Quick Tip Of The Day: Do Not Combine Acne-Fighting Face Wash With Colored Towels
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
style
8:20AM, Tuesday October 13th 2009
Something mysterious has been going on in my bathroom. My blue towels have big bleached splotches. For a while I couldn’t figure out why. Was there bleach tainting the bathroom door from which my towel rack hung? I even entertained the notion that my dog walker had killed someone in my apartment and then used bleach to clean my bathroom of all evidence and used my towels to towel things dry. (I have a wild imagination, I know. She’s really a sweet older lady.) But then I had a new theory and confirmed its accuracy with Erin. My newish acne-fighting face wash, which contains Benzoyl Peroxide, wasn’t rinsing off entirely and, when I went to towel-dry my face, the chemical zit-fighting goodness still left on my skin was bleaching my towels! So, my tip? When using face wash with Benzoyl Peroxide, dry your face with white towels. The end.
TheFrisky.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
Keesh Mia
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 07:35 am: [report]
Wow! At least the colors didn’t come off on your face. I always believed to only have white towels in the house. It’s easier to maintain. Anal virgo.
blueberry86
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 07:42 am: [report]
This has happened to me too from using the exact product featured above! The few benzoyl peroxide products out there seem to work so much better on my breakouts than the salicylic acid ones do that I keep on putting up with it, though. Also, take care not to get any on your hair while using it in the shower, since I suspect it of being so strong that it lightens sections of hair.
theattack
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 07:44 am: [report]
My live-in boyfriend uses an acne-fighting face medicine that he leaves on his face at night, and it’s ruined the top part of my comforter. I found an absolutely perfect comforter for my bed when I moved in here, but it changed from a beautiful teal into a scary neon green on the top on his side of the bed. It is so sad. It’s also ruined the colorful hand towels. Unfortunately, since his is a leave-on medicine and not a facewash, I can’t really do anything about it by just changing the towels.
sasserlj
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 07:49 am: [report]
Story of my life. My roommates often tell me it looks like I’ve killed someone and bleached the evidence. But hey at least I’m not using their towels!
writergirl
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 08:14 am: [report]
@theattack—I don’t know if your boyfriend has to put it over his entire face, or just in small areas, but if it is the latter, have him put a band-aid on. I have an acne-rosacia ointment i have to use and I don’t want the greasy ointment transferring to my sheets or comfortor. So put it on, then cover it with a band-aid. I look like hell, but eveyrthing stays clean.
Frederica Bimble
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 08:30 am: [report]
These types of cleansers defeat the purpose. They create a cycle of drying the skin out which forces the skin to produce more oil to compensate for it.
Try some natural alternatives or an oil based cleanser - yes, oil, which tricks the skin into believing it doesn’t need to produce more.
Tea Tree oil works beautifully on spots and only takes a dab overnight.
The skin needs moisture, moisture and more moisture.
I had awful acne when I was a teenager and I stopped washing my face with soap or harsh cleansers such as what is described in this article and began to use olive oil and coconut oil and after a few months, my skin looked clear.
Try it. Also, it’s worth seeing a dermatologist as well.
Sarah B
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 08:42 am: [report]
Yeah, this happened to my towels at home, but I didn’t care that much. I felt really bad when I stayed with my brother-in-law and his wife this summer and wasn’t even thinking got bleach blotches all over their nice teal guest bath towels. I guess I know what to get them for Christmas, now.
EmmayElle
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 09:02 am: [report]
The same exact thing happened to me and it took me a while to figure out what was bleaching my towels. I even got some on my nice pj pants :(
Goldfinch86
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 10:10 am: [report]
I used that product, not only did it not do the trick but it bleached my clothes it dripped on and my towels so I stopped being cheap and went back to the other more expensive kind they sell Advantage, it works better and doesn’t bleach.
marykerry
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 10:56 am: [report]
I didn’t have this problem till I tried Proactiv two years ago. I finally put two and two together and called the company to complain that they hadn’t warned me. The response was along the lines of I should have figured it out since they recommend a white T-shirt after use on the back. I’ve since switched to SkinID so I haven’t had this problem again.
But the bleaching only happened on relatively new towels, not my set of old ones inherited from my gramma.
kalibrooke
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 12:22 pm: [report]
yep… we have gone through towels, pillowcases, and countless t-shirts of my husband’s. it was only after seeing a dermatologist who happened to mention the bleaching effect that my husband realized what was happening… we’re just really into tie-dye now.
Jessalyn
wrote on October 13 2009 @ 12:57 pm: [report]
This happened to me in college all the time! I used a cream that contained benzoyl peroxide at night, so it was on my sheets too. My mom would come out for a long weekend and be like “Honey, do I need to re-teach you how to do laundry?” And my host mom when I studied abroad thought I’d had a nose-bleed on her sheets (brand new brown sheets turned an unfortunate shade of dark orange). Oops. I finally gave up on using the cream at night and only wore it during the day - and bought really dark towels. (For some reason, it only seemed to bleach lighter-colored fabrics.)
abbylyn
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 07:30 pm: [report]
That exact one turned my purple washcloths and towels in college bright pink.