246 replies to this topic

[GoingStrong]

How do you deal with the dryness? It's so hard to resist the urge to slob on some moisturizer. This regimen (or lack thereof ) has been going good for me but the dryness after splashing my face with water can be unbearable at times!

Some of what Tim recommended could work. But my main question would be how long have you been doing this for? I had insane tightness and flaking/peeling for about 3 weeks. I didn't exfoliate at all, and it all went away. Now I only get a bit of tightness after showers (regardless of the temp or length). I'm assuming that it will decrease as the months go by, which has happened with my body (also water-only and no lotion). I just made myself push past it, ignoring it as much as possible.

Maybe I have been splashing TOO much water now that I think of it. I just always get that feeling that my face is not clean and feel the need to splash more water, gotta break that habit.

I actually started about a little bit more than 3 weeks ago & just stopped using moisturizer cold turkey. The dryness and tightness was pretty bad, but went away after a good week of just water splashing lol. Since I wasn't applying any products to my face I thought I could go enjoy a day at the beach without any sunblock & got sunburned. I couldn't not put any moisturizer on so I've been using it ever since...

I guess like you said I gotta push past it

[Mrs. Grape]

I spend up to 30 minutes in the shower. At least half of that time is with my face under the water. And I take boiling hot showers. I found that splashing at the sink caused me to think too much about what was doing, so just doing it in the shower and washing it as I wash the rest of me works. I mean, why wash one part of the body at a different time unless there's actually something on it that needs washing off?

So are you just stopping moisturizer, or using it again now?

[Julie Huynh]

D:!?

[Mrs. Grape]

Holy crap! How's things going there?

[froggy25f]

i think 30 mins in a hot shower and half of the time for the face is a bit too long. I recently changed from splashing water on my face to using 1 bottle of distilled water over my face each day. Result is lesser redness but more dead skin. my face looks rough.

I have started water only regimen for already 4 weeks. The main improvement is reduction in redness. But the dead skin is horrible and itchy at times. I bought a cellulose sponge yesterday, contemplating whether to exfoliate, but decided not to. I am scared haha. maybe becos i duno how to use that cellulose sponge; there is no instruction or could it be used for the body and not for the face.

I hate Singapore. most ppl here have super good skin.

[Mrs. Grape]

And yet I have no dead skin or flaking/peeling (a tiny amount of peeling around a few blemishes, but that's it), and my skin is only red for a while after showers due to the temperature making me flushed. It used to be that even cool water left me red, and even a few splashes. My skin is adjusting still, but after one month it can pretty much handle my showering method. This is how I used to shower as a kid, and I never had any dryness, roughness, or anything until I was 14 and started using products.

Honestly, your method sounds a bit.. not ridiculous, but not ideal. You are thinking about it too much. Do you think people who don't care about their skin in any special way use bottled water? They just shower. Which is what my approach is all about, taking the thought and worry and regimen-mentality out of it.

4-8 weeks should be the time when you notice the dead skin or flaking skin peeling away. Mine occurred quickly perhaps because I'd been doing a no-wash thing for a few weeks earlier and was weening my skin off of exfoliating, thus it did learn how to actually shed dead skin cells. I no longer get dead skin build up, and did not have dead skin build up when I had the flaking and peeling.

[Jennaaaay]

I am glad it is working for you!

And, your posts are ALWAYS very informative. Which is awesome!

[Mrs. Grape]

Thanks! I try to be informative, and trying to make sure to not be too biased as well. I hope your routine works for you! Just don't be trying too many of those items on your list all at once haha. And the tape method.. Maybe it broke you out because of the adhesive. I think that part of why I was getting some clogs the last few days was the adhesive they used on me during my oral surgery, which was all over my nose and a bit on my cheeks! No fun.

[myskinisHELL]

I want to try this out... the salicylic acid acne pads I'm using at the moment have alcohol as the first ingredient (EEEK!) so that can't be good, and even using a very gentle baby shampoo that is all natural still dries me out pretty badly.

To the OP- I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind...

Do you touch your face at all when you're in the shower, to loosen any debris so it will rinse off easier?
Do you use the same towel every time you shower? If so, how often do you replace it with a clean one?

I'm scared that leaving a build up of sweat and oil on my skin will clog my pores beyond comprehension, because just water doesn't seem to clean my skin very well... that's the ONLY reason I'm hesitant to try this "routine".

Thank you

[Vanbelle]

I partially want to hate on this log, only because I'm jealous of it. Really, lol. I'm going to put this water-only regimen in my list of possible endeavors, after I give my best to my current regimen.

