allright i'm now washing my face with water 1X a day to keep the dead skin off. For the record I went 50 days of not washing (only water in shower) before finally rubbing that dead skin off (which was thick & crazy!). I then went 8 days of only letting water touch my face in the shower at night, but there was still a little dead skin buildup (but no flakiness at all, in fact if i didnt scratch my face you couldn't notice any extra dead skin at all). Then I went 4 days of no water or anything on my face, thinking the only reason the dead skin kept returning wuz cuz of the water. The dead skin did return in some parts of my face, but again it was less than before. But even tho my acne went down significantly during all this I think my face was having a hard time healing the red marks cuz of all the dead skin layered on top of it.

My plan is to continue washing with ONLY water 1X a day to help speed up the healing of the red marks. I don't plan on doing this long-term in hopes that by April I can go everyday w/o manually washing/touching my face. My theory (through trial & error and experience) is that the only reason the dead skin keeps returning is cuz my skin is damaged from all the topicals over the years. Or if that isn't correct than it's because my facial area cannot shed skin properly (but i doubt that be the case, cuz i went 14 years of my life w/o having to do anything to it). If the latter be the case than I have no problem washing with water 1X a day @ night, cuz it's easy, natural and keeping my clear. For those skeptical after reading this thinking my acne will return let it be known that not a single topical has touched my face in 4 1/2 months (with the exception of a 7-day period in mid-December, which made things worse).

I even think the multi-vitamin that I stopped taking on December 1st of last year might have been attributing to acne as it contained 100% DV of Iodine (which has been known to increase inflammation of pores). Plus, putting all the synthetic crap in my system everyday had to be throwing off my body as well. The biggest lesson learned here is that common knowledge is not always the truth (wash 2x a day, avoid this food that food, wipe off sweat). You have to test for yourself what is true and what is not. For me topicals caused and aggravated acne (shaving cream, Clearasil, Neutrogena Oil-free face wash, Retin-A). For me diet is not a factor and no longer will I be paranoid or worried after I enjoy a bowl of chocolate ice-cream, or a slice of pie w/milk. Acne has held me back in so many ways over the years and no longer will I let that happen. I've got 3 things going for me here in regards to kissing acne good bye....1)I no longer am altering/damaging my face with crap, 2)I no longer put synthetic vitamins and inflammatory drugs in my body, 3)I'll be 20 next month and thus should be outgrowing acne if I even have it at all.

Advance Happy Birthday on you dude! It was great going through all these things alongside you.

I'm on day 3 of the do nothing regimen. I'm on a little diet too, so it should help some.

To let you know nothing has changed at all with my face, I haven't noticed any oil buildup or dryness, just the same as it has been since day 1. So I'll be throwing up pics sometime today, then over the course of the next.. however many days.

@ Ratsoff

How u doing?

hey yepican, day 57 of regimen

Im doing great! I am now washing my face once a day (no soap just splashing some water) and after i wash i rub moisturizer into my face(not a ton of moisturizer). I feel this helps a lot and so far its been preventing the dry skin from coming back. Its not making me breakout at all either, In fact i am about 95% clear and i have some red marks but that is about it.

As for the dead skin mask i removed the rest of it about 3 days ago and i hope i never have to go through that again.

i have been shaving more often(once every 2 days) and when i do shave it flakes a little but once i wash afterwords they are gone.

Overall im really happy with the results of this regimen and the fact that i don't have to slather bp all over my face anymore. I think my skin is still healing and in another 30-60 days i hope everything will be healed and perfect and i wont have to use moisturizer or do anything to my skin at all.

Ultimately i do indeed think it was the bp that was causing me to break out since i am 24 and i should be pretty much done with my hormonal acne. Since i stopped using the bp i have not had one cyst or any inflamed acne(knocks on wood) at all which says a lot.

