April 29, 2008 | I've Got My Philosophy
Roughly two months ago, I gave up. I cried uncle, stomped in to my nearest Sephora, and bought a bottle of Philosophy Purity Made Simple facial cleanser. EVERYONE had been raving about this stuff. It was like my RSS feeds had become a face wash advertisement. I HAD NO CHOICE. It's not like my current face care routine was letting me down, but from everything I had heard and read, this would be the only face wash I would ever need EVER AGAIN.
You might be able to tell, by my use of the caps lock key, that the Philosophy face wash and I didn't exactly work well together.
In the beginning, I had high hopes, even though I was a little worried due to the sensitive skin issues I've rambled on about before. The first few weeks were fine. I didn't notice any drastic improvements or anything, but I decided I'd keep using it. After a couple more weeks, I started to notice small pimples. This isn't out of the ordinary for me (though don't get me started on being over 30 and still having to deal with pimples - DEAR GOD WHEN WILL IT END), so I kept on washing my face every night with the stuff. Then the dry patches started. I chalked that up to a slight change in the weather and continued on.
After about a month and a half, I decided I should stop using it. What, might you ask, was the Philosophy face wash deal breaker? The giant, cystic pimples.These were not normal pimples. They were super pimples that were impervious to my Neutrogena On the Spot acne treatment, and refused to go away in a timely manner. I had never experienced pimples like these ever before, and I wanted to avoid them at all costs in the future, so I went running back to my trusty bottle of Cetaphil. Can you blame me?
While I'm not painting a very pretty picture of this particular Philosophy product, it's not my intention to discourage you from trying it. Other people rave about it, so I imagine it must work great for them. In fact, if you'd like to try it, I've got half a bottle I can sell you for cheap...
So I bought it, too, also due to all the raving. Nothing bad happened to my face, but I didn't see a big difference in my skin. I actually bought a kit with the face wash, moisturizer, etc.
I had the same response to Purity and their moisturizer. As much as the girl at Sephora rolled her eyes when I told her Dove was my skincare regime, it's treated me alot better than Philosophy (though I do like their body washes). Cetaphil has been pretty good to me too. As for zits, the out of control ones usually respond to toothpaste :)
I keep reading about Cetaphil, but as far as I know it hasn't made it over here yet. It sounds like I might need it, though. I have the problem of only wanting to buy whatever's on offer at the time I need it, meaning I chop and change and never actually stick to a routine like you're apparently meant to. Perhaps if I were less cheap, I'd have better skin!
I am SO glad I'm not the only one that had issues with the Philosophy stuff. I feel so much better now!
Also, if Cetaphil ever starts to fail me, y'all have given me tons of ideas as to what else I might try.
Awesome!
I'm so sick of hearing about Purity Made Simple. It's not that great. It didn't cause me any problems, but unless you have naturally pretty decent skin- it is not a miracle cure.
Cetaphil all the way here, too, but I've been experimenting with the Redness Relief facial wash lately and that seems equally good.
But Philosophy products, or Clinique products? Cystic acne all the way, despite all the raves I hear from others.
on those deep cystic pimples, one could try some antibacterial ointment at night as well. I find it works miracles on my trouble spots.
When I was in the hospital, I realized my skin looked fabulous despite the fact that I was pretty sick. At first I thought it was because I wasn't using any makeup, then I realized it was because they were pumping me with every known antibiotic known to man. :) It's one positive from the whole thing I guess! :D
I'm a cetaphil girl too. It's cheap and it works. What's not to like?
Thanks for the advice, I was actually going to buy this stuff over the weekend. Thank God I didn't, that would have been 75 bucks down the drain! I have been using Pro-Active for the past years and it's been good except its changed the texture of my skin. That benzoyl peroxide will literally peel away the first layer of skin, and your pimples won't heal as well, but it does its job for the most part.
I've had that problem from face washes before- the cystic pimples- and after trying everything, you wouldn't believe what works for me now: antibacterial soap. Yep, plain old dial bar turned out to be just what my face wanted. It's a bit drying, but once you smooth on some moisturizer, it seems pretty effective.
I'm with you. Cetaphil is cheap and simple and it works. Every so often I try to get fancy and try something else and my skin tells me I'm an idiot. Love the stuff.
I prefer to keep things simple when it comes to washing my face: Noxzema in the morning, Pond's cold cream at night.
Nice Ben Folds Five reference in the title!
Finally, someone who understands! If I even think of using something other than Cetaphil, my face starts breaking out and getting patchy and peel-y!
However, I have had some minor success with Aquaphor (or is it Eucerin?) "Redness Relief" cleanser for the winter months. No breakouts or dry skin for me when I used that ... and my skin is super sensitive, too.
I had the same thing happen with Philosophy (compounded, because I was talked into using Hope in a Jar as well). Cetaphil didn't work all that well for me (oh, the dry patches!), but I ultimately switched to Kiehl's and haven't looked back since.