Acne.org Products
My face has been looking really good for the first time in a long time. For a while, I gave up taking care of my face before this. I'm a really no-nonsense kind of girl when it comes to daily routines. I've used proactiv, I've tried Dan's regimen using different products. I've tried his benzoyl peroxide gel and I've even taken prescribed medicine.
I always found benzoyl peroxide gel to be a bit problematic in that there needs to be moisturizer to fight the drying effects and it's difficult to put makeup on top. There's always residue on my face and it interferes with whatever other products I want to use.
So after a while, I decided to try something completely new. After all, the regimen just wasn't working for me as a daily...thing. Waiting for everything to dry and stuff was a pain.
This is how I wash my face now:
1. I don't use cleanser anymore. I know it sounds crazy, but it always just ends up drying my skin. Even Cetaphil gentle cleanser makes my skin dry up. So I just splash my face with water, scrub gently with an italy towel, and rinse. Of course, this goes against Dan's teachings of avoiding irritation. But by experience, I find that exfoliation is a big need for my skin.
2. I use toner with 2% salicylic acid. Neutrogena's Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Triple Action Toner, to be exact. This stuff smells AMAZING. I love using it. I don't buy cotton balls and stuff...it just seems like a waste of money. I tear off pieces of paper towel and fold it up to put the toner on. I hate using toilet paper. It leaves a bunch of papery crap on my face.
3. And I use moisturizer with 0.5% salicylic acid. I actually didn't want to bother with paying for the more expensive clean and clear dual purpose moisturizer. This was just a test, after all. Just to see how my skin would react. The ingredients list between the CVS brand and Clean & Clear was exactly the same. Lo and behold, the CVS brand smells nice and it's working beautifully.
My sister has noticed how clear my skin is becoming and my friend has, too. The beauty of the moisturizer is that it gets absorbed by your skin more nicely than the benzoyl peroxide, so you can easily put an spf lotion on top, or some powder with spf in it. I like using Physician's Formula: Mineral Wear Talc-Free Mineral Face Powder. It has SPF 16 and the "soft green" one makes me look paler than I really am. x) But I have kinda lightish skin to start with. I just don't know how to pick makeup to match my skin, hahaha.
What affects me most for acne:
A not-so-fresh pillow: I will notice more acne on one side of my face than the other. This is because I rest my cheek on the pillow. No helping that. Sometimes I just put some of my blanket over the pillow to prevent ickiness from the pillow getting on my face. It helps a lot, actually.
Not taking care to wash my hairline or using bad shampoo: The shampoo that has worked best for me so far has got to be TresemmA Naturals or Smooth and Silky? Not sure. But I need a shampoo that's not clear but white and thick in consistency. If the shampoo's clear, that means that it's not gonna clean my hair well. And Garnier Fructise SUCKS for me, personally. I feel like it never gets the dirt and grime out as well. One big difference is in ingredients. Garnier Fructise uses Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and TresemmA uses Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate. The latter does a muuuch better job of breaking down oils and so on.
Not getting every...single...spot: This is just annoying. I'm sure that you've experienced it, too. >_> For me, it's always my temples, the middle of my face, the bottom of my chin, and my cheekbones because I'm trying to avoid getting the product in my eyes.
Of course, the foolproof way of getting your acne under control is birth control, but that stuff can make your emotions go haywire, so I decided not to go that route for now.
I hope that everyone here experiences clear skin sometime soon!
Lotsa love,
skincare obsessed Cathy a
I like manual exfoliation too.However,you're still chemically exfoliating.You use two salicylic acid products,silly.
I've also stopped using conditioner because I was so wary of the fatty alcohols. I don't use shampoo either. Baking soda water and vinegar/lemon rinses actually clean quite well. No greasy scalp or anything.
do you think a shampoo like johnsons and johnsons baby shampoo is good for the scalp (i.e. wont cause acne on forehead?) What about head and shoulders?
