When you’ve been struggling with cystic acne, whether for weeks or years, the search for something that stops or even lessens the often painful breakouts can seem endless. To add insult to injury, some of the most highly recommended skin-care products for this deep, stubborn form of acne also come highly priced. So it’s no wonder that beauty lovers on Reddit have eagerly turned their attention to a post about a $ 3 moisturizer that one woman claims has completely cleared up her skin.
On Wednesday, December 11, a Reddit user with the handle lhyrre posted in the SkincareAddiction feed to share her triumphant story. “It seemed like whatever I did, I always had at least two or three pimples even on my clearest days,” she writes, having explained that she has long been dealing with persistent cystic acne. “Foundation/skincare wasn’t a case of ‘what won’t make me break out’ but rather ‘what will make me break out less’. I tried everything from medicated to organic, plain, and noncomedogenic for years.” She shared that her already carefully crafted regimen — one that has somewhat reduced but not eliminated her acne — includes an oil cleanser, micellar water, witch hazel toner, Innisfree’s Green Tea Seed Intensive Hydrating Serum and Eye Cream, and whichever moisturizer happens to be agreeing with her skin at the moment.
“Then, on a business trip to India, my husband brought back a tub of Himalaya Nourishing Skin Cream,” she writes. Haven’t heard of it? That’s understandable. While a handful of retailers sell it in the U.S., the Himalaya brand isn’t as widely known here as it is in India. But that may be about to change if people take notice of this woman’s story.
“Literally after the first time I put on this moisturizer, my skin cleared up. Just. Point blank. No breakouts,” she gushes to her fellow Redditors, explaining that it’s giving her the confidence to try the types of skin-care products she has found upset her skin, like foaming cleansers and chemical exfoliants. And that’s not all. “When I ran out of eye cream, I shrugged and put it there too and my black circles lightened and I stopped struggling with makeup creasing badly there.”
I asked New York City dermatologist Joshua Zeichner to take a look at Himalaya Nourishing Skin Cream’s ingredient list to see if there’s anything in particular that could be so helpful in clearing up lhyrre’s acne. “Ashwagandha extract has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and may block the effect of stress hormones on oil glands,” he told me. “This can reduce inflammation and minimize oil production.”
Ultimately, even if Himalaya Nourishing Skin Cream doesn’t work for you the way it has for this Redditor, she wants everyone to take something away from her experience. “I don’t know what my skin loves about this stuff so much, but I had never even heard about it before. Even when I went to research it, it looked like there was no hype or anything,” she writes. “I guess what I want to say is that everyone’s skin is different, and if you are dealing with a persistent skin issue, just keep trying new things! Just because no one is talking about something doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.”
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