19 replies to this topic

[NdnRomeo]

Does anyone here just use water and perhaps gentle exfoliation and followed up by gentle moisturizing? How did it go for you?

[acne_battle]

Does anyone here just use water and perhaps gentle exfoliation and followed up by gentle moisturizing? How did it go for you?

I just use my oxygenating toner and evoclin. In the middle of the day though I love to put warm water all over my face though. It works well. I am breaking out but I am happy to say its not as much as before

[miss.chaNel]

I am. I started yesterday, it felt so nice just to wash my face and put moisturizer on.

I was looking at pictures of myself about a year ago when i had NO acne. Back then I never washed my face, slept in my makeup, always touched my face, etc. If i leave my face alone it`s 100% clear. Sad to say, whenever i found this site, my acne got worse because i started salthering stuff all over it.

[blasted]

im in week three
i dont use anything but water
i dont get anything big anymore and those small bumps, comedones or w/e, are going away. i'm so glad i decided to stop using anything because it feels so good not being depend on anything.
its definately worth a try.

[cool as kim deal]

In the interim between when I stopped using all Proactiv products and when I started the DKR, for about four or five months I was just washing twice a day with some kind of Neutrogena cream cleanser and moisturizing with the Clean & Clear Dual-Action Moisturizer, which is a basic moisturizer with 0.5% salicylic acid (enough to make it more drying that most moisturizers, not enough to actually exfoliate, probably at the wrong pH too). This definitely helped calm my skin down from Proactiv and improved my acne a teensy bit, but not enough that anybody beside me would notice the difference. My acne was just too moderate to be managed without using some kind of active topical.

[richs]

I'm not sure I buy this.. I did nothing but wash and moisturize and take good care of my skin for months, it just got worse and worse. Topicals cleared it up a little, but in the interim between antibiotics + topicals and roaccutane it got worse with just water.

Long story short.. don't forget why you got acne in the first place.. it probably wasn't just topicals

[Mandy Ann]

Yep I stopped all topicals. My skin got a lot worse but it was soooo nice to not have to worry about missing an application of BP and having my face irritated from topicals, etc. I love being able to just wash my face and get on with my day.

[Cyph31]

i have several months ago

BP products destroyed my face in red marks and my skin can't heal anymore

SA products dry me out horribly even after just one use

anything else just seems comedogonic

[Mandy Ann]

Same, Cyph.. ever since I used BP for 4 years,, my skin is destroyed in redmarks and has not been able to heal properly.

[M&Mgirl]

I just use plain lowfat organic yogurt at night. I had stopped using the yougurt thinking that I could use some over the counter stuff because the inflammation went down but nope every irratates my skin. So its back to the basics...

[smckay2]

My derm advised me to do this, and i did for a while, just use water, but i didn't feel as if my skin was getting clean enough. so i just started using a free & clear wash that is free of all dyes and fragrances; very gentle. but i think i'm going to start just using water and rinsing about 3-4 times a day. Granted, i'm also taking oral antibiotics, but after using topicals for years and not seeing any results, it was clear that my skin didn't like all the stuff i was dumping on it.
I think it's a great regime and i would def. try it out/continue!

My derm advised me to do this, and i did for a while, just use water, but i didn't feel as if my skin was getting clean enough. so i just started using a free & clear wash that is free of all dyes and fragrances; very gentle. but i think i'm going to start just using water and rinsing about 3-4 times a day. Granted, i'm also taking oral antibiotics, but after using topicals for years and not seeing any results, it was clear that my skin didn't like all the stuff i was dumping on it.
I think it's a great regime and i would def. try it out/continue!

Oh and i have the same problem with the BP: using it for several years, no progress, and left my skin with red marks that arn't going away. another reason why pure water is the way to go.

[daanzell]

I stopped using topicals quite a few weeks back. In general, my skin's general complexion improved, particularly red marks. However, my skin is still healing from the damage caused by years of BP and other topicals. I am breaking out a little bit right now just because I've been eatingg heapsssss of junk last few days, and haven't been taking my supplements properly.

Now I just wash my face with warm-hot water and now and then i just exfoliate with a microdermabrasion cloth.

Just get off topicals. They were the biggest waste of money ever!

[scott24]

I just use gentle cleansers now. With topicals, it was hit and miss. Some days my face was great, other it was not. But it was always dry and flaky. With cleansers, my face doesn't look the best, but I dont get that uncomfortable dryness. It's really not any worse with or without topicals.

[lambam]

I just wash and mosturize , being doing it for months now, sudocrem at night now and again. General complexion looks miles better and any spots i get are nowhere near as inflammed as they would be using BP. That regimen destroys your skin and the people who love it so much will not be loving it so much in a few years time.

[Da Real BucK]

Can't live without BP... no way lol. I tried doing the regimen every "other" day and it got REAL WORSE.

[Wynne]

I came to this site to find good topicals to use. I was using no treatments whatsoever on my skin (for years). My acne got progressively worse until it was slightly worse than moderate. I didn't really want to go back on Accutane (first course cut short due to emergent surgery necessitating stopping Accutane) plus some elevated liver function readings with recent bloodwork.

Now that I'm using a regimen gleaned from infomation I've found on these pages (three topicals plus exfoliating with a baby's hair brush), my skin is at its best it has ever been. Well, since at least I was 10. If my skin is not completely clear by October or November, I will ask for Accutane.

[Lexica]

The Paula's Choice 2% BHA has made such a difference for me, I'd be extremely reluctant to give it up.

I'm also going to try adding mandelic acid (10% alcohol-free from Garden of Wisdom), but have to wait a week or two because I just changed foundations and don't want to make too many changes at once.

Patience is a virtue, but I do get tired of being virtuous sometimes...

[Spartan]

I tried is for about 6 weeks and my skin just went to absolute shit.

I'm taking Minocyclin, primrose, borage, flax oil and ACV (drinking it in tablespoons) and I use Dan's cleanser and BP. My skin is the best it's been for about 6 years, currently.

[AndyD]

I stopped using topicals quite a few weeks back. In general, my skin's general complexion improved, particularly red marks. However, my skin is still healing from the damage caused by years of BP and other topicals. I am breaking out a little bit right now just because I've been eatingg heapsssss of junk last few days, and haven't been taking my supplements properly.

Now I just wash my face with warm-hot water and now and then i just exfoliate with a microdermabrasion cloth.

Just get off topicals. They were the biggest waste of money ever!

I use a cleansing cloth everyday, with warm water too, its so simple and has helped with the oiliness.

My break out food is salami, OD-ed on it last week, and had a slight breakout. Have not eaten it for 2 days and its a lot better.

I heard that applying liquid vitamin E from those vitamin gel type capsules accelerates skin healing, never tried it though.

[Mike@UOC]

I'm about to drop them in conjunction with my low-grain diet.

My skin has never been happy with BP.. I'm positive my skin has become dependant on it however...
The same goes for cleansing...even dans soap just dries me out too much.