First and foremost, I give all credit to u/Interesting-Feed-961. His regimen is what I followed religiously and it worked for me. Please click here to check out his post if you haven't already. I hope my story is also able to help someone out there dealing with Folliculitis.

I'm 22 years old and have been dealing with Folliculitis on the back of my scalp for 4 years. When COVID happened I grew out my hair and my Folliculitis got progressively worse. Due to my hair being long I never saw how bad my Folliculitis got. The pain of these inflamed hair follicles was so bad that I decided to talk to a doctor at my local walk in clinic about it. He didn't bother to look at my scalp and referred me to a dermatologist. The total wait time of my appointment was 8 months (lol...). Fast forward 2 more weeks and my situation got even worse. I was popping the pustules with dirty hands and letting them bleed out which was an idiotic thing to do. I was laying in bed one night and went to scratch my neck and realized the lymph node on the right side of my neck was swollen. I met with another doctor at the walk in clinic who actually checked my scalp and listened to what I had to say for once (she's amazing, I still go to her every so often for checkups). She confirmed the swollen lymph node was connected to the Folliculitis. She prescribed me 100mg of Doxycycline to take every day for 2 weeks. Sure enough the Folliculitis went away and the swelling of the lymph node also disappeared. I thought I was in the clear and finally done with Folliculitis. I was extremely wrong. The Folliculitis came back even worse and the lymph node in my neck started to swell again. Went back to the walk in clinic, saw the same doctor who turned me away (he was the only doctor available this day unfortunately lol), he prescribed me 200mg of Doxycycline for 2 weeks and some anti-fungal shampoo that didn't do anything for me as my Folliculitis was bacterial. My Folliculitis cleared up again and my lymph node was no longer swollen. Shortly after I finished the antibiotics I could feel the Folliculitis coming back and this time it was very aggressive. At this point I was super hopeless and thought I'd have to cut my long hair to resolve my Folliculitis (which I refused to do) and live on antibiotics for the rest of my life until I found this subreddit.

As soon as I found this subreddit I immediately looked at the top posts to see if anyone had any success stories. Surely enough the first post I came across was a success story by my friend u/Interesting-Feed-961. I followed the majority of his regimen and implemented some of my own things to it as well. I have done the following every single day for 30 days and have cleared 99% of myFolliculitis:

1. In the beginning I stopped using shampoo and conditioner. I put 0 product in my hair.
2. Every single day in the shower I wet my scalp and I applied the Neutrogena Rapid Clear Stubborn Acne Cleanser (3.5% Benzoyl Peroxide) all over the back of my scalp (my problem area) and let it soak in for 20 minutes.
3. After the 20 minutes would pass I'd rinse the cleanser out thoroughly.
4. I used a clean towel every single day to pat dry my scalp and hair. Pat drying is extremely annoying with long hair, but I continued to trust the process.
5. Once my hair/scalp was about 95% dry I would apply the Neutrogena Rapid Clear Stubborn Acne Daily Leave-On Mask (2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide) to every single problem area (lower parts of the back of my scalp, hairline on the left and right, middle of the back of my scalp, bottom left/right of the back of my scalp). I was damn near putting this product throughout the whole back of my scalp in the beginning, however once the pustules started disappearing I started only applying it to the areas with pustules. BUT, I still find myself still applying a little bit of this product to my old problem areas just as a precaution.
6. Once done, I would disinfect my head band that I use to push my hair back (this touches my problem areas in the back of my scalp) and my glasses with antibacterial soap every single day. This was extremely important as my head band and glasses carried lots of build up, bacteria, and oil. Additionally, my headset that I use when on my computer had detachable ear cuffs. I drenched them in warm water and the antibacterial soap. I let that soak for 30 minutes and then dried it. I've only done this once, but I made sure to disinfect anything touching my head.
7. Before putting my head band and glasses on, I would use 70% Isopropyl Alcohol swabs and wipe all around/behind my ears (never inside my ears). You'd be astonished at how much bacteria lives behind your ears. This part was extremely important for me. Additionally, I used these swaps to disinfect my airpods, headphones, my earrings, and whatever else touched my ears.
8. Once done, my routine for my scalp was considered complete HOWEVER I was not done yet. I changed my pillow cases every single night. Anything that's touching your head you want to take extra precaution and make sure it is clean. Don't give the bacteria a chance to continue to live and multiply.
9. I cut my finger nails every few days and made sure they were always clean and well kept. Like I just said you don't want to give the bacteria a chance to live and multiply.
10. Throughout the day I'd keep a mini hand sanitizer in my pocket at all times. The hand sanitizer that I chose says on the bottle that it specifically kills staph aureus (the bacteria that causes bacterial Folliculitis). All hand sanitizers kill staph but seeing that on the bottle was good for my mental lol. I'd disinfect my hands often with this throughout the day.

