Curology: Chapter Three

Happy New Year everybody! It’s been a while since I’ve checked in about my little Curology experiment, and given that a lot has taken place in the meantime, I thought now was a good time for an update.

I’ve now been using Curology for about 8 weeks, which is at about the point (after 6-8 weeks) that Curology claims you will begin to see real change in your skin. Firstly, and probably most importantly, I have to say that at this moment, my skin is the best that it has ever been. I cannot tell you how huge this is for me. I have no active acne or breakouts. Nothing. It’s unbelievable.

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But before I shout from the rooftops about the magic of Curology, I have to talk about the little blip that I had. As I mentioned in my earlier blog posts, I have experienced some dryness while following the full Curology routine. As the weather grew colder and my office cranked up the heat, my skin began to become uncomfortably, distractingly dry. This led me to switch moisturizers, from the Curology Moisturizer to the Rich Moisturizer.

As described in my previous post, the process of switching moisturizers was very irritating, forcing me to order an entirely new set early, but I went through with it anyway. I thought that it would be worth it when my skin was finally not cracking and peeling, and never even considered that the formulation could have any adverse effects. I assumed that if the regular moisturizer was fine, the rich version would be the same, but better. This turned out to be a huge mistake.

Within the first week of using the rich moisturizer my skin had declared war. I was breaking out all over my face, including in places that I have never broken out in before. I was devastated, but didn’t want to jump to the conclusion that it was the fault of the moisturizer just yet. I had traveled around a bit with the holidays and eaten a lot of sugary and out-of-the-ordinary foods, so my sudden flare up could have been attributed to that. I decided to stick it out for another week or so.

By the time that I finally caved and ordered yet another entire set of Curology early, my skin was unrecognizable. My cheeks and forehead were covered in acne. I was obsessively washing my towels, pillowcases, and makeup brushes, never touching my face, and religiously using my LED face (which I will talk about soon, I promise). Nothing helped. I had started to doubt Curology altogether, and wondered if (if the moisturizers both claim to be non-clogging) it might not be the fault of the new product, but rather that Curology itself stopped working.

My doubts were unfounded, however, and once I finally had the normal moisturizer back, my skin cleared up within three-four days. In response to the dryness, I attempted something that was recommended to me by R/SkincareAddiction and seemed patently insane. Vaseline.

Never in my wildest skincare dreams would I have imagined that Vaseline would do anything other than destroy my skin. As if it’s somewhat disturbing consistency wasn’t reason enough for concern, the fact that its intended purpose is to form a protective layer over the skin sounded like clogged-pore central. On the contrary, adding some vaseline to any extra-dry areas has been a game changer for me, and has rendered the non-life-ruining moisturizer option more acceptable.

Despite this hiccup in my Curology journey, I have to say that I am blown away by the difference in my skin. 20 years of Accutane, oral medications, and dozens of prescription topicals never held a candle to what Curology has done for me. I have joined the masses of internet fans and converted to the Church of Curology. If you struggle with your skin and haven’t given it a shot, I highly recommend trying it out. Just be sure to listen to your skin. If it’s telling you a product isn’t for you, no matter how noncomedogenic the product claims to be, pay attention.