Oh and I love this:

Don't pick, ever. This includes scratching over bumps/clogs with naughty intentions.
Get outside! You don't need to be around people, but try to leave the house. Go for walks, eat lunch outside.
Try not to close yourself off from the world. Keep in touch with people you feel comfortable around, and be sure to make plans with them. If you don't want to leave the house, then invite them over.
Patience and persistence are key. You need to give any method/routine at least 2-3 months of solid trial before giving up on them.
Switching between routines on a regular basis will likely make matters worse.
Don't continuously introduce new/different things into your routine.
Keep your mind and hands busy. Do things you love, be healthy and happy.
If you don't like what you see, then stop looking. Obsessing over your reflection will not make the acne, marks, or scars go away any faster! Give yourself a week's break from the mirror every now and then.
Try not to be too obsessive about anything in your lifestyle and habits. Being healthy and consistent with things is ideal, but it's not going to help if you nit-pick every little detail.

I tell this stuff to myself all the time. I am certainly implementing it this week! Ah! I'm really taking a plunge, as I usually obsess! Do you mind if I put this in my log? I'll put it in quotes and say it's from your regimen log!

And good luck Ashley!

[VitaminofLove333]

This sounds like an intersting method. I just dont think I could do it to that extreme.

Recently, like in one month, my skin turned into zit city, when it used to be clear town. It was devastating. But I think I worsened it by those weeks of piling on useless chemicals like BP, store bought clay masks, traimincinolone actonide cream....
So recently, I have decided to simplify and stop suffocating my skin. Sort of the holostic method.
No Dairy.
Little Gluten.
More regular Sleep.
More WATER.
more veggis and fruits
little sugar.
more exercise.
I think these will help alot. I also have decided to simplify my face routine from the millions of crazy cleansers and treatments (like there were ALOT).
To Aveeno Cleanser
St. Ives Collagen Mousturizer.
And tea tree oil for zits.
Thats it. I really hope this works
But your idea is really inspirational. I mean, I think people these days just dont beleive there skin can heal itself. Literally. Its weird.

[Mrs. Grape]

Do you touch your face at all when you're in the shower, to loosen any debris so it will rinse off easier?
Do you use the same towel every time you shower? If so, how often do you replace it with a clean one?

I'm scared that leaving a build up of sweat and oil on my skin will clog my pores beyond comprehension, because just water doesn't seem to clean my skin very well... that's the ONLY reason I'm hesitant to try this "routine".

Thank you

When I shower, I just... shower. My hands only go to my face to wipe water from my eyes so I can see. I also don't rub my body when showering either. It all just gets rinsed off from the water. The debris rinses off just fine without my assistance. Rubbing or touching it to aid in the process actually caused more harm than good.

I replace my towel every shower. I've always had that habit of grabbing a new one every shower. I tried extending my towel usage so that there'd be less laundry, but I think the bathroom is just too humid and wet an environment, and I seemed to have worsening skin when I stopped replacing my towels on a regular basis. But just using one towel for a week and using a new face cloth every shower would also work. I'm just lazy and prefer using one towel

Sweat is water and salt, both of which wash off with water. And the oil itself actually gets mostly removed by using just water. I've been water-only for my hair, and at first I had thick build up of oil, dirt, and dead skin cells. If I'd rub my hair for a minute or two, I'd have a thick coating on my fingers. Now, my hair is sleek, silky, and only has a mild build up that gets less and less every week. With my face, I didn't help remove the debris/build up in any way as I did with my hair, and it all went away by the 3rd week. When I'd previously tried this and would use my hands, it prolonged the process.

The first few days, even the first week, the skin doesn't feel that clean. But then you start getting used to it, and it feels just as clean as if you'd used products. It might not look as squeaky clean, but it's clean just the same. I'm significantly less oily now as well. My forehead has a really pretty natural glow to it, only a bit of a sheen transfers to my hands. I havent' showered in about 24 hours, and my forehead doesn't feel oily in the slightest, but looks nice and glowy. Only my chin and nose still feel a bit oily, which will hopefully lessen as the weeks go by.

[Johnnyy]

^Hope it works for you.

See, I can't go without dairy, I need my milk especially in the morning for cereal!

Anyways, I have started not worrying about my face (very few acne, around my chin mostly), and I will start this approach next week, I'm not washing my face, just going natural like when I was a little kid

[Mrs. Grape]

I partially want to hate on this log, only because I'm jealous of it. Really, lol. I'm going to put this water-only regimen in my list of possible endeavors, after I give my best to my current regimen.

