:Clear Skin Blog

Continuing with the Acne-Vitamins.com site updates, we’ve updated the testimony page, adding some of the latest stories received from Clear5 users. A new, much-appreciated set of before-and-after pictures has also come in. All our testimony comes from actual customers, not paid participants in studies or focus groups, so we’re always happy to receive more stories for our ever-growing and already rather lengthy testimony page. Vitamin B5 acne treatment is such a simple and effective one-step solution that many first-time users are naturally surprised at how dramatic a difference a single supplement can make.

Also a note that Monday is Columbus Day, and in honor of the national holiday, postal workers take the day off, which obviously means no mail going out. Rest assured that all weekend orders will be shipping first thing Tuesday! Thanks for your patience and continued support!

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The new Acne Vitamins shopping cart is done at last! It’s actually been live for about 24 hours now. I apologize to any customers who visited while our cart was down. I had hoped that the whole operation could be finished in a few hours, but there were some complications and it turned out taking almost two full days, which I know is pretty bad. The new template didn’t like our version of osCommerce at first, and I didn’t want to start accepting orders until I was sure everything was 100% secure.

Unfortunately the old database got overwritten by the new one, so returning customers will have to create new accounts. On the bright side, the new cart has a much nicer, more modern appearance. The old cart looked a bit dated even back when I installed it in 2005. Otherwise things are about the same, functionality-wise. No big surprises. Of course, our order-counter now looks oddly low.

Well I hope you all like the new Acne-Vitamins shopping cart, and thanks for your continued support! They say acne products are recession-proof, and unfortunately I might just get a chance to find out.

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Clear5 is getting a mention on a national news show, but one of the guests is a dermatologist who’ve I’ve already been warned does not think kindly of acne vitamin products. This doesn’t really bother me, as any publicity is good publicity right now, and the fact is that most of our business comes from satisfied repeat customers.

In truth, I would probably agree with this dermatologist when it comes to most vitamin-based clear skin treatments. Most acne vitamins are not based on vitamin B5, but rather a mix of thrown-together antioxidants. Instead of targeting oil regulation, they simply attempt to combat bacteria, which we all know is not the root of the acne problem. Most of these treatments are indeed a waste of money. You’re almost always better off with over-the-counter topical drugs than internal treatments that rely solely on antioxidants.

However, when it comes to vitamin B5 treatments, it’s becoming ridiculous that so many dermatologists are still in denial. Treatments like Clear5 that target oil regulation are backed by both science and real-world experience, with an ever growing number of users who have seen results way too dramatic to ignore. It seems almost irresponsible that some dermatologists continue to write-off B5, even while recommending Accutane - a potentially dangerous prescription drug that works by targeting the exact same problem. While Accutane inhibits oil production, vitamin B5 enhances oil metabolism - both bring similar results by helping the body manage excess oil.

I’m sure sentiments among dermatologists will change as B5 treatment becomes more mainstream, but in the meantime I really don’t think any opinions put forth by skin-care professionals are likely to keep that growth from happening. The fact that many customers discover Clear5 only after going to multiple dermatologists and having no luck whatsoever with the treatments they recommended should say enough.

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Big news for acne sufferers! Clear5 is now available as a liquid vitamin supplement. So you can now achieve clear skin easily without even needing to take pills.

We’ve just launched our new liquid Clear5 in two flavors: Very Grape and Wild Strawberry. We’ve been testing this formula for a while and are very happy with it, and I’m sure you will be too. From our research, we’ve found just the right dosage to provide a super-effective dose for stopping excess skin oil, without going overboard into mega-dose levels that just get flushed out of your body. I think you’ll find that our liquid vitamins also taste a lot better than the competition. Frankly, most liquid vitamins taste pretty bad, and this is something I wanted to avoid. With either flavor, Clear5 definitely tastes much better than other liquid supplements.

Is the liquid better than the time-released tablets? In most cases, the fact is they’re about the same in effectiveness. However, it’s no secret that there are some people out there who do not metabolize tablets well, so the liquid vitamins are sure to work better for these individuals. We’ve also noticed that the liquid supplements may overall work faster for new, first-time vitamin B5 users, so clear skin may come a few days sooner. Some of our first users were surprised how fast they noticed a difference!

