696 replies to this topic

[wang chung]

It's been working for me for a couple weeks now...the skin around my nose is kind of flakey but I attribute that to using a razor with just cold water. My forehead isn't dry or really oily at all, as of right now I'm waiting for a couple bumps to go away.

does this really work?

[calla lily]

So... basically, just wash your face with only water once or twice a day?

[jhonyguy04]

lol, i tried this after a fail attempt with home remedies when i was 15.my acne just got severe. curiously enough, my face got better with proactiv.lol!!!but i had to give up on that eventually cause it stopped working.

[Whiteh]

I went with this idea a while back kinda, but doing the dip thing (dip face in hot water for 60+ seconds morning and night), but using a cleanser in morning and nothing else and it has made a difference to the oil on my face and acne. Althought what I've noticed is my face gets oilier whenever I put hair styling products in my hair and when i'm out - even more at school its so annoying. Anyone else find this?

[jordan12]

Anyone else think that there's something to the skin getting used to something? Like, perhaps acne bacteria adjust to different pH levels or something...so whenever you change the climate of the skin, they tend to die out at first. Once they adjust/evolve/whatever you want to call it, the acne returns.

[Listener]

No i don't believe this to be true. I'm not sure the connection with the original topic butif you are interested i can say that stop washing my face helped my condition. It didn't clear it but it helped in a way so definite to myself that i haven't washed my face in almost 3 months.

[Listener]

What has this got to do with the original topic?

[PixieDoll]

Okay this is really weird for me too, because I was just having the same thoughts!!! So my answer is the one no girl wants to hear.... don't wear makeup. ESPECIALLY because makeup is filled with a bunch of shit that makes you break out. Start researching your so called "noncomedogenic" products' ingredients on google (I type in, for example "Cetereth 20 comedogenic" or "Cetereth 20 skin"). anyways these bad ingredients are in like, everything made to treat acne. Or so it seems.

Anyways it sucks to go without foundation but my feeling is, what is looking like shit for a few days or weeks if your skin could be good enough to not need makeup after that?

I mean, come on now. I've just been wearing mascara and carefully removing it and true, my skin looks like shit now.... but it needs to have a second to heal!
Oh and your idea about washing only once a day is better than nothing, but I bet your skin would look even better if you did nothing to it. But who knows!!!

Hi AlexAlmighty...
I just came across your little experiment...and this is such a coincidence..!!!
YOU ARE RIGHT ON...!!!
I have been busy painting my house..I usually wear make-up...but since I was painting I didnt ....I got up and washed my face in the morning and by noon my face felt like it was dripping with oil....Eeeew!
By 11pm I was tired..and went to sleep without washing my face again..(I usually wash it 3 times a day..so this was kinda gross for me..but i thought what the hell ..I am just going to get up and paint again anyways...whos lookin..LOL)

Day 2...I got up, surprisingly, my face was not really that oily...so I went back to working ...by PM my skin looked like it had a more "even" color...
and it wasnt oily!!!

Day 3 ...The few breakouts that I had are gone!!! Red spots gone!!!
and the oil has diminished about 75%!!! No new breakouts!!!
I couldnt believe it!!!
I thought that this was really strange...how could this be???
Until I read your posts....I am not alone...and I now I know I am not crazy!!! LOL

Today.. I DID wash with soap in the shower...I put my make-up on
and my skin looks better than it ever did....WOW!!!

I am just wondering how I can wear make-up and do this to..??
I HAVE to wash it off...maybe if I cut my washing with soap to only once a day..
I guess that would be better then 3 times a day...
I think I just answered my own question...duh..LOL

Any suggestions for us girls who wear make-up.....?
and I hope it is not "dont wear any"...LOL

Thank you ..!!! Vanessa

[PixieDoll]

That was, seriously.... beautiful.

You are right. No one seems to notice or care about my skin as much as I do. Not even close. Why let it dictate my life?

STUPID. I'm just going to focus on being happy and healthy!!! Thanks soo much for inspiration.

Hello, long time lurker (almost a year now), first time poster
This is going to be long and drawn out, but I have had considerable success with a method close to this and don't think people should be so quick to discount it--but would also like to say that it probably is not for everyone.

