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I dont use a cleanser, just use witch hazel and olive oil to remove makeup and am now putting vitamin e oil on my acne, mostly on my chin area and when i put makeup on, i can see my foundation caking around the areas where i put it, so my problem is my skin is really flakey around the acne i have, i am using olive oil and juct recently vitamin e so how long will it take to be normal? is witch hazel too drying as well?
Day 13 and still going strong. However it is soooo much up and down. One moment I'm very excited and happy about this regimen and the next I'm depressed about all these small pustules. I definitely see the dead skin around my nose now, and it SEEMS like all the small pustules on my cheeks are starting to dry out and move on to my chin. However I can't say anything for sure really. I'm a little flaky every morning but it's not that much really. Next friday which will be day 19 I am most likely going to rinse the face with water and gently remove the dead skin. Unless my face looks decent, but thats unlikely. The reason is that we're having this prom kind of party. We don't have proms in Denmark, but its like a party where the guys dress up in smokings ect., we eat, have a partner with pictures taken and so on. And I don't really feel like going with dead skin on my face. I know people have used washclothes, electric razors, towels and just their bare hands to remove the dead skin, but I have no idea what method I'll choose. I'd like to do it with just my hands, but isn't that difficult?
Day 13 and still going strong. However it is soooo much up and down. One moment I'm very excited and happy about this regimen and the next I'm depressed about all these small pustules. I definitely see the dead skin around my nose now, and it SEEMS like all the small pustules on my cheeks are starting to dry out and move on to my chin. However I can't say anything for sure really. I'm a little flaky every morning but it's not that much really. Next friday which will be day 19 I am most likely going to rinse the face with water and gently remove the dead skin. Unless my face looks decent, but thats unlikely. The reason is that we're having this prom kind of party. We don't have proms in Denmark, but its like a party where the guys dress up in smokings ect., we eat, have a partner with pictures taken and so on. And I don't really feel like going with dead skin on my face. I know people have used washclothes, electric razors, towels and just their bare hands to remove the dead skin, but I have no idea what method I'll choose. I'd like to do it with just my hands, but isn't that difficult?
well i'm on the caveman regimen, and i still get tiny little red bumps here and there in my mustache zone... it pisses me off. What i do to remove the dead skin from my face is take tweezers and remove the little ones and then i moisturize the dry areas. works like a charm but my f#$#ing mustache area will not stop with the red bumps... ever since i hit puberty like 6 years ago Ive gotten these f#$$s
Day #7: no oiliness at all. no flaking so far. no new breakouts. 6 old pimples remain, getting smaller still. despite the awesome results, i'm keeping my fingers crossed. i don't want another disappointment.
about to go take a quick shower. will not use soap on my torso or face.
Day #8: 6 pimples fading away. skin feels elastic and soft to the touch. some dead skin peeled off my upper back after the shower, but a wipe with a wet cloth completely took care of it. face feels very good, except for some minor flaking around the nose.
results are very encouraging so far, but i'm not jumping to presumptions.
still trying to figure out a way to shave. second thought: a bit of facial hair never hurt anyone.
Day #9: flaking around the nose is completely gone. some very minor flaking around the mouth remains, but it is almost unnoticeable. 6 pimples still fading.
i noticed a very small, skin-colored closed comedone on my left cheek. it is barely visible.
results are astounding so far. not having to worry about washing your face is just great. however, i might break-out any minute, so i'm reserving judgment.
day #11: no new breakouts. old pimples becoming less noticeable. oiliness is just right. some flaking persists around the mouth, but is barely visible.
today i massaged my wet face with fingertips. it did not seem to irritate or dry the skin.
there is a stingy little spot on my upper neck; i think it's just an ingrown hair. it doesn't feel like a pimple. it feels like something sharp (i.e. thick tip of a hair) is poking out.
Probably the fabric softener used on your clothes?
i stopped using fabric softener 6 months ago. all i use now is normal laundry detergent, but i still get small zits on my shoulders and back. they don't bother me much.
Day #14: completely baffled. in a state of utter disbelief. two whole weeks and not a single pimple showed up on my face. pinch me, for i must be dreaming. what a dream, though.
drinking half a gallon of milk daily, eating a crap load of white rice, white bread, red meat, and my face hasn't broken out in 2 weeks. i exercise, sweat like a pig, blow at least 3 full loads a day and not a single whitehead on my face. not one. something isn't right mes amigos.
perhaps this is no more than a lucky break? a fortunate coincidence?
i am not proclaiming this regimen a cure for acne. not yet. i don't want to fool anybody, including myself. i may still wake up tomorrow or the day after with a bunch of new painful pimples on my cheeks. everything is possible.
for now, though, i'm going to continue dreaming.
as a believer and a success story of this "regimen" (if u wanna call it that) i think i have a grasp on why this helps completely rid most people of their acne. this is mostly just a hypothesis that i have developed given my experiences and the experiences of people around me (including friends, family, and users on here). so please take this all with a grain of salt, so-to-speak...
