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Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:34 am  |
As some of you may know from my other posts I have been doing a half face test of the Proheal serum. Here are my results:
I started my half face test 7 weeks ago. I applied the Proheal to the right side of my face every morning and did not apply it to the left side of my face.
First reaction-I was really surprised that the Proheal did not irritate my skin. I have very sensitive skin and since it contains 15% L-ascrobic acid I was afraid my skin would not tolerate it. Through the entire 7 weeks I never felt that the Proheal side of my face was any more irriated than the non-Proheal side.
Second reaction-the Proheal really seemed to be making my acne worse. Through week 5, I consistently had more pimples on the Proheal side than on the other side. Not to be outdone the non-Proheal side of my face really pulled through with a ton of pimples so the end result was one more pimple on the non-Proheal side! I will say though that the pimples on the Proheal side were somewhat worse and took longer to heal. I don't think that the Proheal hindered their healing but I don't know for sure.
Third reaction-the Proheal seems to be reducing my forhead elevens. See this thread for details: http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=14215&highlight=.
Is there a differnece reaction-I did notice that I had a faint line on the side of my nose on the non-Proheal side and none on the Proheal side and that the line between my nose and lips was almost non-existant on the Proheal side but faint on the non-Proheal side. I tried looking at past pictures of myself to see if this was always the case but couldn't tell. Were the lines always there or did the Proheal reduce them? Unfortunatly I did not pay attention to my wrinkles before I started the Proheal because I was not expecting them to be improved by it! (I took picutres of these wrinkles at the end of my test and now that I am using the Proheal on my entire face I will be able to see if it reduces the wrinkles on what was the non-Proheal side. I will report back on this.)
During my experiment, other than the questionable wrinkle reduction effects, I could not see any real differences between the Proheal and non-Proheal side. I had my husband (he had no clue what side I was putting the Proheal on) look at my face once a week and he consistently said, "no difference". I was disappointed that I had no real improvement but then again maybe I had no real issues to improve on. But nonetheless I expected the Proheal to at least do something-improved texture, brighter.....
Final impression. On the very last day I had my husband thoroughly examine my face in very bright sunlight. Conclusion-the pores on the Proheal side were clearer and more refined. The small age spots on my temples were less noticable on the Proheal side. This was a shock to me because until my husband saw them in the bright light I did not even know I had any age spots.  So yes there were improvements after all!
I will now use the Proheal on my entire face. I am really interested to see if there will be any reduction in the wrinkles I mentioned above.
Conclusion-I am convinced that Viatmin C serums are effective!! Couple that with the antioxidant benefits and I plan on making them a daily part of my skincare routine. Am I sold on the Proheal? No. I honestly think that most of the benefits from this product are due to the Vitamin C and not the retinol or something else. I actually do not like the fact that the Proheal has alcohol and laureth-4 and feel that the Kojic Acid and Arbutin are of too little concentrations to be of any benefit. After I finish the Proheal I will try a plain C serum or a C+E serum and see if they are as effective. I will report back on this as well. If not and the retinol in the Proheal had somehthing to do with the benefits that I experienced I think that I would just use a plain C serum and use retinol (or even consider upgrading my retinoid from Differin to RetinA or Tazorac) at night which is a better time to use it. I could never figure out why they put retinol in a product that is generally applied during the day! So overall the Proheal serum is a good product. I do not plan on repurchasing though. If I try other C serums and have problems with them then perhaps I will reconsider. I can say that I will definetly continue using some type of C serum as I am really sold on their benefits! |
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Mabsy
Moderator
 
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Posts: 9644
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Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:59 am |
Thank you for sticking to the experiment - I am in awe that you were able to keep that up for this long! I would have been tempted to try other stuff by now 
I'm really glad that overall you decided that you think vit C serums are worthwhile. I definitely agree with you and will be (and have been) using a C serum religiously |
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Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:02 am |
Mabsy,
I did not give up trying new stuff for the whole seven weeks.  During that time I tried the Cellcosmet Eye Cream, Cellcosmet Purifying Gel Cleanser, Yonka Cream Cleanser, Kanebo Sensai Emulsion I and several samples!! The great thing about doing the half face test was that I could use whatever else I wanted and still be able to see if the Proheal was having any effects. Although I did avoid trying any new actives. |
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Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:22 am |
Well it's been 8 weeks since I started applying the Proheal to the left side of my face as well as the right side, so I thought I would update.
