While salicylic acid certainly has its benefits and in a way it is comparable though not at the same time to retinol, I personally hold a preference for tea tree oil.  It’s not that salicylic acid isn’t effective.  It’s that it is limited in its effectiveness.  It’s of course not as bad as benzoyl peroxide.  But tea tree oil has the same effectiveness or greater than benzoyl peroxide without causing dependency and without any side effects of any kind.  So I definitely prefer it.

It comes from the Melaleuca tree, and it has been known to popularly get rid of zits in a relatively short period of time with just a 5% concentration.  With tea tree oil, it actively gets rid of bacteria and even soothes the skin, which is part of what impressed me about it in the first place.  I find that some of the most complimentary ingredients are those that also heal and soothe the skin such as aloe vera for example, and with tea tree oil I’ve seen greater results than I’ve ever seen with salicylic acid.  This is actually saying a lot as I have my compliments for salicylic acid and the things that it can do in higher concentrations that others could do.  I name specifically the treeman.  They thought about using retinol or vitamin A, but the effective ingredient was as it turned out salicylic acid.  But in terms of acne, it is not the same as tea tree oil.