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haha nice... i dont get my skin... i mean i go and decide that i need to start cleaning it. so i use cetaphil (one of the most gentle cleansers out there) and what happens? my face gets super oily. prolly twice as bad as it was with just water. i just dont get why other people can use all kinds of stuff and their skin stays the same, but for me, if i use anything other than water, i get extremely oily and look like im sweating constantly. at first i was like, okay maybe this is just a reaction to a new product, but i dont think that is the case because with water, i would only get oily in the t zone. now with any cleanser, i get oil on every part of my face even my cheeks, temple areas. i mean i just dont get it. i guess i am gonna have to keep using water for a while. maybe the increased oiliness is a sign my skin is trying to send to me to stop putting stuff on it. so for now im gonna stick to water.... oh and i figured out a way to make the water only regimen better.. before i would use a wet cloth, but that would kind of irritate my face and make it red at first. and if it gets red right away then that definitely means that its irritated. so instead, i tried getting my hands wet, and just rubbing my face with my hands, and it is sooo much smoother. i felt barely any irritation. and if i did, it was so minimal that it doesn't matter. and with my hands i can get more of the dead skin off too. because with a cloth, i had to rub so soft to avoid irritation so i couldnt get that much buildup off. now with my hands, i feel like i can give it a little more pressure and get the buildup off. but i just dont get why my skin gets oily no matter what i use on it...
i would like to say good luck white rose.. this might be the last time i ever visit this site. i cant go on living life like this and keep obsessing over my face. i just am fed up with it. i want my skin to be better, but at the same time, im a teenager!, c'mon, skin problems are normal for a teenager. i am a late bloomer too. i havent used proactiv for almost a year. i wouldn't still be seeing the side effects of it now. my problem is simply just changing methods too much (mainly because i obsess about my skin, and after 2 days if results aren't drastic, i switch to something else), and that i am just a late bloomer with lots of hormones running through me creating for oily, sensitive, and acne prone skin sometimes. i am not gonna worry about this for years and years, and then get to be 25, and say "man, my skin is clear now, but im 25, i just wasted away the best years of my life." i wont let that happen, and for that reason i am going to stop visiting this site because the best way to stop obsessing about my skin is to stop researching info on the web (this site) and blocking out any mental thoughts about my skin. i still plan on using water only for a while. i feel like if i live the way i am, i will never be satisfied with my skin, because i am checking it every 5 minutes and i will always find something wrong with it and then change what i am doing. hopefully if i just use water morning and night , and dont obsess about my skin, and by that i mean checking on its condition every 5 minutes, then after a few months, i will hopefully have better skin. and if i dont then so be it. i am not gonna let this hold me back any longer. i mean i feel as though im not good looking anymore, but it just so happens that i have gotten more girls with "bad skin" than with "good skin" so more than likely, its not that bad, and i am just making it out to be way worse than it is. so i wish all of you good luck, and more than likely i will never be posting on this site again. have a good night all of you!! and dont let your skin problems ruin your whole life
Hey white rose how are you doin what day are you on? I've been doing water only and washing only when it gets really bad like yesterday I used cleanser on my nose only cause its where dead skin is the worst. Honestly even though dead skin is building up everywhere I've noticed it's not really visible except on my nose cause of the angle I think? Like my forehead, cheeks and chin even have dead skin but the oil makes it not as visible if that makes sense? But yeah good job johnwilliams even though it's much easier said than done.
I thought I would share my experience with this topic. I could write a novel about my experiences over the last two years, but I'll keep it short because I have a good amount of schoolwork to do. I've had acne since back in high school, now I'm 24. It was never too bad but about 2 years ago it started to get bad so I went to see a dermatologist. I've tried every overt the counter product, prescription topical, gel, antibiotic, cream, home remedy, proactive, you name it I've tried it. Nothing every worked and my face continued to get worse and worse, I'm talking about 40+ big puss filled bright red spots on my face. It made me severely depressed. Luckily, I have the most amazing girlfriend that was always very understanding and supportive and said she would love me no matter what I looked like, even If half my face was gone. The last resort for me was accutane, which I didn't want to do because of all the side effects. My face has gotten so bad to the point where it hurt me to smile and eat, this just made me more upset. My skin did not look normal. I finally came to terms that i didn't care how my skin looked, I just wanted to be able to not be in pain the whole day from irritated skin. Its so easy to say well just use less products and moisturize, but we are using products to begin with because we have acne, and we're afraid if we stop our faces will explode. Well two weeks ago I couldn't take it anymore, i just stopped using everything. The only time water touches my face is with my daily shower. Whatever happens, happens. I just want to not have painful skin anymore. My skin seems to be doing very well so far. Today is the first day where the dry patches of skin are starting to finally go away,two weeks later. My skin seems to be going through different phases like many others have mentioned on this thread. I'm going to stick with it no matter what since nothing else has worked, and hopefully my skin will heal nicely. Good luck to everyone else out there trying this!
