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So I just caved in and washed my face with Clearasil...I thought it would wash away the dead skin cells that accumulated but it didn't completely and now I feel like I have to start all over. I can't get past the 4th or 5th day when all those dead skin cells are piling up! I'm constantly around people (school, work, church) and it's hard for me to not want to get rid of all the dead skin cells on my face. I have a hard time believing that after a certain amount of time that the dead skin will gradually go away. For those of you who have kept strong and made it through this is that the case? How long did u stick it out until the dead skin cells stopped accumulating? This is my biggest concern while on this. Two weeks seems like a long time to go around with a dull complexion with no guarantee that it's gunna work. But what else am I going to do? lol.
we have heaps in common:
1. my overall complexion has improved lots (go the acid mantle!)
2. i havent broken out yet (after a month!!)
3. yeh my skin is a little flakey (but much better than like 2-3 weeks ago)
4. I'm 20 as of a few weeks (had acne for about 4 years)
5. i NEVER washed my face when i was 16
6. doxy cleared me for 6 months but it came back
yeh i reckon you'll be clear in no time.
Yea it does sound like we have a lot in common....I got a few questions for you? Was your forehead a problem area before you started this...was it very oily? About how long was it before you stopped having noticeably dead skin cells everywhere? Do you just let shower water run over your face 1X a day? Thanks.
we have heaps in common:
1. my overall complexion has improved lots (go the acid mantle!)
2. i havent broken out yet (after a month!!)
3. yeh my skin is a little flakey (but much better than like 2-3 weeks ago)
4. I'm 20 as of a few weeks (had acne for about 4 years)
5. i NEVER washed my face when i was 16
6. doxy cleared me for 6 months but it came back
yeh i reckon you'll be clear in no time.
Yea it does sound like we have a lot in common....I got a few questions for you? Was your forehead a problem area before you started this...was it very oily? About how long was it before you stopped having noticeably dead skin cells everywhere? Do you just let shower water run over your face 1X a day? Thanks.
my forehead has rarely had a spot in its entire life. Never touched a cleanser, either. ive actually never been oily before (ever) which separates me from most. but dont discouraged by that because others have began with oily skin and had great results with this. first 2 weeks the dead skin would pretty excessive, yeh. still have a little bit at moment (been 4 and a half weeks) but its not too bad. My chin has been the battlezone over recent years hence the dead skin buildup there. im fortunate though because ive been generally clear in most other area so if the dead skin is excessive, its mostly limited to the chin area. for the first 2 weeks, i didnt let ANY water touch my face (maybe once under shower early on). day 4 i think from memory was pretty nasty in terms of blotchiness and dullness. then came the dead skin. but yeh right skin tone amazing and only one active pimple (first in a while). others have said that showering/applying water tends to worsen the appearance of flakes and dead skin. maybe give up the shower?? yeh still shower but do a body wash. yeh its tough..others have it tougher than me because when i went through the hardest part i was on study vacation so i rarely went out but again i dont think it was too bad (just the occasional day or so)...yeh anyway have you considered ditching the shower? now that i think about it i think that waterwater did put his face under shower early on,,i didnt but still got the results. i wish all the best
ok i started this as well about a month or so ago. from what i remember at first my face would get really greasy but i still went to class without washing with anything. when i had me big classes i would wash with water. so i was basically washing 3 times a week before class only. i'd still have sweaty workouts every now and then, but no washing. yes i slept like that as well. i never posted anything because i wanted to do it first and see if it was working. i noticed inflamed acne was virtualy gone but what i did get were various tiny little white heads on the side of m nose and on my forehead. as time passed that problem increased a bit and then started to go down some. the greasness of my face controlled itself and twice during this time i completely wiped my face clean of all the gunk. after that period i realised i wasn't even taking showers anymore. the acne on my back was almost gone and on my chest. so now it has been about a month or so since ive showered.
my face is the nicest it has looked in a about 4 years but it does have very slight and unnoticable bumpage. i'm almost positive that will just heal away. not showering might b an extreme to some people but honestly i barely noticed it, it's a huge time savor, even after a workout i still look clean and don't smell whatsoever but that might be my body type and/or my diet. occasionally i put deoderant when necessary but usage is decreasing as well.
other factors: when i first started this i also switched diets from palo to the wai diet. and i also haven't been masterbating that much either, but that's for other reasons.
