Yes, I’m totally lame. Not in the “Tiny Tim” sense of the word, but in the “I promised I’d follow up on the Zit Situation after seven days, and never got around to it” meaning of the term.

You see, I’ve been pretty busy and have had better things to do with my time than take pictures of my pizza-pie face, but there’s also the not-so-small issue of shaving. You see, in order to provide you with the wonderfully graphic photos in my last post, I had shaved myself smooth. This was to be part of my regime — but after one bloody nightmarish day of repeating this process, not only was I in a LOT of pain, but the large open wounds on my face started to get infected. AWESOME!

All that to say, I haven’t shaved (with a razor) since then. I’ve kept the stubble relatively short with clippers, but I’m not letting a blade go anywhere near this train-wreck ’til I get a handle on things.

So why post today? Well for one, better late than never. And secondly, I’ve set up an appointment next week at the Tao of Wellness, and wanted to make sure that everyone got a good look at where things are at AFTER the hydrocortisone treatment, but BEFORE the acupuncture/herbal therapy. I’m quite sure I won’t get around to it next week, and since I had the night to myself it just made good sense. Like Vietnam, or Beanie Babies.

If you click the pic above, it’ll take you to a much higher-rez version of the Before/After shots. One first glance it might look like some healing has happened, and while that may be true, take into account a couple things.

1. The stubble is hiding much of the inflamation.
2. The first shot was taken RIGHT after I shaved and washed my face.
3. While some of the acne appears to have cleared up, other patches have broken out.

In other words, I don’t think the hyrdorcortisone did much good (or damage). My face did FEEL better while I was using it, but it was always greasy and brought even more attention to the area.

On the other hand, the facial products I was using really did a great job, and the rest of my face hasn’t looked so good in quite awhile. The exfoliant in particular really freshened up the look and feel of things on my cheeks and around my eyes. I will continue to use it even after we tackle the acne situation.

The biggest lesson that I’ve learned these past couple of weeks is that I look WAY better with a little bit of stubble. I know I’ll get an email from my father arguing to the contrary, but come on, the pictures speak for themselves. My girlfriend prefers me that way, and it might just get me noticed. Heck, it worked for Clint Eastwood AND Frida Kahlo…

I like the stubble too… but GOOD LORD, man, get yourself to a dermatologist!

It’s likely the stress of the strike has contributed to your complexion problem – or has this been an ongoing battle? I’m not making a product placement but I know a number of people who have seen results from Proactive – just ask Jessica Simpson! LOL Seriously, anything is worth a try. Until then, the stubble works. Good luck, guy.