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hi It felt so good to rinse it off, I did that 2 nights in a row...am going to the gym tonight and will sweat alot, some new pimples are starting to come on...I am afraid that I should have gone longer with out washing it....it looks like I am now getting black heads that was not a problem for me before. hmmmm
bizi
good luck with your hair!
I use aveda products all plant ingrediants.
ugh!!!!!I am a mess.
I just finished picking at my face....sigh
I picked at all of the black heads, white heads, pimples....
I was obcessed....
sigh
i did not know what to do so I just put some moisturiser on it and am going to bed.
sigh
bizi
If your skin is covered with more than 20% , then go to your doctor. Normally, if he/she knows what they are talking about will send you to a dermatologist who will place you on roaccutane, this is the only drug/ cure that officially works. Light treatments, dermabrasion,sun-light etc, you name it, they cover your problem, they don't get rid of it.
Hi,
a few months ago I read the post by Waterwater and decided to try not washing my face. However, I just started skipping once a day (in the morning) while still using the same regimen at night (cetaphil, Proactiv toner and a moisturizer). Shortly after, I decided to use the proactiv toner just twice a month. I agree that at the beginning the skin felt itchy and uncomfortable but after a while it felt ok. After a couple of weeks, my skin was a lot less red and inflammed. And by then I wouldn't have gone back to washing my face twice a day, just felt like a waste of time! I have since then completely stopped using Proactive which, I believe, has hurt my skin and irritated it a great deal despite what the adds say!
Now, about 5 months later, I have decided to stop washing at night as well but I go more slowly than a lot of you did: I wash my face at night every other day. Yes, my skin is dry and flaky but I also live in Canada so winter is really cold and the wind and the snow are though on skin! Certainly my skin has not gotten worse by not washing it. By "not washing" I mean not using any product but I do rinse it with warm water and let the water dry on my face naturally without using a cloth.
Anyway, don't beat yourself up that much Bizi! Your friends love you as you are, acne or not. Having gorgeous skin wouldn't make you a better person. I know it will sound naive but I believe the greatest thing my acne is teaching me is just to love myself as I am. And I have had quite a LOT of acne so I know what I am talking about! I have tried everything on the market, pills, creams, cleansers, etc. The best results I have had were by taking care of myself, eating well, spleeping well, using as little products as possible (which is why I want to completely stop using cleansers)...and dry brushing my face: that's really great and doesn't cost anything AND doesn't involve chemicals!
I hope my skin can respond like yours does, Sandra!
The dry brushing, how do you do that and with what?
Hi again,
I haven't washed my face with any cleanser for 2 weeks and I haven't had one breakout since. My skin hasn't look this good in 10 years!
Anyway, here is my "regimen" or rather lack of regimen! In the morning: nothing! At night, I do my dry brushing and just wash my face with lukewarm water. That's it! Right now I'm doing a lot of renovation in my house so my face gets completely covered with dust and all sorts of disgusting things! I used to wash it well afterwards and would break out badly. I figured it was all that dust etc on my face. Well I'm still getting that crap on my face doing the renovation, I keep it many hours and just do my dry brushing and lukewarm water and I haven't had any breakouts! Fascinating!
SO, about the dry brushing! I do it before taking a skower. You can use a SOFT terrycloth (I like the ones that are like velvet on one side) or you can use a little brush made specifically for your face. What's really important is that the brush be soft. No hard bristles please. The one I have is synthetic fibers because I find the natural bristles were way to hard. OK for the body but not my face. Either way I start in the middle of my forehead and go with slow strokes from the middle to the left side 3 times and then from the middle to the right side 3 times. No circular motions: they hurt the skin! Then from the side of my nose to the left side of my face 3 times then the other side. From the middle of my upper lip to the left side of my face 3 times, from the middle of my chin again to the left side of my face. Then on the other side. Finally from my jaw line down my neck etc. Be gentle of course. My skin is very dry because it's winter here and I do not moisturise anymore but doing the dry brushing will exfoliate the skin (so no need for toners or exfoliating scrubs with glycolic acid or other chemincals). So, if your skin is really dry, you will see some flakes fall off.
