<p>Are most of the bumps in the beard area - no breakouts on his nose or forehead? My son had breakouts mostly along the sides of his face and chin, which seemed to be from shaving irritation that opened up the skin allowing bacteria to enter.</p>
<p>I bought him a new razor and told him to change the blade after 3 or 4 uses. My H suggested that he try a shaving foam for sensitive skin to give him lots of glide when he shaves. He also uses a post shaving moisturizer that calms the skin by Anthony (bought it at Sephora). </p>
<p>My D told him that all her male friends treat breakouts with alcohol on a q-tip - easy and effective, if not very drying.</p>
<p>My son was using an electric shaver - a self cleaning “wet” type that was terribly irritating, even though it seemed to give a less close shave. Getting rid of that was the best thing he did.</p>
<p>I have a gay male friend who wears bronzer and a tiny bit of eyeliner - he has dark eyes and lashes, so it’s barely discernible, but it gives him a polished more striking appearance. He can pull it off and it looks great on him. A young gay man with nice skin and a light touch with products can look fine and the makeup can enhance their looks, but it does add a feminine vibe.</p>
<p>Evitaperon - the OP asked a question and you hijacked it into your own tales of gender bending. You have listed a lot of personally identifying info on CC over the years. You might wish to contact a mod and have your personal photo taken down. </p>
<p>And no, I don’t find it “repulsive,” but with the makeup and contouring, it is clear you are playing with gender presentation – which is fine, but not the desire of most young men.</p>
<p>My son uses Panoxyl foaming wash, it’s the only thing we’ve found that works really well. Depending on how oily his skin is it can be drying. Benzyol peroxide-based products work better than salicylic acid at least in our experience and according to our dermatologist.</p>
<p>My son swears by Walgreens oil-free liquid facial cleanser. It’s the orange stuff in a bottle. He prefers it to the Neutrogena brand or any other store brand. I think he uses a stridex pad type product as well. </p>
<p>And, re other comments on this thread, he has been known to wear “guyliner” and he colors his own hair because he likes it black instead of dark brown. I’m actually impressed with his dyeing skills and I agree it looks good. And no, he’s not really “goth,” or gay, but he does have his look.</p>
<p>I am female; I had very severe acne in my teens and early twenties. It cleared up when I stopped using cleanser entirely and went to gently scrubbing with a clean washcloth and JUST hot water twice a day. (I buy bulk packs of washcloths at Target to make sure I only use clean ones.) I have not used any cleanser in about thirty years at this point. I use zinc oxide ointment on flareups (I still get the occasional zit) and a light mositurizer at night (Weleda). I do not use suncreens (I wear a hat) as those also cause my skin to break out. </p>
<p>My son (also prone to acne) uses the same regimen with the same success.</p>
<p>I love Paula’s advice and her acne products line is quite good.
However I will pass along a suggestion from her that is quite simple and effective for cleaning pores. </p>
<p>Take a simple cleaner like Cetaphil and mix it in the palm of your hand with some baking soda. Scrub face with this mixture. Simple, easy and inexpensive. It does not solve all acne problems, but it does give you very clean and soft skin.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. Sorry that my gender reference resulted in this thread digressing - didn’t intend for that to happen. I just thought there might be something different for boys, especially given that he had just started to shave.</p>
<p>We will try cetaphil/st ives apricot scrub - or rather, I’ll send them to him and hope he uses it :)</p>
<p>Apricot scrub facial cleanser. Target and Walmart make their own brands. Anything with Salicylic Acid will work nicely for acne. I think Nivea has products especially for men/boys.</p>
<p>I could never get my boys to wash their faces at night so I bought them a jar of Oxi…face wipe pads. (black jar with red graphics) It helped, but we still had the clogged pore issue.</p>
<p>I broke down and bought Proactive from a mall kiosk. This stuff really does work. I don’t know if you need to invest in all 3 or 4 bottles that come with the starter kit. In my opinion all you need is the scrub with the particles in it. I have used it on myself and must say the stuff is amazing.</p>
<p>I have stridex natural formula pads. I try to not put chemicals on my face (Make up or otherwise). This is mostly white tea, pomegranate, and soy with one percent salicylic avid.</p>
<p>Skin care & boys ~ my S takes only 1 product into the shower - a bodywash. It says also for shampoo and shaving.</p>
<p>I encouraged the cetaphil. It does not have to be washed off, or at least not a big problem if it’s not washed off. But reality is S takes long showers ~ lack of water is not the problem.</p>
<p>Proactive works. But too much for my S to keep up with.</p>
<p>Before leaving for college S said he would like to have small bars of facial soaps - very small - single use like hotels use. It seemed wasteful, 1 bar of soap for each trip to the shower, but then I found a bulk deal which turned out to be a great deal. Soooo I bought the bulk deal (they must have thought I owned a hotel) and now have hundreds and hundreds of tiny little bars of soap. But S switched and now only uses the above mentioned bodywash ~ oh well.</p>
<p>A lot of my planning for college - kind of went in that direction :)</p>
<p>Note that this is .ORG not .com. (Com is the Proactiv site.) The site I suggest includes recommendations for commonly-available OTC products that work. I believe that Cetaphil is one of them.</p>
<p>My observation is that you have to try a lot of different things–what works for one person may not work for another, and it may not keep on working for the same person either. Some things, like keeping clean, are fundamental, but effectiveness of products is unpredictable.</p>
<p>On a somewhat related note, DS prefers an electric razor but his is petering out. Any recommendations for a new one that is effective yet won’t exacerbate ingrown hairs?</p>