Acne-My acne has improved somewhat over the past 2 months. While I will not rule out the Proheal as the cause of the improvement I doubt that it had anything to do with it for several reasons. One, I noticed that my acne improved on both sides of my face at the same time. If the Proheal were the reason for the improvement, I would have expected the right side to improve first. However, since acne can be somewhat asymetrical this is not necessarily proof that the Proheal did not cause the improvement. Two, the time lag between starting Proheal and my acne improving is too long. Finally, there are other things that I have added to my routine (MaMa Lotion, moisturizer with anti-inflammatories and black currant oil supplements) that I feel would more likely to be responsible for my acne improving.
Fine lines-I took pictures of both of the fine lines that were on the left side of my face before I started using the Proheal on that side and looking at the picutres and looking at my face now here are the results. The line on the side of my nose is exactly the same as it was before I started using the Proheal. The line between my nose and mouth may have been reduced slightly but the difference is so minor and hard to discern that I cannot honestly say that this line has been reduced at all! I can only conclude that the lines on the left side of my face were probably worse than those on the right side to begin with and that I just did not notice this when I started my half-face test. I would doubt that the Proheal would selectively improve fine lines on one side of my face but not the other!
Forhead elevens-this one really puzzles me. My forhead elevens seem to be improving more and more. It would seem odd that the Proheal could be doing this since it has done nothing for the two fine lines I mention. But perhaps this is a case of the elevens being an area that needs to be improved while the tiny lines are barely in need of improvement. Sometimes it seems that the more one needs to improve the better more noticable results one gets. I wonder if this is the case with my forhead elevens? I am also not ruling out the fact that better hydration can be contributing to this improvement since my skin is much better hydrated since the start of my Proheal experiment. (We are experiencing out summer monsoon season so high humidity is the likely cause of my skin being so nicely hydrated.)
Age spots-totally gone on both sides, yeah  . This is IMO the most noticable improvement with the Proheal. My theory on this is that the Vitamin C is the cause of the fading but I suppose that the retinol, arbutin and/or kojic acid could have had something to do with it.
Pores-my pores were looking pretty bad about a month ago. I had blackheads and whiteheads/milia worse than I ever recall having. They have improved some over the past month (most likely due to MaMa Lotion) but I am still not happy with the state of my pores. I would say that my pores are much more clogged now than when I started using the Proheal. I am beginning to suspect that the Proheal may be causing this but am honestly not sure. I stopped getting glycolic peels done at my derms about 3 1/2 months ago so I suppose that this could be part of the problem but I do not recall my pores looking this clogged before I started getting the peels.
Conclusion-I will not be repurchasing the Proheal. I am not convinced that the ingredients in the Proheal other the Vitamin C have had any real impact and I feel that some of the ingredients (alcohol, laureth-4) may actually be doing some harm. BTW I recently discovered that laureth-4 is supposed to be highly comedogenic! I still feel that the arbutin and kojic acid are in too small a concentration to be of any benefit. While I think that Vitamin E is a usefull antioxidant I am not sure that I need to use a C serum with this in it. Just about every moisturizer and sunscreen that I own has Vit E in it and I am not sure that it is necessary in a C serum (if someone has proof otherwise please let my know, I am open to evidence on this). I do like the concept of retinol but would prefer it to be in a product I apply at night and not in my C serum. I will be purchasing the ISC Vitamin C serum and will report back with my impressions of that. I am particularly interested to see if the retinol in the Proheal has been producing any of the benefits that I described and using just plain C serum with the same percentage of ascorbic acid should help me to determine this. |
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Mon Sep 04, 2006 12:03 pm |
Just today I came across some information on niacinamide that may have some relevance to my Proheal results. See the following links from smartskincare.com.
