3 BHAs: Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid, CosRx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid, and Stridex Maximum Strength Medicated Pads

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I've been using Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid ($30) as part of my (almost) daily routine for over a decade now. I consider salicylic acid (BHA) one of three staple ingredients that keep my skin in good shape, along with niacinamide and (more recently added) azelaic acid (reviewed here). But with Paula's Choice prices steadily rising (it was less than $20 Canadian when I started to use it!) and my income not keeping pace, I decided to gamble on a couple of more affordable, but equally popular, BHA products. I'll review them here, along with the PC BHA, which (spoiler!) I ultimately went back to. (Hope you like acronyms, everybody!)

CosRx makes a very popular and affordable liquid BHA that is now easily accessible in the US in places like ULTA ($22) and on Amazon ($15). Because I'd previously tried Paula's Choice's BHA gel and found it less effective than the liquid, I decided to try the highly-recommended liquid from CosRx. The consistency is actually significantly thicker than the watery PC BHA, which makes it easier to apply without using a cotton pad. It's decidedly a liquid and not a gel, however. It spreads easily on my skin and soaks in well, without leaving much of a film or a sticky residue. That's nice, because I apply my BHA first thing in the morning after washing my face, and so I want it to play well with makeup and other products.

There's not a lot to say about the CosRx BHA experience, except that it did not play well with my Paula's Choice Niacinamide Booster. When I used them both at the same time, my face flushed. It didn't last more than half an hour, and my skin wasn't irritated--my face just got pink and warm. There's nothing dangerous or damaging about this sort of thing, as far as I know, but it's a little unpleasant. I haven't had that experience mixing either of those products with anything else, and it was solved by just using one in the morning and the other at night.

Otherwise, the CosRx didn't cause any problems for me, but unfortunately it didn't do much for my skin, either. The role of BHA in my routine is to reduce clogged pores and blackheads, and to keep the pimples that result from them away. It doesn't really prevent hormonal/cystic acne for me, but it certainly reduces inflammatory acne when its working. The CosRx might have helped slightly, but I wasn't as satisfied with the state of my skin while using it as I was when I used the PC version.

The main ingredient in the CosRx BHA is probably what makes the difference for me. I know that salicylic acid works for me, but the CosRx contains a different form of BHA: betaine salicylate. This ingredient is sometimes said to be gentler than salicylic acid and is supposedly longer-acting. I don't experience irritation from BHAs in general, so I can't really comment on those qualities. My (admittedly very limited) experience suggests to me that if SA works well for you, you can't necessarily count on BS (ha!) to work as well--but on the other hand, if you've had bad luck with SA, a product with BS might be worth trying.

My second affordable BHA product was a bit of a desperation purchase. I traveled a bunch, visiting family and in-laws and friends, in September, but I somehow didn't pack enough of my PC BHA to last for the whole trip. By the third week, my skin was congested and breaking out, so I picked up a tub of the Stridex BHA pads (in the red packaging!) ($4-7), which had been recommended to me on multiple good authorities. The container holds a lot of pads and a lot of liquid, so they're not likely to dry out before you finish them. In fact, one pad was more than enough for my face, and so I started to cut them in half.

The pads are soaked in a 2% salicylic acid liquid, closer in composition to my PC liquid than to the CosRx product. They also contain a bit of menthol, so you get that medicinal smell and a mild cooling sensation--too mild to call it a "tingle." Still, I could do without it, considering it doesn't add anything. These pads served well enough in a pinch to start clearing up my skin a bit. In the long run, however, after I got home again they just weren't quite as effective as the PC liquid. My breakouts subsided and my pores weren't quite as clogged as they had been, but not as clear as I knew they could be. I ended up, as you know, going back to Paula.

I'm still using the Stridex pads, though. I've found over the years that otherwise disappointing BHA and AHA products work great as aftershave on my legs and armpits. If I swipe these on after shaving and before moisturizing, I almost never get razor burn or ingrown hairs. In fact, the price is so good, that I'd recommend picking up a tub of Stridex pads specifically for this purpose if you're a shaver. Their anti-inflammatory and exfoliating properties are ideal.

