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The largest factor in my dryness was washing my face. Washing the face dries it out because it removes the natural oils. If you are washing your face, stop doing it.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna cut down to only washing with filtered water once every few days. It's just hard to go out in public like this.
Right now I have flakes EVERYWHERE, it's partly dead skin and dried out/peeling skin. I feel that this process needs to happen for me to be healed fully. Without the dryness my skin tone actually looks good and no new breakouts. Gonna hang in there...
In my opinion if your skin is dry enough that it's annoying other than the way it looks you should use moisturizer. Cause most people who have clear skin even use it. I had eczema before I had acne and moisturizer actually really helped it. But I only use it if it's hurting or itching. The flaking is normal and in my opinion better than it being inflamed and red like it normally like it would. Remember, these are pimples. There is nothing you can really do to make them look "good". It's worth letting it heal.
The largest factor in my dryness was washing my face. Washing the face dries it out because it removes the natural oils. If you are washing your face, stop doing it.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna cut down to only washing with filtered water once every few days. It's just hard to go out in public like this.
Right now I have flakes EVERYWHERE, it's partly dead skin and dried out/peeling skin. I feel that this process needs to happen for me to be healed fully. Without the dryness my skin tone actually looks good and no new breakouts. Gonna hang in there...
just hang in there, let your skin heal itself. you dont want your skin to always depend on some moisturizer instead you want your skin to learn to moisturize itself and be balanced. so if your going and applying moisturizer because your skin is dry and flaking then your really gonna throw your skin off balance. i dont wash my skin at all right now, no water at all or cleanser, nothing. its weird at first but you have to remember that we have spent years "fixing" our skin with all these chemicals and supposed cures for acne, so just give it time and focus on the big picture of clear worry free skin. good luck bro.
In my opinion if your skin is dry enough that it's annoying other than the way it looks you should use moisturizer. Cause most people who have clear skin even use it. I had eczema before I had acne and moisturizer actually really helped it. But I only use it if it's hurting or itching. The flaking is normal and in my opinion better than it being inflamed and red like it normally like it would. Remember, these are pimples. There is nothing you can really do to make them look "good". It's worth letting it heal.
Most people with clear skin use moisturizer on their face? I am going to call you on that and ask you provide me some sort of statistic for that claim. I know no one else that is male and uses moisturizer on their face.
I have extremely mild acne (I usually have around 3-4 pimples on my entire face at any time and often less) and I truly think that this is the way to finally get rid of all my blemishes. My face definitely suffers from being irritated and red very often which I attribute to topics stripping my face of everything it needs. From now on I'm going to stop worrying about my face and simply take a shower in the morning and at night before bed and simply splash water on my face.
My biggest concern is this. Usually my face isn't that oily, but I do work at a restaurant (I'm in college and just want some spending money) and when I'm down working my face can feel pretty grimy and dirty. What do you guys suggest? Obviously I will shower when I get home from work, but will water truthfully be enough?
I was actually looking at pictures of my trip to France 6 years ago and wow, I probably had the most super duper radiant and glowy skin I have ever seen. [Edited link out]
I was REALLY young then so maybe hormones and everything hadn't really played any part yet but I am definitely sure that I had not starting cleansing or using anything harsh on my face.
Ok so i have been on this regimen for 2 weeks now , the right side of my face is getting clear from scars and acne but the weird thing is the left side of my face that was usually clear now had some acne, but not as bad as the right side at its worst. I am definitely sticking with this. I shower only when I sweat and wash my face when I feel really oily which is not much. Drinking at least 3L of water and many anti oxidants throughout the day.
I'm loving this method. Now i splash water on my face every 2-3 days.....and that's when things seem to go wrong again. Because things go wrong after i splash my face, i'm thinking that water really is my problem. I get no new breakouts within the 2-3 days of no water! thinking of just splashing with filtered water now instead of the usual tap. It's been a while now so don't THINK it's a fluke (never know though).
