11 replies to this topic

[Gxuvir]

A little background on me: 33 year old male; acne since I was 16. Was fairly bad as a teen, but the acne stayed persistent throughout my adult life (whiteheads, blackheads, no cysts). I never really followed any face washing/moisturizing regimen until I turned 27, when I decided that I was sick and tired of acne.

For the following 4.5 years I tried various face washes, creams, moisturizers, pills, medication, etc., without great success. I would wash my face morning and night, using moisturizer at night. Sometimes I would switch it up; washing and moisturizing at night only. Some products would work fairly well for a while but, nothing cleared my skin completely. Those that actually worked well would only do so for a short time before I'd start having flare ups again. Also, during this time, I watched what I ate pretty closely; no dairy, no caffeine, as little sugar as I could, no chocolate, soda, etc.

As time went on, I noticed my skin seemed to be getting worse and worse; acne scars where staying longer and longer, skin was getting greasier and greasier (I had to rinse my face off 2-3 times a day because I couldn't stand the oiliness), and lastly, the acne was just as persistent as always. It eventually got to the point to where my skin became dependent on moisturizer. I live in the a southern US state where the summers are hot and humid and even then I'd need moisturizer or my skin would be tight, dry and flaky.

I was really hating my skin for a while there. I hated the greasiness, dry itchiness during the colder months, my dull-looking skin. Well, one day I happened to look at some pictures of myself in my mid-20's and realized that my skin was in better shape before I started messing around with cleansers, etc. That day I decided to do some research on all of these products that I had been using (and there were a lot of them). EVERYTHING, and I mean everything that I had been using had at least one (usually more) ingredient that was a 3 or higher on any of the numerous comedogenic scales that can be found online. In fact, I couldn't find a single product outside of the plainest natural cleansers (ground oatmeal for example) that didn't have something in it that was acne-causing. That just blew my mind. Something that's supposed to clear acne, or maybe even just labeled non-comedogenic, and it has an ingredient that's known to cause acne. I know some of you may think that if it's way down on the list of ingredients there won't be enough to cause a problem. If that's your thinking, then more power to you.

Anyway, about 6 months ago I decided that enough was enough. I completed stopped using all my facial products and only rinsed my face with cool water, morning and night. It was actually pretty scary at first. I thought for sure that my face would look horrible if I stopped cleaning it.

It didn't though. Within a few days I noticed that my skin started to become less and less oily; after 2 weeks the dryness went away; and after about 4 weeks my skin felt MUCH better than it had in a long time. It's been 6 months now and my skin hasn't looked better. I actually have normal skin again. No more waking up in the mornings fearing what I'd see in the mirror, no more having to rinse my face constantly throughout the day to get rid of the oiliness, no more worrying about what I can eat. For all of those years I was cursing my genes when in fact it was all my own doing.

So, that's my story. I stopped putting all of these man-made products on my face and starting using only water. This may not be the answer for those with severe acne. However, for those with mild acne, doing nothing may be the best thing for you. It certainly was for me.

[corgisoulpower]

Yaaaaay! Please add your post to the Success Compilation Thread so others can refer to it when in need.

I myself have only been taking epsom salt baths at night for the past 3 days. No shampoo or soap even (although I probably won't stick to that) but I will dissolve some epsom salt and splash it on my face. I thought my hair would be greasy by now but the salt must do something to clean it. Usually if I take a shower and use shampoo the top/back of my hair is greasy but not so much with epsom salt. Hm.

Minimal washing approach has served you and many others on this forum well, I've just recently been more focused about it because of my possible salicylate sensitivites (not just salicylic acid but things like aloe vera, anything plant derived really).

[Tunnelvisionary]

I thought not washing my face with products would mean that my skin was just going to get worse and worse. It was the opposite, in fact. Any whitehead breakout I do get is extremely tiny and short-lived, and my actual skin texture is way better. Worth it, even if/when I do breakout (which is rare unless I'm detoxing like I was for the last week which was SO MUCH FUN -__-)

Unless I eat gluten. Then things aren't so dandy face-wise, regardless of my product usage or not.

[Chestercool]

another victory for caveman regimen. congratulations!

[corgisoulpower]

^I think if people referred to it as something else, I'd be more inclined to try it.

When I think of caveman I think of the opposite of what I want to be...

[alternativista]

corgisoulpower, on 18 January 2012 - 12:40 AM, said:

^I think if people referred to it as something else, I'd be more inclined to try it.

When I think of caveman I think of the opposite of what I want to be...

People seem to want everything to have a gimmicky name. You can't just not use soap and topicals, you have to go 'caveman.'

Can't just eat real food. You go 'paleo.'

That just shows how unnatural this lifestyle we evolved has become that not eating a processed food diet and not using a lot of topical chemicals needs to be assigned a stupid name to be comprehensible.

[Ukulala]

Hey ... perfect timing for me to see this article, as I'm about to attempt this undertaking!

I'll let you know how it goes. All I'm applying is jojoba oil to take off the mineral powder I put on to cover up some marks. I guesssss I could just *not* use makeup but ... but ... but ... >.<

So yeah! Let's give it a go! Woo!

EDIT -- where do you live? I bet the air of an area makes a huge difference ...

Edited by Ukulala, 18 January 2012 - 10:20 AM.

[Drache]

Hi Gxuvir! It's good to hear about your success. Cold showers and the no-soap method help my face and back as well. But the the result isn't 100%. How long did it take for you to see a bigger difference? I'm wondering if the use of towel does matter or not. Do you use towels, and if you do, do you usually rub your skin?

Edited by Drache, 18 January 2012 - 03:26 PM.

[Omnivium]

Gxuvir, on 17 January 2012 - 09:13 PM, said:

This may not be the answer for those with severe acne.

That's true, be careful who you tell not to use topicals. I agree that most topicals are bad for the skin, but there are people with severe hormonal acne and digestive problems whose acne would get a lot worse if they tried this.

[Ukulala]

Just an update -- I'm quite amazed how well this seems to be working. Admittedly, it's only been a couple of days, but still -- I'm quite impressed by the tone of my skin and how I'm healing, not to mention the oiliness having leveled out, seemingly.

I just splash water on my face in the morning. At night, I use some jojoba to remove the light powder I wear, splash water again, and that's it.

Seeing this thread was what caused me to consider this, as I'd heard of it before, but never thought I'd give it a shot ... but then my friend mentioned it when she happened to be with me when we went to purchase some face wash. That evening, this thread was on the front page of nutrition and holistic -- and being a total dork who believe in signs, I thought, "I SHOULD LISTEN TO THIS."

Let's see how it carries on!

Edited by Ukulala, 20 January 2012 - 06:04 AM.

[bobbi364]

All hail the acid mantle, lol. It is there to do work, not work against you.

[Kimchei]

Whoa, to get clear skin with just washing your face with water... I wish I can do that...

Congrats though !