Liquid vitamins have the highest absorbance rate of any vitamin supplements, meaning that even if you take a higher dose via pills, your body actually absorbs more from a liquid source. The vitamins are more bioavailable, so they are easier for your body to actually put to use. Right now, the cost is a bit higher than the tablets (as each bottle costs us more than twice as much to make), but if you want to avoid pills and give yourself the highest chance of success, I’d highly recommend giving liquid Clear5 a try.

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Aloe is one of the oldest known skin care treatments, and remains popular today for its moisturizing qualities and anti-bacterial effects. While aloe is not generally used as a main active ingredient in acne treatments, it’s a very common included in treatments to balance out more harsh ingredients such as benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, providing soothing relief from the often drying effects of typical acne-fighting agents.

However, what’s not quite as common is aloe’s use as a health drink. Rich in anti-oxidant vitamins and amino acids, aloe makes for a very healthy beverage, and thanks to the modern health food craze is becoming easier to find and enjoy. Like any aloe product, aloe vera juice is produced from the leaf of the aloe plant. The leaves are cut to produce a golden sap that is beneficial both as a topical treatment and when taken internally. If not overly diluted, even over-the-counter aloe vera juice is helpful as a topical cleanser! The juice has a citrus taste and is packed with vitamins that are needed by acne sufferers, including vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E. On top of this, it aids the production of collagen, which helps firm up your skin cells and protect them from damage.

Aloe vera juice is also known to aid digestion as a herbal bitter. When no sulfites or water are added, the juice contains a pH range of 4.7-5.2, promoting a healthy digestive tract. This aids acne sufferers, as keeping your digestive tract in top shape ensures that your body is able to absorb and convert all the essential vitamins and minerals you need. Aloe has also been shown to soothe digestive tract irritations such as ulcers, colitus and IBS, thanks to its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties.

As one of the oldest-known skin care treatments, aloe vera’s benefits are well established. Adding aloe vera juice to your diet is clearly a great option if you’re looking for a healthy new beverage to help promote clear skin. It certainly helps that it can now be found at many grocery stores. Aloe vera juice naturally has a golden shade, but can often be found packaged in a green bottle. It’s helpful for generally promoting clear skin at any time, but drink it right before meals for best results as a digestive aid.

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A new update to our clear skin testimony page today. As always, it’s good to hear from customers who are seeing positive results from Clear5. Since most acne sufferers are used to relying upon constantly having to apply creams and cleansers, it’s often quite a surprise to find that vitamin B5 acne treatment - which doesn’t require any topical application - works so well. Anyways, while we appreciate the continued positive feedback, I’d definitely encourage our users out there to send us any feedback at all. If you’re not seeing the results you’d hoped for, we can often help out by providing some honest advice.

On a side note, I’d like to talk about submitting before-and-after pictures, as we’ve received a number of pictures this year that aren’t exactly publishable. If you plan to submit pictures to Acne Vitamins, please make sure the lighting is clear enough that we can actually make out your skin. Close-ups of your face are best, just turn off the flash. Also, try to avoid pictures taken too long apart in which your complexion looks totally different. We’ve received a few sets where people have had a dark summer tan in one picture and then look like they’ve spend more time in front of the computer than me in the next (I really need to get away from this thing ^_^). Just consider our ability to actually use your photos when submitting them.

For those who had trouble ordering earlier today, sorry about that! Our webhost for the shopping cart decided to undergo some huge server update or something, and it basically brought the site to a crawl (or a dead stop for some). Everything is back to normal now. I know I always complain about Netfirms and yet still use them, but if this happens again I may really switch. We got a number of emails from customers who couldn’t order thanks to slow loading times and pages simply timing-out, and then Netfirms emails us with the idiotic “try clearing your browser cache” advice for the technologically illiterate (I’m surprised they didn’t ask me if the computer was plugged in…). You’d think a company would at least have the decency to apologize when their service fails to perform, rather than playing dumb and trying to pass it off as being your fault when their servers aren’t working as they should be.