So now I'm back on the Paula's Choice BHA to stay, I guess. It's a thin liquid about the consistency of water, but it feels a bit sticky on my skin after I apply it. I think the stickiness bothers some people, but since I always follow up with moisturizer and/or sunscreen, I don't mind it (the product on top gets rid of that stickiness). It works perfectly well layered under every other product, skincare or makeup, I've used. And while the bottle is expensive, I only used 4-6 drops at a time, so it lasts me up to six months of daily use. Most importantly, it effectively and significantly reduces clogged pores and inflammatory zits for my skin.

I'll probably never stop testing cheaper alternatives to products I like, even if they fail to impress me half the time, but I suppose there's something satisfying in knowing that I haven't been wasting my money all these years. It's also a reminder that if I had ruled out BHAs entirely after trying the CosRx, I would have been missing out. Just like how glycolic acid doesn't do anything for my face, while lactic acid is excellent--if I had ruled out products called AHAs on the basic of glycolic acid alone, I'd be missing something useful.

Has anyone else tried all three of these? How do they compare for you? I'm also curious about other people's philosophy's on searching for less expensive alternatives to "holy grail" skincare products? Is it worth the gamble, or do you fear you'll almost always end up spending more money in the process?

Could be grosser: Review of Tony Moly Changing U Magic Foot Peeling Shoes

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After three months of Texas living, the majority of which time I spent in sandals, my feet were rough. I call them velcro feet when my soles are so scratchy that they stick to my socks and bedsheets. Shudder. Usually O'Keeffe's Healthy Feet (reviewed here) is enough to keep my feet soft, but this was beyond.

I considered buying the classic Baby Foot for a short time, until I noticed Tony Moly's version at Ulta for a fraction of the price. The reviews were similar, but I could get two packs of the Tony Moly Changing U Magic Foot Peeling Shoes for less than one Baby Foot. (The cheapest place I've seen Changing U Magic Foot is Hollar for $4.) Since my husband's feet were gross too, we both decided to try these out. The back of the envelope states that the product will, "transform an average-looking woman into an attractive lady," but I'm not sure either of us achieved that lofty goal, much to our mutual dismay.

Here's the full back of the envelope:

The packaging doesn't show the full list of ingredients in English, so here they are:

Alcohol, Water, Propylene Glycol, Lactic Acid, Urea, Glycolic Acid, Betaine, Isopropyl Alcohol, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Salicylic Acid, Hydroxypropylcellulose,Tocopheryl Acetate, Allantoin,Disodium EDTA, Menthol, Onsen-Sui, Nelumbium Speciosum Flower Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Althaea Rosea Root Extract, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Fruit Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Honey Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Nut Extract, Angelica Gigas Root Extract, Paeonia Lactiflora Bark / Sap Extract, Zizyphus Jujuba Fruit Extract, Laminaria Japonica Extract, Punica Granatum Fruit Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Artemisia Vulgaris Extract, Yeast Extract, Fragrance.

As you can see, the main active ingredients are a mix of AHAs and BHA in high concentration, aided by a number of other ingredients, some of which may have a soothing effect, depending on how much is in there. There's also a lot of alcohol, which can be drying (and definitely was, in my case).

Here's what's inside:

You get two booties, plastic bags with fabric soaked in the solution lining them. They're sealed at the top, and you peel them open, side your foot in, and use the stickers to hold them in place.

I wear size 10.5 shoes, and my husband's feet are bigger, and neither of us had any trouble fitting these on. They feel a little cold and slimy, but I didn't notice any tingling or other sensations while I was wearing them. The instructions say to keep them on for 1 to 1.5 hours, and I went with the longer time. It was possible to walk with the bags on my feet, but not exactly pleasant, so I wouldn't recommend it. They're pretty slippery. After a couple of episodes of whatever it was I was watching at the time, I made my way carefully to the bathtub, took off the booties, and thoroughly rinsed my feet in warm water.