-first off, several users here are 19-20+, which should be beyond the teenage years of acne caused by hormones.
-with that said, many of us have already "outgrown" acne but we dont know it because we continue to use "anti-acne" products that damage our skin thus causing cosmetic acne.
-by washing our face with clearasil, neutrogena, proactiv, etc, and applying retin-a, salyclic acid, bp, etc. we disrupt our skins natural shedding process and also our skins natural protective barrier. by using these products we actually aide in acne formation by....
1)causing our sebaceous glands to work harder to compensate for the loss of sebum and the drying effect that majority of these acne products produce. so in short, our skin becomes oilier with regular use of acne products.
2)the p. acnes bacteria on our skin becomes resistant and more stubborn to treatment when we use bp, topical antibiotics, etc.
3)over time the harsh ingredients in these products make our skin paper-thin, and our body tries to compensate by healing those lost layers of skin (this is why i think a lot of people get the so-called "dead skin mask" when they stop washing their face and applying topicals)
so to wrap it up...3 things are needed for acne to form....1)oil,2)bacteria,3)dead skin...when we use topicals we are essentially making ourselves more prone to acne by making our skin produce a little more oil, destroying the acid mantle which helps fight infections, and thinning out our skin (in which the body will continously try and repair). if your acne still persist after months of not washing your face (except water and maybe a mild soap) then maybe, just maybe, you still suffer from hormonal acne or another cause such as diet (although diet is seemed to be a myth in causing acne).
i will go on and say that i believe you can be clear from this, but i also believe you can be clear through a complicated, strict regimen such as Dan's. Dan's regimen calls for tons of chemicals to be applied to your face 2x a day in which it seems impossible for acne to form. but, the downfall to this is 1)the money, 2)the fact that if you miss a step or a day you're likely to get a breakout, 3)having to do this routine 2x a day for perhaps the rest of your life, 4)having to always make sure you have your products (vacations, sleeping over at a friends, parties, etc.), 5)the initial breakout a lot of people get and the length of time it might take for your skin to get used to the products.
so the cons of dan's regimen kind've deterred me away from it in the first place, but im glad i didn't start it, because im clear w/o using anything but water and a washcloth. I'll leave you with this....How can you be certain that you still have acne if you're still applying chemicals to your face? Especially, if you're acne-free everywhere else on your body?
Days #15 and #16: The first new whitehead appeared on my forehead! First official facial pimple in 15 days. It is really small and completely white. It doesn't hurt. Seems more noticeable under harsh overhead lighting. I hope that no more pimples are about to appear. It seems that old pimples really take a longer time to heal on this regimen since there are no peeling agents involved.
I shaved for the first time in 2 weeks today. Used nothing but warm water and an old Mach 3. I messaged my whole face with my fingertips before doing it, and a substantial amount of dead skin was removed.
The shave caused no irritation, although it did cut off the head of an old, nasty pimple. Thankfully, it didn't bleed. Face and neck were left VERY smooth otherwise. My skin tone improved an awful lot in the past two weeks, and after all the dead skin came off, my face was left looking a lot better. I decided to shave every other day from then on.
I will post some pictures in a couple of days. Cheers.
So I'm definitely a proponent of this regimen, or any regimen with a minimalist approach to skin care when it comes to layering on products and focusing more on diet and lifestyle decisions.
My only problems with this regimen are the factors of dead skin buildup and dryness. The dryness worries me more than anything. Continuously dry skin can really damage the skin over time so I usually end up going back to moisturizing a few weeks into this regimen because the flakiness gets ridiculous to the point where I can't really function in society. I don't know if the dryness will eventually take care of itself or what.
Also, for whatever reason my skin cell production seems to be extremely high, so new layers of dead skin and flakes are constantly being produced faster than they shed. I don't understand how to make this go away and I never see any signs of the dead skin ever really subsiding on its own. Is it supposed to take years or something? If I keep ignoring the problem will it go away? That seems to not make sense. Because of this, I've always been forced to exfoliate 2-3 times a week and follow up with a moisturizer. I rarely break out anymore but my skin tone is awful because of the dead/dry skin problem. If it weren't for that, I would have been on this regimen for good and maybe only very occasionally use a product for a special occasion or something. I really want that lifestyle more than anything, where I don't need to worry about my skin and it takes care of itself for the most part(which is what 90% of people I know do and what I used to do) but every time I try it, my skin turns completely unmanageable, dry, itchy, flaky and awful looking.
I feel like I may have permanently damaged my skin from using many harsh products in the past to the point where it will always be dry to some extent and won't be able to shed properly on its own. I've pretty much given myself some kind of eczema/dermatitis. If that's the case, I'll need products forever to maintain it but it might just be a temporary damage. It's been a couple of years and I just don't know what to do anymore.
