Pro Activ • 3-Step System • Skincare - Face

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FeralCreature on 4/3/2013 12:27:00 PM more reviews by FeralCreature

Age: 25-29   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair, Cool   Hair: Blond, Fine   Eyes: Green    

I used the Pro Activ system, on and off, for around 6 years. No joke. I kept coming back because my initial results were so great, but they never lasted.

When I first tried Pro Activ, and when I first re-started many times later, my acne would start to clear up within a few days. Given 2-3 weeks my face would be clearer than I thought possible. But after a few more weeks, it would start both turning red and breaking out again. So I'd add another Pro Activ thing - the sulfur mask, green tea moisturizer, pore strips, treatment concealer, you name it - I gradually added each one to my regimen until the 3-step system became an 8-10-step system that was too expensive and no matter what eventually quit working. Then, frustrated, I'd give up and go out and buy some other skin care products which I would try for a couple months. But I kept going back to the Pro Activ each time the purging and what not became too much to bear.

I have a theory that Pro Activ, and many other harsh products, work like a drug addiction. The first use gets you high, then you need more and more to achieve the same results until you're finally just feeding your addiction to "normalize" yourself, and no longer able to get high. If you detox for a bit, you can go back and feel those awesome effects again, but not for long.

When I finally realized this was the relationship Pro Activ had with my face, I switched to a very gentle regimen and it took around 6 months or so to get my skin back to where it was normal enough that I could even figure out what my real issues were and what needed to be addressed.

On a less serious note, all of my pillow cases and hooded or high-necked tops also got bleached. I'm pretty sure bleaching = too high of a benzoyl peroxide content. And imagine my embarrassment the first time I forgot about this when staying at a boyfriends house and awoke to find I'd bleached *his* pillow and borrowed hoodie as well.

Also of note: When my met my current boyfriend he was using Pro Activ and complained to me of having the same issues with it for years. A few years later his skin is better than it ever was with this stuff, using only a bar soap we found him on Etsy and some witch hazel hydrosol and aloe. Go figure.

I'll be staying away from Pro Activ from now on. I'd far rather deal with my blemishes in a gentle way, even if it takes longer, than go through the ups and downs of a topical drug addiction. This only gets one lippy... because I can't rate it ZERO.

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glamarlo1234 on 4/3/2013 4:58:00 AM more reviews by glamarlo1234

Age: 19-24   Skin: Normal, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Green    

This stuff is terrible. I never felt like my skin was getting clean with the cleanser, and it irritated my skin bad. It made my skin so dry I couldn't stand it and I even used a moisturizer every morning and night! One time I was rubbing primer on my face and my face just started peeling because it was so dry. EW! Even though it kept my acne under control I couldn't take the dryness (ain't nobody got time for that!). I don't recommend this at all.

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sofibecca on 3/31/2013 6:57:00 PM more reviews by sofibecca

Age: 19-24   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair, Cool   Hair: Brunette, Curly, Medium   Eyes: Brown    

I used this for a full year and it only irritated my skin. it never got rid of my acne and it made my skin red, sore, dry, crusty, gross. I did follow the directions exactly how they tell you but this really doesn't work. It even contains ingredients that cause more acne and irritation, it doesn't make sense.
Recently i found something that actually works. I use the clarisonic face brush with philosophy purity face wash then i follow with prescription benzyl peroxide and an antibiotic lotion. don't waste your money on proactive or any other over the counter acne treatment just go to your doctor.

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Kariibex on 3/31/2013 6:02:00 PM more reviews by Kariibex

Age: 18 & Under   Skin: Oily, Medium   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

Horrible. I tried this, since I'm a teenager and I'm extremely prone to acne.

This did absolutely nothing to help me. I used the product religiously - applying it just as the guide instructed me to.

I was left, after 2 months, with no results.

Please don't waste your money. Spend it on a pizza instead.