What I found is that exfoliating on DRY skin with just a cloth not only will not irritate the skin, unlike exfoliating while the skin is wet, but it also makes the skin stronger and more resistant to what the environnement throws unto it. I'm no scientist, just telling you what I found out after 15 years + dealing with acne. Also, if you use the brush, don't use it more that 2 times a week as it is stronger that just a cloth. You want to be gentle on your skin especially to begin.
Hope that helps!
Hey I just came across this cuz I'm tired of the amount of time it takes to do Dan's regimen. I'm an 18 year old male who has had acne since i was 11. Has this no-washing thing been successful for anyone with acne on their back and chest in addition to their face? I'd like to stop also because I get a lot of dryness and flaky skin on my face even if I just wet it down; and I'm sure this is because of the large amount of BP I've been using twice a day for 4 years. About a week ago I visited some friends for a weekend and skipped my usual routine twice in a row, which I NEVER do and as expected, broke out again slightly more than I usually do. Is this an indication that my skin probably isn't ready to be rid of the chemicals? Thanks for reading.
Cool thanks a lot for your input. I think for starters I'll try not washing just my chest and see how that goes, because in the past the acne on it has been much less severe on it than on my back and I'm kinda nervous to just stop. If I see a good reaction then I'll move on to my back and face. Thanks again.
A while ago I had the idea that skin dryness had a role in oil production. The drier your skin was, the more oil it'd produce to compensate.
Basically, the more Benzoyl Peroxide I used, the worse my skin would get over time. When I finally moved onto Dan's regime, after about 10 days my skin erupted. Despite eventually going away with tons of BP, my acne was always considerably worse without it than it had been before.
I think the BP was drying out my skin, so my body ramped up oil production.
It never occurred to me how badly washing could be drying out my skin until I got sick and didn't shower or wash much for a week (ew!). My skin looked considerably better and I thought washing could be the cause of my acne - removing the oil, drying out my skin, and causing it to produce excess oil.
I searched google and found this thread and was encouraged that other people had not only figured out the same thing, but found it to work.
I've currently gone 10 days without washing in the slightest - no water even touching my face. It seems to be working. My acne is clearing up a lot, except on my forehead, but even that seems to be getting there. I'm excited to see what will happen in a couple of weeks time.
It's interesting that my eczema seems to be getting worse (shoulders, hands) and when it does, I get really thirsty. Then when I drink a good bit, it dies down. It could be that as I stop washing my face, my skin starts producing less and less oil, until I get to the point where it starts drying out too much. It'll probably sort itself out anyway.
I don't have any problems with flaky skin or anything. If I rub my face hard, some dust like specs come off, but it's nothing major.
My back/shoulder area is pretty much completely clear. I try not to avoid that area when I'm in the shower. Interestingly, just a few hours after having a shower I got a couple of spots on my right shoulder.
I've also been on antibiotics for the last 18 months, but I don't think they're working anymore (perhaps 20-30%). I haven't been taking them for a week and my skin doesn't seem to be getting any worse.
Hey I just came across this cuz I'm tired of the amount of time it takes to do Dan's regimen. I'm an 18 year old male who has had acne since i was 11. Has this no-washing thing been successful for anyone with acne on their back and chest in addition to their face? I'd like to stop also because I get a lot of dryness and flaky skin on my face even if I just wet it down; and I'm sure this is because of the large amount of BP I've been using twice a day for 4 years. About a week ago I visited some friends for a weekend and skipped my usual routine twice in a row, which I NEVER do and as expected, broke out again slightly more than I usually do. Is this an indication that my skin probably isn't ready to be rid of the chemicals? Thanks for reading.
Like Ashley said - BP doesn't really cure your acne, it just covers it up.
If my theory is right, BP is basically like the plague when it comes to acne. It will keep gradually drying out your skin more and more, so you'll keep having to use more of it, keeping the cycle going.
I haven't used BP in at least a year.