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Anyone can review a product online. Acne-Vitamins has posted our own reviews of some competing products based on ingredients and customer feedback from sites such as acne.org. However, it’s quite another thing when a site claims to be an objective, “scientific” source of reviews as some of the sites you see advertising on Google and elsewhere do - and even go so far as to give numerical scores to products without any testing.

I recently came across one such site which gave low scores to many acne treatments without any explanation (including B5 treatments such as Clear5, and well, almost everything), while awarding near perfect scores to a bunch of products I’d never heard of that are mostly sold through ebay (and generally overpriced). Fraudulent review sites like pricesexposed.org may be easy to pick out by those that spend a lot of time online, but they no doubt fool many casual surfers. A truly scientific review should have stats - a test group of significant size that is monitored over a period of time for results, preferably alongside a similar group using a placebo. At the very least, you would expect some explanation for how things like “acne fighting power” are measured and scores are tallied…

While no acne treatment works in 100% of cases, most of them work in at least some situations, as anyone who studies the popular active ingredients and understands how they work would know. A serious review should explain what ingredients a product uses and how successful it is given its method.

In any case, a heads up about shipping prices - The US Postal Service is raising their rates effective May 14th, and so we’re bumping up shipping costs a bit. I think you’ll find we’re still a lot cheaper on shipping than most of competition, but I apologize for the slight raise. Let’s just hope gas doesn’t hit $4 a barrel and drive postage any higher.

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A rather large update to the testimony page at Acne-Vitamins today. One thing I often hear from vitamin B5 users is how surprised they are that a single pill can make so much of a difference, especially after many of these former acne sufferers had gotten used to constantly applying an entire drawer full of topical treatments in days past. Sometimes it’s the simplest treatments that are the most effective.

This logic often applies to the list of ingredients in a product as well. Far too many natural treatments end up being ineffective due to the fact that they try to throw every conceivable ingredient into the mix that might somehow help the condition in question. This approach more often than not results in a product packed with such small amounts of each ingredient that none of them actually get a chance to work effectively. Sometimes they even include ingredients that compete with one another, weakening the potency of nutrients that are already in scarce supply.

Acne can have many causes. But for most people, most of your acne comes down to one cause. That cause is usually excess oil production. I’ve blogged plenty of times about dietary factors, but even in these cases, the main reason diet effects acne is because it effects the production and metabolism of sebum. When you find and treat the main cause of your acne, you’ll find that you don’t need a host of other treatments and lifestyle changes to stay clear. Moreover, if you’re not treating your key factor, even if you’re eating healthy and exercising and practicing great hygiene and using dozens of external and internal treatments that do everything from exfoliating to killing bacteria….it’s still not going to eliminate your acne! Narrow down what gives results for you and stick to that. Don’t blow acne up into something more complex than it is.

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Yeah, the shopping cart server for Acne-Vitamins is acting up today. We’re performing some updates to our cart that will hopefully iron out any problems that customers have been having when placing orders. Unfortunately, it seems our host chose today to go through some sort of server update, slowing down to a crawl and making it hard for us to test the shopping cart efficiently. Everything should be working now, but you may not be able to order immediately simply due to the script timing out. Hopefully when this is all done the cart will run smoother than before.

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Might as well start the year off with some new testimony from Clear5 users. We’ve had a bunch of clear skin stories piling up in our email over the last few months, and you can now find some of them at our acne testimony page. One of my favorite pieces of new testimony was from a customer who had already been using multiple prescription treatments for months, and yet didn’t get the results he was looking for until after adding Clear5 to the mix. We’re not kidding when we say that vitamin B5 treatment is more effective than many prescriptions. Just because something doesn’t contain strong drugs doesn’t mean it can’t have a strong effect on your body. In most cases, acne is something that your body should be able to get rid of itself, it just sometimes lacks the tools (such as a strong supply of vitamins necessary for key metabolic reactions). If you supply those tools, your body will often fix the problem for you.

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