so that's my experience with this. i will b sticking to hardly any showering and the wai diet for probably the rest of my life, so far i hav encountered no problems with either of them
in the end i'd say i'm 95% clear from where i was before, i had light to moderate acne
ok i started this as well about a month or so ago. from what i remember at first my face would get really greasy but i still went to class without washing with anything. when i had me big classes i would wash with water. so i was basically washing 3 times a week before class only. i'd still have sweaty workouts every now and then, but no washing. yes i slept like that as well. i never posted anything because i wanted to do it first and see if it was working. i noticed inflamed acne was virtualy gone but what i did get were various tiny little white heads on the side of m nose and on my forehead. as time passed that problem increased a bit and then started to go down some. the greasness of my face controlled itself and twice during this time i completely wiped my face clean of all the gunk. after that period i realised i wasn't even taking showers anymore. the acne on my back was almost gone and on my chest. so now it has been about a month or so since ive showered.my face is the nicest it has looked in a about 4 years but it does have very slight and unnoticable bumpage. i'm almost positive that will just heal away. not showering might b an extreme to some people but honestly i barely noticed it, it's a huge time savor, even after a workout i still look clean and don't smell whatsoever but that might be my body type and/or my diet. occasionally i put deoderant when necessary but usage is decreasing as well.
other factors: when i first started this i also switched diets from palo to the wai diet. and i also haven't been masterbating that much either, but that's for other reasons.
so that's my experience with this. i will b sticking to hardly any showering and the wai diet for probably the rest of my life, so far i hav encountered no problems with either of them
in the end i'd say i'm 95% clear from where i was before, i had light to moderate acne
i dont wash my face after a workout either and my skin loves it. you went really radical..i love it!!
About to enter Day 8 of not washing my face. Tone hasn't really improved since Day 4.
What I noticed today is the oilyness is now only present on my nose. For the first week it was the same level all around my face.
However, the white flakiness/dullness appearance and white heads are too much. Before tomorrow night I'm going to wash all the crap off my face, shave, then restart everything. I can't go out to a bar looking like this. Even today at school I thought it looked fine and then happened to tilt my head at a certain direciton looking at a bathroom mirror and nearly shat myself. It looked terrible.
I'll restart again, hopefully I can continue to push it further and further. What I figure is I'll try to go from tomorrow, November 15th, to November 26th (Black Wednesday). I'm definitely not giving up. This is the trap I've encountered in past tries with the regimen and immediately went back to washing twice a day with an OTC cleanser
Also, I had a pimple spring up two days ago that was inflamed. It's actually right under my eyes. It's still there, but has lessened in redness. I really don't even care, to tell the truth. I'm so determined in sticking with this regimen it'd take more than one pimple to derail my efforts.
DAY 1 of restarting nothing regimen.
Last night before I went out I washed my entire face with Dan's cleanser. It literally took 15 minutes to completely wash away the dead skin/flakes/etc. after shaving. Afterwards, as expected, my skin look tremendous.
This morning I woke up to a huge oil slick across t-zone. Skin tone still looks good. I'm actually looking forward to not cleansing again because perhaps it can get better. It'll be interesting to see if my condition improves or worsen if I were to go another 8 days.
O.K. so my face is extremely dry/flaky. I have not done anything, but let water run over my face when I shower each night for 9 days now...(I started this initially Oct. 25th, but I've caved in and exfoliated twice) It's so hard to go to school and work with all this dead skin on my face! Im even more self-conscious now than before when I had a few pimples. I hope this subsides very soon...
O.K. so my face is extremely dry/flaky. I have not done anything, but let water run over my face when I shower each night for 9 days now...(I started this initially Oct. 25th, but I've caved in and exfoliated twice) It's so hard to go to school and work with all this dead skin on my face! Im even more self-conscious now than before when I had a few pimples. I hope this subsides very soon.
That's strange that your face is dry/flakey from only washing with water one time a day. I've had the exact opposite problems with oilyness.
What'd I recommend doing if it's too much to bare is wash your face with a cleanser to remove all dead skin. You don't need to exfoliate with a manual scrub or BHA/AHA. After washing, continue extending yourself (or atleast try to) further and further.
You said you've exfoliated twice since October 25th, that's 24 days. That's not too bad. How did it compare to the amount of cleansing/exfoliation done prior to this? I know I was washing twice a day with Dan's BP cleanser, and applying BP cream at night alongside Dan's AHA. This went on for a month. So I was basically exfoliating every day, along with punishing my face with BP and cleanser chemicals which didn't erase comedal acne or reduce redness.
With my regimen of avoiding anything on my face (whenever possible)I expected there to be oilyness/flakiness in the beginning, and there has been. But what I've noticed overall is a much better complexion.
