I have never had a breakout until i hit my 30s. Then I started having mild breakouts. Nothing worked. I wanted to buy proactiv but didn't want to have a chance of wasting 30-50$ for something that may not work. On a trip to Walmart I walked through the skin care aisle and came across this 3 step package that also came with a small tube of a sulfur mask for less than 12$ so I thought what the heck I'll try it because it said compare to proactiv and the price is so hard to pass up. I have now been using it twice a day for only 5 days and OMG my skin looks and feels amazing. My once red patches, dry, skin with the few pimples I had is clear and as smooth as a babies butt. I will be buying this again. I have had no dry patches and I have sensitive skin. this product is AMAZING!!!!!!!

From the positive reviews on this site, this product clearly works for many people. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. I have never had any type of allergic skin reaction before, but after using all three steps 1-2 times daily for 3 days (and putting oil-free moisturizer on after step 3), I woke up to find that I had horribly puffy eyes and slightly red skin all over my face. I wasn't surprised by the red skin, but I was shocked by how puffy the bags under my eyes were. I am not naturally prone to swelling under my eyes, and have never gotten bags from lack of sleep or crying, so this was a very unexpected and embarrassing side effect. Only now, 5 days after I stopped using the product, are my eyes completely back to normal. I may use the toner and moisturizer to spot-treat problem areas, but it seems as though even washing my forehead in the shower and letting water drip past my eyes as it washes the cleanser away is too harsh for the skin there.

Bottom line: If you are going to try this product, make sure to do so at least a week before any important events in case you have a skin reaction similar to mine.

I will echo the other reviewers in that I was very surprised at how effective this system was. I picked it up after my Proactiv set ran out and I didn't want to wait/pay for shipping, having heard about the toner here on MakeupAlley.com. My local Walmart only had the 3 piece set of the cleanser, toner, and lotion so I bought that for $11.98. Packaging - it looks just like the original Proactiv packaging of 15-20 years ago. They are all squeeze bottles with screw on caps. The inside cap on the lotion popped off and spilled a puddle of product all over my counter the 3rd day. Annoying, but easily fixed. Cleanser - this feels and smells like the original formulation Proactiv, not the more recent formula that has more silica for exfoliation. Toner - this looks like the Proactiv and contains the same amount of glycolic acid and has all the same ingredients but in different concentrations and fragrance. Lotion - its more gel-like than Proactiv and a little thinner.

With both Proactiv and Equate, I had zero success with the system until I started massaging the cleaser onto my face for much longer, like instead of 2 minutes, i have been cleansing once a day for at least 4 solid minutes, and sometimes longer. I noticed an immiediate difference once I started using the cleanser this way. I have very oily skin and my pores seem to clog overnight and I end up with milia and commodones in my T-zones and, since I had my 2nd child, I get the occasional cyst that doesn't come to a head but stays as a raised, reddish bump under the skin on my cheeks or jawline due to crazy hormone changes post-partum. Derms always say, oh don't worry! You'll grow out of it! to teens and I never imagined my teenaged flare-ups would continue to my mid-30s. Anyway, using the cleaser more like a mini-facial made the rest of the products actually work for me. I noticed my skin is softer, more even, and generally happier with smaller pores. The Equate toner works adequately - Proactiv was more hydrating and soothing and i prefer the scent. With the toner, I completely saturate a cotton ball and dab on my face until it's wet and then let air dry before applying a light layer of the lotion. I've been using the Proactiv oil-free moisturizer with spf 15 during the day after the lotion dries and it makes a nice matte but non-dry primer base for mineral makeup application. I generally don't moisturize as night, however. I do the long cleanse usually at night after wearing makeup all day. My morning routine in the shower is lighter, but i still really wet my face with the toner.

Since I tend to go through the kit faster with my routine, especially the toner, I'll likely be continuing with Equate until I run out of the Proactive moisturizer and have to repurchase. Even if Proactiv hasn't worked in the past for you, you could try the Equate and use it like I do and see if that makes a difference. With such effectiveness in a product, you might wonder if it's a HG candidate. I would say it could be, if the packaging were a little more secure and the toner was more like Proactiv. As it is, it's pretty great! Overall, I like this product and you just can't beat the price!