Edit: I just read johnwilliams post, 2 posts back, and I agree with him. I have wasted years of my life not doing things and letting my skin get to me. I can't keep going on like this. My skin has consumed EVERY aspect of my life. I've tried every product out there, and it just makes things worse, and feeling sad about it is not going to help me. Here I am have massive amounts of homework to do and I can;t stop thinking about my face, running to the bathroom every few mins to check my face. I can't obsess over this any more. I think it would be best to not visits sites like this anymore. I understand that it seems helpful to get support from other people, but I feel like we're just feeling sorry for ourselves. From this moment on, I will not let my skin influence anything in my life. It is what it is, I've exhausted every remedy there is. I need to focus on school so I can get a good job, and get on with my life with the girl of my dreams. She accepts me for who I am, and has been by my side though this skin journey. I'm not trying to brag about my gf, but what I'm trying to say is that people will love you regardless of how you look, and If they don't then you don't need them in your life. Listen people,I've had acne as bad as anyone out there, people have came up to me and said "what happened to your face" etc and things like that. I just don't care anymore. I'm tired of being miserable. WE HAVE ONE LIFE, THAT IS ALL. Please people make the best of it. you don't want to look back like I am now at the past 6 years saying I wish I would have done this or that. Get out of the house, live your lives, stop staring at the mirror, stop avoiding your friends, stop picking your face, stop whatever your are doing that relates to your skin, don't think about it anymore. Having acne is like any other physical trait, being fat, big nose, ( i don't mean to offend anyone) or anything else like that. People with whatever insecurities still go on with their lives. Believe me,I can say all this because I've been through what everyone else here has been through. No matter what we look like we are all beautiful. Write that on a sign, put it in front of you mirror. Now I have to end my rant because I have to go to the bathroom. Please everyone, stop letting acne control you. I wish everyone the best of luck. Just be yourself, stop trying to impress other people, stop being sad. I've been depressed for the past month and a half, and I'm done with it <3 everyone!
Hi all
It's been almost 4 months since I found this thread and stopped using cleansers. I still get acne if I don't watch what and how much I eat. My over all skin tone got better, the only thing I added to my regimen is coconut oil. It is so good to remove makeup with it, I don't wear make up every day, so on days that I did and had to remove it with oil I noticed the next morning that my skin looked rested and had kind of a healthy glow to it. On the day when I just used water my face looked a bit irritated I have a super sensitive skin I guess, now I use coconut oil every day in the morning and in the evening as if I would use a cleanser. I put a generous amount of oil on my face before getting in the shower, massage gently and wash it off in the shower, then I sometimes wipe the access oil with a tissue. This way water practically never touches my face. I look so much better now, It helped a lot with the black heads, I hardly have any, and my pores got so much smaller. They say coconut oil is very good for you and has the same ph as skin oil and it smells so good 
)
Hello! I just found this thread because I was specifically looking for it.. last week I started not washing my face. When I take a shower in the morning, I avoid letting water touch my face, but it's not a disaster if it does. When I get out though, I do splash a tiny amount of water on my face to wash off my retin-a, because if I go in the sun with it, my face goes crazy! At night, I remove my makeup very very gently. I don't even care if I get all of it off. Every couple days when I wore more make-up though, I used blum natural face wipes. Then I applied retin-a 30 minutes later. My face was looking so much better... then I broke down and washed my face in the shower. I didn't even scrub, I just used my hands to wipe off dead skin. I did this for a couple days like a dummy... and now I'm back to square one! Ugh. I was doing so well... but I'm going to start again tonight... haha. I'll update you guys!
I just started doing this a couple of days ago --- and the results were immediate, drastic, and (dare I say..) miraculous!! My acne is healing way, way faster than with the "help" of cleansers and moisturizers, and my skin no longer is constantly burning, scratching, or tight-feeling! Even the widespread redness which initially had reign over my face for 7 years + has drastically decreased and is still going down! Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
This will always be something I want to try but I don't know if I can...I feel so weird just missing a morning of not washing. Plus, I tried to only wash at night time and I used Raw Manuka Honey and my aesthetician said my face had so many layers of dead skin that were just adding to the clogged pores and break outs. So, I don't know what to believe anymore.
It actually seems to be working mostly due to my new hormone therapy combo with not washing my face (no irritation, plus stopping acne at its source through BC). I highly, highly recommend hormone therapy as an acne CURE! I have never been so relieved, happy, freed from my chains! Acne no longer has its grip on my life! I used to have crazy full-face moderately-severe acne that never went away for 7 years.... that is almost all the way gone!! Once again, I just have to highly recommend this combination of treatments, as it definitely has resolved in a cure for my acne. 
