One day I just stopped using all medications, soaps, lotions, etc. on my face and just went water only. It paid off and my skin got alot better and my light acne went away. Soon I another probelm arose. I began to notice alot of sort of white flaking on my face when I just washed it with water. Originally I attributed this to the fact I had jsut quit using soap which had been removing all this oil and dead skin for many years. It has been nearly a year on water only and I am beginning to get concerned, maybe I am jsut paranoid. If I don't exfoliate llike everyday this flakey looking dead skin builds up. I can literally take my finger and rub the dead skin off of my face. What further concerned me is that this never happens anywhere on my body even if I just wash with water for like a month.

I researched excessive dead skin and acne and other stuff related to that and I got some interesting results. There is a skin condition called Seborrheic dermatitis that causes your cells regrowth rate to sky rocket thus causing flakeyness. It can occur without a rash and some of the pictures I saw without the rash looked alot like what is happening to me. I should mention after looking at the pictures I woudl definently have a mild case without the scaling and crap.

This might be a no brainer, but I was wondering if someone else has experienced something like this and can either confirm that I should go to the doctor, or that I am being paranoid.

If it is Seborrheic Dermatitis, many people have said that if you dilute Apple Cider Vinegar in water with a 1:1 ratio and apply to your affected areas, that after a week or so it will go away or get much better. Do you use any moisturizer now? If so, stop using it and see what happens.

I haven't used moisturizer for a long time. The only time I ever use moisturizer is if I am sunburnt, aftershave balm, or during the 2 months I did the DKR. Its like my skin is still sufficently oily but flaking at teh same time. If I gently rub my finger across my forehead I can rub off small skin flakes and oil at the same time. I have only used the aftershave balm a couple times and I have had this problem for many months.

I get it alot on my nose, eyebrows, upper cheeks, on the sides of my face aroudn the mouth area, and up near my hair line on the sides of my head. The eyebrow and nose is what concerns me it might be Seborrheic Dermatitis since I do have the flakey residue in my eyebrows and near the hair line on the sides of my head. Also I get facial hair over most of the lower half of my face If I don't shave.

It does sound like it could be Seborrheic Dermatitis. Maybe you should try the ACV thing once and see if it helps. If that does not work you can try many other things.

I was in the same position as you. I stopped using all products about a year ago, and my skin has never looked better. Now, I just use a exfoliating washcloth to get rid of those dead skin cells. Water actually will dry your face, so you should use just a pea sized amount of moisturizer to help. Or, if you use a washcloth to gently shed these cells away, you shouldn't have this problem. If your face feels tight after you wash with water, you should still use a small amount of moisturizer. Make sure it's oil free.

How often do you exfoliate with a washcloth? I think that the only reason I really ever get acne Is because of the washcloth. If I don't exfoliate any little blemish I have goes away. I'll try it out though and see how moiusturizer and some light exfoliation works.

What concerns me, for example, is when I go up to my boat with the family or something and we go swimming my face ends up gross afterwards because it drys out and you can see the flakes where as no body else in my family has this problem. It just doesn't seem very natural for the skin to be like this. I never remember having to do any of this when I was a young kid and I don't understand why now my face needs lotion and exfoliation. I figured the skin should be able to deal with itself.

I second (or third) using the Apple Cider Vinegar. Use it 5-10 minutes after you wash your face, so it's fully dry, and you have all the dry skin visible. It will help pick up the flaking skin. After you do that, do use a pea sized amount of moisturizer where you flake the worst.

I was in the SAME exact boat, and when I say same, I mean it. This skin condition is seb. dermatitis, no doubt in my mind. The skin gets oily, which in turn makes it flake up. The only way to really stop this condition is to stop the oil production. I went on accutane for this reason, and it helped for about a year, but now it has returned with the oil.

There are a few topicals available to help control it, I'm currently using one called Xolegel. You should probably goto a dermatologist, but if you can't your best choice is using Apple Cider Vinegar. There is a really good yahoo group dedicated to seb. dermatitis with tons of members who use the ACV. I haven't tried it yet, but there are tons of people who claim it works really good for the type of skin we have. The thing that turns me off from it though, is you have to drink the ACV as well, and its really nasty.

I'm in the same boat, haven't yet figured out what works for me.

I'm in the SAME exact boat as you. I was on topical ACV before I quit everything, and as of now its a huge problem for me. What i'm trying to do now is the caveman regimen, not even letting water come on my face.

did u resolve the dead skin issue?

umm water only won't help cuz it doesn't shed your dead skin efficiently, so in the end you'll still have pimples. people who have excesive dead skin issues is because it's a genetic thing, your skin doesn't function normally with a normal rate of shedding so it just sticks there with oil and clogs your pores. the only thing that will help is a physical exfoliant, something that loosens the dead skin or dissolves it. you can try chemicals but i prefer physical cuz chemicals are harsh and will stop working over time anyway. you need to manually remove the dead skin with a sponge or a baby brush. read the baby brush method topic ppls, that's your best bet

I do you wash your face? I've noticed that when I wash my face with warm water, I get flaky too.

Water is pretty drying by itself. Try to minimize the time you expose your face to water.

if you let dead skin build up on the surface then you will see problems.. that is why things like soap is affective in taking off excess buildup on your face, you dont have to use soap/cleanser/non-soap cleanser every single day, just every other day.

How about a soap free cleanser? Or some kind of microfiber wash cloth with water?