Last week I applied the acid to a few spots to get a feel for what to expect. Then this Monday I did a decent burn on about half of my shaft. Here’s how it goes:
I do this in the bathroom and have a box of baking soda within reach.
Wash well with water and maybe some dishwashing detergent to help remove oil on the skin. Next time I’ll try an alcohol pre-wash. Dry off. Apply the wart remover stuff to an area. It quickly dries to form a white film, sort of like latex. Wait. I haven’t timed how long, probably somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. I’m developing a feel for how long it takes. The shaft skin seems to vary in sensitivity to the acid, which is why it is better to do smaller areas instead of coating the whole shaft at once. For a given time I get a deeper “burn” on the bottom of the base than elsewhere. Not sure why.
It stings. Tough it out. Then I turn on my handheld shower head and rinse with cool water as I wipe/roll the coating off. Rinse well. I know it was on long enough if a light white coating remains. At first I thought this was a tenacious underlying film of the wart remover stuff. Nope. It is a layer of dead skin, which soon returns to normal color. However, be sure to clean off all the wart remover. If in doubt, use baking soda.
Then I dry off and repeat the process on different areas. When I’m through I pour some baking soda in my hand, add some water, and rub it all over the shaft to neutralize any remaining acid. Rinse well. After drying off I apply my weak AHA lotion.
After all this the shaft looks almost the same as before. You wouldn’t think anything had been done. Later the effects become very apparent. Over the next several days the treated areas become darker - very dark. I need to improve my technique to get a more even burn. Some areas have good coverage, but in others it only darkens in little strips and streaks. At first I mistook these for scabs. They aren’t, just dead skin.
I continued using the AHA lotion for a couple days. Then the peeling started. I applied the salicylic acid on Monday. Today is Thursday, and skin is sloughing off the areas burned the deepest. A good example of the darkening and peeling can be seen in the bottom pics on this page . Areas that received a lighter burn are dark, but not peeling yet. I’m resisting the temptation to pick at the skin. I’m now applying either plain hand lotion or some vaseline-based stuff a few times a day.
So far it’s too early to tell how much lighter the new skin is, and I’m not sure when it will finish shedding and look presentable. No dates until it does. If a woman were to see it now she’d either puke or scream and run. ;)