Hi all. A little background on myself and my story. I’m 22 years old. I’ve been dealing with Folliculitis on the back of my head for 4 years now. During the beginning of the pandemic my hair grew out and I liked it so I decided to keep it. My Folliculitis has gotten worse since then though. Around 2 months ago my right lymph node started to swell. I went to the walk in clinic, showed them my scalp (I was going through a horrible flare up of Folliculitis at the time), they figured that’s what caused my lymph node to swell, so I was given Doxycycline. I took 1 pill for 2 weeks. Scalp cleared up, lymph node was no longer swollen. Thought I was done with this issue, but it came back even worse. Went back to the clinic, I started taking 2 pills a day of Doxycycline, scalp cleared up, lymph node swelling is gone, and here we are - back of the head is starting to slowly break out with more and more Folliculitis with only a matter of time until my lymph node swells again (the process has already begun, I can feel it).

I found this subreddit a few days ago. Finding this subreddit has given me hope seeing all the success stories. I just started using the Neutrogena Rapid Clear Stubborn Acne Cleanser and Mask with Benzoyl Peroxide. I’ll leave a photo below. I’ve been applying both 2x a day - morning and night. I wet my head, apply cleanser to the back of my head (affected area - maybe I should consider doing the whole scalp?), wait 15m, rinse out, dry head (since my hair’s long I blow dry with cold air, today I patted my head with a dry towel and blow dried it a little bit). Then I apply the mask. I repeat this step at night. I’ve been washing my pillow cases every day too.

I haven’t shampooed in 3-4 days. I just received the Aveeno Apple Cider Vinegar shampoo today. Hopefully this helps with build up. However, I noticed that the flare up was worse today. Lymph node has started to swell a bit too. I know I just started the process and I most definitely plan to continue, but I just wanted some reassurance. I wanted to know if anyone else’s Folliculitis got a bit worse before it got better while on a similar regimen.

Thank you for reading. Much love 💙🫡