A Review of Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA+) for Your Skin

I have been a member of the acne.org forums since 2006. Reading all of the posts have granted me greater knowledge of maintaining healthy skin. When the owner of acne.org, Dan Kern, started selling the three primary products on his site consisting of a cleanser, 2.5% benzoyl peroxide treatment and a moisturizer, I started buying. I became a loyal user of his 2.5% benzoyl peroxide and I buy a new tube every time my current one runs low.

Fast forward to two weeks ago and I notice that he had a new product on his website: Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA+). At $16.11 for a 6oz tube, AHA+ can be used as a moisturizer, spot treatment (for acne, duh) and as a treatment for body acne. AHA+ is mainly used as a means to powerfully exfoliate your skin, moisturize it, treat red spots (that are remnants of acne) and also as a spot treatment if you can catch a zit in it's early stages. After reading a few reviews on the site, I decided to give it a try.

I have been using this product for two weeks, every other night as a moisturizer. I also use this every morning and every night as a spot treatment.

As an Exfoliator:

This is working pretty well as an exfoliator but I do not have much experience in exfoliating my skin so I'll keep this section short. What I do know however, is that my skin does feel a little bit smoother. I also noticed a decline in blackheads.

As a red spot treatment (used on my back):

I give AHA+ 5 stars on this one for doing exactly what it claims to do. My back feels smoother and the red spots are fading away.

As a spot treatment:

This one gets a little iffy. The effectiveness of this as a spot treatment is very random everytime I use it. For the most part, I notice that zits at least will not get worse when I use AHA+. It has not proven to make them go away however. I am going to continue with this to see if I can get a solid result/conclusion.

Major cons that I am noticing:

As stated on the store site, this product has a funky odor to it, but this is easily overlooked as you only notice when you first put it on. Going along with the application of the product, although it is very easy to spread around, it takes a while to settle into your skin, which can get annoying because you cannot put on a shirt for a good five to 10 minutes if you are treating your body.

It might also be a little too moisturizing. On the days that I do put this on at night, I wake up with a very oily face. This is not only uncomfortable and dirty feeling, but it also makes your pillow feel dirty. The oiliness may also contribute to more acne. I have a noticeable breakout of smaller acne since using this, but it is unclear as to whether it is directly from the AHA+, or from some other area of my life.

Verdict:

10/10 as a body treatment.
7/10 as a spot treatment
4/10 as a moisturizer (If you must know, my moisturizer of choice is: Aveeno Clear Complexion Daily Moisturizer, but it is pricey)

Overall rating: 8/10. I came to this conclusion because I do not need it as a moisturizer, which eliminates the 4/10 moisturizer rating. If AHA+ does prove to be breaking me out, I will only use it for spot treatment and thus, it will not lose any points for that.

Conclusion:

AHA+ is a product that can be used with a lot of flexibility and personalization. Most of the reviews on acne.org does not say anything about AHA+ causing them to breakout, so that might just be me. I would recommend this product, but do not expect it to be everything that it claims to be.