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ivanradonjic on 3/30/2013 2:08:00 PM more reviews by ivanradonjic

Age: 18 & Under   Skin: Sensitive, Olive   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Hazel    

This product is a lot of work first of all. It takes about a half hour to complete. Second, it just doesn't work. It inflamed my sensitive skin. And it made it pink and red for about an hour. Don't buy it, it also costs too much for a product that doesn't work

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Rissyf on 3/28/2013 7:09:00 PM more reviews by Rissyf

Age: 19-24   Skin: Normal, Medium   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

After i had my first child (10-16-2012 i broke out around my chin and cheek area so i decided to try pro activ. The Pro is it made my skin feel clean after uses. The big Con is even after i applied the green tea moisturizer after each use, my skin dried to the point that the area around my mouth darkened! i went to sleep and woke up with a mouth darker then it should be! i canceled my membership right away and will stick to washing my face with sensitive soap and using glycolic acid 10% night cream. my skin is clearing though thanks to the vitamins I've been taking. All i will say is never again... and in the commercials they are definitely wearing make up.

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LissCalder on 3/28/2013 3:34:00 PM more reviews by LissCalder

Age: 19-24   Skin: Acne-prone, Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Brown    

Worst product ever used. Made my face worse actually. I use Clinique now and it works better.

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Desireec727 on 3/28/2013 2:03:00 PM more reviews by Desireec727

Age: 19-24   Skin: Acne-prone, Medium Brown   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

I really do owe my confidence to ProActiv. I've struggled with acne for years. Since 6th grade. Huge, painful, cystic pimples that not only hurt physically but emotionally. I tried everything. I spent hundreds of dollars on trying to find a solution to my problem, but nothing...until ProActiv. I started using it about 7 months ago and it started working right away. I normally wear makeup everyday but when I started this 3 step system, I knew that it would work best undistrubed so I sucked it up for about 2 weeks and didn't wear makeup and my skin completely cleaned up. My face was dry as holy hell for those 2 weeks and I ended up using cocoa butter to calm down my flaky skin, but it really was making a huge different. ProActiv is not cheap which is why I can't give it 5 lippies. It's $30 a month. But it really is worth it. In the beginning I used to twice a day. After my skin cleared and got used to the medication, it started to become irritating twice a day so I reduced my application to only at night. Now I'm down to using it only twice a week (Monday night and Thursday night) and using other facial washes and moisturizers during the week to save money. Now the 60 day supply lasts me at least 5 months. I have 3 untouched shipments at home and after the next one, I'm going to cancel and continue to use this twice a week and hopefully that will last me a while. I am afraid that after I stop using ProActiv, my skin will freak out and break out really badly. Hopefully that's not the case. But anyway, this stuff really does work great, I just wish they made it cheaper. Desireesbeautyblog.Blogspot.com

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Princesseren on 3/24/2013 1:54:00 PM more reviews by Princesseren

Age: 19-24   Skin: Combination, Medium   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

I tried this when I was trying to get rid of my acne. I had very mild breakouts and this system worsen them. I am guessing that this system works for people with oily skin. However, if you have combination skin or just slight dryness, do not try this. It will completely dry out yous skin and cause more breakouts and scars. Instead try a milder system. Another thing to be aware of is the fact that once that you sign up with proactive it is very complicated to cancel and they automatically charge your credit card and send you product. So unless, you are absolutely right this works well for you, buy pro active over the counter.

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4everbeauty21 on 3/22/2013 4:22:00 AM more reviews by 4everbeauty21

Age: 18 & Under   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

Would you buy this again? HELL NO! WORST PRODUCT EVERRRRR POINT _____
PPL PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY THIS PRODUCT IS BS.

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MakeupAlleyJunkie on 3/22/2013 4:10:00 AM more reviews by MakeupAlleyJunkie

Age: 18 & Under   Skin: Dry, Medium, Warm   Hair: Black, Wavy, Medium   Eyes: Brown    

I am so upset with this product. First of all, if you have sensitive skin or anything near sensitive skin, do not even bother trying this acne system out. It burned the living hell out of my skin with only a single use. It made my skin puffy and pink/red. I had to apply a cold compress and allergy cream to the affected areas (pretty much my whole entire face) I also had to take allergy medicine. It did rid of some acne despite the other damage it caused. I would honestly rather have my acne than have no acne and have to live with the terrible damage this product caused to my face. It made my skin so dry and flaky. I couldn't wear makeup for about a week because it looked so gross on my damaged skin. Again, I am so upset. I can't believe I paid so much money for such a bad product. Save yourself the trouble, don't buy this.

