151 replies to this topic

[jwebb426]

I've tried several acne treatments, some worked and some didn't, here is a brief overview"

10% BP Wash - Dried and irritated my skin
Carley's Clear and Smooth Skin - Irritated because i'm not gentle
Tetracycline w/topicals - Cleared my skin well, but acne returned
Doxycycline w/topicals - Cleared my skin, but i didnt want to be a slave to antibiotics
B5 - Too many Pills, still reducing the amount
Dan's regimen - Wayyy to much BP for my liking.

So, after reading a few successful stories about no facial washing I decided to give it a go.
Right now, here is the status of my face: The right side of my face has 4 small red pimples, the left side of my face has 1 large blemish. Every single pore of my nose is currently clogged.
Also, my nose gets very red from time to time.

Pictures: ..arent showing for whatever reason, but the links are there



Right now I take 3g of Pantothenic Acid (B5) per day, thats 6 pills. I'm gradually reducing that as well. I am coming directly off Dan's regimen to not washing my face... So its a given that my face will probably break out immediately due to the drastic change.

My Goal:
I hope to make it 5-7 days without washing my face. For the first facial washing, i will merely splash warm water over my face during a shower.

I will be updating either everyday, or every other day with status and maybe a pic or two.

Now the problem of shaving... How should i go about shaving? Suggestions?

[daxxx]

hey man good luck. im on day 3, today i ran out and bought a nice electric razor for about 40$. I would recommend no water either in the shower unless your flakeing terrible, and with an electric razor the is possible. And no, your face will not immediately break out!

[mrweiner]

First off I'm going to say good luck. It is difficult to not wash your face after the first few days. I am currently doing a modified version of this, rinsing my face with cool water every few days, because I just don't have the will at the moment to go all out. From what I have read about this regimen (or lack thereof) it seems that cold water might be better than warm. Just avoid the water touching your face in the shower and splash on some cold sink water after you get out. It is actually very refreshing. As for shaving, you should definitely get an electric razor. I don't see any way around this other than not shaving, which will work if you don't mind a caveman beard. Good luck!

[jwebb426]

Day 1
So Last night I decided to give my face 1 last wash to clear out all the BP and lotions I've been using.
Today I've lowered my B5 usage to 2.5g, which is 5 pills per day.
My face isn't too oily, I suppose the B5 is lowering the amount of oil my skin produces. Still, my nose is very red, and the clogged pores in my nose appear to be growing, the pus is literally spiking out of the pores... it looks like i have a hairy nose.. very disgusting.
Yesterday when I took the pre-starting pictures I had a blemish on the left side of my face, and today throughout the day it has tripled in size and redness. The other pimples haven't worsened or improved since yesterday. Also, no new pimples formed so far.

I played some basketball today, and it caused me to work up quite a sweat. I wasn't sure what to do about all the sweat, and i just ended up dabbing spots to stop my face from dripping. Other than that i let my face air dry. Any suggestions about what to do after a sweaty workout?

[daxxx]

ive been jogging almost everyday, i just let it airdry. Whiping sweat off with a shirt or something wont kill you, so you could try that. The nose can be frustrating when you zero in on it but if you look at the big picture you cant really notice much. (always gave me that problem w/ water only, and i still have it)

[jwebb426]

Day 2
Forehead is flaking pretty bad, and my nose is oily.
My cheeks are now looking a more natural color, and my nose is a pinkish color instead of being red. The pores on my nose are still clogged but at least my nose isn't looking so discolored.
The small pimples on the right side of my face are fading quickly, but the large red blemish that occupied my left cheek came to a HUGE head. Normally I don't get whiteheads this enormous.
It was so big that I felt i had no other choice to pop and drain it, so i did.

Overall I am starting to see some improvement in my skin health. It makes me optimistic.

Dan, how is your progress coming?

[daxxx]

I have a few of those very tiny whitehead looking pimples around my chin and my nose, that arent noticible unless your a foot away, but other than that i am totally clear, just dealing with red marks. Im taking pictures daily so whenever i have solid proof this is working ill probly make a little gallery. Where my old acne was seems to be healing so much faster. I stupidly popped one of those little whiteheads on my nose, and then my nose started peeling (WTF?!?) and then i realized that i really do have a later of dead skin on my face that i didnt even notice until i brushed it and it started to get all flakey. So im gonna try to stop scratching/even touching my face.

I cant wait for my gf to ask why i look like im sunbuning. Well im sure shes happy my face looks much more normal for a change

[jakeT13]

Good luck on this guys.
I started this about a month ago, but I am rinsing my face with water morning and night.
So far my breakouts have been much less, and the pimples are less red and go away alot quicker.

[jwebb426]

Day 3
Flakes Flakes Flakes!
forehead, chin, hairline, eyebrow edges. lol I'm flaking everywhere, but im noticing that my skin soaks up its natural oil now.. It never used to do that.
What used to happen is; my skin would be oily so i would wash it only to find that the oil regenerated on my face very quickly.. and the oil would just sit on top of my red skin.