I have a great idea! why dont you guys while not putting anything on your face take pills like minocycline so that at the same time your skin heals you also reduce the chance of gettin bacteria and stuff by taking pills! The greatness of it is that you dont gotta touch your face at all!and you can still prevent acne while your face's Acid Mantle repairs =D at the moment I have been doing this for 2 days only washing my face slightly with water from the shower and only taking the pill at night and I am 100% CLEAR!! =D I havent been clear in ages! So if anything I thinking taking the pill at the same time is worth a try
hey all, ive been here done that! anyway i was also one of the firstpeople that tried this method. At the first few weeks it was working great where i was taking a shower once every 5 days or so. Then after a while the same processes just kept occuring, braekout then flaking etc. so i started a new approach. I just did what a normal person would do. I showered once a night, ate breakfast lunch and dinner at their correct times, and my face is feeling so smooth with no flakiness at all. I know it seems simple but thats all it was for me. The caveman regimen did semi-work but this other idea worked better for me so just try it out if this doesnt work as u planned.
One more thing, a main idea i mentioned is eating at the correct times. I think this was one of the biggest problems i had. I used to eat dinner at around 7 pm then breakfast at 1 pm the next day... becxause i woke up so late. Now i wake up early and eat at around 8 am.. think about the time difference when ur sleeping late of how long ur body doesnt get food for. 7pm-1pm is 18 hours without food...
If anyone sleeps late and has a long dinner-breakfast wait try to change that. I beleive it is crucial. IT has helped me so much.
Just trying to help 
I was thinking, people without acne wash their faces every day, so how come we shouldnt. Well it did somehow work in some ways but my method above worked so much better. =)
one more key thing that has worked for me! I always thought of why so many videogamers have acne. and its not because the ppl that have acne choose to play videogames... So ive also tried changing that habit and have been doing plenty of new things. Now i am always doing something and keeping my blood circulated. I do this because i am a videogamer and i have acne and i wonder why so many of us do have acne all i can think about is we just sit down in one spot for hours. Think about this one too. Try to keep ur body moving!
Heyo. I just signed up here after reading a couple of the water only / not even water method threads.
Quick background i guess.
as a teenager i never had "acne" exactly. i would get the odd pimple here and there, every once in a great while something would happen to my face that sucked, a breakout or whatever, but it was not an issue. In my late teens i would scrub my face with soap and every now and then use my brothers bp or SA stuff if i thought i needed it and I'd say that was the worst my skin ever got was while doing that. then when i went to college for a while i washed with face scrub and whatever but no bp or SA or anything like that and i would get some pimplesbut nothing that would make me hide away. Then I uhh... well, i just got very unhygenic. haha. During this couple year span i'd say my skin was the best it ever was because I just didnt care and wouldnt shower maybe 2 or 3 times a week tops and just genereally didnt care and i had no problems really. a pimple every now and then but it was nothing really. Then some life changes happened and I began showering everyday, washing my face everyday, etc. For a while it was, ok but i noticed that i was getting more pimples than i ususally did before, so i figured that washing would fix it. I would apply some proactive stuff i would ifnd around from other people every now and then but nothing on a regular basis aside from washing my face night and day with soap or like nutrigena face wash for men. over a year or two, it just keep getting worse, with break outs increasing in size and length, so i applied more products. I would use, say BP, for a while and it would clear up and then about a month later, BAM, back to square one so i'd stop. lo and behold within a week or two, clear again, then BAM a few weeks later, break outs.
So, last november i got so fed up with how bad it had gotten (admittantly not as bad as some of ya'll ha ve it i'm sure) that i went out and got atube of salicyic acid (i know i didnt spell that right haha) uhmm yeah so istarted apllying that and it really fucked up my skin. i started breaking out in places i never had before (my forehead is still recovering) and it was just bad. i decided iwould stick it out for a month becuase it could be an initial breakout and it would get better. well a month in and it was still bad, no improvement, probably worse still than before i started using itand I had been reading this "caveman" threads or water only so i said f*** it and just dropped the cetaphil cleanser, the lotion, the SA all that junk.