I think when a lot of people try not washing, they're coming off heavy BP use. What you've got to realise is that your acne problem never went away, you were just using chemicals to kill the bacteria causing it. When you stop using BP, the true state of your skin will become apparent - it'll start after a day or two, and continue getting worse for a month.
It also takes a long time for your skin to recover from being dried out so much.
Edit: If you're still using BP while not washing, I'd guess it'd do very little since you're still horribly drying out your skin with chemicals.
this is a really interesting thread. so for most people has the not washing the face gone good?lol idk how on earth i would ever be able to do that bc of how i have a habit of washing (even if just with a gentle cleanser for sensitive skin sometimes). interesting interesting.
I'm kinda ignorant about skincare, but I'm not sure why anyone would need to rinse every day.
Given how my skin looks after 11 days of no water whatsoever, I can't see why I'd need to wash it more than 2x a week at the very most. I think once would easily suffice.
Regardless of how this experiment goes, I'm never going to wash it more than 2x a week since there's zero negative affects associated with that. There doesn't seem to be any reason for me to wash my face every day.
I always just took washing 2x a day as a given, and found it really weird that my housemates didn't wash theirs before going to bed, or that they didn't use any sort of soap/wash on it. Funnily enough, they have perfect skin.
Oh Ash you're still here, I'm yet to check out your log.
You're such a darling for responding to all our queries.
"Sigha Anyway here's my story...
I was on this regimen for three months at first I noticed GREAT results then two months in I started waking up with at least 2 little pustules on my cheek, they would disappear within a day but they'd leave little red spots that would take eternity to disappear so 2 weeks ago I caved in and washed with my Clinique Blemish control face wash, My skin instantly became drier and started to peel, so I went back to no washing for a few days then went back to the face wash.
Even with that routine my skin became noticeably redder and whatever red marks I had were more visible, and the days I wasn't using the facewash I became incredibly oily (something I hadn't had to deal with since I began the regimen).
Using the face wash wasn't doing me any favours so I've decided to go back to my water only regime. I thought I could go a couple of days without face wash- say 3 days water only and on the fourth use a face wash. But skin feels and is visibly more damaged and dry.
Yesterday I steamed my face hoping to open up the pores for I had blocked pores on my nose and chin then wiped of the steam with a clean dry face cloth. It had an okay result. Iam back to day one of this regimen and Iam feeling oily.
Btw how do you all deal with blocked pores?
Also, I just want to rip the crap out of my skin.
Hello all!
I signed up on here to tell you about my experience with "not washing". I know how it feels to have bad skin and what it means to have the right support when you have acne. Sorry in advance for my english, it's not my native language.
Little info about myself: i am male, 23 old, about 200 lbs. Acne for me started recently, about 5 months ago. Never had acne before in my life other than a few pimples, which were not red. I actually discovered that acne is a condition just not too long ago thinking pimples are just that - pimples. Never used moisturizer or any other topical cream on my face, other than the after shave. I did had a bad habit - touching my face when i sit or when i am not doing anything. But again, no acne because of it in the past.
So it hit me hard and in this period of 5 months I tried EVERYTHING. I ordered the products from this web site, bought some at my local drug store, used steaming for my face, went to saunas, exercised like crazy, tried all sorts of masks, kept a diet. BP helped my with the redness but my face stopped feeling like normal skin and turned into sandpaper kind of feeling and it was never 100% effective against acne in my case. When i smiled i felt like my face hurts! when i got out of shower, it felt weird! Most of all, it just didn't seem right to spend so much time in the morning and night!! I also swim, and going to the pool is difficult with the regimen, my face did dry a lot!
So, thanks for this thread i decided that i will STOP doing everything to my face. I just treated it like i did before, only washing it with water during the shower, once a day, and sometimes when i felt like i wanted to soak it wet. I even stopped washing it with water before going to bed (i was always doing that since i can remember). I must admit, i washed a couple times with the cleanser, but honestly it was more because i felt bad for buying this stuff and not using it 
Never more than 5-6 seconds.