There was no immediately noticeable effect, but by the next morning my feet felt really dry. By the second day they started to look even more scaly than they had been, but they didn't start to peel yet. According to the instructions, they will begin peeling in 4-6 days, and the process will be complete in two weeks. The skin on my feet felt dry to the point of slight discomfort for the first several days, maybe because there's so much alcohol in these things in addition to the acids. I had to lotion them a few times.

Here's the part where I show you nasty foot photos. If you're not here for that, just close your eyes and scroll to the end for my final assessment. (And if you got here from a strange google search and you're going to get weird with it . . . um, at least click my affiliate links?)

Smoothing Smoothie: Freeman Banana Oat Instant Smoothing Mask

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I had a mini tube of REN Glycol Lactic Radiance Renewal Mask that I used up recently and loved. My skin doesn't really respond to what is supposedly the most powerful form of AHA (alpha-hydroxy acid) found in skincare: glycolic acid. That means that all of the Paula's Choice AHA products do nothing for me. Lactic acid, on the other hand, does work for me, and so that's why I think the REN mask made my skin feel so incredibly soft and smooth after each use. Unfortunately, it costs $55 for a full size bottle (or around $30 from Amazon, so if I ever do cave and buy it, I'll get it from there).

In the meantime, I had a gift card for Bed Bath & Beyond to burn, and after some responsible purchases like a shower head and a butter dish, I saw tubes of this Freeman Banana Oat Instant Smoothing Mask on the end of an aisle marked down to $2. Lactic acid is high on the ingredients list, so I picked one up. (For more info about how AHAs work, see this useful post from Lab Muffin.)

Before using it, I searched for some reviews. I discovered that a lot of people reported serious irritation and redness after using the mask. In fact, on the back of the tube, in very fine print, there are instructions to patch test the mask before use. I rubbed a little into the inner side of my elbow and left it over night. I didn't have any reaction to it, so I felt comfortable using it on my face the next day. I would highly recommend testing any product with high levels of chemical exfoliants or other unfamiliar ingredients before use, however. You never know what your skin might hate.

This mask comes in a fairly thick gel format, and it has an artificial banana fragrance. Unlike the obnoxious fake melon smell of Freeman's sleeping mask, however, this was mild enough that it didn't bother me, despite the fact that I usually dislike fake banana. The mask is easy to spread, and I haven't experienced any irritation when I use it. It does, however, make my eyes water, which is something that I have noticed on occasion with other masks. I think that as they dry and some of the ingredients evaporate, those sort-of fumes will sting my eyes a bit. But I am prone to watery eyes in general.

The instructions say to leave it on for "up to 7 minutes," and you probably shouldn't go any longer, since it's pretty potent. After rinsing it off and applying moisturizer, as instructed, my skin feels extra soft and smooth, and it stays that way for a couple of days. That lactic acid really does its thing. I've also used this mask a couple of days after my 1% retinol treatment, when my skin is extra flaky, and it does an excellent job of exfoliating away the flakes.

While the results from this Freeman mask aren't quite as dramatic as with the REN, I'm quite satisfied with it. It usually costs a little over $4, so getting something almost as good as that for less than a tenth of the price is pretty fucking fantastic in my book. I'll add the Banana Oat Instant Smoothing Mask to my list of other favorite Freeman masks, along with the Avocado and Oatmeal Clay Mask and the Charcoal and Black Sugar Polishing Mask.

Do you use any AHA products? What else is good out there?

A bunch of Paula's Choice reviews

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I've been very lucky during the past few months of my unemployment that I was able to keep using my regular Paula's Choice routine, even though the products are not particularly cheap. That's because lots of people signed up through my invite link, and I really, really appreciate that. As a result, I've been able to replace the things I was already using when they ran out, as well as try a few new things. In return, I figured I should at least review some of the Paula's Choice (PC hereafter) products I've used. (I'm also hoping to do a PC giveaway sometime in the future as further thanks, but that will have to wait until I can swing the shipping costs.)

This week also seems like a good time for this post, since PC has a 15% off everything + free shipping on all orders sale going on (use code EDDVIPJUL14).

