Should I stop using the ordinary salicylic acid? help pls

[Anonymous]

I got the ordinary’s salicylic acid to try out to see if it would help with hormonal acne on my chin. right now the cleaner i’m using has 4% glycolic acid and the toner has 2% salicylic acid. I put it on after i put my moisturizer on. it kind of burns, but then stops and it doesn’t feel like anything. I’m wondering if i should stop using it?

[RNGesusPls]

@Anonymous You might be overdoing the acids-- you have a cleanser with glycolic acid (AHA), a toner with salicylic acid (BHA), and then adding another salicylic acid (BHA) product. The Ordinary one is also 2% salicylic acid.

Have you tried it with a gentle, AHA/BHA-free cleanser and toner? If it works with a gentle routine, then your skin was irritated due to being overwhelmed by all the acids.

Else if you've already tried changing to a gentle routine and it still burns, then maybe the formulation isn't working and you should stop using. 

[Anonymous]

No i haven’t tried it with anything else, I already paid $120 for the current products i’m using so I would like to finish them off before switching to something else. after this I was going to try frank bod (a coffee based skincare) just to see if that works 

[RNGesusPls]

@Anonymous Ah ok, The Ordinary was probably the straw that broke the camel's back of acids. I didn't know Frank Body has a skincare line, I love their coconut coffee body scrub!

[WinglessOne]

@Anonymous  I agree with @RNGesusPls  that you’re probably overdoing acids, assuming your doctor didn’t recommend those products to you. You shouldn’t need a double dose of 2% BHA, especially not daily—and most especially not twice daily. Salicylic acid is known to be very drying if overused. I spot treat with a 2% BHA, but I only apply it once a day, and sometimes I skip a day between applications to keep my skin from flaking up. So, I recommend you either switch to a non-BHA toner and stick with The Ordinary’s BHA serum, or stop using The Ordinary serum and stick with the BHA toner. Personally, I’d switch toners so I could spot treat with the serum. 

I use an 10% AHA serum for exfoliation, but I don’t use it daily, let alone twice a day. I use it 3-4 nights a week, and now that I’m seeing good results I’m backing that down to 2-3 nights a week. You may need to alternate cleansers: use your AHA cleanser 2-3 days or nights a week, and use another cleanser that contains no AHA the rest of the week. 

[Anonymous]

If i’m over doing it with acids it’s probably the ordinary. I don’t have a doctor, I just started a new skincare routine in december with the products i’m using now as they’re supposed to be good for acne and they’re also formulated by an esthetician. I’d rather not switch anything as the products I paid for were expensive and they are meant to be used in a set. the cleaner has been working just fine as well. I think I’ll just stop using the salicylic acid 

[Krysa13]

It is very unusual that you put it on AFTER  your moisturizer and it still burns. You should really try to stop for a few days, or, alternatively, try it out without your moisturizer. Maybe it reacts with the moisturizer somehow  to create an irritating effect.

[Anonymous]

I’m just going to stop it all in general. I guess it was a bad purchase and a waste of money. I don’t think i’d wanna try it out without moisturizer because I use moisturizer everyday. I haven’t used it and it made my chin dry and crusty. the moisturizer is all organic so i don’t see how it would react with anything in it 

[Brutalitops]

@Anonymous  I would maybe give it a rest for a few days and make sure you're really moisturizing your skin to repair any barrier breakdowns and then gradually re-introduce it but it's really not necessary to use that much acid everyday. Your skin may need to recover just a little bit and then I would go with just using the salicylic every two days or so

[Anonymous]

I’m not using it anymore and I probably won’t continue using it. it says use in the am/pm as a spot treatment, so I was putting it on my scars and pimples when I had them. It made my chin really crusty and dry, it’s still like that so I haven’t been using it just my normal skincare routine 

[Brutalitops]

@Anonymous Yeah I personally have terrible luck with salicylic acid, it just wrecks the good skin I have without solving the problem. Figuring out what works for your skin with hormonal acne is such a (expensive) crapshoot, hopefully you find what works for you soon!