...and that's what I did to clear 99% of the Folliculitis on my scalp. A few other things that I'm sure I'll get asked about:

• After seeing a few people say they cured their Folliculitis by correcting their Vitamin D deficiency, I got a blood test done and sure enough I was extremely deficient. I am in the process of correcting this now and I feel like this has accelerated the healing process of my scalp for sure. I'm taking 20,000 IU of Vitamin D3 weekly right now (prescribed by my doctor).
• When my scalp started healing it became extremely itchy. Since my hair is long and thick I'd pat my head with my hand. I always applied hand sanitizer before doing this though. I never used my fingers to itch my scalp.
• I refused to cut my long hair off. I saw lots of people say they buzzed their head to treat their Folliculitis, but you can definitely treat your situation without cutting your hair. It's just more time consuming and tedious.
• Benzoyl Peroxide did not stain my clothes or pillow cases. Using the 3.5% Benzoyl Peroxide cleanser and the 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide leave-on mask from Neutrogena isn't enough to stain your clothes/pillow cases (not that I know of). I wear lots of black as well so if it stained my clothes I would've realized by now.
• Once my scalp started to clear up I resumed using shampoo again - anti dandruff shampoo to be specific. I deal with a bit of dandruff in the cold weather and not using any shampoo in the beginning of my journey made my scalp flakey.
• In the beginning I used a blow dryer with cold air to dry my scalp and hair but that took way longer than pat drying. Plus pat drying is what was recommended by u/Interesting-Feed-961 so that's what I switched to two days into my regimen.
• The swelling of the lymph node in my neck took three and a half weeks to go away once I started my regimen.
• I did not change my diet. I did not stop consuming anything that I normally consume.
• I go to the gym often and sweat a f#%# ton, but this hasn't caused any issues for me.
• I have a very loving dog who greeted me by licking my face/ears, however I had to stop him from doing that as it spreads bacteria.
• Disinfect anything that touches your scalp/ears/face. This is incredibly important.
• At one point I did use the Aveeno Apple Cider Vinegar shampoo that u/Interesting-Feed-961 recommended, however it wasn't the right shampoo for me due to my dandruff situation. But, the Aveeno shampoo did not contribute to any flare ups or any new pustules. I think it's a great shampoo and I definitely recommend it for anyone dealing with Folliculitis. Check out his post for more specifics on that shampoo.
• I applied more cleanser to my scalp than I probably should've because my hair is long and it's more difficult to penetrate and reach the scalp, but I never really experienced a whole lot of dryness on my scalp. My face (nose, forehead, cheeks, even my eyebrows) got super dry though so I applied this moisturizer to my face every single day.
• When I was on the Doxycycline antibiotic I wasn't allowed to take any calcium/multivitamins 2h before/after taking the antibiotic. This just led to me not consuming calcium/multivitamins at all. Once I started my regimen and taking 1,000 IU of Vitamin D3 every day I noticed my scalp started healing even quicker and became super itchy. This was before I took my blood test and started taking 20,000 IU weekly.
• Sometimes when using the 70% Isopropyl Alcohol swabs behind my ears it burns like crazy. Regardless of this though I still did it daily. I was determined to kill any bacteria living behind my ears. I'm sure once you see results you can stop doing this daily.
• My scalp is currently 99% clear. Every once in a while I'll get one pustule that appears randomly. But my regimen has worked enough to keep this whole Folliculitis outbreak I was having at bay and the swelling in my lymph node is gone. Consistency is important and staying clean is equally as important.

I promised myself that if this worked I'd make a post on this subreddit and to spread the word as much as possible and I'm super excited to be finally making this post. Big shoutout to u/Interesting-Feed-961 once again. He always replied to my messages, gave me advice on what to do, and most importantly gave me the formula to clear my scalp. I've linked every product I've used in this post and explained how I used it in detail. I hope this helps someone. Stay consistent and trust the process.

If you have any questions please reply to this post with them and I will reply when I can.