So one week ago i started just splashing water on my face in my daily shower. no water at night, just once a day, a couple splashes. i work out hard daily so i think its better for me to clera away some sweaty gunk w/o disturbing myskin. so a week in and wow, acne has cleared up dramatically. i probaly have two a ctive pimples right now and they are very small, hardly noticable and i dont really care about them. redmarks from past actives are clearing up pretty good. but like everyone else, flakiness is a problem. not that bad. my only complaint is my chin gets flaky a bit and like Adam08 said, i think, a red, dry patch next to my nose. this is an area that i would apply a lot of lotion, so it makes sense. but yeah i feel a lot more free. i look people in the eyes again. w00t.
i am skeptical though. it seems as though every time i change a regimen or stop a reimen or whatever i get a grace period of clearness for a week or two or then then bam. but fark it i'm not using any more of that sh*te again. it made it worse. 
Where is Adam. I'd like to know how his face is doing, his last post was on 13dec if i am correct.
I read most of the posts in this threads btw, very interesting.
Have been doing the regimen for only 2 days and all the redness has gone, i mean wth?... The BP did clear my acne, but my skin didnt look natural (Red, shiny/oily, bit of flakiness). And doing Dans regimen till the end of times just give me a headache :s.
...I just did what a normal person would do. I showered once a night, ate breakfast lunch and dinner at their correct times, and my face is feeling so smooth with no flakiness at all. I know it seems simple but thats all it was for me. The caveman regimen did semi-work but this other idea worked better for me so just try it out if this doesnt work as u planned.
I'm intrigued. How do you wash your face? With your hands or?
How does work if you wear makeup? what do you use for removing that?
Wouldnt work ... you have to leave the skin bare. The whole point is to repair the acid mantle of the skin that has been damaged by acne products and harsh cleansers. Makeup slows the healing process down quite a bit ... especially the waterproof and "long lasting" stuff because you'd definitely need to wash that off with soap.
I'm loving this method. Now i splash water on my face every 2-3 days.....and that's when things seem to go wrong again. Because things go wrong after i splash my face, i'm thinking that water really is my problem. I get no new breakouts within the 2-3 days of no water! thinking of just splashing with filtered water now instead of the usual tap. It's been a while now so don't THINK it's a fluke (never know though).
no no no No NO! 
Come on! The idea here is let go. Go about your day as if you do not have acne. I cant imagine the cost of buying bottled water for washing the face. Your skin is made to be able to handle tap water.
I have no idea how you go 2-3 days with out showering, but I really do not think that is necessary.
Why punish yourself (and others around you) by not washing. It makes no sense. The reason so many people have problems here in the first place is because of the natural desire to go to the extremes to cure acne.
Extremes will never work.
Here is my experience with this:
I have been doing it for probably 9 days now and have noticed a great deal of improvement in the general look of my skin. The old pimples I did have, even really bad ones are turning into just red marks. But I have gotten some new ones. They are almost all in places that before had just been red, about to form a pimple. So right now it doesn't look too good, but I think once my skin finally recovers most of these will go away and not reform. You have to remember how long and how much shit you put on your skin.
How long do you guys think it takes for your skin to recover? I think probably 3 weeks or a month. And sometimes I do wash my face if I have been touching it or something.
I've been reading the boards here for a while now and I've finally decided to make an account and post.
I've struggled with acne like everyone else here for years. I'm almost 22 now and have had moderate to severe acne since I was around 15. It has wrecked my life in so many ways but that's not what I'm here to talk about.
I've spent thousands of dollars over the years on the expensive topicals (benzaclin, differin, evaclin, financea, clinique, proactiv, etc..., gone on several acne-eliminating holistic diets, gained weight, lost weight, and taken more supplements than I care to list. Nothing has worked.
I've been reading a lot of the posts by Adam08, I am Snow, waterwater, and countless others who suggest this regimen and honestly it makes more sense than anything else I've come across in my years of struggling.