A little (or a lot of) history:
I am a 24 year old female who had fairly clear skin up until a year ago; I would get a whitehead here or there and would worry about it if I had enough time on my hands, but would usually forget about it once I left the house. I usually had a tube of BP around the house but my life didn't revolve around my condition.
Out of nowhere, seemingly, I came down with two gigantic cysts right next to my nose. They were huge and hurt quite badly, and I had never had a cyst before so to me this seemed like severe acne (looking back now this is laughable). So I piled on some standard 10% BP cream but they weren't going away as fast as I wanted them to (christmas break was coming up and I didn't want those things on my face for family photos) so I did an internet search and found this site.
People seemed to have great success with the SA and BP wash regimen, I started on that--but this was a big mistake for me (here's a tip for some: Don't use medication on areas where you don't have pre-existing acne ). The duo irritated my skin VERY badly and I ended up getting cysts on my cheeks--a place where I had never broken out prior (whenever I had gotten any zits, they were usually in my T zone or somewhere along my hairline). Needless to say I was devistated: I went from having a couple of cysts next to my nose to having about 10 to 15 on each side of my face. From there it turned into a downward spiral--I was very impatient and would switch regimens on a weekly basis, overwash my skin, and obsessed about my condition almost 24/7. This obviously did nothing but hurt the situation, and at the time it seemed that BP would cause more cysts (or irritate my larger zits into becoming cysts...is that even possible? That's what it seemed like was happening) but keep the whiteheads away and SA would not prevent whiteheads but also wouldn't promote cystic acne.
After about a half a year of this, I finally got fed up--somewhat due to financial reasons as well. I stopped frequenting this message board on a daily basis (I still come back though from time to time and check out the forum though--especially the one for red marks ) and started doing absolutely nothing (I'll go into the details of what "nothing" consists of below). Over time the cystic acne went away (I think that's the only real non-prescribed thing you can do with a cyst, is wait for it to go away) and the larger zits and whiteheads subsided as well.
Something I would like to stress:
I do not believe that I am predispositioned (for you geneology fans) to severe acne--much less severe cystic acne--, but I believe that this state was due to overwashing and overtreating.

My basic "regimen" (if you can even call it that) is washing my face with water once a day; at night. I don't touch it at all, just run it under the showerhead (cold water, unless it's cold out in which case that's just too painful and I'll use tepid water instead. Yeah I'm weak, I know).
I have been doing this for about 3 months, and have seen a dramatic improvement, meaning: NO cystic acne whatsoever and an occasional very small whitehead a couple times a week or so that leaves very quickly (2 days max) so long as I don't screw with it. For the most part, these are very small; look more like white blackheads if that makes any sense but it seems that around "that time of the month" a larger one might come up.

I still have quite a few redmarks on the sides of my face (these seem to take a longer time to heal for me) but quite frankly, after what my face looked like almost a year ago I really don't care at most times. If I'm having an "insecure day" (hey, I'm human and it happens) I'll just use a very light powder that doesn't conceal so much as it does fade the redmarks. I never used to wear makeup before my breakout and even during my breakout and when I started to, I did it was never heavy--I can't stand the feeling of all that stuff on my face. Days I wear makeup I use just regular soap (I hear this is horrible for your skin--but it really don't seem to bother mine but I guess I would reccomend using whatever non-medicated cleanser you're using now?)

I have to say that I sincerely believe my complexion now is better than before my breakout, when I would use various facewashes (st ives apricot scrub was a big fave of mine) and now that I just ignore any zit I get it instead of popping or picking at it the redmark that remains leaves within two weeks.

I'm a little miffed about the handful of icepick scars that the cystic acne on my cheeks left, but even those seem to be improving over time (although I, mostly from reading the boards, doubt they'll fill in entirely)--but overall my complexion looks a whole lot better w/o any topicals--BP especially.

I'm well aware that this solution will not be right for everyone, and if you have a regimen that works then by all means stay with it. But to the nay sayers, I ask that you don't nay even though it does not work for you. Everyone's skin is different and will react different to all of the methods (including this one) as can easily be seen from reading this board. If there was a 1 solution fits all way for treating acne then it would hardly be a problem. My personal belief is that perhaps this method can make some people's moderate acne mild, and other's mild acne non-existant; that maybe by freaking out over the few spots you have you're doomed to get more...?
I KNOW I JUST WROTE A NOVEL...but I would like to close on some humble advice (and this goes for everyone, regardless of their regimen).
Even when my acne was at its worse (my brother, totally innocently I might add, asked me if I had come down with chicken pox ) I never missed a day of school, or let it prevent me from getting at least my errands done (admitidly though, if I didn't have to leave the house I most certainly would have prefered not to--almost no one is immune from self-pity me thinks) If you look people in the eye, have a good sense of humor, and demand respect they will have no choice but to respect you; otherwise they're just jerks
and we don't care about jerks now do we ?
Don't let temporary marks permanantly wreck you life--I know how hard that can but just...just stay away from mirrors and try to be focused on whatever it is you do during the day. If you need to stay in and feel sorry for yourself every once in awhile then hey, do just that, but I see people on here that are dropping out of school etc...and that's really depressing. Stick with it guys.

