Proactive Product Review

Over the years, like many I have tried too many products to count, and seen minimal results even with the top treatments. One of the more recent products I tried before starting my caveman regimen was Proactive. I had always known about Proactive way before I even had acne because of all the mass advertising they did on TV and the internet. It was like you couldn’t watch TV without seeing a damn Proactive commercial! Though I never believed anything marketed like that on TV really worked, and for the price that it was back then I didn’t even want to try it. Though as time went on and as my list of things to try and get rid of my acne grew very small I only had about 2 real options to try… Accutane or Proactive. I totally don’t want to do Accutane at all because of all the negative side effects even if I was guaranteed to get clear if I used it. So I went for it and ordered Proactive eager to clear my skin.


I ordered it online when they were having a deal for only $20.00. I got the main 3-step system, and I got to choose 2 free gifts, so I chose the Refining Mask, and the Daily Oil Control. As soon as I bought it I was already skeptical because after you buy it, they tell you that you will be billed every month after that automatically. I chose to have it shipped 3 day air because I was eager to get it fast. Though the next day they emailed me and said that they were all out of stock, which is stupid because it’s the only thing they make! Anyways after about 2 weeks I finally got it, and opened it up. Everything is reasonably sized the only thing that was disappointing was the refining mask which was already in a small container, but it’s only half-full. The main 3-step system which is good-sized consists of the Renewing Cleanser 4 ounce, the Revitalizing Toner 4 ounce, and the Oil-Free Moisturizer 1.7 ounce.

After washing my face with the Renewing Cleanser, which is just a liquid wash with its main ingredient being 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide, my face became extremely dry! It was crazy how fast it became so dry before I could even put anything on. The next step which at this point I should’ve skipped is the Revitalizing Toner. After I put this on my face tightened so bad that I couldn’t smile without it hurting. So at this point my face was now cherry red, super dry, irritated and I still had one more step which is the Oil Free Moisturizer. It is an SPF 15 moisturizer, but it is very light so I had to put on multiple layers on. My skin continued to dry up every few minutes so I put a ton of some other moisturizer I had to calm it down. After that I learned to only use only a little of the toner and only once a week, and wash my face with the cleanser once a day until my face built up some resistance.

My face never really had an initial breakout like I had read about happens when using Proactive for the first time. Nothing really changed with my skin at all except that it never felt healthy, and didn’t look it either. It was pale and blotchy with redness and irritation in some areas. It was dry in places and oily in others like my nose would be super oily but my chin would be dry. I stuck with it for about 6 weeks before dumping it, because absolutely nothing was changing at all. I wasn’t very surprised though it wasn’t the first time, but I’m glad it didn’t because I’m reading a lot about how people who use Proactive, once they stop their acne comes back like crazy!

So there’s no doubt that Proactive works for some people, I know it works for some of my friends, but it just didn’t do a thing for me. Now I understand that some people say, well you have to wait a long time for it to clear you up, but this wasn’t just taking a long time to clear me up it was taking a long time to just make a pimple go away so I stopped because it wasn’t working at all!

-Jpc