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alainlalaland on 3/16/2013 1:53:00 PM more reviews by alainlalaland

Age: 19-24   Skin: Combination, Fair, Cool   Hair: Brown, Wavy, Medium   Eyes: Blue    

I don't recommend this to anyone. I used it a couple years ago when I had horrible cystic acne and very oily skin and it was terrible. The face wash was pretty basic, but the toner and so called "treatment" turned my entire face BRIGHT red and burned like crazy for about twenty minutes. Proactiv dried out my skin but didn't diminish any oil. It also bleached all of my pillowcases due to the benzoyl peroxide. I saw a dermatologist and was put on Accutane, which was its own separate torture, but actually worked. I recommend using a Neutrogena cleanser, witch hazel as a toner, and finding a nice oil-free moisturizer, because even oily skin needs moisture! I try to stay as natural as possible now, because I find natural ingredients work better than all of the chemicals (ahem, Proactiv.) Honey is one of the best natural solutions there is. If Proactiv works for you, awesome, but it was far from the answer for my skin.

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Mriyanti on 3/16/2013 11:08:00 AM more reviews by Mriyanti

Age: 25-29   Skin: Acne-prone, Tan   Hair: Black   Eyes: Black    

I Love proactive. I have been using it for the last 6 years. it does make my skin a lil dry but nothing like a normal lotion wouldnt fix. I had such a bad acne skin but proactive really safe my life. I tried murad and other drug store products and MANY many other product and always come back to proactive. I just wished i had it when i was in high school it would make it more memorable.

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jennc91 on 3/11/2013 3:29:00 PM more reviews by jennc91

Age: 19-24   Skin: Acne-prone, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

In the beginning of the month I started using proactiv, it worked amazing. Cleared everything up. Then after a few weeks my acne started coming back again.. n i had to start using proactiv 2 times a day now and my face is extremely dry. It is somewhat helping but I always get a breakout or 2. In about a month I get to see a derm. I should have been gone to one because maybe my acne problems would have found ansolution. Also.. many ppl say that once you use proactiv, your face depends on it. Thats not good . Have your face chemically dependant.

For those of you experiencing acne out of the blue when you once had clear skin, see a derm ASAP! Or else you will most likely end up with scars and breakouts in other places of your face/body.Im learning this the hard way...

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2fit2quit3456 on 3/9/2013 11:57:00 PM more reviews by 2fit2quit3456

Age: 18 & Under   Skin: Other   Hair: Other   Eyes: Other    

Ok, really not a proactiv fan at all. I feel used and abused that I was a sucker for their marketing.

I saw the whole celebrity thing and figured that it had to be worth something so I gave it about 4 months of treatment (buying from the northridge mall for 60 bucks every regimen) and just ended up with an extremely dry face and zero difference in acne, besides the added bonus of having a red face afterwards.

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Everythingbeautynyc on 3/7/2013 11:26:00 PM more reviews by Everythingbeautynyc

