Oribe isn't acne-safe, and can cause acne even if you wash your face after showering

I wanted to post a sort of PSA to anyone suffering from acne who also uses Oribe hair products-- as someone who NEVER had acne before using them, and out of nowhere got horrible acne that wouldn’t abate for almost two years, if you use Oribe and struggle with acne, you should read this.

Here’s the story: I became a dedicated user of the Oribe Gold Lust line shampoo and conditioner line about 1.5-2 years ago, as I have coarse/ethnic hair and it’s almost impossible to find a suitable haircare line for my hair as a result. It worked better than anything I’d tried before in bringing out my curl definition and taming frizz, so I was hooked despite the price. I don’t know exactly how the timing lines up, but for background, I was NEVER acne-prone before this. Never. Not even as a teenager. I was always normal/slightly dry, and I had extreme dryness during an autoimmune flare for a rare AI disease that can cause skin problems, but not acne (rashes/dryness/inflammation, but not acne). So I was NEVER acne-prone. The worst acne I ever experienced in my life before this happened was 1 deep pimple during my period, occasionally. Never anything more than that.

So when I suddenly started getting bad acne all across my face (mostly in my t-zone–chin/forehead/nose area) I was horrified. And I mean, it got bad. For the first 6-8 months maybe, it was only a few pimples along my hairline/forehead and chin, sometimes cystic, but maybe 2-4 at a time, nothing serious but far more than I’m used to, and most notably, constant. Not just on my period. Every day. My derm sucked in hindsight, as she put me on Abx but then just kept trying to make me switch cleansers over and over, hyperfocused on which cleanser I was using (cauda lie’s acne line), trying to make me try other harsh US drugstore cleansers instead that caused horrible side effects and made the acne much worse. I told her I’m allergic to niacinamide but she still had me try several containing it and those caused a rash and more whiteheads, and others just caused rashes/peeling. If it wasn’t on a CVS counter, she insisted it was the cause of my acne, even though it wasn’t and everyone she had me try made it drastically worse. By the time I’d spent a year doing what she told me and trying the cleansers she wanted, my face had become 100x worse. It was COVERED in acne, all over. In fact, her overuse of ABX gave me additional fungal acne, and she refused to test it/treat it, and I had to get a rando telehealth doc to prescribe me antifungals to get rid of that. It was horrible. So at this point, it’s gone from bad for me, to truly severe. My derm at this point is throwing up her hands and refusing to use her brain to figure out a solution, just giving me more harsh drugstore cleansers.

Notably, I, a former drug dev chemist, started (before even seeing my derm) by testing every product I own by switching it out for weeks, even paring my routine down to nothing but a cleanser and very basic moisturizer and sunscreen, and that did NOTHING to help, so I knew from pretty early on it wasn’t the products I was using on my face, so I probably should have ignored my derm and skipped the mess she put me through, but hindsight is 20/20. Finally, after getting sent home with another bad cleanser, I thought about what other unusual things might cause acne. I always wash my face after washing my hair so I had already ruled out my hair products as the cause, but it occurred to me that the residue from the shampoo and conditioner still touches my face daily, so it might be worth trying cutting out my shampoo/switching it. So I did. (This, of course, never even came up with my derm–she never even mentioned face washing after washing my hair).

Within literally 3-4 days, I am ACNE FREE. 100% acne free. From dozens of pimples to nothing. It’s insane.

So Oribe can cause acne, EVEN if you wash your face after your shower and wash your hair (and likely other hair care products could do the same). I wish I’d had a decent derm so I didn’t have to wait almost 2 years of suffering with acne when I could’ve cured it in literally days.

…quietly removes the gold lust line from my Sephora cart… :joy:

What’s scary is it can do it to someone who is absolutely not and has never been acne prone. So you think you’re fine, but…

I’m so glad you sorted it out. My skin is also generally fine, but it’s super sensitive so when it doesn’t like something, it tells me in a BIG way.

I’m so glad you sorted it out. My skin is also generally fine, but it’s super sensitive so when it doesn’t like something, it tells me in a BIG way.

I’m so glad you sorted it out. My skin is also generally fine, but it’s super sensitive so when it doesn’t like something, it tells me in a BIG way.

I’ve never used Oribe but I went to a beauty event just yesterday and there was an Oribe rep there. She was saying Oribe is haircare inspired by skincare so the fact it caused acne is concerning