I’ve tried a lot of skin care products over the last decade. As an editor, I’m lucky to be constantly trying the newest launches and buzziest ingredients as soon as they drop. But believe it or not, I discovered my favorite face wash while in high school — and I still repurchase the same treatment over 10 years later.

My skin care routine, and even how I shopped for it, looked a whole lot different during my freshman year. I was battling some pretty painful cystic acne at the time, taking a low-dose antibiotic to fight inflammation and using a cocktail of prescription topicals to keep the breakouts at bay. I turned to the beauty gurus of YouTube for advice, bouncing between makeup tutorials for short-term solutions and product hauls for long-term remedies — without much luck.

But at some point in my search, I stumbled upon Alba Botanica’s Acnedote line. The deep pore wash had all the key ingredients I learned to look out for (salicylic acid and willowbark extract), along with a “free from” list of things I was trying to avoid (harsh sulfates and synthetic fragrances). For $8, I figured there wasn’t much to lose, so I placed an order not realizing it would be the best skin care decision I ever made.

Alba Botanica Acnedote Maximum Strength Deep Pore Wash

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Acnedote Maximum Strength Deep Pore Wash

The formula comes out as a gel consistency, which becomes a foamy lather that takes off all of my makeup upon application. The scent is spa-like, with a mix of bergamot, orange and peppermint oils, which actually makes me look forward to washing my face at the end of the day. The feeling is not quite tingly, but almost like that minty fresh feeling you get after brushing your teeth — but for your skin. And most importantly, it continues to live up to its promise of “helping banish existing zits and prevent new ones.” I’ve used it long enough to watch the packaging change, but luckily the formula has stayed the same and just as effective.

The face wash did wonders for my oily, acne prone skin in high school. Given that I was trying multiple products at the time, I can’t say it was the magic bullet that turned everything around. But I vividly remember thinking “wow, this actually works” as I cut out other steps of my nighttime routine and the redness still continued to fade.

Today, it helps keep my combination skin soft and clear, preventing new pimples from popping up but never stripping the protective barrier (which would leave your skin feeling dry and tight). I don’t wear foundation on a day-to-day basis anymore because there are so few blemishes to cover up. In fact, it’s become such a staple that it's the one skin care product I packed in my essentials bag when going home to quarantine at the start of the pandemic. And I’m so glad I did — it provided a deep clean when maskne was on the rise.

I’m far from the only one obsessed with the “lasting benefits even after you rinse,” seeing that over 3,000 Amazon reviewers have given it a five-star rating. I can’t count how many people I’ve personally recommended Alba Botanica to over the years, never mind how many of them now swear by it. (If you search “acnedote” in my messages, you’ll pull up texts dating back to 2019 from me dropping links to the product as if I had a referral code from the brand.) But there’s nothing that makes me feel more like I’ve become a true beauty guru then when I visit my friends and see the bottle in their bathroom cabinets.