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Post in Oily Skin
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Anonymous Insider

Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I just felt the need to warn anyone who may suffer from acne or oily skin that Drunk Elephant may not be the best brand for you because it certainly was not for me. I am 35 years old and have not suffered from ANY acne or breakouts in well over 10 plus years. I do have oily skin but thankfully not acne. However within two days of starting on the complete Drunk Elephant skin care line my face was erupting in horrible cystic acne everywhere, whiteheads appearing everyday and my skin was ten times more oily then it has ever been. My pores looked so congested and clogged.I was shocked because I read some great reviews from others on this line but it destroyed my skin! I stuck it out for 4 1/2 months and it just got worse and worse to the point I couldn't use it any more in fear I was going to get permanent scarring. I thought it may have been "purging" but I highly doubt your skin "purges" for well over 4 months. Now I don't even believe in this purging thing. If my skin was clear for years prior to using these products then I really can't see there being such horrible invisible issues happening beneath the skin for years that suddenly decide to surface. Not only that but it had been over 4 months and it was getting worse!

 

      After doing some research on the ingredients I found out that pretty much every product in the line has marula oil in it and if you look up this ingredient you will see that it has an EXTREMELY high comedogenic rating and potential to clog pores-it's comedogenic rating is 4/5 (with 5 being the highest)!. Also the C-firma's 5th ingredient is Laureth-23 is rated 3/5 on the comedogenic scale! Thankfully after researching all the ingredients to find out what could be causing these breakouts on my skin I was able to see why and stop using them. Thankfully now my skin is healing from these breakouts now that I have switched to a different line.

 

   I REALLY REALLY wanted to love these products so bad! I spent so much money on them and thought the packaging was so cute and loved the whole all natural, non-toxic approach since I only use clean products. And for anyone who may say the standared DE response of "what happened was caused by other brands I must have been using and NOT DE" I can assure you this is impossible considering I ONLY used DE for the entire 4 months-DE cleanser, C-firma, TLC and the SPF. Literally did not use ANYTHING else on my skin and also I do not wear makeup ever. Unfortunately I have nothing else to attribute the acne and breakouts on other then the DE products. As I mentioned I had not had any issues with acne or break outs whatsoever in well over 10 years UNTIL I started using these products. I even decreased the amount of the serums thinking maybe I was using too much and it made no difference whatsoever.

I am sure others have had these experiences and just wondering what your thoughts are.

Tags:

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I totally agree with you!!!

 

I used the Drunk Elephant cleanser which was a birthday gift from Sephora. Then, I got acne on my forehead (I only got acne there when I was a teenager). My friend, who is also a VIBR and got the same birthday gift, used the cleanser and got an area of breakouts near her chin. She was so worried because she was pregnant.

 

Needless to say, after so many "coincidence" of acne and breakouts after using this cleanser, Drunk Elephant truly got some problems with this cleanser and they should keep doing their R&D to improve their products.

 

RE: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I just came into Sephora.ca to search โ€œDrunk Elephant Breakoutโ€ and canโ€™t believe how many posts there are by people with similar experiences to mine. I just started the Framboos Serum three days ago and every day since have had multiple whiteheads. I am 49 years-old, very rarely get whiteheads/acne (in fact I donโ€™t even have oily skin, itโ€™s sensitive/dry). I purchased this product based on all the positive reviews to see if it would help fade a particularly unsightly broken capillary on my face caused by rosacea. (To be fair, it is less noticeable now that itโ€™s hidden under a mountain of whiteheads, lol!) I am glad this works for some people, but it definitely has a very negative affect on others. Live and learn. I am discounting use and returning it ASAP. (By the way I trialed this product completely on itsown, all I use otherwise is an extremely gentle cleanser.) So itโ€™s not a case of mixing products.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Iโ€™m one month in and experiencing the same thing. Got The Littles and Baby Facial, completely changed out and used all DE products. Worried that my skin keeps getting worse I searched and found your post. Going to stop tonight... back to normal/cheaper drug store routine. CereVe... among other things no breakouts or skin problems for years. Guess Iโ€™ll use up the products in the winter on my neck and hands...