Right now I'm on Day 4 (12th overall) and have only used a cleanser once to wash my face. Aside from this, only a slight amount of water from washing my hair was made it to my face.
Realistically, I know I may not see any further improvements for a few weeks. I'm sure others will endure the same problem. It seems everyone who does this notices a change immediately (such as a reduction in redness) and then the improvements slow down. What I believe is if people on this site are willing to offer advice that suggests BP takes months for results to be seen, why shouldn't water only/nothing at all be held to similiar standards? Couldn't it be argued that, in both methods, the skin needs time to adjust?
I just don't know man all this dead skin is killing me...the only part of my face that isn't so dull looking is my forehead and temples strange enough. Yesterday I noticed 2-3 small slightly red pimples in my chin area that are buried beneath the dead skin. But I should note however that they're not at all inflamed or the usual type that I get. I agree with those who say exfoliating strips the skin of it's protective layer inviting bacteria and stuff in to cause more acne...so ur skin might look magnicificant whenever you first exfoliate but new acne will form short thereafter (at least in my experience). I don't think your skin needs all that help shedding the old skin away...I mean you don't exfoliate your arms every week, or your stomach every week? Then why do ur face? I don't know, I'm just frustrated because it's like I have to pick my poison so to speak right now....either have inflamed acne using OTC products everyday, or have dead, dull looking skin? 
ok so i am kind of trying a softcore version of this now.
I wash my face in the morning, through either a shower or just splash some water on it and then i moisturise. I am not going to do anything to it in the evening, just go to bed and not touch it.
Ive only been doing it a couple of days, but i will report back if it gets interesting.
I'm on day 4 of not washing my face and my skin looks fine, haven't had any breakouts or anything 
Which is actually kinda weird considering even when I wash my face properly using my regimen I still get some spots here and there, the only reason I stopped washing my face was because I was trying to make myself look ill and dirty. It seems to have had the adverse affect as I look fine and dandy.
I'm on day 4 of not washing my face and my skin looks fine, haven't had any breakouts or anything
Thats a problem i wouldnt mind having 
Adam08...do u still not use water on your face while in the shower now that ur dead skin/flakes have gone away? To me it seems that after the acid mantle has repaired itself and the dead skin has subsided that there should be no harm in water touching ur face from the shower (just as it does on the rest of your body) because the barrier is back! I just want to be able to know that I can go swimming if I want and not have to worry about dead skin and flaking ya know?
Adam08...do u still not use water on your face while in the shower now that ur dead skin/flakes have gone away? To me it seems that after the acid mantle has repaired itself and the dead skin has subsided that there should be no harm in water touching ur face from the shower (just as it does on the rest of your body) because the barrier is back! I just want to be able to know that I can go swimming if I want and not have to worry about dead skin and flaking ya know?
nah i dont even use water anymore at all. yeh the dead skin has just about gone but there has been a recent development. for like a few days i have had dead skin on my right cheek which is fantastic because its like the only place on my face where i have a couple of red marks (been there for like over 18 months). imagine if they heal? yeh if you think its right, go swimming for sure..i wonder how my skin will look after its first encourter with the ocean...i want to make sure that my mantle is back. cos i reckon the salt water could potentially flare up flakes etc but im not sure
Adam08...do u still not use water on your face while in the shower now that ur dead skin/flakes have gone away? To me it seems that after the acid mantle has repaired itself and the dead skin has subsided that there should be no harm in water touching ur face from the shower (just as it does on the rest of your body) because the barrier is back! I just want to be able to know that I can go swimming if I want and not have to worry about dead skin and flaking ya know?
nah i dont even use water anymore at all. yeh the dead skin has just about gone but there has been a recent development. for like a few days i have had dead skin on my right cheek which is fantastic because its like the only place on my face where i have a couple of red marks (been there for like over 18 months). imagine if they heal? yeh if you think its right, go swimming for sure..i wonder how my skin will look after its first encourter with the ocean...i want to make sure that my mantle is back. cos i reckon the salt water could potentially flare up flakes etc but im not sure
Let us know how your face reacts to the ocean when u finally go 4 it.
Decided to make a post after trying this method out for two weeks...keep in mind, I'm a 22 year-old male, and I still think my hormones are in full gear. I've had accutane, and have tried basially every mainstream method of cleansing - to no avail.
Method:
Initially, didn't wash my face for 4-5 days. I cleaned in the shower with just water on the 5th, and washed every now and then in the shower. Just let the water hit my face. I also decided not to shave during this time period as to not exfoliate my skin.
First Thoughts:
Face got really oily (duh) and dead skin everywhere.
