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Choose Exfoliating Pads if your main concern is acne and breakouts; choose Resurfacing Pads if your main concern is rough texture, enlarged pores, fine lines, or lingering post-acne marks. They share the same dual-textured 100-pad format but carry different acids for different jobs.

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Side by side

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Why the acids matter

Salicylic acid is oil-soluble, so it works inside the pore, dissolving the oil and dead-skin plugs behind breakouts and blackheads - that is what makes the Exfoliating Pads an acne treatment. Glycolic acid is the smallest, fastest-acting AHA and works at the surface, lifting dull, rough skin quickly - that is what makes the Resurfacing Pads a texture and tone treatment. Mandelic acid sits in between: an AHA like glycolic, but with a much larger molecule that penetrates slowly, so it exfoliates with far less irritation (see Mandelic vs. Glycolic).

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Using both

Many people run both: Exfoliating Pads as the everyday step, Resurfacing Pads 1-2 nights a week for texture and tone - never both on the same night. On Resurfacing nights, the glycolic pad simply takes the Exfoliating Pad’s slot in the routine order. A salicylic cleanser like the Acne Face Wash rinses off, so it pairs with either pad. If irritation appears, cut back frequency - and since both are exfoliating acids, daily SPF is non-negotiable (see fading post-acne dark spots). Both are available at neutralyze.com with the 365-day money-back guarantee.