So I'm definitely a proponent of this regimen, or any regimen with a minimalist approach to skin care when it comes to layering on products and focusing more on diet and lifestyle decisions.
My only problems with this regimen are the factors of dead skin buildup and dryness. The dryness worries me more than anything. Continuously dry skin can really damage the skin over time so I usually end up going back to moisturizing a few weeks into this regimen because the flakiness gets ridiculous to the point where I can't really function in society. I don't know if the dryness will eventually take care of itself or what.
Also, for whatever reason my skin cell production seems to be extremely high, so new layers of dead skin and flakes are constantly being produced faster than they shed. I don't understand how to make this go away and I never see any signs of the dead skin ever really subsiding on its own. Is it supposed to take years or something? If I keep ignoring the problem will it go away? That seems to not make sense. Because of this, I've always been forced to exfoliate 2-3 times a week and follow up with a moisturizer. I rarely break out anymore but my skin tone is awful because of the dead/dry skin problem. If it weren't for that, I would have been on this regimen for good and maybe only very occasionally use a product for a special occasion or something. I really want that lifestyle more than anything, where I don't need to worry about my skin and it takes care of itself for the most part(which is what 90% of people I know do and what I used to do) but every time I try it, my skin turns completely unmanageable, dry, itchy, flaky and awful looking.
I feel like I may have permanently damaged my skin from using many harsh products in the past to the point where it will always be dry to some extent and won't be able to shed properly on its own. I've pretty much given myself some kind of eczema/dermatitis. If that's the case, I'll need products forever to maintain it but it might just be a temporary damage. It's been a couple of years and I just don't know what to do anymore.
Skin damaged superficially by topicals heals completely in a matter of 7-10 days. Benzoyl peroxide literally burned my skin. It looked and felt horrible - immense pain to the point of not being able to open my mouth or chew food, excessive redness and flakiness. It was a nightmare. I let my skin heal for 1 week, and it was all gone.
All you need to do is rinse with lukewarm water once daily.
Day #17: no ingrown hairs so far. skin feels alright.
I settled on a regimen of shaving in the shower every other day, and that's it. It'll probably take care of the dead skin buildup.
Maybe this regimen isn't for people with very dry skin.. Or maybe I just need to give it more time.. How do you guys deal with excessive dryness? I feel like leaving my skin tight, dry and flaky isn't doing it any good. At the same time, I don't feel like products are helping all that much in the long term, though they may temporarily reduce dryness to an extent. I just don't wanna have to depend on them every day, I want my skin to be able to moisturize and take care of itself like it used to. Should I stick it out and try this regimen for 2-3 months? I'm so lost on this.
Maybe this regimen isn't for people with very dry skin.. Or maybe I just need to give it more time.. How do you guys deal with excessive dryness? I feel like leaving my skin tight, dry and flaky isn't doing it any good. At the same time, I don't feel like products are helping all that much in the long term, though they may temporarily reduce dryness to an extent. I just don't wanna have to depend on them every day, I want my skin to be able to moisturize and take care of itself like it used to. Should I stick it out and try this regimen for 2-3 months? I'm so lost on this.
It is virtually impossible for unwashed skin to be dry. Natural sebum can keep it moisturized under any circumstances - even the desert.
The flakiness you're describing is the result of dead skin buildup. Your skin isn't actually dry, but rather covered in a layer of dead skin.
All you have to do is gently wet your face with room-temperature water in the shower, wait for about a minute or so, and then give it a GENTLE massage with your fingertips. Glide your fingers over it so as to get rid of dead skin skills, but DO NOT apply excessive pressure. Afterwards, shave your wet face with a razor (2 blades, 3 blades, 5, doesn't really matter.) Shave with, not against the grain and do it gently. Rinse away the hair with room-temp water, let it air-dry, and voila. It will feel awesome for about 48 hours, and then you'll have to do it again. Do not wash your face on a daily basis, but rather every other day.
Give this a try for 2 weeks, see how it goes. Update us!
Good luck bro 
Has anyone even STAYED clear on the caveman regimen? I haven't washed my face for 1-2 months now, and I am beginning to think that me not washing my face is holding me back and breaking me out more and I may need to wash my face until I clear up..
The only thing you can do is experiment. Give your old regimen a go for the next couple of months, see how it goes. If you notice an improvement over your present skin condition, then that's awesome. If not, keep experimenting!
I strongly believe that minimalism is the best approach to treating acne. The less you mess with your skin, the better. I could be wrong, and that's why I'm experimenting.
Day #19: washed with warm water and shaved.
An old pimple on my right cheek (possibly from late May) became a fairly large white head. I wonder why it took so long to come to a head. Glad I didn't pop it when I shaved today.
I'm optimistic - at least for now 