I've been using a few PC products for almost a decade now. I found out about Paula Begoun via a Canadian TV show called The Shopping Bags, which was almost like a shopping/consumer review blog in TV format, before there were blogs (it's still on TV somewhere in Canada, I think).  Paula was one of their regular consultants on makeup, skin, and hair care. I even owned one of her enormous books at one point. At the time, there weren't really many other sources of the kinds of information she provides, especially in terms of evaluating the marketing claims made by cosmetics companies. Now there are more options, but I still use the ingredients dictionary on the PC website all the time, because it's really comprehensive and easy to use.

Paula herself is a bit of a polarizing figure. She can be a little dogmatic and extreme at times. For instance, she used to insist that no one, no matter who they were, should ever wear any color of eye makeup other than neutrals and maybe, if you wanted to get a little crazy, plum. No shimmer, either. I get that it was a reaction against the frosty blue eyeshadows of the 80s, but come on (she's slackened only slightly on that point since then). There's more to life than matte neutrals. Because she was one of the first to do what she does, she can come across as a bit self important, too. In one of her radio shows from this year, she complained that she's seen other people online repeating information about cosmetics that originated with her. Well, do you want to inform people, or not?

These days, I'm a little more critical about the PC proclamations. I don't like fragrance in my skin care either, and I'd rather err on the side of caution for ingredients that cause irritation, but I think the their NO FRAGRANCE EVER OH MY GOD YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME A HAG IF YOU USE SOMETHING SMELLY stance is a bit much. Give me all the scented body lotion and lip balm! I also don't rely heavily on Beautypedia's ratings of makeup, because they often hinge on one or two details that have little to do with the actual performance of the product (I'll write something more about that another day). Today, PC/Beautypedia is one of many sources of information I consult.

All that said, I have had really, really good luck with the majority of the PC brand products I've tried. I get that they are trying to sell me shit just like every other company, but I appreciate their accessibility and transparency about why they formulated things the way they did and why they think the ingredients will be effective. That's still pretty rare. It's a brand I personally like, even though it's not the cheapest. They do have a lot of sales, at least.

Below are reviews of several PC products I've used, and I've indicated roughly how long I've been using them, in case that's useful information. I didn't bother to take photos of the packages, because I didn't think that would be particularly helpful (and a little too advertorial for a post like this). So this is a text heavy post. You might want to grab a cup of coffee before you read on (or spread it out over three days because, let's face it, after writing all that I'm going to need some time off). I'm not going to go into detail about the ingredients, because you can find all of that information at the links, so I won't repeat it here.

Moisturizers

Comparison of three Paula's Choice Moisturizers (left to right): Skin Balancing Moisture Gel, Hydralight Moisture Infusing Lotion, and Skin Recovery Replenishing Moisturizer 

Skin Balancing Moisture Gel: I've been using this stuff the longest of anything from PC: at least 8 years, maybe 10. I absolutely love it. It's an ideal moisturizer for oily/combination skin like mine. It's a really light gel that soaks in quickly and leaves absolutely no greasiness or shine. It feels really refreshing. I've described it as a "drink of water for your face" to my boyfriend (though he continues to use his generic Lubriderm knockoff).

The downside of this particular moisturizer is that it burns if I apply it anywhere near my eyes. It's annoying. I can see from reviews that this doesn't happen with most people who use it, but apparently there's something in it that my eyes hate. If I want to moisturize the eye area, I have to pick something else. This gel is my usual daytime moisturizer, nevertheless. I put it on when I get out of the shower and it leaves my skin soft and gets rid of whatever tightness was caused by the heat and water.

It's not cheap ($24), but I've continued using it because I haven't been able to find a comparable gel moisturizer at a more affordable price. The only ones I'd encountered until recently were more expensive, packaged in a jar, and/or highly fragranced. I came across this Simple brand gel moisturizer a few weeks ago, though, so I might try it when I run out of the PC. (Has anyone else used it?)