Johnson's baby is good stuff. It's basically the same ingredients as the Purpose cleanser and the Clean & Clear sensitive cleanser (the clear-ish yellow bottle). So it most likely won't break you out. Some people even use dandruff shampoo for their bacne. But it's always about experimentation. You never know what can and can't work with your skin until you try it because everyone has different skin.
I like manual exfoliation too.However,you're still chemically exfoliating.You use two salicylic acid products,silly.
I've also stopped using conditioner because I was so wary of the fatty alcohols. I don't use shampoo either. Baking soda water and vinegar/lemon rinses actually clean quite well. No greasy scalp or anything.
haha, I guess you're right. I forget that salicylic acid does exfoliate. But I read somewhere that it only really exfoliates your pores? I tried lactic acid and glycolic acid, but that stuff either hurts or smells bad. T.T
I only washed once a week and I noticed I was getting small spots around the hairline. Must be the grease lingering there. Now I wash my hair every two days and it made a big difference!
how often do you change your pillow cases?
I try to change my pillow case once a week, but I'm not very good about that...maybe I'll DIY some more pillow cases up for myself sometime. :3
Not sure if you're still replying to this thread, but thought I'd come by and ask how your skin is doing!
I'm trying something similar, but without any products at all, just washing with water every night (head to toe - not using any body or hair products, so far so good!). I think I need to exfoliate though, so I'm going to start wiping my face dry instead of patting it dry, because using a washcloth to wash my face really bothers my skin (probably because I don't know when to stop haha). But using just water definitely seems to be helping inflamed acne.
really just water and it has dramatically reduced? for how long have you been doing this? i would think you would need facewash would be a lot more effective since it removes dead skin cells and grease.
Yup, she's right. It works. I do the same thing as ashley to some degree. I don't use cleanser or bodywash for myself. Except for my underarms, I exfoliate with a wet washcloth and use bodywash to shave. My hair is too oily for no shampoo, so I use that. But for the most part, the body doesn't need as many soaps and creams as you think. It fares off pretty well on just some good ol' scrub-a-dub-dubbin'.
Arghhh. My skin's actin' up on me, guys. But it's because I'm not good at consistently taking care of my face. I didn't wash or do anything for about a week or so. Now I'm trying to get back on track and take care of my face. >x<
ashley is hxc!~*~ said:I didn't say dramatically, but yes, my acne is slowly clearing up! I've been doing this for a week or so, although it's been about three weeks in total since I started using just water. For one week, I mostly just splashed with water, then I went a week using a washcloth twice a day (broke me out a lot), and now I just rub my face a bit in the shower (clean hands) and rinse. You'd think it wouldn't get everything off, but it does. I use warm water though, like I use on the rest of my body, which helps melt the sebum even more. And rubbing with my hands helps to soften and remove some of the sebum as well, then rinsing well removes the rest. I'm significantly less oily than I was when I'd use products, but my skin is for sure not yet accustomed, as I still get some tightness.I will say though, that it doesn't work well for removing dead skin cells as you've pointed out. I'm going to start wiping my face dry like I do my body to try and help with dead skin cell removal. I used to exfoliate daily, so I'm hoping that as long as the cloth doesn't pop any pimples, it won't get worse.
I'm using just water for my hair as well, and after a week my hair looks pretty good still! No new hairline breakouts either.
Do you use products on your skin? Perhaps you could give water cleansing a try. If not now, then maybe during summer break
When you think about it, almost everything that accumulates on your face is pretty water-soluble: sweat, much of the sebum, dirt, etc. You might need to exfoliate with something, but you don't need a store-bought product for that. I stopped using body wash long ago, kept using it on my pits though. I stopped washing my feet ages ago, and they stopped smelling. Before that, the odor was so bad I had to throw out shoes! I'm hoping my underarms stop smelling as well after a while. Nothing antiperspirant can't cover
But on my body, my skin is no longer dry. Even when I take really hot showers. My arms even have a healthy sheen to them. Only my hands, feet, and legs are prone to dryness. But I'm hoping my legs get less dry once I go longer without lotion (I noticed that my body remained dry when I'd wash with water and use lotion, stopped being dry once I removed lotion).