Oh and I love this:

Don't pick, ever. This includes scratching over bumps/clogs with naughty intentions.
Get outside! You don't need to be around people, but try to leave the house. Go for walks, eat lunch outside.
Try not to close yourself off from the world. Keep in touch with people you feel comfortable around, and be sure to make plans with them. If you don't want to leave the house, then invite them over.
Patience and persistence are key. You need to give any method/routine at least 2-3 months of solid trial before giving up on them.
Switching between routines on a regular basis will likely make matters worse.
Don't continuously introduce new/different things into your routine.
Keep your mind and hands busy. Do things you love, be healthy and happy.
If you don't like what you see, then stop looking. Obsessing over your reflection will not make the acne, marks, or scars go away any faster! Give yourself a week's break from the mirror every now and then.
Try not to be too obsessive about anything in your lifestyle and habits. Being healthy and consistent with things is ideal, but it's not going to help if you nit-pick every little detail.

I tell this stuff to myself all the time. I am certainly implementing it this week! Ah! I'm really taking a plunge, as I usually obsess! Do you mind if I put this in my log? I'll put it in quotes and say it's from your regimen log!

And good luck Ashley!

I hope that your current method helps! I know how annoying it is to jump from method to method and not see improvements. I'd just say try this method if you feel that you've exhausted the other potential routines or you are just tired of it all.

And sure, go ahead! Clearly my little tips are there to help, and spreading it around to other logs will help others I am having issues with obsessing myself. I almost picked last night. Terrible. I'm just really unhappy with my red marks and cheeks, so it's making my goal to not obsess a bit hard. At least I can now look at myself in the mirror with my glasses on when I'm in my bedroom! There was a time when I coudln't because it would make my skin look so much worse.

[Mrs. Grape]

Vitamin, that's an odd thing to say, because I feel the same about your internal holistic method! I found it a lot easier to go to the extreme of not controlling my skin by ditching all products since it's a lot easier to avoid products than it is to avoid ingredients and foods that I love. And it's not something I really think about much anymore. it's weird for me to think about how I used to be very scheduled with my face, washing it as soon as I woke up and then as soon as I'd go to bed. I love waking up and not even thinking about having to wash my face in any way! But I really hope that your approach works, and hopefully it's not too difficult to maintain! That was one of the other reasons diet changes would not work for me, it's too much to maintain. Your topical approach sounds like will definitely be a lot gentler. I was my clearest when I was just using a plain, non-medicated cleanser from LUSH and a normal moisturizer from Olay for sensitive skin. I wasn't even spot treating! So I definitely think that people should incorporate the message behind water-only even if they are using products, and just let their skin do what it can. It's kind of like with learning to ride a bike: you'll never learn if you keep the training wheels on!


And to Johnny, good luck! It will be hard, trust me. And I can't guarantee you will have the same journey as I've had, especially since thsi has kind of been extended throughout this past year. I really hope that the transitions won't be too much for your to handle. They were for me every time I've tried this. But with it being summer, it's easier to look like shit and not face the world when you feel realy down haha.

[Johnnyy]

Thank you!

Do you think I'll be fine by Sept 1, when school starts??

[Mrs. Grape]

Possibly. I have no idea, since our situations probably aren't identical. But most logs/blogs I've come across mentioning this type of routine state that by around month 2 their skin is pretty much turned around. I'd say that as long as you don't try to scrub and rub at your face, don't pick, and don't overthink it, things should improve in the coming months.

[Johnnyy]

I'm convinced that it will work since my back is completely cleared after not even worrying about it, just letting water run over it.....

I'm not sure if the face skin is any different, but im convinced this will actually work! -_-

[bizi]

I wish you the best of luck , I know that you will have this under control ashley.
I admire your will power. I wish that I could have tolerated the water only phase, I had so many clogged pores and oily skin...sigh anyway.
good luck and thank you for being so supportive to me.
bizi

[Mrs. Grape]

Well if it works for one area of the body it's very likely to work for the rest. I too am almost clear on my back from leaving it alone, although I've had a bad habit of picking at it, thus it took ages to clear.

Thanks Bizi! It only took me one year to finally stick to it And now, 1/4 of my face is pretty much perfect. I'm even going to make sure to get back to the gym within the next week or week and a half once my jaw is no longer sore!

And no problem. I live for being supportive. How is your skin going anyways with your methods?