The result: after 1 week of doing this i have no more visible acne on my forehead (this area had acne the most) and it's going away on the sides of my face, slowly since i shave almost everyday and it irritates my face. My face feels like before, meaning i dont "feel" it anymore. Smiling, laughing doesn't give my any discomfort now, which by itself is reason to smile more Actually, the next day after skipping the regimen overnight, i felt the difference! And then, i realized that i was just damaging my skin leaving this stuff doing it's "magic" all night on my face!! Once i figured this out, everything became clear!
The next week my skin would itch, and sometimes hurt but everyday i was waking up with clearer skin. I did jogging and exercising which helped with getting out the toxins but no more steaming for me. I figured, people don't sweat without doing exercise of some kind so i decided to do it the natural way - running and exercising.
I still ask myself, why did i started to have acne in the first place 5 months ago, and i am trying to put the events in my life in order so i can figure this out. I suppose it was stress or/and hormones but i am not sure.
Overall, it was definitely the right move for me! Thanks to the creator of this thread which would not exist without the person who created the web site, so thanks Dan! I hope somebody will read this, decide to go this route and get the same great results!
Cheers!
Quick update:
17 days of not washing or putting any water on my face.
A few days ago, I noticed I had broken out in 4-5 spots on each cheek, and on each side of my neck. I was kinda pissed. They were super small, basically just red marks but I was worried that it was a sign of things to come.
I'm assuming it was just the effect of my antibiotics wearing off (haven't used them in 15 days now). When I came off BP I gradually got spots like that, which increased in frequency and size as the P. Acnes started coming back.
I've just got one small, flat, swollen type spot, and one other dying spot on my lower face now. Probably about the same on my neck, along with red marks from previous ones.
Acne on my forehead seems to be quite mild - 5 or 6 small spots that are a few days old, but it's really hard to tell since it's a mess of red marks from previous acne.
Gonna wait till 21 days, see what it's like, and maybe wash with water. I don't really want to do anything to aggravate my skin until I can tell for sure that it's working, and to what extent. I keep picking and rubbing at my forehead, which is bad. I also need to drink more fluids.
Really, if the red marks all healed and my acne stayed at this level I'd be fine with it. The antibiotics weren't working that well anyway, and I haven't used them in 2 weeks, so I think this is basically what my skin will be like with zero treatment.
No antibiotics, no BP, no fancy cleanser stuff. I could just leave my skin and get on with my life.
Waterwater,
I think you're on to something. It doesn't make sense to strip your face of all the essential oils thus irritating the shyt out of it and then attempt to replace those oils with something foreign twice a day. Its not working for me right now. My face feels burned and is flaking like crazy. I'm also noticing some smile lines that weren't there before. I feel like my face is trying to tell me something.
I remember last year I broke my nose and I had to wear a splint on it for two weeks. I couldn't get the bandage wet so I wasn't allowed to wash my face for 2 weeks. I remember thinking oh great my face is gonna break out line crazy, f*ck my life. But then to my surprise the exact opposite happened. All of my acne went away within about 5 days. Crazy right?
This is why I think you're on to something. I'm switching to your routine just to see what happens. The only thing I'm putting on my face is some witch hazel every now and then.
Thanks for being such a renegade and pointing out that sometimes washing your face even once a day is too much for some people. We forget that everyone is different and what works for one person will irritate the crap out of another person. Conventional wisdom has us so brainwashed that we don't even pay attention to what our skin is trying to tell us.
Anyhow, just wanted to thank you for this post. It leads me to believe I am not crazy. Hope its going well for you.
-Stef
Hey so a little background on me.