No new pimples have formed, old ones are currently fading.

Very pleased at this progress after only 3 days.

~josh

[jwebb426]

Day 4
Very disappointed in myself for what i did today. After working a double at work today, my face felt really grimy; not just oily, grimy. So i gave my face a quick rinse with warm water.
While i was gliding my wet fingers across the surface of my skin, i found a painful little whitehead on my right cheek.. and i squeezed. DAMMIT i squeezed.
ARRRGH, then the entire area around it started peeling, since I irritated the area. So i gently brushed off the peeling skin.. and underneath it, the skin is RAW. Red and tender. Not only does this look terrible, but I have a feeling I just set my progress back several weeks.

HANDS OFF FROM NOW ON.

[jwebb426]

Day 5
The damage i did yesterday healed a considerable amount overnight. Then after working the entire day i rinsed my face again. After several hours, there were more flakes then ever before.

After 5 days my skin's complexion looks great, but how can i handle these flakes?

[jwebb426]

Day 6
Dropped my daily B5 down to 1g today. So I pretty much consider myself a caveman by now. I'm really getting over the fact that my face is very flaky. It doesn't look terrible anyway.
My skin feels great.

I have a couple scabs and remarks that are cleaning up tho. A whitehead formed through the day, but it'll probably heal fast.

[daxxx]

hey man glad to hear the good progress. I had a strange breakout this weekend of tons of tiny red spots due to the flu/constipation. I ended up shaving today with my razor again and cetaphil for shaving cream, because i let the hair on my face grow way to long for the electric. Im back to not washing after that for at least a little while. Are you shaving with an electric? i bought one but just cant get the hang of the damn thing, i think im gonna just do what i did today every few days. I dont really have a *dead skin mask*, just a flaky nose, and peices of dead skin where acne healed. So maybe i shouldnt be incredibly concerned about preserving it, maybe just washing my face as little as possible. This is gonna require some experimentation i guess...

[rand0m]

you dont have the dead skin mask because your skin is probably not as damaged

[jwebb426]

Day 7
So I've decided that after work its ok for me to rinse my face. After all, I'm a cook at a mexican restaurant... working the fryer definitely leaves greasy residue on my face by the end of the night.

Heres the experiment I did today. After rinsing my face, and letting my skin soak up steam for about 10 min, I removed my dead skin. Using my right index finger i gently brushed off all of the dead skin. It revealed alot of pink skin, hopefully that wasn't too irritating for my skin.

Skin looks pretty good, ill post a pic in a day or so...

Dan, as far as shaving goes.. I hate trying to shave with my electric razor. I haven't figured figured out an efficient shaving method with this new regimen yet. I'm tempted to just go back to a 2 bladed razor with Sensitive skin shaving cream.

[jwebb426]

Day 8
Played basketball in the sun for 3.5 hours today, and my face is toasted. My cheeks are so red and sunburned, along with my nose.

After work today I did my normal facial rinse, and tons and tons of skin was just brushing off. Not good. Tomorrow I'm going to play basketball also... so im not looking forward to all this sunburn.

Face is clear at the point, but we will see what happens with these irritated cheeks.


Ever since i got acne at age 15 i thought the solution was topicals. Little did i know that i can just leave my face alone and get better results. This makes my life so much easier.

*edit* also, i shaved today with a standard 2 blade razor and sensitive skin shaving cream.

[rand0m]

ouch @ the sunburn.. but good to hear that its working for you

so are you washing your face with water everyday now? and are you using cold or warm water?

[wapak]

It's good to see this working for ya! Though I think the facial rinse your doing will prolong the process, but let's see what will happen in your case.

About the sun exposure, we know that anything too much is bad so be careful on that. The optimal time for this is 10-15 mins. With our current ozone layer, more than these would fry your face. Wait for 50 years when our ozone layer is back to normal and you can stay under the sun the whole day.

Keep it up!

[jwebb426]

Day 9
I'm not rinsing my face every single day... Only they days in which I work. It still ends up being about 5/7 days, and when I do rinse it, i use warm water.

About today, I didn't rinse my face today.
My sunburned nose and cheeks are looking very very oily. I guess the skins oil just sits atop that damaged skin. Gonna take it easy tomorrow, and see how much my face can recover in a day.

2 tiny pimples popped up on my forehead. They are so small though, not inflamed at all.

In addition to my nose being red, the pores are still clogged. I'm Anticipating a breakout on my nose at anytime because of all this irritation.

I know i promised a pic, but I'm feeling lazy. I'll post one soon.

[daxxx]

hey well this is some of my progress so far, everything has been sweet except the cyst i had, but that coulda been dormant for a while and is finally gone. Anyways the first pic is the day before i started, pretty gross lol.
Im starting to get a little tan im noticing instead of that pale look thats associated with acne products
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