Thanks for replying I was looking forward to it! I'm glad just water works for you and you're absolutely right about your face is water-soluble. A week sounds very reasonable. it seems a bit naked to think you're just using water but so what lol. 
i go for natural stuff that has no parabens, chemicals and what"nots" lol. I use a small amount of Evoke [Removed] . I don't like that "citric acid" though. it hasn't affected my face. Then afterwards I put 99 percent aloe vera on my face and it seems to be doing well. I do see improve. have seen improvement and it's been a few days. i don't use tonnes of creams since you just gotta stick to something and have patience. but that's so awesome the water is doing well for you. I wash my face twice a day so in the night time (after a work out) I'll just simply wash with water. otherwise maybe the citric acid may be too much for the face and I like the idea of just washing with water then you don't have to bother washing the formed bubbles on your face!
Yup, she's right. It works. I do the same thing as ashley to some degree. I don't use cleanser or bodywash for myself. Except for my underarms, I exfoliate with a wet washcloth and use bodywash to shave. My hair is too oily for no shampoo, so I use that. But for the most part, the body doesn't need as many soaps and creams as you think. It fares off pretty well on just some good ol' scrub-a-dub-dubbin'.
Arghhh. My skin's actin' up on me, guys. But it's because I'm not good at consistently taking care of my face. I didn't wash or do anything for about a week or so. Now I'm trying to get back on track and take care of my face. >x<
i'm really glad just water works for you too.
it's so important to rinse your face otherwise it'll get greasy. I was careful not to use the word "wash" lol. yeah I have noticed using all these creams and stuff actually aggravate the skin and after a wash inflames them making the skin look red and that scares me. But just using water I see non of that which relives me. but that goes away after a couple of mins. It also feels a lot more purer and nicer just to use water. but i do use aloe vera and that has given me improvement. aloe vera & water sounds like a good combination.
I didn't say dramatically, but yes, my acne is slowly clearing up! I've been doing this for a week or so, although it's been about three weeks in total since I started using just water. For one week, I mostly just splashed with water, then I went a week using a washcloth twice a day (broke me out a lot), and now I just rub my face a bit in the shower (clean hands) and rinse. You'd think it wouldn't get everything off, but it does. I use warm water though, like I use on the rest of my body, which helps melt the sebum even more. And rubbing with my hands helps to soften and remove some of the sebum as well, then rinsing well removes the rest. I'm significantly less oily than I was when I'd use products, but my skin is for sure not yet accustomed, as I still get some tightness.
I will say though, that it doesn't work well for removing dead skin cells as you've pointed out. I'm going to start wiping my face dry like I do my body to try and help with dead skin cell removal. I used to exfoliate daily, so I'm hoping that as long as the cloth doesn't pop any pimples, it won't get worse.
I'm using just water for my hair as well, and after a week my hair looks pretty good still! No new hairline breakouts either.
Do you use products on your skin? Perhaps you could give water cleansing a try. If not now, then maybe during summer break
Once you started doing just water, did you get any new breakouts on your skin? I'm just thinking that perhaps your face got used to all the products and once you stopped using them, you broke out. I remember I stopped using BP for a week and I broke out more, but I was still using a cleanser, so maybe it was just the dryness from washing it.
Also do you break out more when it's your time of the month? Does the water only method help curve that?
It's been a while and I know that this is like, a billion years later, lol. Part of the reason I did this thing without the cleanser was because I couldn't find a cleanser that was gentle enough for me. But now I have, so I just use that. It's Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Liquid Soap. It's the best cleanser I have ever used and it will always be my go-to product. <3