I made a post several weeks ago which was apart of my
365 Days of Happy. It showed several items I had bought to help get rid of the dark spots I have on my face that I've been trying to get rid of for years.
I purchased 100% black soap with lemongrass and African shea butter (the castor oil was for my hair). I bought all of these items at a local beauty supply store. The shea butter is an 8oz tub that cost about $6 and the black soap was about $3.50. Both are from
RA Cosmetics. For about the first 3-4 days I was loving the black soap and shea butter. I had heard that black soap can be drying and I more than anticipated it since my skin is so sensitive. With lots of products my skin can go from loving it to hating it to loving it again in the matter of a month. When it came to the black soap it really made my face feel clean and smooth. Those first few days my face would feel a little dry, but nothing I couldn't handle. (Both photos taken after using black soap for the first time. You may or may not be able to see the spots on my face, but trust they're there).
After the four or so days I noticed that no matter what moisturizer I used or how much of it I used that my skin would be so dry to the point that it would burn, especially around my chin. I also noticed that my skin was breaking out and I wanted the OPPOSITE of that. I decided to put down the black soap (for now) and continue to use the facial cleanser that I had been using prior.
This daily facial cleanser is the Walgreens version of the Cetaphil brand. I will admit that when I first bought this months ago it was by accident. Before this I would normally buy the Dollar General version of Cetaphil's
GENTLE facial cleanser, but the DG's in my area no longer carry it. Still I thought I was buying the gentle cleanser instead of the daily cleanser. At first my skin had the same reaction to this as the black soap since the daily cleanser is much stronger than the gentle. My skin really liked this cleanser the first week then hated it the next. I put this cleanser aside for a while until my gentle cleanser ran out then decided to pick it back up. Now my skin
LOVES this. That is part of the reason why I won't give up on the black soap. My skin is very fickle. Still as I switched back to my old cleanser I stuck with the shea butter.
I had made the decision that, since I couldn't pinpoint which product was breaking me out, I'd stop using the black soap for a month and still use the shea butter at night and that if I was still breaking out then I'd switch and use the black soap for a month and stop using the shea butter. It took a week for my skin to balance back out and for that burning sensation on my chin to go away. I really love this shea butter. My routine is that during the daytime if I'm going anywhere I'll wash my face with my cleanser and use a vitamin E cream as a moisturizer. I only use the shea butter at night and in the day on my days off. I never use it in the day if I'm going out since it can be greasy.
 |
| This cream I use in the day. Purchased at Dollar General. |
|
I can definitely tell a difference in my skin. My face is very smooth, I can see spots fading, and my face has a glow. The breakouts that happened from using the black spots are almost 90% cleared up after only a few weeks. I'm hopeful that after using the shea butter for another month or so will clear up my skin almost entirely. I have had acne/dark spots for 20 years or more. In my lifetime I've used everything from Clearasil to Proactiv to Neutrogena to Acne Free and everything else in between. It's so nice to finally find something after all of these years that works. It's also nice that I can finally look at myself and think "I don't really think I need makeup today". It's a freeing feeling. In the future I hope to use the black soap again and see how far that will take me. As for now I have nothing but great things to say about this all natural shea butter. I won't slam the black soap because I'm sure it's great as well, but my skin has a different opinion on it for the time being. (SN: Those longer eyelashes came from the help of castor oil lol.)
 |
| After one month of using shea butter |
By: Asia Aneka Anderson