Pinterest lies: Review of e.l.f. Studio Lip Exfoliator

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So I'll start by pointing out that this is a perfectly fine, serviceable product. It's supposed to exfoliate your lips, and it more or less does. It's basically just chunky brown sugar suspended in a emollient/waxy base. Like gritty lip balm.

But I see this pin all the time and for some reason it drives me crazy.

It's the caption that gets me, and it's always the same. I need to straighten things out here: don't buy this to use overnight. What are you going to do with it overnight? It makes no sense. When you rub this stuff on your lips, it leaves behind a bunch of grains of sugar and some moisturizing stuff. You can massage it around some more to exfoliate better, but then you still have chunks on your face that you have to wipe off. I guess you could then leave the remaining balm behind overnight and that might do something, but that's the case with any lip balm. Personally, I like to add some extra moisturizer to my lips, because the sugary taste of this stuff makes me want to lick my lips, and that's not good for them.

I know, I'm being too picky. Anyway, it works okay. I still usually have some big flaky bits on my lips after I use it, but then I always do, no matter what I try to do about that. I find that a little olive oil or honey with brown sugar mixed into it works better as a lip exfoliator, because the pieces of sugar in the e.l.f. stick are pretty big and sparse so they're not as efficient for scrubbing. They're pretty rough, too. The advantage of this stick is that it's more portable and (slightly) less messy than a homemade concoction.

So it's fine. It's convenient and there's nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't buy it again, but for $3 it's pretty cheap and certainly a better option than some ridiculous fucking $25 lip scrub. But $3 worth of oil and sugar would go a lot further and work a bit better.

Addendum to my post on Stridex BHA pads

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I just recently posted about these things, I know. But I was reading the ingredients list for the millionth time, and somehow I had failed to notice until just now that they contain menthol. Ugh. I guess it was too good to be true. It's low on the list, but I really hate when skincare products have menthol in them. Partly just because I feel like they're trying to trick me. Oooooh, tingly, that must mean it's doing something, right? Fuck off. But also because menthol can be a cause of low grade irritation, which may or may not be something you are worried about, but which I'd rather just avoid when there's no good reason for it. Anyway, heads up if menthol is an ingredient that pisses you off too. (Harley Quinn recommended the Paula's Choice BHA body treatment as a less expensive alternative in the comments of that previous post. I definitely plan to look into that.)

Slippery and Scary: Review of Freeman paper masks

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I've never been particularly excited about sheet masks, because I don't really get the point. Why not just apply the serum/moisturizer directly to my face? I guess the idea is that it won't dry up/absorb as quickly, so you can let it sit in its wet state on your skin longer, in order to . . . do something. Absorb more, I guess? But I got three of Freeman's paper masks a while back in an Ipsy bag, and I thought I'd review them here, because (1) I love Freeman's Avocado and Oatmeal Clay Mask, and (2) they're pretty damned cheap at $2 a piece.

The three I got were the Feeling Beautiful Rose Brightening Facial Paper Mask, the Feeling Beautiful Blue Agave Hydrating Facial Paper Mask, and the Feeling Beautiful Star Fruit Purifying Facial Paper Mask. I tested them, in that order, over the course of several weeks.

The ingredients in these masks are actually not bad. The Rose mask has niacinamide as the second ingredient in the list, after water, and also contains AHAs. The Star Fruit mask also contains lots of niacinamide, but it has a significant amount of witch hazel as well, which is not great. The Blue Agave one has glycerin, aloe, allantoin, and hyaluronic acid, which are all good for moisturizing. I just wish that Freeman was selling these things as little bottles of serum instead, because the masks are really fucking annoying to use. They do have one really valuable function, however: terrifying any people you happen to live with.

No review of a sheet mask is complete without a horrific photo.