RE: Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Switch to Tatcha. I had the exact same problems and now I will not use anything but Tatcha. I tried hundreds of softeners products and brands and Tatcha has been the best results so far. I have a couple thousand dollars worth of products I am probably just going to throw in the trash because I wouldnโ€™t want anyone else to experience the break outs, sweaty looking skin, and no results that I did. Tatcha has actually transformed my oily skin to normal skin! Itโ€™s amazing!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Same here. I try a lot of skin care but Drunk Elephant is not for me and also Korres. I don't understand why.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Do you mind if I ask how long it took for you to heal after the broke out?im breaking out because of that cream really bad now. Thank you so much!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Hi, thank you for your post. I have the exact same experience. I have white heads and bumps all over my face. Itโ€™s humiliating. If you dont mind me asking, how long did it take for you to heal after you stop using the line ? Thank you so so much.

Drunk Elephant Protiniโ„ข Polypeptide Firming Refillable Moisturizer 1.69 oz/ 50 mL

#

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Hi, thank you for your post. I have the exact same experience. If you dont mind me asking, how long did it take for you to heal since you stopped using the line ? Thank you so so much in advance. I tear everyday looking at the mirror right now.

Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

My mom broke out from it too! Strange. Idk if it's like a purge since its clean skincare and all the toxins from previous stuff is coming out, or if its really not the best for sensitive skin ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿฝโ€โ™€๏ธ

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Hi there, do you mind if I ask how long it took for you to heal ? Do you have any tips of healing ? Breaking out really badly now. Thank you so much

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Wow! Same with me. This stuff was great at first but after several months my face just got so bad. Pimples. Dull skin. Dry and greasy simultaneously.

I kept using and now it's been 6 months. I tried each individual product alone to isolate the culprit. 

Turns out it's all of it. Pimples went away after a week going back to my old cleanser that's 14 bucks. I don't recommend this stuff.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Spoiler
I thought I was crazy but looking back at photos just prior to DE & having completely clear skin to now.. it is like night & day. I never suffered from acne my whole life and now my face is a complete mess. I got DE trail samples for my bday & used points for some serums & now my face has cystic acne on my cheeks and breakouts all along my chin. HORRIBLE! I have just thrown out all the products I have from them after trying to convince myself for over a month it couldnโ€™t be DE... but thatโ€™s literally the only thing I have changed. I hope my face heals up soon with no scarring. ๐Ÿ˜ž 

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

@Anonymous after using DE marula oil and TLC, my skin got very sensitive. I even started seeing flakey areas above eyebrow area. A derm told me this was eczema. I'm not sure if DE contributed to it, but I have since stayed away from the TLC product--even though I still have it:(. Someone at Sephora recommended I use a vitamin C product from Ren that had a slow-release vit c formula. But, I am scared to use it after my other experience.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I am so glad I found this post. I started the DE Vitamin C serum 2 months ago and have developed Cystic Acne like you wouldn't believe! Sadly, it took me until this week to correlate it to the product. I am 43 years old and my chin and jaw line look like an explosion of land mines. It is humiliating. 

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

Not quite a breakout but unfortunately my Drunk Elephant C-Tangoโ„ข Vitamin C Eye Cream 0.5 oz/ 15 mLhas been giving my under-eye milia! I know theyโ€™ll go away on their own so Iโ€™m not rushing to the dermatologist, but Iโ€™m a little disappointed that it didnโ€™t work out for me. Back to my trusted OLEHENRIKSEN - Banana Bright Eye Crรจmeit is! Also - the DR. BRANDT SKINCARE - needles no moreยฎ NO MORE BAGGAGEโ„ข eye de-puffing gelis another great morning eye cream if anyone is looking - itโ€™s a deep peach color that is great for color correcting even without concealer!