Well it happens at this age..Even till the age of 21 years,I don't have any acne but now I have problem of acne although the can come anytime and without any treatment they are remove also..SO it's not that big deal,skin types changes after sometime and earlier you have dry skin that's why you don't have problem of acne but now it seems that you have oily skin so you have that problem..
Well it happens at this age..Even till the age of 21 years,I don't have any acne but now I have problem of acne although the can come anytime and without any treatment they are remove also..SO it's not that big deal,skin types changes after sometime and earlier you have dry skin that's why you don't have problem of acne but now it seems that you have oily skin so you have that problem..
Hello, I'm new here. Well I've been following this blog since the first of December and quit my acne routine for good. It's been four and a half days now and I'm doing very well.
I have been using over the counter bp acne kits since i was 14 and now I'm 18. Back then, I had moderate severe acne only on my forehead. Clean and clear and acnefree really helped my acne. the downside was that my skin was severely oily BUT free of acne at the same time. the thick oil was embarrassing and felt REALLY uncomfortable. i also began premature aging and i was really pissed of course.
so on June 26th I stopped the bp kits on and off because i switching back and forth to cheaper organic alternatives. i tried acv, evoo castil oil method, honey, trader joe cleansers and moisturizers, my own piss,blah blah blahdbsahjnfjsfds EVERYTHING. probably spent more than $400 these past 5 months. i believe these cleansers, toners, and moisturizers were actually the cause of my full faced acne. fjesfdksnjfkds
my friend was sick and tired of watching me buy all these BS things and said "well you know, we weren't put on this earth to use cleansers and harsh chemicals on our skin." .... *light bulb*
Hello everyone, I am on day 5 of this and my face is soooo red... I don't know what it's from. It itches so bad and has tiny red bumps but only on the bridge of my nose and skin around it, between my eyebrows, and most the the center part of my forehead... is this normal? My skin is not flaking at all.. just very red and irritated with hundreds of tiny red bumps that are not pimples. I just want to scratch my forehead so bad. It looks pretty weird too.. any help on this?
I'm thinking maybe it's my skin healing itself since those are the areas I usually put the benzoyl peroxide on.. but every day it seems to be getting worse.
Hi everyone,
I have been following this topic for a while, and I finally want to try it; no matter what "gentle" cleansers I use, they never seem to work. I keep getting mild or maybe moderate acne along my cheeks that leave post red marks.
BUT, my question is this: does this work for dry skin? It seems like most of you who posted have oily skin - and you had a surge in oil before it went to normal. But my skin tends to be very dry (although more oily along my nose and forehead), and whenever I have just used water in the past, my skin gets unbearably dry.
I want to stop using moisturizer though so that my skin can produce its own oil, but I do not know what to do in the interim. Any advice?
Thanks!!
I'm not sure if this would work with dry skin, sorry :C
I'm on day 11 and I still have several little acne bumps which sucks. My skin is much more toned and my acne is less inflamed and irritated. I tried putting tea tree oil all over my face but that made my skin oily and break out. I think I should keep sticking to using nothing. I have a lot of flakes and build up on my nose and forehead though. What do you all do about this?
Have you tried washing face with water only? It looks like some people are really sensitive to all kinds of cleansers. Some people even argue that we are sensitive to chlorine in water as well. I am going to buy a chlorine filter and experiment with water-only regimen.
Also, I read this article and someone had great success with washing with water only and using some kind of natural moisturizer such as olive oil or sesame oil. I am not sure if I would use oil on my face but it would be worth a try for me.
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When I remember how I started getting acne, it seems like the cleansers and the chemicals only made them worse.
Hi everyone, my name is Ashley, and I just wanted to post a little something here for those still interested in water-only or Caveman routines.
I stopped posting on these forums in the summer. I now only return to post update pictures in my gallery of my red marks and scars. I've been clear of acne since August or September, but I still get a few pimples here and there (these are just not acne-related, as they are not consistent or regular). Aside from the scarring, red marks, and minor flesh bumps on my forehead (due to my picking and scratching habit I've yet to fully break), my skin looks and feels fantastic.
I just wanted to let others know how I did it, and just let everyone know that it's a long, hard battle. You won't clear up right away. It took me a number of months of not using skincare products and doing water-only with a washcloth or Caveman to get my moderate to severe acne down to mild, and after that another 2-3 months for the acne to completely clear up. I didn't have skin I was really happy with until 4-5 months on water-only. And there are going to be unpleasant hurdles to deal with, like increased oiliness, redness, itchiness, clogged pores, flaking, dryness, dead skin, etc. So it's something you have to commit to for at least 2-3 months, and commit to it without making any changes whatsoever.