The photo above is of the Rose mask, which is the first one I tried. I had the same problems with all three masks, which are the identical size and shape: the eye holes were way too fucking close together. I don't actually have a gigantic face and my eyes are, in fact, a bit more close-set than average (judging from my glasses-shopping experiences). The nose and mouth hole placements are fine, as is the overall width of the mask, so I think it's just poorly designed. The eye holes should be wider. It seems like it was designed for a cartoon. Putting one of these masks on my face seriously impedes my range of vision, as well as locating the mask's fluid uncomfortably close to my eyes. You can actually see in the photo about that my eyes are tearing up a little. That might just have been from the evaporation of the stuff on the mask, but it probably would have been less of an issue if the mask wasn't partially covering them. My eyes were definitely stinging. I also a little worried that the liquid would run into my eyes, though I don't think that actually happened.

And that brings us to the second problem with the masks: they're way too fucking wet. I recommend opening these over a sink, because they will drip all over the damn place. The slippery wetness also makes them very difficult to unfold and place properly on your face. They feel extremely soppy and gross once you've got them on. I couldn't really keep my face properly upright without the mask slipping, but I also didn't want to lie down in case that caused some of the goo to drip into my eyes. The slimy feeling of these masks sliding around my face was too much for me, I'm afraid, and so I only kept the first two on for 3-5 minutes total, instead of the recommended 5-15. (I also find wearing damp clothing horribly uncomfortable, so this might just be something I am particularly sensitive to - but not all sheet masks are this soggy.) After removing the mask, you're supposed to rub the remaining liquid into your skin and not rinse it off.

Cheap and effective BHA exfoliant! Stridex Maximum Soft Touch Pads (from Lab Muffin)

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I've posted before about BHA/beta-hydroxy acid/salicylic acid. Quick summary: it works great not only for improving the texture and appearance of the skin and making it look smoother, but also for clearing blackheads and acne and soothing redness. Good stuff. But effective products containing BHAs have to have a certain pH level to really work. On my previous post, Emi from Project Swatch recommended the Stridex pads in the comments, and I was intrigued. The cheapest I've found them online is $3.49. But without knowing the pH, how could I tell if they would be as effective as the more expensive products I'd been using? Lab Muffin to the rescue! She tested the pads and found that the ones in the red package have both the right concentration (2%) of BHA and the right pH (below 4) to work well.

These are something worth trying not only for people dealing with acne, but for anyone who wants their skin to appear less dull, pores to be smaller, wrinkles to be less prominent, to reduce redness or hyperpigmentation . . . the list goes on. Just start out slow and make sure your skin can handle it. I've never had any irritation from BHA at all, but that's not the case for everyone. I'm definitely going to pick up a jar of this stuff when I run out of my Paula's Choice 2% BHA. The PC versions sells for $23 and works fantastically, I admit.

It's hard to compare the Stridex and the PC prices per unit, since the Stridex is measured in number of pads. On Amazon, the Stridex pads are described as 8 oz., but I don't know if that reflects the volume of liquid they contain (shipping weight is 8.8 oz., says Amazon). The PC BHA is 4 oz. and costs about 6 times as much. Either way, the Stridex is looking good in this comparison. I'll let you know my results once I've tried the Stridex pads myself, but since that will be a while, I wanted to give you the heads up. They come highly recommended by trustworthy sources, as you can see!

ETA: I just noticed that these have menthol in them. I hate skincare products that make my face tingly purely for the sake of making it tingly. Now I'm grumpy and I might just have to stick to the more expensive options after all.

When Good Skin Goes Bad (or: All About Exfoliants), Part I

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This is a detective story, but also a story about the decisions we make when we're broke. It's a long one, so I'll just jump right in. I've never had flawless skin - occasional breakout, etc. - but the last 6 weeks or so it seemed to be getting progressively worse. Not only worse acne, but rougher texture, bigger pores and lines - not a change I was pleased with. There's a photo below, hidden behind the jump for the squeamish. I mean, it's not nasty or anything, but it's also not pretty.

