Three Weeks Into 40% Glycolic Acid Peel

I started this blog to talk about Glycolic Acid peels.  I did a 30% cycle of peels initially (it's not recommended that you start any higher than 30%!) in hopes that it would fade some of the redness left over from old acne scars.  I did loads of research ahead of time and was disappointed with the lack of blogs sharing regular updates.  In the end, I was also disappointed with the results of my peels.

I did two cycles.  The first time around, I started at two minutes.  A week later, I did another peel that lasted three minutes and continued increasing the time until week six when I was at seven minutes with the acid on my face.  This was the process recommended by the manufacturer (who I've since found out is sketchy, so I won't be recommending business their way).

During the second cycle, a few weeks after the first, I did seven minutes each time.

GA peels are meant to reduce redness over time and give you a glow.  I'm not convinced I saw either result, so I went back to focussing on my daily routine and ended up with good results from tretinoin from Dermatica (good, not great, but that's another blog post!). 

Flash forward to this summer.  My skin was at a stable point with not too much acne and I was bored with my routine, which had also stabilised.  Clearly, it was time to put more weird shit on my face.  Clearly it was time to try a 40% GA peel.

After week one (starting at two minutes again), the results were very much like the first time–non existent so far as I could tell.  After leaving the acid on for three minutes during week two, my face felt oily the next day and a little flaky.  Yesterday was week three, four minutes, and I haven't had any issues with oiliness yet, but I do feel a bit flakey.  I currently have on the Monu Hydration Mask that I got in my first Latest in Beauty box in hopes that I can moisturise until my skin likes me again.

I don't know if I'm going to continue doing the peels this time.  I'm not seeing positive results...just negative ones.  I feel like my acne is increasing.  I'm interested in using GA in my routine, but I also just picked up a Pixi Glow Tonic dupe from Aldi that could be used on some of my my non-SA days.  A lot will depend on how my skin looks and feels this week.  If the increase in acne was just a blip, I'll keep going.  The goal is to fade scars though, not acquire more!

As a side note, on evenings I do these strong acid peels, the only other part of my routine I do is gentle cleansing (Eucerin Cleansing Milk for the win!) and moisturising.  I don't use any other actives and I try to baby my skin with lots of hydrating products over the next few days.

Sorry for the lack of pics lately.  I realised that feeling like I had to include decent pictures was stopping me from blogging and I figured a blog with no pics was better than no pics at all.  When my mood picks up, photos will return!

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