Age: 30-35   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Brown    

Basically the main ingredients in this system are the same ingredients found in far less expensive treatments. And do not work for serious cases of acne, I have tried these products many years ago, and I was shocked to see that they had the very same ingredients found in every single anti-acne drugstore product. SALICILIC ACID & Benzoil Peroxide, and they did come out with an aha/bha, alpha hydroxy acid/ beta hydroxy acid product since, its the same stuff that you can get for a fraction of the price at the drugstore from any of the sets at the drugstore, and for drugstore prices, Neutrogene, clean &clear, any company they make the same products with the same exact ingredients. If you really have any acne, dermatologists will prescribe and these are 3 phenomenal products that really do get rid of acne that you can ask for specifically 1. Azelex, 2. differin gel, and you can alternate, also erythromycin topical comes in gel form comes in liquid pad form, its an an anti biotic this should be the first step, 2nd step would be differin gel which is a retinoid, And Azelex (Azelaic Acid) they are used together but as an aternate if one stops working for a while you can use the other, cause our systems build up tollerance to even topical face medications, and so when i was 18 someone told me about this and i went to dermatologist asked for these products, and that person was right, I had clear skin and never had any real breakouts that are obvious, if you have a severe form of acne which i did not, then I do suggest to go to a dermatologist cause you may need something like a combination or a strogner ritinoitd then differin like retin-A micro or a mi between benzoil peroxide and erythromycin (topical antibiotic), these particular 3 HG products are the dermatologists way of really keeping your skin clear, and not only keeping your skin clear i am 30+ years old and my skin still looks like s 20 year olds skin, the salycilic acid, or benzoil peroxide, comes in thats for very minimum acne its not for anything more then a blemish here or there, Infact tea tree oil is far better then the pro-active, and lasts longer, theres also a bar of sulfur soap, sulfur is a great way to get rid of any kind of skin problems acne, dermatitis, roseasea, psoriasis etc. WARNING NEVER TAKE ACUTANE ITS A VERY DANGEROUS MEDICATION THAT IS PRESCRIBED TO PEOPLE WITH EXTREME ACNE, IVE HEARD MANY HORROR STORIES AND THAT STUFF CAN SCREW YOUR MIND UP, AND HAS CAUSED PEOPLE TO BECOME SUICIDAL OR HOMICIDAL ITS A INTERNAL MEDICATION FOR ACNE BUT ITS VERY DANGEROUS.

So if you really want to get rid of and keep your skin perfectly clear and flawless the above methods are reccomended to try and I would try the weakest products first and if that doesn't work go to stronger retinoid, and stronger mixture of the two, this is done by a dermatologist. Not by your own self, and you don't need proactive they have kits that are formulated with the exact same ingredients as proactive and face washes like nuetrogena, and Clearasil, and all of the other items in the acne section of any drugstore that has the same things in it. If you don't believe me you should take a look, just because all these famous people are sponsoring a commercial doesn't make it the best thing that ever happened, they put together an acne package and they send it to you every month when really you could buy cheaper proucts that have the same result, or try different things. Get to know the ingredients, when you go shopping youll be surprised how many similar ingredients are actually in these products.

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smolderingviolet on 3/7/2013 10:55:00 PM more reviews by smolderingviolet

Age: 19-24   Skin: Combination, Fair, Neutral   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Blue    

I used this stuff back in high school. When I was sixteen it was amazing. It cleared up my face in about a week and kept my acne at bay. I tried using it again in my early twenties and it was horrible. It dried out my face and made it feel like I had a chemical burn. I honestly feel like it made my acne worse. So I made the jump to Neutrogena (for about half the price), it cleared up my acne super fast and I've been using it ever since. I don't know if its something to do with body chemistry but once I was out of my teens the stuff no longer worked. I won't be buying it again. Ever.

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cherriesonsnow on 3/7/2013 12:59:00 PM more reviews by cherriesonsnow

Age: 30-35   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Green    

I would give this a zero if I could! This stuff is horrible. I followed the directions and even cut back to every three days and it still dried out my face so badly it hurt!! It turned my face bright red and crackly. And even worse? I still had blemishes! Spend your money on something else-this stuff is horrible!

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scrowley2328 on 3/1/2013 9:22:00 PM more reviews by scrowley2328

Age: 19-24   Skin: Acne-prone, Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Blue    

I used Proactiv in High School and am now using it again (senior in college) - I have noticed the same thing both times.. works the first month and then pretty much stops. I do really like the repairing lotion though, it is one of the only face lotions that does not break me out - I will probably start buying it alone.

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Cost on 2/28/2013 8:21:00 PM more reviews by Cost

Age: 19-24   Skin: Very Oily, Medium, Warm   Hair: Black, Straight, Medium   Eyes: Brown    

Generally, i would say proactiv did work for my acne.
(Even spending hundreds going to derm to take antibiotics+products doesnt work that great for me)
It did improve it (acne) quite abit, say 40% after 6 months of use.(It stay the same after that) After finishing the starter kit, i found a dup for only $11++ at walmart(Check it out! its called "Equate Acne Cleansing System"). Its really a deal, same ingredient, works the same. Maybe different in smell, bottle, texture. But who cares about all the exterior thing when they works. And probably 5 times cheaper. You just got ripped off :)

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