Acnexus Reviewed, Honestly!

After my August voting poll Acnexus was the most popular choice for review so I did some research and testing. Other than finding a number of false reviews and fake rankings sites (I think I will have to write an article on this epidemic), the results themselves were interesting.

Product: Acnexus
Source: http://www.acnexus.com

Firstly, it is a cream treatment that you apply to your skin twice daily the same way you would use a scrub – apply to clean skin, rub for 30 seconds, rinse off, and pat dry. Now in terms of effectiveness, I have to say I was impressed with the feeling it gives the skin after use. Your skin feels fresher and smoother, but not dry at all. Plus the feeling does last longer than other scrubs I have used, and it reduces oiliness for a period of time. It will open your pores like a scrub, and it will moisturize and heal your skin like a natural healing cream, but this will do both simultaneously. So, if you can afford the price of around $20-30 per month, I would recommend this product as a scrub/cream. Personally, though, I will stick to using an over-the-counter scrub and follow it with a natural moisturizer simply because it is 1/3 the price and I like having them separate, but if you like the idea of getting both actions in the same product then Acnexus is a very good option. It will definitely help treat acne, but let me be perfectly clear: it is not a cure! It will simply help, like any other scrub and healing cream would.

Now I have to say that the photo on the website is definitely NOT life-sized. The bottle is actually quite small and it would have been nice to state it clearly somewhere before people buy it. The website does state that the bottle is only 9oz on their FAQ page, but they say “scroll down for actual size photo” and there is no photo on that page so they need to fix that, quickly. In addition, half-way down that page the website owner/sales person clearly makes a “mistake” in saying they send you a “15 ounce bottle” and uses the same price that we are asked to pay for the 9 ounce bottle. Where can we buy that one from?

The acnexus.com website also has a few spelling and grammatical errors. They have a sales website, not a blog, and this shows that they wrote and posted the site quickly and didn’t bother to review their text. If you want to sell something, look professional; if you are trying to look professional, learn to compile proper sentences – and then learn to type them. This is more an issue that just bugs me rather than an indication of the product’s effectiveness.

That aside, it is definitely a bonus that the ingredients actually ARE all natural, unlike some other products that claim to be but aren’t. So bonus marks for living up to that statement. But to be honest, I think some of the ingredients were simply added to the list to make it look good. I mean if all of the ingredients have “antiseptic” or “acne healing” properties, then wouldn’t it be easier to use one ingredient for each task? And if you are trying to have ALL of the natural ingredients that treat acne, how can you skip tea tree oil? Just a thought, but we’ll move on.

The creators of this product have done research into herbal medicine, so you will find that most of their ingredients have a history of being used as natural remedies for skin issues or infections, or simply for maintaining healthier skin. Taking this into account, there are a few main ingredients that will do the most work in treating your acne:

- Walnut Shell Grit:
This ingredient will do the majority (if not all) of the exfoliating. Walnut Shell has been found to be one of the best natural exfoliators in the world and is used in a few hundred different natural face and body scrubs.

- Avocado:
If you haven’t read any of my other posts, I do sometimes talk highly of avocado. Perhaps because I personally love it, but also because it is an excellent skin treatment in general. Most home remedies and facial masques have avocado in them precisely for this reason; it hydrates and moisturizes the skin while also having a small level of healing properties.

- Organic Aloe Vera Gel:
It heals. Everyone knows that. The Acnexus site talks about the aloe plant and give a bit of a history on it, but we all know this already, and they said it best on their site: “nothing natural heals acne better than aloe.”

- Plant Oils:
I didn’t want to get specific because Acnexus has extracted oils from a number of plants. The site talks about healing and aromatic properties, but other than making the product smell better these will only really help to keep your skin moisturized for a longer period of time.

In saying that, there are also a few ingredients that I have issues with, and not just for Acnexus:

- White Willow Bark:
White willow bark has been used as far back as the 5th century B.C. for it’s medicinal effect. The active chemical in white willow bark is salicin, which is similar to aspirin and, when ingested, is metabolized into salicylic acid. This chemical was used for thousands of years primarily to treat pain. Now if we forget about the fact that this will do as much for acne as aspirin would if consumed, it will probably do close to nothing when applied externally to the skin. And yet, we still see claims on the internet that it helps clear acne. Apparently, salicylic acid is meant to dry dead skin cells and promote the peeling of these from the dermis, but if you are using a scrub anyway, then what is the point? As for Acnexus, if salicylic acid is meant to do this, and salicylic acid is created when salicin is ingested, why are we applying raw white willow bark to the skin?

- Vitamin E Oil:
If you want vitamin E oil, take vitamin E supplements. Yes it helps treat acne but better that your body digest it and use it everywhere (including the skin) then to apply it to the skin synthetically.

Now if we get back to it’s effectiveness in treating acne, the main factor when considering this treatment is that it is applied externally. Yes it will open pores, yes it will clean your skin, and yes it will reduce oiliness, but it is extremely limited in its ability to treat acne. It does nothing to prevent the causes of acne in the body, and as such can only be a post-breakout treatment, rather than a prevention.

For best results, use this with at least some sort of internal treatment. For example, take vitamin A supplements or combine this with a healthy diet. Remember, there is no single one-for-all acne treatment available that will clear up everyone’s skin instantly. The best way to get rid of acne is to attack it on all fronts. Acnexus is a good enough product to be worth what you pay for it but, in my opinion, it will only show visible results for people with mild acne if used on its own. For the rest of us, you can use it simply for what it is – a scrub, moisturizer, and healing cream.

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