The genes I inherited from my father’s side are inherently predisposed to acne. It’s not a secret; all one has to do is just flip through any of the many photo albums stored under our living room coffee table to see the pock marks, the scars and the huge pores that has become a trademark of our family name.

My older brother’s skin problems kicked in when he was in high school and while I didn’t get the dreaded backne, pimples started popping out as soon as I hit puberty. I counted myself lucky because my skin problems then weren’t anywhere near as bad as my brother’s when he was in high school (although let me be clear here, he did have no problems with being a popular fella at school despite the zits) and I thought that I had surpassed the worst of it.

Fast-forward to a few years later when I landed my first job at a call center. My sleep cycle was on its head, I wasn’t getting enough sleep and I was basically eating trash four times a week. In retrospect, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that my skin reacted badly. Yes, the pimples were back.

It was around the same time when Proactiv, a brand I’ve been seeing infomercials of on the Internet, launched in the Philippines. When I saw that they were available in the local Watson’s, I decided to make the splurge and buy myself a kit. I wasn’t earning very much back then so 2,500php for skin care was a big deal. I decided to go for the 30-day kit as a test, because it would have been a sad thing to waste almost 4,000php on something that didn’t work.

Fortunately, the first time I used Proactiv, it worked. My skin was clearer despite my less than optimum sleeping schedule and the zits, whenever they do pop up, dried down almost immediately. That was unheard of for me because I lived through pimples for weeks at a time before the bumps eventually fade away to nothing (assuming that I haven’t popped the hell out of it yet). Needless to say, I was thrilled. I was satisfied and also happy about the fact that the 30-day kit actually lasted almost two months for me; in my head, I was getting a pretty good deal.

My next few purchases were the 60-day kit, all of which lasted over the 60-day mark despite my generous use. I ordered online because they offered free shipping and they even threw in this refining mask that I honestly never got around to using. I was such a satisfied customer that I kept on using the product for almost two years.

Fast-forwarding again to a few years ago when I found myself a new job – a day shift one where I had little to no access to fast food – and I found myself running out of Proactiv. For some reason, I decided against getting a new kit immediately and just decided to use Cetaphil, a facial wash that usually didn’t give me any unwanted problems, for the mean time.

Boy, was that a wrong move. I’ve read about people weaning away from using Proactiv and maybe that should’ve been how I did it. My skin went crazy. I was getting cystic acne painful acne like never before and I couldn’t understand why. I was getting enough sleep when I was supposed to be sleeping and I was eating packed lunches from home everyday so it couldn’t have been my trash diet.

While I’m not saying that the radical skin problems I got were all due to the fact that I quit Proactiv so suddenly, it probably was the main culprit. Sure I was somewhat stressed out adapting to my new job that involved handling dirty documents (think something like passports) all day long, I did try my best to sanitize my hands almost every twenty minutes and to keep myself from touching my face.

It was horrible. Of course I bought a new kit as soon as possible but Proactiv’s magic was gone. The pimples did not die down despite me using Proactiv for two straight weeks, after a month of being off the stuff. I then spend the better part of a year and a half trying to get my skin back to normal. I tried product after product after product after product to try to clear my skin. It was crazy and sad and painful.

I finally stumbled into a little bit of progress when my Tita suggested that I use Perla soap on my face. I know what you’re thinking: but isn’t that a soap that you use for your clothes? I had the same thoughts but I had been desperate enough to try because a.) I had nothing to lose and b.) my Tita swore that it’s what they used back in the day.

Lo, and behold, it was the first thing that got my skin to calm down. While I was still getting the odd big pimple, it was nowhere near as bad as before. The zits I was getting weren’t as painful and there were even days when I didn’t have any. Of course, the damage was done and I have a lot of scars but I was thrilled that something finally worked. I continued to use only Perla on my face for a year and, while not completely satisfied, I was pretty happy.

Then sometime in 2015 my friend R texted and recommended that I get this free facial from Aqua Minerals Spa in the mall in Alabang.   Just like me, R has had some skin problems of her own and she swore that Aqua Minerals helped a lot in clearing hers up. After our adulting meeting in Molito, she figured that I could give the brand a try.

Well it turns out that the “free” facial was a bit of a scam; while they did slather on a lot of products on to your face, the sales girls were really pushy and would not let you leave without buying anything. I was getting annoyed (and kind of scared, to be honest) so I checked their product list and got the cheapest thing there. I got their mud soap, the name of which I forget and didn’t get around to using it until a few months later.

That was a mistake, I soon found, because the damned thing actually worked. I kid you not, two days of using the mud soap on my face and all of my pimples dried down. It was a miracle. For the first time in years, I had clear skin. Sure, I would get the occasional break out whenever I stay up super late or if it was that time of the month. And for some reason I only ever seem to get the break outs on my chin.

The soap was pretty hearty; I ended up using one bar for almost half a year. Granted, I only did use it on my face but it’s testament to the fact that the bar of soap doesn’t melt too easily. It also seemed to have calmed my face down enough that I can use other facial cleansers now without me breaking out into hives.

As fantastic as it was though in clearing up my skin, it did nothing to fade away the hyper pigmentation and clear up the redness of pimple scars of the past. My friends C and A have been raving about this Korean skin care product called CosRx and I got intrigued. A had suffered to a similar rough patch with her skin a couple of years ago and she swears by the benefits that CosRx gave her.

I found myself having a small amount earlier this year so I decided to take the plunge – after a lot of research, of course. It turns out that CosRx only uses a handful of ingredients in their products so their AHA and BHA emulsions, while technically labeled as chemical peels, are incredibly gentle.

I’ve been using the products for almost two months now and I’ve seen significant improvements in terms of the redness. My skin’s coloring, while still scarred, has evened out and it’s a very rare occasion when I need to put on concealer on top of my foundation to correct the color. I love the stuff. It’s expensive but since it only uses natural ingredients, I’m a bit surer that my skin won’t go crazy again if I stop using it. The only caveat I can really think of with using CosRx is that now I have to really be vigilant in putting on sunscreen everyday since the chemical peels do have the tendency to make you photosensitive.

I got my kit at The Skin Care Curator and will most likely repurchase once these bottles go dry.