflammation. I also recommend the clean and clear advantage spot treatment gel.
HORMONAL SPOTS…Any female with spots I’d recommend trying dianette or yasmine contraceptive pills because if it’s hormonal that can sort everything out within weeks…though it can take a couple of months to get used to the pill.
FACIAL ACNE: AVOID…Don’t use harsh scrubs and peroxide products daily like some people do; that can dry your skin and make produce MORE oil…just exacerbating the problem. Many face packs I’ve tried and those blackhead removal strips too seem to have caused problems.
I’ve also had problems with those ‘facial wipes’ made by clean and clear and Neutrogena because they’re too drying and when the top layer’s too dry, the oil gets stuck underneath and causes more problems!
Some say chocolate doesn’t affect it…it does for me and I don’t know how or why that should be but certain foods do seem to affect break out. Coffee is one of those things that seems to aggravate my skin too. So look out for anything you eat that might be making it worse.
HAIR PRODUCTS…Be careful what products you use in your hair if it’s long – certain conditioners have causes me to break out at times. Also be careful of hair gels, hair sprays and serums.
INGROWING HAIRS…For men or women…if you have oily skin, these are more likely. For men…use a facial scrub and avoid moisturisers that don’t have salicylic acid in them if you use a moisturiser. Some hair conditioners are much better lubricants than shaving cream too – so you might want to try that, and then was afterwards with a clean and clear was etc. Also I recommend the microdermabrasion kit mentioned later.
For women…waxing seems to cause the main problem – we pay most attention to our faces. Waxing seems to be the main culprit as opposed to shaving or hair removal creams…to avoid in-growing hairs, make sure to exfoliate. I recommend using those exfoliating gloves – that way, you can use any kind of shower gel.
NUTRITION…I recommend taking a 100% multi vitamin/mineral complex – those little spots you get around your mouth can be due to a vitamin b deficiency for example. Also I recommend Omega 369 oils every day because they improve blood flow.
OLD WIVES TALE??…It’s an ‘old wives tale’ type remedy – but a spoonful of cider vinegar and honey in hot water 3 times a day is meant to help EVERYTHING. It tastes nice too…kinda like honey and lemon X
HYDRATION….Keep your hydration right by drinking plenty of water, avoiding caffeine and alcohol and too much salt!
DEALING WITH SCARRING…there’s an excellent micro-dermabrasion scrub called ‘re-finish’ by L’oreal. You only use it a couple of times a week (and use at night because it makes your face red!). It really works not just with the colouring but also the texture – smoothes it back out. It comes with it’s own moisturiser which I don’t use but I use the scrub at night a couple of times a week and put bio oil on which it supposed to help clear scarring and even skin tone.
If you get your skin relatively under control, try using ’21 days Fade Cream’ (which I get from eBay) because it quickly clears up any scarring. It’s a skin lightening cream and is very effective as long as your skin type agrees with it. Bio oil is a good alternative!
Also, to detract from the colour variations in your skin tone, I recommend using Benefit’s Posie Tint or Benetint lipstain – this can be put on your cheeks and lips (which also makes your teeth look whiter as an added bonus). Lipstain is better than lipstick because it doesn’t smudge and it stays on; you can put lip balm or lip gloss on over it. Also, if you use it (SPARINGLY) on your cheeks, it is just like putting water on there; it doesn’t aggravate the skin or cause breakouts.
LI
try using the acne wash when your in the shower because if the water is hot then is will be humid which helps to open your pores. also try using moisturizer as soon as possible after using the acne wash. you may have to use more moisturizer and you may have to use it more then once but if it helps then it’s worth it. if the dry itchyness continues, try using a smaller amount of acne wash and mix it with a little bit of water before appliying it to your face. hope this helped and good luck.
daaam the same thing happened to me after i started using that exact same face wash. n the skin around my mouth and nose has been dry n itchy for bout 3 days. even my lips are dry n chapped! i stopped using it but its still the same.
OMG me too!
I used the exact same product. For the first day, my face felt tighter (which I thought was good)and I could see a little decrease in my acne. But on the third day, my face got worse and it started to itch LIKE HELL. I put on ALOT of moisturizer, but my face was still dry (especially under the nose)
So now I switched back to my old facial wash, but it doesn’t seem to work for me anymore
The neutrogena dryed my face too much and I dont know what to do!