Some research abstracts on niacinamide research-http://www.smartskincare.com/resabstracts/subjcategidx/niacinamide/ and Dr. Todorov's recent article on niacinamide-http://www.smartskincare.com/treatments/niacinamide.html.
Some of the benefits that I experienced during my Proheal experiment such as improved acne, reduction in age spots (hyperpigmentation) and possible reduction in wrinkles have been observed in studies of niacinamide. While it seems like alot more research needs to be done on niacinamide, I suppose that I cannot rule out niacinamide as one of the causes of the benefits that I experienced. About one week after I started my Proheal experiment I started using a moisturizer (Kanebo Sensai CP Emulsion I or II) which I believe has a high percentage of niacinamide. Oddly enough before I even read the smartskincare stuff today I had been speculating that the moisturizer I had been using may have improved my acne since it has niaciamide (I had heard about niacinimide improving acne before reading the smartskincare stuff) and other anti-inflammatories. But until just now I had never heard that it might have the other benefits that I mentioned.
Yes, I will still buy the ISC Vitamin C serum but in a way this whole niacinamide thing just adds another variable to my conclusions about Proheal.
In refernece to the Kanebo Emulsions all I can say is the more I use them and the more I find out about them the more impressed I become with them! |
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Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:27 am |
Hello TheresaL
It was great to read your experiment with Proheal serum.
I have already mentioned to you my results the first time I used it, in which my skin cleared up. I was also using Super Serum and Active Serum, yet it did clog my pores quite considerable, and that is why I initially stopped.
At that time I was also at the end of doing a lot of cleansing and taking products internally that I am sure now were the major reason my skin was so clear!! Amazing, after spending soo much money on these products to use externally, that it was the internal stuff that really worked.
As you know, I did try it again and it made my skin go CRAZY. It has been a month since I stopped using it and I still have very badly broken out skin. What I realized is that the heaviness of the product was 100% clogging my pores creating acne.
My question is why the hell does a company used that much proplyne gycol in a $130 product (it is the second ingredient, or third). I am extremely disallusioned with IS Clinical. I think you pay a LOT of money for what you really get. Its a lot of hype and marketing. I think perhaps with a very high quality vit C serum you would have equal or better results and clearer pores. |
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Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:09 am |
Feliz sorry to hear that you are still having problems with your acne .
Just to clarify did both the Proheal and Super cause your clogged pores and make your acne worse? I know that both of these products contain Propylene glycol although they can't contain more than 15% as this ingredient is listed after the vitamin C (which we know is 15%) on the ingredient list. Also, I could be wrong here but propylene glycol is generally not considered to be comedogenic in most individuals. Note the italics, PG could very well be a problem for you! I do not see any ingredients in the Super Serum that would be considered comedogenic but the Proheal has two, laureth-4 and Vitamin E. Although personally I have never had a problem with vitamin E.
I am inclined to agree with you about internal things helping acne. I have a hunch that the Black Currant oil has been a factor in my acne improving and plan on adding flax seed to my diet because I believe that may be helpfull too. I have used flax before and it did seem that my acne was virtually nonexistant when I was using it. Of course this could all be coincidence but I want to try the flax again.
Feliz as you can see from my review I too have doubts about some of the ingredients in the Proheal and Super serum but I have critiqued Cellcosmet enough so will leave it at that when it comes to ISC!! |
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:31 am |
Hi Theresa L,
Thank you for your understanding reply to my post. I guess I am just frustrated, as I did use it last winter from January to May, and my skin was as clear as it ever was. I know the whole internal thing works, yet with my skin I can use the wrong products and BOOM, my skin is totally broken out.
I still feel that perhaps I should do exactly as I did last winter and see if that makes any difference?