I felt like there had to be something behind this downturn, but these things are hard to figure out, especially when multiple factors had changed roughly the same period, i.e. late December-early January. What exactly was to blame for the mess? These are the possibilities I came up with:

• I'd been moisturizing a lot more, especially before bed. My skin was extra dry from the weather, combined with the horrible dry heat in my apartment. (I mentioned this frustrating change back in November.) Recently, my skin seems to have acclimatized and doesn't feel nearly as parched, so I've cut back on the moisturizing.
• I ran out of my BHA (beta hydroxy acid) exfoliant and didn't replace it, because I felt like it probably wasn't doing much of anything.
• I had been slowly and steadily adding more and more wheat to my diet, despite knowing that it fucks with my body. More on that later.
• I started using one of those battery-powered rotating face brush thingies. I started by using it 1-2 times a week, and then after a few weeks went up to about every second day when my skin kept getting worse.

I'm sure there are other things, but those changes seemed like the most worthwhile ones to consider. The best way to isolate the cause of a problem like this is, of course, to remove/change one suspect at a time and see if anything improves. That can be difficult if you're impatient, and especially if you don't make a connection immediately between skin problems and some kind of behavior. 

In this case, the first thing I decided to do was try some BHA again (mostly because it was simply the first thing that occurred to me). I'd thought that it hadn't been doing much for my skin, but I realized that maybe I was behaving like someone who stops taking their medication when they feel better, even though the medication is the thing that's actually making them feel better. (Or like people who abolish the VRA because it's effective.) I made the decision to try some BHA again at the end of January - and since it was the end of the month, funds were running low. At the same time, I was annoyed enough at my stupid fucking face that I wanted to do something about it immediately.

I had been using Paula's Choice CLEAR Extra Strength Acne Exfoliant. But that shit costs $23 a bottle, and I just didn't have it in my budget before payday. I started browsing Beautypedia to see if there was a decent, but cheaper, option available. I reasoned that if the Paula's Choice version had actually been working for me, then something else they recommended would be likely to work too. 

But holy shit, BHA exfoliants are not cheap, folks. Sure, there are lots of products out there with salicylic acid in them, which is what BHA is, but they're not all exfoliants. BHA has been shown not only to exfoliate the surface of the skin, but also the inside of pores, which is what makes it good for both anti-aging purposes and also acne. (AHA, on the other hand, only does the surface exfoliating, which means it's good if you are sensitive to BHA or have clear skin, but not what I personally needed.) Not every product with BHA will act as an exfoliant, however - it has to have the right pH. 

So I was pleased to find a $7 product that Beautypedia says will work as an exfoliant: Clean & Clear Advantage Oil Absorbing Treatment. You can read what they have to say about it here. Sweet, right? I didn't have to spend $23. If you actually break it down, though, the Clean & Clear option actually costs almost as much per unit as the Paula's Choice exfoliant. It's $7 for 1.5 oz. of the C&C stuff (i.e. $4.67 per oz.) and $23 for 4 oz. of the Paula's Choice product (i.e. $5.75 per oz.). There is a difference there, for sure, but it's not as huge as it seems when you initially consider the full price of each product. It's also important to consider that these two exfoliants are very different in terms of formulation. The C&C one is a cream, while the PC one is a clear liquid. I've found that to cover my entire face with the C&C product, I actually need to use significantly more than I would with the thinner PC liquid. The latter only requires a few drops on a cotton ball (maybe 4-5 drops max), which the C&C cream requires an amount between the size of a nickel and a quarter. (Since it's about the same thickness as shampoo or conditioner, just picture that when I describe it in terms of coins.)

Because of these differences, I think that in terms of actual cost per use, the two products are quite close. The Paula's Choice exfoliant might even come out as being the more economical of the two.

Despite that fact, I ultimately chose to buy the $7 tube instead of the $23 bottle. This is what people mean when they say that it is expensive to be poor. Not that I am claiming extreme poverty, but there are definitely months when I'm living paycheck to paycheck. Anyone who has been in that situation knows that you often have to choose something that has a lesser overall value, because it also represents a lesser immediate investment. These things end up being more expensive over time, but usually you can't do anything about that. I was going to get paid, so I could have waited, but I decided to go with the slightly cheaper immediate gratification and hope it would work as well as the more familiar, but more expensive, option.

Here are my results. First, take a look at my skin before: