The first thing I did when I started researching Proactiv products was I wanted to see what kind of ingredients they were made from.
In the 3 piece kit, I found that every product (the toner, cleanser, and lotion) all contained around 2% of Benzoyl Peroxide.
What Is Benzoyl Peroxide and Why Is It In Each Product? This is a common ingredient mostly used for acne treatment.
It can be used in concentrations of 2% up to about 10%, however research says that higher concentrations of 5-10% aren't more effective than lower concentrations of 2%, interestingly enough.
One of the downsides to this ingredient is that it dries out the skin and depending on the skin type it can also cause irritation.
The nice thing is that your skin can actually develop a tolerance to this ingredient, usually in about a week, so you won't have to deal with the downsides forever.
But this depends on your skin type.
A minority percentage of folks are actually pretty sensitive to this ingredient and may experience burning, peeling, and maybe itching.
If you ever get any of these kinds of affects from using any of the Proactiv products it may be best to stay away from them and look for alternative products based on other ingredients.
One ingredient you can also check out is salicylic acid.
Benzoyl Peroxide Vs Salicylic Acid It really is difficult to say which product based ingredient is better for treating acne over the other.
The fact remains that everyone's skin is different.
Some skin types are more sensitive than others and some can really take a beating without showing any kind of side affects.