As for the proplyne glycol, its such a cheap, filler type ingredient, I wish "exclusive" companies would actaully used an emolient product that was more "exclusive" and better quality. |
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:38 am |
Feliz,
I think different things work for different people.
Prior to using ISC, I used very high quality products, including an excellent 20% Vit C solution.
The results I got from ISC were dramatically better.
I never used Pro Heal and I don't have acne. I did have enlarged pores and was pretty much resigned to always having them. I kept the situation at bay with glycolic peels and manual exfoliation. When I started using ISC, I never expected the result to be poreless skin - I started using it because I was classic product junkie and rarely ever finished a product before moving on to something new. However, clear, firm, lineless and poreless skin is what I got. And so, I've used the products with religious fervor for almost 2 years now.
I'm sorry that you weren't happy with your results the second time around. As I said, we've all tried products that were wonderful for others but not for us. Sometimes they're ineffective; sometimes detrimental. But, I just had to take issue with your comments. They were a sweeping denunciation of a good product line, and I think really lack a valid basis. Just my opinion.... Shrugging. |
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:19 am |
I do use proheal, and have for over a year and LOVE it. I've given it to my son in college w/ minor breakouts, and he LOVES it (when he remembers to use it). My hubby uses it and LOVES it. My sister-in-law, mother-in-law and son's girlfriend use it and LOVE it. What I like best about it is that it does not irritate or cause a reaction to my rosacea. But I don't have acne, just an occasional little spot per say.
Again, it's not for everyone. Alot of people love DR H and Decleor, but they break me out. Juice beauty and I can't coexist, nor Prevage. Doesn't mean they are bad products, just doesn't work for my skin type and causes me major breakout/reactions. (And I would love to be able to use the PSF pumpkin peel!)
Feliz, hopefully you will find what works best for you (before going broke as I have) and be as happy with that/those products as I am with the IS Clinical line. It's hard with so much stuff out there. I wish you luck in your quest. |
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Joined the 50 club several years back, blonde w/ fair/sensitive skin, Texas humidity and prone to rosacea, light breakouts and sunburns, combo skin type, starting to see sundamage and fine lines |
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:36 pm |
Feliz,
If it worked for you before it may work for you again but it may not. You may want to start by first asking yourself what exactly you did different between your first and second times using the stuff. The answer could be in another product you used. Even still there could be more to it than products used. We both talked about internal things like supplements, etc. I also think that the weather can have an effect. In my stituation I have noticed an improvement in my acne. I can guess that it was anti-inflammatories and mandelic acid and not the Proheal but it is also possible that the increased humidity where I live made a difference. (Living in the desert I think that the very dry air makes my acne worse). Believe me I understand the frustration because I have been there and still am! My acne has been improving but I am not happy with how clogged my pores are. Now I have to determine what is causing that and while I suspect it is a combination of the Proheal and not getting strong peels anymore, I will not know for sure until I stop the Proheal. I tried to find a C serum close to the Proheal so I could test some of my theories about what is working and what may be causing problem but it is just a matter of being patient and seeing how my skin reacts to things.
Unlike katee and AnnieR I have never tried the entire ISC program and do not plan on it (my skin just wouldn't tolerate using any of the other products like Active serum and Firming Cream, I even experienced irritation from the Hydracool) My experience with ISC has also not been as positive as their's has been. I did experience some benefits but I also experienced some problems like my pores. I also have some issues with the ISC serums having so many ingredients but again maybe this appeals to others and they prefer it this way! So for me I am not sold on the line. Now if I had tried the entire line like they did and had the results that they did then maybe my opinion would be different. But I do agree with both of them about each of us needing to find what works for us. For me I don't think it will be ISC (who can tell though) and for you it may or may not be. BTW I just don't agree with your assesment of Propylene glycol. I don't have a problem with this ingredient and I imagine that there is a very good reason why cosmetic chemists choose to put this in their products.
