This $7 Mexican Cream is the NERD Skincare Dupe We’ve All Been Waiting For.

In my lastest installment of “what ever shall I do about my awful cystic acne?” I found that sulfur was not only any awesome alternative to harsher acne-fighting ingredients (like benzoyl peroxide), but that it also completely dried out my cystic, hormonal acne.

Poof! Gone. Just like that.

NERD Skincare’s acne lotion was doing this trick for me, but this magical, scentless 3% sulfur water was killing my wallet. I went through an $85 bottle of the acne lotion every 3-4 weeks.

To make matters worse: add in international shipping and duties on top of that (when I’m in China), and it was seriously killing my budget. A whole week of eating out for every meal in China is about $50. How can I spend the same amount each month on food and 1 single OTC acne medication?!

But time and time again, when I tried to “dupe” NERD skincare’s acne lotion and switch it out with a more budget-friendly alternative, small little comedones began to pop up on my chin and neck–the kind that sometimes turned into pimples, sometimes turned into cysts, but definitely never went away without NERD’s acne lotion or antibiotics.

The last time I was in the States, I stocked up on any and every budget-friendly sulfur product I could find. Some were better than others, and definitely some had better packaging than others. As much as I hate to admit my bias toward beautiful things, it’s only human.

Finally, the second-to-last–and ugliest–product in my sulfur arsenal was ready for testing. 1 day later, I couldn’t believe the results.

Here she is: in the ugliest packaging known to (wo)man.

My miracle sulfur cream.

About the Product: Pomada De Azufre Sulfur Ointment By De La Cruz

So yes, a $7.70 product on Amazon Prime–or, Texans, just over $4 at your local HEB–replaced my NERD Skincare acne lotion. It’s not a true dupe – the packaging and experience leave a lot to be desired – but the fact that it gets the job done for less than 1/10th of the price is certainly good enough for me.

If you can find anything in English about this Sulfur Pomade, it says:

Powerful acne medication. No preservatives. No artificial fragrance. Penetrates the pores of the skin. Dries and clears pimples and blackheads. Helps to keep new pimples and blackheads from forming. Oil‑free, water‑washable base. For the treatment of acne. Penetrates the pores and dries and clears pimples and blackheads. Helps to keep new pimples and blackheads from forming.

The claims are not too over-the-top. It’s hard to say whether the product is truly without preservatives (and if the shelf life can be more than 12 months because of this), because the ingredient list gives no indication. It for sure has no artificial fragrances, because it smells like a giant sulfur fart.

I have not been able to find a full ingredient list yet (I suspect that the Mexican equivalent of the FDA is not as stringent) but everywhere I looks says:

Active Ingredient: Sulfur, USP (10%). Inactive Ingredients: A Mixture of Polyethylene Glycols.

So sulfur and moisturizing glycols. Okay. That’s all we know.

 

User Experience (and how to make it better): Pomada De Azufre Sulfur Ointment By De La Cruz

Um, so. It looks and smells like the mixture that you pour back into eggs when making deviled eggs.

It’s a thick yellow goop that really does smell like sulfur. The smell reminds me of West Baden Springs/French Lick down in Indiana, but if you’re not familiar, maybe more like a fart? That smell doesn’t go away once you use the cream, by the way. It’s there until you wash every single milligram of it off of your face.

The cream is thick and spreads on with a warming sensation. How it does this, I have yet to figure out. (Does it have zeolite inside? Is there something that I’m fundamentally overlooking here? What type of exothermic chemical reaction is happening on my skin right now and should I be worried about it?).

Shine Brightening Face Oil

I had a hard time spreading it over my face without feeling like I was applying the thickest, stinkiest face cream ever, so every time I scooped up a bit with my fingers, I also added a few drops of SHINE. The two mixed perfectly together and covered that sulfur STANK, which is inevitable with a 10% sulfur cream.

With SHINE + Sulfur together, I had a pretty good overnight face mask that was:

• Acne-fighting
• Toning
• Moisturizing and
• Non-comedogenic

(Read more about how and why SHINE works here)

It’s only been 3 days, but so far the results are as good or better than when I was using NERD’s acne lotion. The fact that the cream (which appears to be an emulsion) mixes so well with SHINE is a big bonus for me. It was difficult to get SHINE to really soak into my skin before, as the NERD “lotion” was literally a water and SHINE is literally an oil. The two just didn’t mix.

 

Takeaways: Pomada De Azufre Sulfur Ointment By De La Cruz

Honestly, all I can say is that if you are suffering from:

• Hormonal Acne
• Cystic Acne
• Inflammatory Acne
• Comedones
• Jawline and/or Peri-oral acne
• Uneven skintone from blackheads or inflammation

GET THIS OINTMENT NOW.

Hop on over to Amazon.com, add it to cart, buy with Prime and it will arrive in 1-3 days. The results are instant, drying in the best way (dries acne), non-drying in the other best way (doesn’t dry your entire face) and undeniable. Not to mention, a heck of a lot cheaper.

This was a seriously good find, and will stay at the top of my acne products list.

Until next time ~

 

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