When I accidently scratch my face, dead flakes trail.
I can (no joke) smell the aroma of my face.
Nose pores were filled with oil/dead skin (but no blackheads).
Tiny white heads would pop up, but quickly heal the next day.
Initially, I thought it was working.
Reason to Stop:
Today, I broke my record - I had way too many tiny white heads forming.
I shaved after my shower routine - found my chin had tiny red spots (never get acne there).
My forehead had tiny sweat bumps - again, never had those.
My FT job after graduation requires a Suit everyday...how will I shave every morning?
What I've Learned:
Despite the results, I've learned a great deal about my skin.
I will continue to let natural oils do their work, but will cleanse at night with a gentle soap (throw away my current soap -back to Cetaphil!). In the morning, I'll just wash with shower water.
I now feel exfoliating occasionally helps unclog pores, but too often isn't a good thing.
So, overall I'm happy I tried the 'no-wash' method. Hopefully I'll have a quick recovery from the white heads/red spots/bumps, and my new plan works out. Obviously I didn't try it for a whole month/two months, but I wasn't going to take a chance.
Hope my input helps!
Im doing my 'light wash only in the morning' routine and i am not getting many new spots. i still have one below my mouth but it isnt a shocker.
i look a bit shit. but i am prepared to wait, im hoping the lack of interference will help my awful red marks heal a lot faster. Might take a bit of time to see any progress there though because ive had them for years!!!
UPDATE: So a little over 2 weeks in and here's what I'm seeing. I let shower water hit my face for the first time in 4 days last night. My face seems to be healing itself nicely as far as acne is concerned, but right now my worries are more about the dead, flaky skin I have. I really haven't seen a huge reduction in dead skin over the past few days like I thought I would and like others have noted after the 2-3 week mark. My cheeks, chin, and middle of my forehead have the most dead skin accumulation I notice. It's probably harder for me to notice a change since I look into the mirror 3-4X a day, but 2 weeks ago I would have figured that this dead skin would be gone by now. But I'm gunna stick to it because there is no way I'm gunna put anymore topicals on my face, because if I hadn't done that in the first place I wouldn't have to be going through this right now!!!
Why am I doing this, honestly, it's because I'm frustrated. I never had acne until turning 20 and am now almost 23, everday I wake up I want to rip my face off and go back to the days when my face was normal. I've tried all different regimens, things that are too harsh dry my face, take a simplistic approach and I have oil and dead skin everywhere. I've been to 3 derms and they all give different things that never really work. I feel like I have every symptom or diet problem that all these forums proclaim and it just makes me crazy to the point that I have no idea what is really good for my face anymore, so basically I'm quitting, since my face doesn't want to be clean and clear than I won't make it, I'm going to teach it a lesson by not washing it for a month starting actually two days ago the 10th. I know that whatever the outcome will be it will be interesting along the way and I'm trying to look at it as a scientific experiment, maybe leaving it alone will help healing weak acne prone skin? who knows, I don't. As of right now my skin isn't breaking out very badly, I never really have bad acne just bad skin texture and little bumps but if I wash too much than I break out. So my nose is oily and has alot of dead skin and my cheeks are oily and have little bumps I have some dry skin around my mouth too, so we'll see what happens when leaving it all alone for a while.
Not washing your face is really not a bad idea.. contrary to what some here believe. My family covers the range of skin from perfect flawless skin all the way through puberty, to horrendous cystic acne that begins as young as age ten. I have sat back and observed and noticed that my cousins with clear skin dont use face washes. All they do is splash their face is water - what my grandmother made us all do as kids - and they have remained clear with few to NO breakouts. Those of us who have my grandfathers bad skin genes at the first sign of a zit immediately went out and started purchasing cleansers to correct the "problem" when we were in fact exacerbating it. When my acne prone cousin and I went back to the old way - we noticed a great improvement in our skin. The tone and texture is nice, and though we still get breakouts because hey its in our genes - they are much more manageable. I have also noted about those clear cousins that they do not have the milk allergy that my acne ridden cousins and I have. When we stay away from milk for a long time we get VERY clear skin. Of course healthy eating also helps, but even one of my clear cousins eats McDonalds everyday so diet isnt EVERYTHING. Keep up your no washing thing, but try splashing your face with some warm and then cold water. and if you need to wash your face because of oil or dead skin natural calendula soap is great! it is like not washing with anything, just rub the bar in your hands a LITTLE (barely any lather) rub lightly and splash with water. it will in no way impede the progress your are making because it is the same soap women abroad use to wash their newborns. try it - it has helped me alot.