Don't worry i will give an update every week to two weeks to let you guys know if anything changes. For anyone thinking about trying this regimen who is around my age and has been using bp for years please do. I bet your breakouts are from the bp irritating your skin.

how are you doing yepican? and how are the rest of you guys doing?

good to hear Ratsoff. I am currently washing with water once a day at night after my shower to prevent the dead skin from building up. I do not apply any moisturizer at all. As far as shaving goes, I switched to electric two months ago and have found that this really helped. Before when I shaved with a manual razor and foam I always ended up with a pimple or two because of it. I think I will continue to wash with water only through the end of March and hopefully by then I will have healed completely enough that I wont have this minor dead skin keep returning. If not I might have another skin condition (seb derm?), but not any acne!

Day 76 with tons of dead skin and no significant improvements yet.

yepican did you remove the dead skin already? I seemed to have another skin problem. When a part of my face itch (lets say forehead), only the area where it itches turns rash-like red, while other parts of my face looks normal.

Going on day 5 I believe, I've been seeing a lot of reduction in redness. Probably because of the BP I put on my face before this, but I haven't noticed any change in oil on my face yet, I'm usually normal when it comes to that, sometimes it can be oily others it can be dry.

I haven't washed my face yet, I'll do so once I hit 7 days I think, or 10.. I've also been drinking tons of water and eating loads of veges

Day 76 with tons of dead skin and no significant improvements yet.

 

yepican did you remove the dead skin already? I seemed to have another skin problem. When a part of my face itch (lets say forehead), only the area where it itches turns rash-like red, while other parts of my face looks normal.

Yes on day 50 (Feb. 1st) I removed all the built up dead skin with my fingernail. It was crazy! I had like a pile of dead skin on the counter. Then I went 8 more days of doing what I was doing before I washed that dead skin away. It was funny cuz during this 8 day period I kept going back and forth thinking, "I'm healed, the dead skin is gone!", and "Nope, it's coming back, but not nearly as bad". So hopefully I don't have another skin condition besides acne. lol.

hey guys I just started this no face washing thing this morning.

wish me luck

Sorry bout that, I thought that was day 5 for me.

Anywho, today is day 5 for me.

Seeing more oil on my face, no changes in anything except for one new zit on my chin.

To give you an idea of what my acne is like, the middle of my forehead is almost covered, my cheeks near the nose area and below the eye is covered on both sides, and my chin is completely red and stays red. That is how its been for the past 2-3 years.

Day 35+ or something

Still not letting water touch my face. No more morning flakes. No breakouts. No more oiliness. I believe there is still a dead skin mask. I decided to use turmeric to fade red marks faster and it seems to be doing its job. It's a bit early though to say the results.

@Rish

Don't wash your face as long as you can. I survived a month not washing my face and nothing happened. No smell and no one notices at all. And this let me troubleshoot the problem better.

Hey,

can anyone give me advice on this no wash idea....I have read all 20 pages and couldnt find anything that answers my question. Is anybody using roaccutane/accuntane whilst doing this? I want to start this so badly, but my skin is so dry due to accutane. When I started the accuntane the dermotologist told me to wash with nothing but water. I have carried on using cleansers etc which are oil free but feel like they are aggravating my skin. Is this no wash idea, a good thing to try whilst on this medication? As I feel like I have to moisterise to cover this dry skin everyday!

Thanks for the help

Danny

Hey,

 

can anyone give me advice on this no wash idea....I have read all 20 pages and couldnt find anything that answers my question. Is anybody using roaccutane/accuntane whilst doing this? I want to start this so badly, but my skin is so dry due to accutane. When I started the accuntane the dermotologist told me to wash with nothing but water. I have carried on using cleansers etc which are oil free but feel like they are aggravating my skin. Is this no wash idea, a good thing to try whilst on this medication? As I feel like I have to moisterise to cover this dry skin everyday!

 

Thanks for the help

 

Danny

In my opinion, don't do the no wash thing. Do the wash with water only as advised by your derm. Don't use any cleanser and as far as I know, those who are in tane uses moisturizer to keep dry skin at bay.

Ah kk Wapak. When do you think the right time will be? Once the dead skin falls off?

I tried this.. and it worked somewhat I think that some people finding that they have flaky skin may have a condition like i have which is seborrheic dermatitis. It only showed up once I stopped using everything, i guess becuase most acne topicals can help seb derm, like BP.