WOW. Like... wow. I just can't express how shocked I am with the results I've gotten from using this product. I have moderate acne that gets significantly worse when it's that TOTM. I'll get around 1-3 cysts along my jaw during this time period, which will take about a month to heal, at which point the cycle starts all over again (ughhhhh). I tried Proactive when I was approximately 14-15, and didn't have noticeable results. Admittedly, it's been five or so years since then, so my skin is very different, but the results from using this product are remarkable. I have never seen results from using benzoyl peroxide, so I generally stick with salicylic acid as my acne fighter. But after three cysts ravaged my face last month, I decided to try something new. I happened upon this product and saw the great reviews and the cheap price and decided to give it a go. After about four days of using it twice a day, I saw a dramatic and fantastic difference in my skin. Small zits and bumps that were popping up were demolished. I actually felt comfortable not wearing makeup. After a while, it did dry my skin out, so I dropped down to only using it once a day, then every other day. I have recommended this to my friends and family, and am so thrilled that I can find this at my local walmart for such a cheap price. I don't think I will ever be without this product. (also, the sulfur mask that comes in the kit is a nice bonus that actually doesn't smell like sulfur and works well on any zits you might feel coming up). HG

This is for the repairing lotion - I swear by this product. I am on about my 4th bottle of it. I use it morning and night after cleansing my face (I use the Equate knock off of Clearasil facewash). I use about a dime size amount or less and really let it soak in. Also, if you have sensitive skin MAKE SURE YOUR SKIN IS DRY BEFORE APPLYING. Cannot stress that enough. After the lotion sinks in for a few minutes, make sure you apply a moisturizer - I use Cetaphil lotion. It may take a few weeks, but this will clear your face up like no other. I pretty much follow the acne.org regimen - you can research that and find out what I'm talking about. Basically, don't touch your face and when you DO, be as gentle as possible. If you're having trouble with acne, give this mild benzoyl peroxide lotion a whirl, following it with a moisturizer and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

This stuff is absolute crap! I had such a good and inexpensive facial care, but then I decided I would step it up a notch and try proactive. Awful stuff! It made my skin flaky, and it made me break out even more, I have two on my cheek (there so bad there going to leave a dark mark), then I got a huge ugly one on my nose, one between my eyebrow, three right under my skin, and one on my chin. My skin looks and feels terrible. Don't spend money on this!!!!!!!!

I really like this product. It was about 4 dollars at walmart. I haven't used the entire system. I believe the entire system is about 11 or 12 dollars. Which is pretty cheap compared to proactiv. I only use the repairing lotion in this system. I got off my medicine from my dermatologist to try this product out. I was using Clindamycin before and it made my skin super oily, but it did help my acne. The Repairing Lotion though i believe has helped even better than the other medicine. It has benzoyl peroxide in it and i believe that is what has been helping my extremely oily skin. My pimples have definitley decreased and a few scars have even faded. My skin looks a lot healthier. I bet that my acne would completely clear if i used the whole system but i'm scared it'll mess up my progress. I definitely think that everyone who is suffering from acne should forget about stupid proactiv and try this system. They have the same main ingredients, but this seems to have worked a lot better for some people. It kinda burned my skin the first time i used the repairing lotion, but after the next uses it was completely fine. I use it on my face at night and then put lotion on top of it to combat the drying affect it has. I do not apply it in the morning only because i'm afraid it'll over dry my sensitive skin.

So I have used Proactive for about 8 years. Every time I have tried weaning my skin off of it my face always broke out. I read about this online and thought it was worth a try and I am so glad I did! I only purchased the cleanser and the repairing lotion not the entire set; which is really nice. The cleanser was a little over $4, way less than proactive. The solution itself is not a thick or exfoliating as proactive, and the repairing lotion is thinner in consistency as well but this stuff works just as well as proactive. I have been using this product for about 6 months now and my face hasn't noticed a difference, but my pocketbook sure has!!

I have tried proactive years ago and it seemed to make my acne worse. I am in my 30s with acne so I have been using this for a month and it does work. I have extremely sensitive red skin so I don't use the whole system every day. I use Aminogenesis really really clean cleanser and the aminogenesis lotion with the equate repairing lotion everyday. I do not use it on my cheeks since they are dry with no acne. Twice a week I use the equate cleanser. I have stopped using the toner cause it makes my skin too irritated and dry. My skin is clear and smooth and all my blackheads are gone! If the whole system is too irritating for you than just try part of it and find what works. They also sell each item separately if you don't need the whole kit.
Highly recommended.

I have been suffering from cycstic acne since 2004. I go to the dermatologist every 3 months for my acne. I have used proactiv on and off for many years along with creams my doctor would prescribe. I started using the equate proactiv a few days ago and I love it way better than the expensive brand name. My skin is super sensitive and I usually have a lot of redness from step 1 in proactiv. The equate step 1 still exfoliates but doesn't make me red and it doesn't hurt. I also like the step 3 equate better than the brand name step 3. I honestly cannot tell a difference in step 2. I can see such a difference in the redness and smoothness of my skin. My pimples also seem smaller and a lot smoother. This is a great product at a great price. Especially for college girls!

UPDATE: I still use step 1 as a light scrub for my sensitive, red skin but overall the 3-step system didn't keep up the good work. I started getting little bumps all over my face and it became really dry. Big let down :(