Acne.org has a ton of really useful information. The creator of the site makes and sells his own products, but he also talks about which "store products" are ok to use. He goes through the ingredients that you want to avoid and want to find in products. I'm just finishing my first bottle of his own AHA, and I like it so much that I've ordered another bottle. He recommends using a benzoyl peroxide topical as well, but I haven't started that yet (ordered it though). The AHA, in conjunction with the Cetaphil gentle face wash and moisturizer that he recommends, are really having a good impact on my face acne, as well as the crap I get on my shoulders and arms. The shipping through the site is kind of a lot if you're only buying one item, but he sells them on ebay as well and the shipping through there is a little more reasonable.

I will admit that I am a horrible picker as well, but I've found ways to lessen the damaging effects. If I've just gone on a horrible picking binge, I'll mix a good amount of epsom salts with really warm water (usually microwaved to as warm as I can stand it), soak a towel in it, ring it out so that it's not completely dripping, coil it up on my face so that only the tip of my nose isn't covered, and then let it sit there until it's cooled. The salts help clear up bacteria and, for the most part, prevent a pusy whitehead from occuring, and they also take down redness by a lot. If you want, you can also add green tea and/or rosemary to the water to help with redness.

One thing I always do after squeezing a pimple- Neosporin. 9 times out of 10 it will keep a whitehead from forming or coming back, and it usually will keep it from scabbing. For a particularly bad one, I'll put Neosporin on, cover it with one of those round little bandaids, and leave it on overnight. Usually by morning any infection is gone and the area is flush with the rest of my skin. One word of caution, though: only use it on the opened pimple and not all over the face as the bacteria can become resistant to it with overuse.

Ok, I think that's all I've got. lol 

ETA: I knew there was something I was missing.  Hydrogen peroxide.  At night- because I'm lazy- I don't actually wash my face; I use makeup removing cloths (torn in half so that they last longer), and then use a cotton ball to apply the HP- after I've done my picking, of course, and then I apply the AHA.

Last Edited By: FannyPack Mar 16 11 5:13 AM. Edited 1 times.