Neutrogena Oil-Free Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub Review

Black-heads, white-heads, deep double-knuckle zits in your chin.  I remember the days of getting zits and acne like it was just last week---because it WAS just last week.  This is ridiculous.  I'm a 36 year old man who still gets zits.

I was a skinny, short High School senior with a big nose.  But my body decided it didn't think enough physical hurdles were put into place to guarantee the lack of a dating life, so it started generating oil from my face in quantities that could only be matched from a can of Pam.  The resultant side effect was a lot of zits....a cornucopia of zits.
Luckily, puberty and acne doesn't last forever...right?!  Wrong!  I can still generate bright red shiners on my forehead, and my sizable nose is an infestation for black-heads.

I don't generate the amount of facial oil like I did in my teen years, but I could still grease a cookie sheet or two. (I doubt you're still reading after that one) I hoped my fortunes would change when I ran across an offering from Neutrogena called their oil-free Pink Grapefruit foaming scrub.

I appreciate that Neutrogena markets their facial cleansers as "oil-free."  That's all I need it more oil on my face.  Do they think that we will rub pepperoni pizza on our face? (which sounds strikingly delicious and abhorrent at the same time)
The product feels like gel hand soap with tiny micro-bubbles in it.  It foams up decently, and has a very pleasant smell.  There isn't a "my face is burning" feeling while you are using it, so it's probably not made in China.
One of the reasons I purchased this product, is that it has Salicylic acid.  This acid was supposed to obliterate the black-heads that haunt my complexion.

Points of mention for this facial scrub:

-- It dries out your face....immensely!!  The first morning I used it, I went to work feeling like I'd drank out of the wrong Holy Grail.  My face was dry, and it felt like the skin was pulling tighter to my dome.  It was not a pleasant feeling.  What was more interesting was how my face reacted to the dryness.  It was like an unstoppable force (dryness) meeting an immovable object (oily face).
My face fought back...and fought back hard.  By the end of the day, I think my forehead was pulling a full-on "glisten."  Not from sweat, but from man-made face Crisco.

-- It smells delicious.  It almost smells too good.  I want my face cleansers to smell like alcohol pads and turpentine.  It gives me the impression that some major face cleaning is going on.

-- The lid collects cold water.  The lid has a little reservoir that collects water.  When you open it up to use the scrub, the cold water really kills the hot water buzz.  Please fix this.

-- The Salicylic acid is not a high enough concentration.  While this acid is effective at removing black-heads, the 2% level in this scrub does not work very well.  These are black-heads that have been settled for a decade or more.  They have more staying power than the Occupy movement.

For an over-the-counter product, this would probably suffice.  For severe acne issues, a prescription is really your only choice.  For really greasy skin, I suggest carrying around a fanny pack full of alcohol face cleaning pads, and don't touch your face after eating a bucket of KFC.

Neutrogena oil-free Pink Grapefruit foaming scrub gets a below average grade of 2 sleek stars.