I mean seriously, my face hasn't gone one day in at least 6 years without some sort of chemical on it but I've never been clear!
So I'm trying this. I'll keep you updated on my progress if anybody is interested. I just feel like it's time for a change.
...Come on! The idea here is let go. Go about your day as if you do not have acne...
I know what you mean to let go, but some of us just can't.(at the moment)
Lets say someone with clear skin has an itch on his cheek. He can scratch it like its no biggie, but for us who still have active acne cannot just scratch "as if we do not have acne". The only way to really "let go" is when we have achieved clear skin.
I hope I made a valid point.
ok, so i've been doing this for 8 or 9 days now and the acne has cleared up quite substantially. the only problem iis i think i'm getting seborrheic dermatitis on the sides of my nose, in between the eye brows and on the nose. I'm not sure, but it fits the description i've read. basically red, dry patches that have oily, waxy flakes. I'm very worried because from what i've read, it is very difficult if not impossible to get rid of.
Before I dropped all the topicals and cleansers, i was using cetaphil gentle cleanser and equate medicated apricot scrub with 2.0% salicylic acid. I have NEVER in my memory delt with this kind of issue and i've been through unhygenic periods where I wouldnt shower for days, never wash my face at night, etc. etc. I've used BP for sort of long periods of time. Uhmm.. i had never used salicylic acid prior to this though and since it is considered a treatment for seb derm, I have a feeling that the lack of SA is what is causing this.
Has anyone else experienced this? did it go away? ugghhh... I started feeling really good because this water only thing has really been quite good on the pimples, not as many, less dramatic when they happen, but since day one this "seb derm type" thing has been getting more and more annoying. I applied lotion the other day to see if it would help and the discomfort went down, but as of today I dont see a change. I'm about to give up hope here. Perhaps just wash this one area of my face. I could use some ideas, opinions, or hopefully someone to say "yeah that happened and it went away after X amount of time" .... and if you've ever had seb derm, how did you deal with it? does this sound like seb derm?
I mean seriously, my face hasn't gone one day in at least 6 years without some sort of chemical on it but I've never been clear!
What he says is exactly my point. If you think about how much punishing and irritating of your skin you do with putting on all these drying and acidic products, you will begin to understand where the problem may be.
...Come on! The idea here is let go. Go about your day as if you do not have acne...I know what you mean to let go, but some of us just can't.(at the moment)
Lets say someone with clear skin has an itch on his cheek. He can scratch it like its no biggie, but for us who still have active acne cannot just scratch "as if we do not have acne". The only way to really "let go" is when we have achieved clear skin.
I hope I made a valid point.
I completely understand. To fix this, you quit touching your face and quit looking at it in the mirror. Eventually, you will not even know how good or bad your face is. If you have the ability to think positively, you will just think of it as gone.
To achieve clear skin, you must let go first... or wait until you are in your 30s.
"Has any professional studied the reasons as to 'why' (and I emphasize 'why') this caveman regime works for so many? Is this finally leading to the truth about acne?"
Yes. Here is what i got from this thread so far (sorry for my Engrish).
Ur skin has = 7 PH at a young age. When u reach puberty ur body will try to become an adult. And adults have a better skin protection, 5.5 PH. But to achieve the 5.5 PH ur skin has to secrete more oil. Upon completion this is called the acid layer. It protects u against all kinds of stuff, also acne. But by washing ur face, u will destroy this layer, and it takes a while for ur face to form the layer again (14 days i believe).
Adults who suffer from acne tend to use all kind of stuff, like I did. Your skin loses his natural protection and tries to form it again. But with all the washing, topicals, moisturizers ur skin just knows 1 thing, its under attack and needs to form the acidlayer again. So it secretes more oil.
I think i am not the only one, but at the end of each day, my face felt like shit, i just had to wash my face and do all kinds of regimens, thinking this would benefit me, cuz after every wash, my face felt "normal" again.