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I don't use Drunk Elephant so I can't rate the effectiveness of it. I would caution people to try one or two items at a time to see if their skin can tolerate it rather than start a whole new routine using just their products (or any other skincare product line). You'll have a better chance of knowing which ingredient you are reacting to,

Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I'm sorry that happened to you and apparently quite a few others! I haven't had any problems with their products. They've actually been working better than most others for me. Huh. ๐Ÿ˜•

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I have also never had acne issues or super oily skin but the same happened to me since I started using DE products. I think this is bad for people who have oily skin or an oily tzone to begin with. It works better for dry skin. I have been breaking out all the time and I hate my skin now. I have stopped using them. What a shame because I felt my face firming with one of the products, but it is not worth it if I am going to have constant acne and scarring

Anonymous Insider

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I, too, developed SEVERE cystic acne ALL OVER my face after using these products. 

Similarly, the response was "Oh, it's from the other products you're using that are incompatible". Well- considering I 1) threw out all my other products and have been exclusively using DE for 2 months and 2) don't wear ANY makeup at all, I find that hard to believe. 

My skin has never been this bad in my entire life. Now I'm a 31 year old woman walking around with inflamed skin covered in whiteheads and bumps, flaky patches of dead skin sluffing off all the time. It literally has me in tears on a daily basis. 

The ingredients in 99% of these products are known to cause cystic acne. But sure, slather it on your face morning and night. 

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

 


@Anonymous wrote:

I just felt the need to warn anyone who may suffer from acne or oily skin that Drunk Elephant may not be the best brand for you because it certainly was not for me. I am 35 years old and have not suffered from ANY acne or breakouts in well over 10 plus years. I do have oily skin but thankfully not acne. However within two days of starting on the complete Drunk Elephant skin care line my face was erupting in horrible cystic acne everywhere, whiteheads appearing everyday and my skin was ten times more oily then it has ever been. My pores looked so congested and clogged.I was shocked because I read some great reviews from others on this line but it destroyed my skin! I stuck it out for 4 1/2 months and it just got worse and worse to the point I couldn't use it any more in fear I was going to get permanent scarring. I thought it may have been "purging" but I highly doubt your skin "purges" for well over 4 months. Now I don't even believe in this purging thing. If my skin was clear for years prior to using these products then I really can't see there being such horrible invisible issues happening beneath the skin for years that suddenly decide to surface. Not only that but it had been over 4 months and it was getting worse!

 

      After doing some research on the ingredients I found out that pretty much every product in the line has marula oil in it and if you look up this ingredient you will see that it has an EXTREMELY high comedogenic rating and potential to clog pores-it's comedogenic rating is 4/5 (with 5 being the highest)!. Also the C-firma's 5th ingredient is Laureth-23 is rated 3/5 on the comedogenic scale! Thankfully after researching all the ingredients to find out what could be causing these breakouts on my skin I was able to see why and stop using them. Thankfully now my skin is healing from these breakouts now that I have switched to a different line.

 

   I REALLY REALLY wanted to love these products so bad! I spent so much money on them and thought the packaging was so cute and loved the whole all natural, non-toxic approach since I only use clean products. And for anyone who may say the standared DE response of "what happened was caused by other brands I must have been using and NOT DE" I can assure you this is impossible considering I ONLY used DE for the entire 4 months-DE cleanser, C-firma, TLC and the SPF. Literally did not use ANYTHING else on my skin and also I do not wear makeup ever. Unfortunately I have nothing else to attribute the acne and breakouts on other then the DE products. As I mentioned I had not had any issues with acne or break outs whatsoever in well over 10 years UNTIL I started using these products. I even decreased the amount of the serums thinking maybe I was using too much and it made no difference whatsoever.

I am sure others have had these experiences and just wondering what your thoughts are.



I agree with you this brand destroy my face I wentto the dermatologist she told me she has a lot  of % patient with congested pores and the mentioned been using this brand.

Re: Drunk Elephant caused acne and breakouts!

I am having the same exact issue! I never in my life had any breakouts and now I have cyst and Iโ€™m afraid of scaring. Everyone kept saying purging and itโ€™s been about 3 months. I called DE and they suggested that I only use the cleanser and the oil to restart my skin but after reading ur review Iโ€™m thinking the oil may be the main problem. Thank u for this

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