Oops I guess I wrote an essay! Well, hopefully you will find something usefull in what I had to say. I really hope you find what works for you acne. If my acne improvement proves to be more than a passing thing I will post on what I did that helped. I almost feel like I am jinxing myself by saying this and I am not even a superstitious person! Good Luck and keep us posted! |
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:47 pm |
I have VERY sensitive skin and cannot even use the mandelic acid more than once every few weeks. It's weird, I haven't had the pore problem but I use the clarisonic so that helps.
I use the Proheal and alternate with super serum followed by hydracool in the a.m. and the active at night w/ hydracool only on my pore areas like chin and lower face. I don't use it on my nose or cheeks because of my rosace.
I don't like all of the IS line per say, though. Ones I have tried and didn't like at all were the cleanser (too strong & gave it to my son), the firming complex (way too much), moisturising complex (not impressed), eye complex (just okay), poly-vit serum (not good because of the niacin for rosacea) and sunscreen powder (turned orange and the brush was too rough). So I am not a complete fan, I just know what has worked for my face and given up on those that didn't. |
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Joined the 50 club several years back, blonde w/ fair/sensitive skin, Texas humidity and prone to rosacea, light breakouts and sunburns, combo skin type, starting to see sundamage and fine lines |
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:00 pm |
| AnnieR I will never cease to be amazed at how those of us with very sensitive skin can have such different reactions to products. It also amazes me that we all seem to react differently to comedogenic ingredients. And while there may be certain ingredients that are more likely to cause problems than others, it is really an individual thing! |
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:16 pm |
Your so right about the sensitivity thing! I got several samples from EDS of lotion and cream formulated especially for rosacea/sensitive skin and they made me break out horribly and my skin felt on fire. I had also gone thru a period where the last batch of Proheal made my skin irritated and I had to get my skin calmed down for a while and then start over. My esthetician said my skin was too dehydrated when I got my last IPL so it triggered a chain reaction of gigantic proportions!
Your advice on the looking to see where your skin was at when you last had a reaction to a product was very key. MY skin can vary to the extreme just by being in a drier climate and being dehydrated since it is used to the humidity here in Texas. I now keep Obagi Action on hand when this happens and I find it gets my skin back in shape in a hurry. Can't use it very often or for more than a few days because of the cortisone. |
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Joined the 50 club several years back, blonde w/ fair/sensitive skin, Texas humidity and prone to rosacea, light breakouts and sunburns, combo skin type, starting to see sundamage and fine lines |
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Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:24 pm |
| ISC is a good skincare line and I have been using its active serum and firming cream for some time, but I can not use Super Serum routinely. I still have half bottle left from a few months ago. It clogs my pores. I am using SC's CEF now and will go back to use up Super Serum in the winter. |
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Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:32 pm |
| Rose wrote: |
| ISC is a good skincare line and I have been using its active serum and firming cream for some time, but I can not use Super Serum routinely. I still have half bottle left from a few months ago. It clogs my pores. I am using SC's CEF now and will go back to use up Super Serum in the winter. |
Wow that's so weird! Super Serum is the only c serum that I have tried, that doesn't clog my pores! I use active serum as well, but I have cut down my usage because I feel I am too young to be using strong actives all the time. I only use it maybe 1 night a week now... (Thanks Molly!). |
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Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:54 pm |
| Quote: |
| I only use it maybe 1 night a week now... (Thanks Molly!). |
You're more than welcome |
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Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:24 pm |
Interesting to re-read this post. I have thus continued to re-purchase the Proheal serum, as it is one of the only things to clear up bad flare ups,,,the seceret is that I have to use a strong exfoliant. I use the Green Apple Peel from Juice beauty.
I have had a love/hate relationship with proheal, as every bottle seems to have a slightly diff consistency??? Strange.
I recently returned to the notorious product a few weeks ago, and it has REALLY helped to calm my flare ups, and reduce them FAST. On the other hand it has purged my skin, unearthing some clogged pores, etc, thus making my skin overall look BAD!!
At this point its all on the mend, and I realize that once the initial breakout phase has subsided, I will continue to use this in conjunction to my Jurlique products.....at last I am very pleased with the overall results!! |
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