Product 38: Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash Foaming Scrub

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Foaming Pink Grapefruit Scrub was something I was really wanted to try out. Unfortunately it wasn’t the awesome acne wash that I was expecting especially since it won an Allure Reader’s Choice award. Great smell, nice feel to it but it didn’t really help my acne issue and tore my pores.

So when my acne decided to go a bit haywire in part due to due to my stress, lack of sleep, diet and underlying acne issues, I decided it was time to finally try the Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit scrub that won the Allure award. Allure does their annual awards and prides itself as the Beauty Magazine and one of the places I read a lot to keep up-to-date with the trends in the cosmetic world. I’ve been holding off on purchasing this in part due to the plethora of acne washes and cleansers that I have in bathroom.

First thoughts were that I loved this wash. It felt so good on my skin and I loved the aroma. It seemed like something that would be good for my skin and I hoped would just clear my acne super quickly like it’s supposed to do. But I know with acne washes, it may take some time before you see any results. The first few uses, I loved how my skin felt clean and tight.

So I used the wash daily, just in the mornings (not the twice a day like the bottle said). At first I did this because I forgot to reach up and grabbed the cleanser when I take the nightly bubble bath. Then I did purposely since I was noticing my pores were getting larger and larger with a more torn appearance. Scrubs can be notorious for tearing pores if you do it daily which is why most dermatologists are recommending that you use scrubs once a week, not daily. In the past, I never noticed my pores coming under attack or getting larger. But this was definitely the case with the acne wash long term.

After about three weeks, my acne wasn’t getting better. In fact it was about the same as always. Then I looked closely at the active ingredients. I saw it was salicylic acid. This is the most common active ingredient in acne washes and can be really affective at drying out the skin from oil. But for my skin, for whatever reason has never really been prone to working with salicylic acid to help stop acne, instead I need other active ingredients like a glycolic acid or egg whites.

Bottom line, I like the way it feels, but it’s not right for my skin to really tackle acne. It was a good try and I like the way it feels especially the first couple uses when it just leaves the skin feeling clean and tight. But a daily cleaner it was too rough for my skin and ripped my pores open.