I am a bit upset. After 5 days with this regimen, old scars heals fast... and I mean FAST. Scars that never healed on my nose, is starting to become less noticable and no breakouts so far, when my face was at it best i always had 1-2 whiteheads in the morning b4 showering, now i have nothing at all...
THis is just crazy, for years i have been doing all kinds of stuff, but all those years all that i did was making it worse.
In my teen years i had mild acne, like most teenagers. When i turned 20, my clear face had a huge breakout, i started using all kinds of stuff the doctor recommended. After 1 year my face was like shit, acne everywhere, even on my cheek... I never have had acne on my cheek.
Then I tried Dans regimen, it works great, but my skin never felt normal. I was clear, but scars wouldnt heal, and my face was always a bit red and shiny because of the moisturizer. I was clear, but it wasnt pretty.
Now after just 5 days... 5 days with no facewashing (just a bit of water on my face when i shower).... wth. My face is clear, scars heals fast. I just cant believe it. All those years, and the only thing i had to do was nothing at all....
This is retarded, and i think the millions of acne sufferers in the western world who have the luxery to buy crap for their face should know this. Yeah, i think we r the victims of capitalism, yes lets kill capitalism lol.
Will keep u guys updated, am excited and upset about this.
PS. Dan is doing a fine job btw, and ultimately he was part of route to the solution i found. But then again, lets not get too excited, acne is a bitch. ;p
"Has any professional studied the reasons as to 'why' (and I emphasize 'why') this caveman regime works for so many? Is this finally leading to the truth about acne?"
Yes. Here is what i got from this thread so far (sorry for my Engrish).
Ur skin has = 7 PH at a young age. When u reach puberty ur body will try to become an adult. And adults have a better skin protection, 5.5 PH. But to achieve the 5.5 PH ur skin has to secrete more oil. Upon completion this is called the acid layer. It protects u against all kinds of stuff, also acne. But by washing ur face, u will destroy this layer, and it takes a while for ur face to form the layer again (14 days i believe).
Adults who suffer from acne tend to use all kind of stuff, like I did. Your skin loses his natural protection and tries to form it again. But with all the washing, topicals, moisturizers ur skin just knows 1 thing, its under attack and needs to form the acidlayer again. So it secretes more oil.
I think i am not the only one, but at the end of each day, my face felt like shit, i just had to wash my face and do all kinds of regimens, thinking this would benefit me, cuz after every wash, my face felt "normal" again.
I am a bit upset. After 5 days with this regimen, old scars heals fast... and I mean FAST. Scars that never healed on my nose, is starting to become less noticable and no breakouts so far, when my face was at it best i always had 1-2 whiteheads in the morning b4 showering, now i have nothing at all...
THis is just crazy, for years i have been doing all kinds of stuff, but all those years all that i did was making it worse.
In my teen years i had mild acne, like most teenagers. When i turned 20, my clear face had a huge breakout, i started using all kinds of stuff the doctor recommended. After 1 year my face was like shit, acne everywhere, even on my cheek... I never have had acne on my cheek.
Then I tried Dans regimen, it works great, but my skin never felt normal. I was clear, but scars wouldnt heal, and my face was always a bit red and shiny because of the moisturizer. I was clear, but it wasnt pretty.
Now after just 5 days... 5 days with no facewashing (just a bit of water on my face when i shower).... wth. My face is clear, scars heals fast. I just cant believe it. All those years, and the only thing i had to do was nothing at all....
This is retarded, and i think the millions of acne sufferers in the western world who have the luxery to buy crap for their face should know this. Yeah, i think we r the victims of capitalism, yes lets kill capitalism lol.
Will keep u guys updated, am excited and upset about this.
PS. Dan is doing a fine job btw, and ultimately he was part of route to the solution i found. But then again, lets not get too excited, acne is a bitch. ;p
okay so i get that the chemicals ruin our face's ph......so then what about water? won't that also ruin our faces' ph? i believe the only water that has a ph of 7 is distilled....every other water doesn't have a neutral ph....is that right?