Give your skin 27 days to recover. Just scrape off those flaking dead skin gently. And look at your face as a whole. If it look normal, even if you know that it has a dead skin mask, then its fine to go on your day. No one will notice a difference.

After 27 days, scrape off all the dead skin above your skin gently and softly. Using nothing but your clean fingernails, one person here used electric shaver though I do not know how he did it. After you scrape all the dead skin, wait for another day then try washing your face with water. Just splash it on your face. Observe if there is irritation. This is a trial and error method, so good luck!

@hackattack

It's not seborrheic dermatitis. Because if this is seb derm, then I should have worsened condition now. In my opinion, its just your skin shedding the damaged skin.

@ wapak

hey i know ur not using water, but have you noticed any dead skin returning after you scraped it off?

@yepican

In the 3rd week, every time I scrape off the dead skin it would return the next morning flaking. But somewhere on the 4th week, one morning I didn't saw the usual dead skin buildup. Since then there is no flakes of dead skin buildup anymore. Though there are still some little flaking on my eyebrows as of now.

Thanks wapak. Well it's funny cuz all of us here doing this have gone against conventional wisdom. I saw that so-called "wisdom" is B.S. now. I've been eating things I never did while using topicals in fear that it was the food causing the acne. Chocolate, ice-cream, hot chocolate, fried foods, chips, milk, just whatever you're not supposed to if you have acne. Now I know that my diet has absolutely 0 effect on my skin. I now know that washing my face with clearasil and crap like that 2x a day, along with using harsh shaving creams and manual razors was what was messing my skin up. I've learned now that you can't believe everything you hear or take what is considered the truth without first testing it yourself. I've made myself suffer for years believing these "tips" on acne, and making myself paranoid about enjoying junk food. Bottom line here is that as long as you keep putting un-natural things on your skin, and tons of vitamins and synthetic B.S. in your body, you'll never know the natural state of your skin. Look at the recipe for success for other people our age. Most of my friends don't wash their face or anything, they don't even give it a second thought. Most of my friends eat whatever they want, whenever, and don't suffer from acne. Now that I'm doing what they've been doing all along I'm getting the same results as them......clear from acne.

I have found this topic, and other related ones, very enlightening!

After reading this thread I realised that this 'common sense' method made perfect sense and deserved a try.

I have been fighting acne since I was 17 (I'm now 21) and have tried antibiotics, over-the-counter topicals, Dan's BP regimen and more 'natural' regimens like Ibuprofen gel and Tea Tree Oil. Over these four years my acne has gone through cycles of getting much better, but then would inevitably get worse again..

I then also thought about my friends and people who are my age who don't have acne. They don't do strict and ridiculous regimes twice a day and yet they stay perfectly clear. I realise that I must be naturally inclined somewhat to having spots, but I have now realised - like others - that the topicals were ruining my skin. Dan's BP was especially harsh on my skin and yet I went on with his regimen for c. 6 months!

So, I have now taken on this 'regimen', if indeed it can be called that. I'm not going to wash my face, in fact I'm not going to touch it at all (this is how topicals are in part flawed - since you have to irritate your skin to apply them!). I'm on the fourth day and I can already see my skin partly improving. While I haven't noticed a drastic improvement in the number of spots I've got, the overall complexion of my face is much better, and my old spots are healing nicely.

I have faith in this regimen, and am already enjoying the liberating experience of not having to spend about 30 minutes a day washing and applying stuff to my face!

I'll post here weekly in future to update my status.

I have found this topic, and other related ones, very enlightening!

 

After reading this thread I realised that this 'common sense' method made perfect sense and deserved a try.

 

I have been fighting acne since I was 17 (I'm now 21) and have tried antibiotics, over-the-counter topicals, Dan's BP regimen and more 'natural' regimens like Ibuprofen gel and Tea Tree Oil. Over these four years my acne has gone through cycles of getting much better, but then would inevitably get worse again..

 

I then also thought about my friends and people who are my age who don't have acne. They don't do strict and ridiculous regimes twice a day and yet they stay perfectly clear. I realise that I must be naturally inclined somewhat to having spots, but I have now realised - like others - that the topicals were ruining my skin. Dan's BP was especially harsh on my skin and yet I went on with his regimen for c. 6 months!

