You may not hold up a boom box blaring love songs for an acne treatment (or maybe you do, in which case please share your playlist), but the feelings that come with trying a brand new one aren’t completely unlike that of a romantic relationship: You start off hopeful and excited, with a restored sense of optimism that you’ve finally found The One. So when a product isn’t working out in the way you had hoped, it’s easy to feel depleted — but sometimes, like in life, the best thing you can do for your skin is to let it go.
Unfortunately, and like Neil Sedaka could tell you, breaking up is hard to do. You want to give your acne product ample time to work its magic, but how can you know when it’s time to move on? The answer, according to dermatologist Francesca Fusco, MD, at Wexler Dermatology, is all in the timing: “It can take up to a week for your skin to adjust to a new acne product, and that applies to both topical and oral treatments,” she told POPSUGAR. “But adjusting to a new skincare product is different from seeing total clearance. That can take anywhere from two to six weeks.”
Keep reading for a better breakdown of when, exactly, it’s appropriate to start planning that “it’s not you, it’s me” speech in your head — and when you should hold on tight, and never let go.
When it’s been less than a month . . .