Effective, Affordable Acne Treatment: Noxzema Face Products

My daughter and I have both struggled to find face wash products that work well to eliminate and hopefully prevent acne and yet don't irritate our skin. We finally did try some expensive products such as ProActiv, and they were very good. However, we simply could not keep up with the expense and so began anew our search for quality products. We believe we have finally found an acne treatment system that fulfills all our needs.

Noxzema is a brand that has been around for a long time. Their face wash has always purported to leave skin deep clean and fresh feeling. Although I used the cream as a teenager, for some reason I moved on to other products in adulthood. Now we were ready to give it another try.

We first purchased the Noxzema Blackhead Cleanser. It contains 2% salicylic acid and is an exfoliating formula. Unlike other exfoliating face washes, the Noxzema formula is very gentle and didn't cause redness or irritation for either of us. After about a month's use, we also both felt that we could see a reduction in acne overall.

I wasn't totally happy with the just the acne treatment cleanser, however. I felt that I was missing something like soap, something that made it feel more like I was actually washing my face rather than exfoliating. So I picked up the Noxzema Anti-Bacterial Lathering Cleanser. This face wash is supposed to be an acne treatment product because of its reduction of acne-causing bacteria. The Noxzema Anti-Bacterial Lathering Cleanser doesn't have salicylic acid; instead, it lists Triclosan as its primary active ingredient. According to the Wikipedia, Triclosan is indeed a potent anti-bacterial that is used in many beauty products such as soaps.

I think the main thing I like about the Anti-Bacterial face wash is the "lathering" in the title. It just feels more like soap to me, giving me more of a clean feel. However, I felt like I needed the salicylic acid that seemed to make such a difference with the more expensive products.

Both my daughter and I now use a combination of the Noxzema Blackhead Cleanser and Anti-Bacterial Lathering Cleanser. We get the best of both worlds and are left with clearer skin that is not dry and feels really refreshed. Best of all, the cost is about ¼ what we were spending to get similar results, and we even have fewer steps. Admittedly, we also both use an astringent once a day, but it is a generic brand, and such a step seems like a no-brainer. We were using this astringent or another that was part of a more expensive acne treatment system with other face wash and not getting the same results.

I wish I had never stopped using Noxzema face wash products, but at least now I have re-discovered them, and we are more than happy with our results.