 

So, I have now taken on this 'regimen', if indeed it can be called that. I'm not going to wash my face, in fact I'm not going to touch it at all (this is how topicals are in part flawed - since you have to irritate your skin to apply them!). I'm on the fourth day and I can already see my skin partly improving. While I haven't noticed a drastic improvement in the number of spots I've got, the overall complexion of my face is much better, and my old spots are healing nicely.

 

I have faith in this regimen, and am already enjoying the liberating experience of not having to spend about 30 minutes a day washing and applying stuff to my face!

 

I'll post here weekly in future to update my status.

& what regimen are u talking about??

Not washing your face,or dans regimen?

@yepican

Yes, the exact same thing went on my mind.

@others

I wish all the best to you guys! Remember that it is you who's going to watch over your skin. This is highly a trial and error method. Dropping every factor that may contribute to having acne is the key to this.

Hey Posters,

I had read this thread months ago..I'm not sure if I ever posted in it.

I tried the water thing for about 3 months, up until a few weeks ago. All I use now is Clearasil Daily Pads...with Neosporin at night every once in a while for problem spots.

I'm 27, so you can imagine the frustration. The first month or so of only washing every once in a while with water was ok..I did notice the general quality of my skin improve..but..after that it was just business as usual..I mean not too bad, but problem spots would pop up here and there, and I'd never be clear for more than a few days. After 2 months of that, I figured forget it..I should go back to using Clearasil pads 2 or 3 times a day. So for the last few weeks I've been doing that...I can't say there is really too much of a chance.

This thread makes me think of a time period in my life when i was 100% clear for about 6 months. Seriously. I'm in my late 20's, so at this time I was 25..so it wasnt like I had some minor problem that went away when I reached 20 or 21...

When I look back at this period there are certainly some identifiable things that were different about my life. I'm being totally serious, and it's pretty amazing to me.

- I had just moved to a pretty popular area of a downtown city here on the west coast

- My roommates were partyers..lots of people over all the time

- I got laid more than I ever have in my life (sorry for the crassness, laides, just being honest). Not that I was sleeping around..but I dated a few girls during this period, so I was having regular sex.

- I was going out to eat more than I ever had before

- I drank more alcohol than I normally did

- I smoked more cigerettes..obviously..because of the drinking..

- Also, having a day job, I got the least amount of sleep ever, you know..the girls & the drinking..

I know this sounds funny and ridiculous, but it is absolutely true. AND, as a 10 year acne sufferer at that time, I'm telling you, I was 100% clear..I was just figuring..this is it, finally..I'm 25..and it's finally over. THE ONLY thing I was using on my face at that time were Clearasil pads.

So..I guess to sum it up, I was generally enjoying life. I was living it up. I'm not recommending this, but reading this board, and listening to doctors, I know that during the period when I should have had the MOST acne ,I actually had the LEAST. I think it was the happy factor..I don't know what else it could be. I was eating horribly, drinking too much, staying up too late, smoking..all the things I read on here are triggers.

I drink moderately now, have an ok diet, don't smoke..these factors have changed slightly in the 2 years since the clear period, but what I've taken away is that NOTHING works for me, NOTHING makes sense with this.

I don't mean to be a bummer, and I enjoy the positivity in this thread and wish you all the best. But recently I've just been like F'it, and still...even that doesnt help.

I think we all have our own physiology, and different people are getting acne for different reasons. I mean, doctors cant figure it out...they just prescribe antibiotics like a blanket rule. I had gone to one derm who was very fancy schmancy and expensive. He taught part time at an ivy league university, and was big on research. He told me there is no research to date that had correctly correlated ANYTHING diet related with acne. He's a doctor, and sits around reading this stuff all day witha doctors eye...should I believe him, or people on this board who pop up and say "X diet is working for me, this is the cure."

@Amazingly

Great post dude! Yeah, it's a great thing to be free from worrying too much on our skin. Living life to the fullest is the best!