Clean and Clear is a well-known line of cleansing products, aimed at combating teen acne. As time has gone by, and more acne medications have become available, they have expanded their product line. One of the products that many skin care lines have developed are complete acne kits, and Clean and Clear has developed their own. The Clean & Clear Advantage kit includes a cleanser, a moisturizer and spot treatment. According to advertising, the The Clean & Clear Advantage kit promises to help treat and prevent breakouts, and says that people saw clearer skin in just one day. The Acne Control kit also states that it will soften skin, and has medication that can target problem areas.
How Does It Work?
The Clean & Clear Advantage kit works using two main active ingredients, salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. Those two ingredients are the most popular, and generally most effective ingredients available, for combatting acne. Salicylic acid works by focusing on increasing and improving cell turnover. By causing skin cells to break away and shed more frequently pores are less clogged, and less prone to acne. Additionally, salicylic acid neutralizes bacteria, and it constricts pore diameters, which prevents them from clogging again. Benzoyl peroxide works in concert with the salicylic acid, it also increases cell turnover, helping to clear out dead cells, and keeping them from clogging pores. Benzoyl peroxide also kills bacteria and can help prevent their growth, keeping pores clear.
Pros
There aren’t very many. In theory, all of the ingredients for succesful acne control are in there, but the product has a lot of issues. See the cons section for more. I have seen reports of people that have had success with this product, so I don’t want to say that it never works, but I was not happy with the Clean & Clear Advantage kit.
Cons
People with sensitive skin should stay far, far away from this product. Same thing goes if you have dry skin, or skin that flakes or peels. Without getting too technical, the issue with this product seems to lie with their concentration of the active ingredients of salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. Clean and Clear seemed to have gotten the idea that if some of an ingredient works, then think of how well tons and tons of an ingredient will work. Basically, benzoyl peroxide concentrations range from 2.5% all the way up to 10%. Benzoyl peroxide, even in lower concentrations, regardless of skin sensitivity, can cause extreme drying, redness and peeling. In sufficient amounts it can cause chemical burns. (This is not a common occurrence though.) Most dermatologists recommend that you start with a lower concentration, and allow your skin to acclimate to it. However the Clean & Clear Advantage kit has a full 10% concentration. Add that to the amount of drying that salicylic acid can cause, and you end up with red, dry, cracking skin.
While I have admittedly sensitive skin, reading online, this is a common reaction. Skin is quite honestly, just not ready for that much drying and cell turnover without any build up to it. Perhaps if you have incredibly oily skin, this product would be a great fit for you, however, what this product did was make my skin worse than before. After only two days of using the product I stopped; my skin looked like I had a terrible sunburn.
Overall
I cannot possibly recommend this product to anyone, unless they complain of incredibly oily skin. And even then, I’d still probably hesitate. The product is unfortunately known for causing peeling, cracking, drying and reddening of skin, and this was the exact experience I had. If I had stuck with it, it might have improved, but there are far better products out there that don’t have all the negative side effects.