I used to never ever wash my face. During my freshman year of high school, I started to get the occasional pimple, and started using acne wash and such, kind of randomly. I never stuck to a "wash twice per day regimen" because i didn't need to. Eventually, I started doing that, and the acne got worse. However, I understand that as a 14/15 year old, this is quite normal. So i went to the derm and got put on minocycline and benzaclin, and that seemed to clear it up pretty good at first. After awhile, it got worse. My acne got pretty terrible around the spring of that year, and at the beginning of the summer, I started to use the AcneFree Severe kit, which did a pretty good job of clearing me up. I felt confident again. I used it pretty much the whole summer and then quit using it once I had gotten almost completely clear, wanting to clear away the red marks I had from previous acne. My derm gave me Retin-A to do this. It was then however, that I started to develop redness in the face. After I ran out of RA, I went back to just using a face wash and BP. I kept clear(ish), but the redness wasn't going anywhere. That summer I went back on mino and the generic for Klaron lotion and used that all summer to avail. I stuck up with that for awhile, and then went with some OTC redness reducing stuff (aveeno) and that didn't seem to do anything either. I then went on Accutane for 5 months, and while that killed all acne I had (i was clear in the 3rd month), the redness was there even more. I didn't use too much after I got off of tane, just moisturizer and cetaphil, and then a couple months after I started using MetroGel, and then for a long while Finacea, along with products from the Eucerin Redness Relief line. I used Prosacea for a little while too this past semester. Nothing freaking got rid of it. During my senior year, I definitely would flush a lot which made me think it was Rosacea. The last 3 months or so, I've been on Doxycycline 50mg per day and doing the no wash regimen. I kept all the grime on for about 55 days or so, and finally had to get rid of it. There was so much dead skin that was a dark gray color on my face. It's a wonder nobody said anything! And just a couple days ago, I took the next round of dead skin off after around 32 days of it sitting there. I think there's been some improvement in my redness, but I'm not entirely sure. Flushing has basically disappeared which is a sign of improvement. I guess I was just expecting more noticeable results after 3 months almost, but I suppose it takes time. I definitely think that the redness has just been caused by over irritating it for almost five years now with topicals and such. I'm 19 years old now and in college, and I'd enjoy this time so much more without having to feel self conscious and ugly every day of my life.
Questions I have:
1. Is it possible that I'd see better results applying some oil to my face at night every few days? Such as jojoba, Vitamin E oil, or Tea Tree Oil? I ask this, because my face doesn't really produce oil anymore bc of Accutane.
2. Is it possible that maybe sunlight could HELP? I avoid the sun like the plague, but I've found that the two times I went on out of the country mission trips and spent tons of time working and sweating in the sun, my skin seemed to get a bit better?
3. Is it still a good idea to apply sun screen when doing stuff outside? I know people say that you don't need to because "the acid mantle is restored", but with my lack of oil production in the face, I'm not sure.
Hopefully someone can answer these!
Don't know if this was pointed out already, but could it be that the OP has bad water quality! Many in the US are plagued with water that is filled with Chlorine and Fluoride (via waste from the construction industry in the form of Strychnine) among other things that if applied to your skin, especially to the face repeatedly could be irritating the skin. Chlorine is very drying. They put tons of it in our water as an easy fix to get rid of biological contaminants.
Another thing a lot are plagued with is very hard or very soft water, meaning the PH of the water is somewhere in the 7.5 and above category (7.0 being neutral). This could be very drying or irritating.
I have to say another problem is that if I say have sensitive skin and I need to protect it from the sun, I have to apply sun block. Now the only supposedly safe form of sunblock is titanium dioxide unless your going to wear a full burka like hood over your head or live in a sunless land. So if I apply titanium dioxide to my face, I eventually have to wash it off.
Also I thought the whole idea of washing your face for the purpose of reducing acne was to help control the bacteria that cause acne in the first place? I know the point of washing our bodies is for this purpose.
I haven't been washing my face and it's actually clearing up a lot. It looks like it did in high school which is amazing to me. I stopped washing after using Max Clarity, it just ruined my complexion basically. It was so uneven & broken out that I finally gave up and wanted to let my face have a chance to heal itself without all the chemicals. At first I was trying to rinse with just water, but it dried my skin out and made my face red, so I stopped washing altogether. The first week I got a few pimples on my cheeks and chin, but they were gone within a few days. My skin is finally looking healthy again, it's got a glow to it, and my complexion is way more even than it had been. So, products or prescriptions may work for some, but I think my skin was begging me to stop torturing it lol. Also, I said that my skin looks like it did in high school - I didn't wash it then either, and it was flawless like it's getting back to now. Gotta love it!!