Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System Review: Great but Beware...

Let me just say this first: This is the BEST beauty tool I have ever bought, and here is why.

I had heard so many raving reviews about the Clarisonic Mia and the Clarisonic Pro that I desperately wanted to try them. The problem was that they are over one-hundred dollars! I don’t have that kind of money; I am an Air Force wife.

I have always had combination skin, the oily parts being overly oily and the dry parts being extremely dry and flaky. I was currently using a very harsh exfoliating glove to clean my face with in an effort to remove the flaky skin every day – and this still wasn’t working very well. I was even using a medicated lotion from Eucrine to help the dryness. On top of that, I had spent the last year in New Mexico, the capital o f dry air. I needed something to help me.

So, I began to do my research. When I would search for the Clarisonic in Amazon, the Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System continued to pop up in the search results. I had never heard of this, so I decided to read the Amazon reviews.

The Amazon reviews were surprisingly good, but you can’t always trust those reviews because well…sometimes people rate something badly because of ridiculous things, or they rate something good for an equally ridiculous thing. I began to do more internet research and didn’t come up with much useful information. Just my luck, that day a friend called me who had gotten it and was raving about it. After peppering her with a hundred questions, I decided to order this from Amazon. It was nearly 10 dollars cheaper there than in the store.

I didn’t pay for the fast shipping so about five days later it arrived in the mail. I opened the package and looked at it all. There was the system itself, the brush which came in its own plastic, batteries, and a trial size bottle of Olay’s exfoliating face wash.

I had read on Amazon’s reviews how a lot of people had trouble getting the battery compartment off. I however, had no difficulty at all. I read the instructions and while it was a bit tight (the whole system is waterproof) it slid right off. I installed the batteries, and attached the brush. I wish the brush had a more significant ‘snap’ when it went on, because I pushed on it longer than I needed to as I was not sure it was really on.

I then climbed the stairs to my bathroom, pulled my hair back, and wet my face. This is important; your face needs to be wet to exfoliate without damaging your skin. I applied a little of the exfoliating scrub with my fingertips and turned on the brush. I dipped it in the water, shook off the excess water, and applied it to my face.

Ohhhhhh it felt like a massage! I immediately liked it. I slowly ran it over my entire face, much like you would use an electric toothbrush. In fact, I have begun timing it the same way I time brushing my teeth, two minutes seems to do a great job for both.

I was worried though, because the brush does not seem very stiff. In fact, if you press to hard you hear the motor start to struggle and you have to let off. I wondered if it could really get into my pores and scrub off the excess skin this way. I went over my entire face slowly, about three times that first time. Now, I don’t need more than once or twice.

Once I was finished I rinsed my face thoroughly with warm water. I patted my face dry and felt my skin. OH MY GOODNESS it was so smooth! Really, I had never, ever felt my skin this smooth. I noticed it almost immediately felt dry but this is true with any face washing so I put (non-medicated) lotion on it and waited to see what I thought in an hour or so.

I came back and turned on the bright light in front of my mirror. I leaned in and realized that my pores were visibly cleaner. I have large pores and I had never seen them like this. After at test with a biore pore strip that came out clean (clean!), I was sold. My face felt so smooth and soft, even my husband who never notices anything commented on it. It was still feeling just as good over twenty-four hours later.

I have now been using the Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System for five weeks, and my skin looks and feels better than it ever has. After three uses I saw once again a noticeable change in the texture and even the color of my skin. It was much brighter now that all of the old skin had been removed. For the first week or so I broke out a tiny bit, which I normally don’t do. However, I think it was just my skin getting used to it because it went away and has not come back. My skin is even less oily now than it used to be.

The one thing I have negative to say about it is the exfoliating cream. I liked it just fine, but it is quite expensive. My store did not sell it either, so I looked to buy it online and saw that it was sixteen dollars for just 6 ounces and decided to look elsewhere. I have previously used St. Ives Apricot Scrub and at four dollars for the same amount that sounded much better. I took it home and gave it a shot…I was shocked but I actually think my skin feels softer and smoother using the St. Ives Apricot Scrub than the Olay scrub. So, there you have it. Expensive does not always mean better. With this scrub vs. the Olay one, I can go three days without having to use the Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System. St. Ives even sells a blemish fighting one if that is the reason you are buying the system.

So there you have it. If you don’t have a hundred dollars but want great looking skin, this is the tool for you. Really, even if you have the hundred dollars buy the Olay Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System and take the rest of the money and buy a new outfit to compliment your newly fantastic looking skin!