Good luck to everyone, I'll pop in and out every once in awhile when I'm doing my internet rounds if anyone replies/questions to this (or even reads it ) but quite frankly I enjoy my lurking status. However I sort of felt like it was my duty to speak up in this thread just in case it might help...someone at least.
My skin is not 100% perfect, i still get an occasional white head here and there, but it's 99% (if you don't count the redmarks) and I would like to stress THAT NO ONE, MUCH LESS MYSELF, CARES ABOUT A HARDLY NOTICABLE WHITEHEAD G'night everyone (and sorry for any spelling/grammar errors, it's getting late and I don't feel like running this through a spell check. I'm lazy and just sort of spit this out before heading to bed )

(edited for a sentence that didn't even make any sense...I had to read it over. OMG i'm through now I swear!!)

[PixieDoll]

You guys are talking about stuff you obviously didn't really research. Moisturizer does not penetrate the skin, actually, most products don't, with the exception of prescriptions and BP and cortizone. If you have dry skin and layer moisturizer on top of it, you will not have moisturized skin. You will have dry skin with a layer of chemicals and silicones sitting on top, making it feel and appear more moisturized. The only way to have your skin be truely moisturized is to do it internally (I.E. drinking lots of water, eating fruits and veggies, etc.) and to allow your skin to balance out and produce sebum as it would. go research it.... and not from little websites that are trying to sell you something.

You're making a big error with cause and effect.  I only had dryness when I didn't moisturize with bp.  I did have bad peeling, ALL OF THE TIME on bp.  When I went off of bp, the peeling continued, but that was just the lingering effects of bp.  After a couple weeks not putting anything on my face, guess what?  No more peeling.  My face is feeling better, the initial bad breakout is going away, and the oiliness is subsiding. 

My question for you, is who do you think knows my skin better?  You, who have never even seen me, or myself?  Keep in mind I've been working with my skin for several years here.  Think about it and get back to me.

If you peeled you didn't moisturise enough. Did you use 2.5% BP?

Why so defensive about your face? You should be ready to accept criticism if you post in the Research part of the board.

[Avex]

I knew it wasnt bad food,masturbation or genes cause my bro is fucking fat and i know why he locks himself in his room everynight (and he is clear)!

Fail.


No hope trying to get through to some people.. the information is on this site in relation to diet yet they choose to ignore it.


[edit] Just realised how old this thread is..

[devi8864]

Alex,

how did u shave with cold water, this seems like the hardest part. i've been trying not washing for the past few days and my skin already looks better. i've been using a cetaphil bar and bp on my face pretty constantly now for 2 years and i think both of those are just keeping my face fuckd up. shaving is the hardest part cus that seems to really dry my face out. how can i shave and not dry it out? use cold water? apply something after?

[PixieDoll]

You should try using an electric shaver, no water. That way you get minimal irritation and such. Get a nice one with the three head thingys on it.

Alex,

how did u shave with cold water, this seems like the hardest part. i've been trying not washing for the past few days and my skin already looks better. i've been using a cetaphil bar and bp on my face pretty constantly now for 2 years and i think both of those are just keeping my face fuckd up. shaving is the hardest part cus that seems to really dry my face out. how can i shave and not dry it out? use cold water? apply something after?

[Will Wang]

this might be true, i dont get acne on my forehead , i get acne my cheeks and chin and thats where i load up with product. ie benzol peroxide , moisturizers, oils etc

[Qazzi123]

How long does the breakout period last with this regimen? I want to try this but I'd be stopping an SA cleanser morning/night, differin nightly, and a BA cream morning/nightly. I'm afraid the breakout will last a long time and will seriously stress me out if I have to go to school that way thus making the acne worse. I want to try this during xmas break (sigh guess no hanging out to get rid of acne), is two weeks enough to start seeing results / at least the initial breakout is over?

[pause/break]

I've been "on" this for 2.5 weeks now and each day im getting better.My oil is about 40% of the oil i would have 5 hours after a shower couple months ago.

very interesting experiment alexalmighty. wish you were still around to giving updates though

i stopped washing my face since yesterday morning and this morning i got up with less oily face. right now i only have one zit on my nose bridge so maybe i shouldnt mess with hygiene but i really hate oily face so i'm giving this a try. i also noticed that sugar isnt really affecting me either.

if this works maybe i can drink beer again bwahahahha

[325CHRIS]

this methods actually makes perfect sense, ive always had a similar theory. But why not just use vitamin A to decrese sebum?

Also has any one ever given any thought to how much money is made off of acne products. Why would the manufactuers of these products want to help cure you, they're making making rediculous amounts of money off of it. Its funny because when ever i have tried a new topical it seems to work and do great for the first week or so then its stops working as well and i continue to buy it. i dont know if that makes sense or not to everyone but these drug and over the counter topical manufactuers are companies just like any other company and they're going to try and make as much money as possible.

[misterhealthman]

So, where is this Alex guy, is he still around?

[Tasha90]

^^^^I'm not sure but another user, jan carlo, posted a similar thread in 2005 (49 pages): http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php?showtopic=40303 and then in May of 2007 he posted another thread backing up his original thread: http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php?showtopic=153088