For water-only, I don't recommend going out of your way with it. Just take your shower like you normally do and that will be when you wash your face. You don't need a filter, you don't need to monitor the temperature unless you also do so for your body, and you don't need to time how long you submerge your face in water. Just stop thinking about it. Keeping your mind off of it and not stressing over it will make a huge difference. Just live your life as though acne is not an issue, and things will hopefully fall into place if such a routine works for you.
Anyways, if you want to know more about my water-only routine, I have a closed log with a bunch of Q&A on the very first post, so that might help answer some of the questions asked lately. I've been water-only for my whole body as well, and my hair, and it's worked wonderfully. My body was (and still is a bit) dry when I started, got really dry for a good 6 months, and then looked just fine. It gets a bit flaky on my legs, but other than that my skin looks and feels pretty normal. I also have a gallery which you can check out to see my red mark progression, which starts about 2 months after my acne had gone back down to mild and some of the redness had started fading.
Log: http://www.acne.org/...61#entry3113261
Gallery: http://www.acne.org/...s-and-scarring/
Blog: http://www.acne.org/...red-up-my-acne/
The best of luck to all those who undergo water-only or Caveman, although I do suggest water-only over Caveman. I really hope everyone will be able to find their "cure," as well as having a great Christmas this year. I will not be replying to this, so if you have something urgent to ask me you can try PMing me, but I don't check PMs unless I am uploading pictures.
Hi everyone, my name is Ashley, and I just wanted to post a little something here for those still interested in water-only or Caveman routines.
I stopped posting on these forums in the summer. I now only return to post update pictures in my gallery of my red marks and scars. I've been clear of acne since August or September, but I still get a few pimples here and there (these are just not acne-related, as they are not consistent or regular). Aside from the scarring, red marks, and minor flesh bumps on my forehead (due to my picking and scratching habit I've yet to fully break), my skin looks and feels fantastic.
I just wanted to let others know how I did it, and just let everyone know that it's a long, hard battle. You won't clear up right away. It took me a number of months of not using skincare products and doing water-only with a washcloth or Caveman to get my moderate to severe acne down to mild, and after that another 2-3 months for the acne to completely clear up. I didn't have skin I was really happy with until 4-5 months on water-only. And there are going to be unpleasant hurdles to deal with, like increased oiliness, redness, itchiness, clogged pores, flaking, dryness, dead skin, etc. So it's something you have to commit to for at least 2-3 months, and commit to it without making any changes whatsoever.
For water-only, I don't recommend going out of your way with it. Just take your shower like you normally do and that will be when you wash your face. You don't need a filter, you don't need to monitor the temperature unless you also do so for your body, and you don't need to time how long you submerge your face in water. Just stop thinking about it. Keeping your mind off of it and not stressing over it will make a huge difference. Just live your life as though acne is not an issue, and things will hopefully fall into place if such a routine works for you.
Anyways, if you want to know more about my water-only routine, I have a closed log with a bunch of Q&A on the very first post, so that might help answer some of the questions asked lately. I've been water-only for my whole body as well, and my hair, and it's worked wonderfully. My body was (and still is a bit) dry when I started, got really dry for a good 6 months, and then looked just fine. It gets a bit flaky on my legs, but other than that my skin looks and feels pretty normal. I also have a gallery which you can check out to see my red mark progression, which starts about 2 months after my acne had gone back down to mild and some of the redness had started fading.
Log: http://www.acne.org/...61#entry3113261
Gallery: http://www.acne.org/...s-and-scarring/
Blog: http://www.acne.org/...red-up-my-acne/
The best of luck to all those who undergo water-only or Caveman, although I do suggest water-only over Caveman. I really hope everyone will be able to find their "cure," as well as having a great Christmas this year. I will not be replying to this, so if you have something urgent to ask me you can try PMing me, but I don't check PMs unless I am uploading pictures.
Awesome success story, GREAT JOB, keep up the good work. I do water-only method (I don't really care for calling it "caveman"), but I only splash my face with cold water, never use products on my skin and I am completely clear. Not to mention I have also quit masturbation and eat a non-gluten diet, as I am allergic to it. I use cold water to splash my face morning, night and whenever really, I never use a towel to dry my skin, I just let the water air dry.
I remembered my friend mentioning how she doesn't wash her face, contributing to the fact that she doesn't have acne. last night I looked it up and found this awesome thread. I have been using all natural things for a while. I used African black soap to wash my face in the morning and at night, and jojoba oil as a moisturizer. but now thinking about it, not washing my face at all makes way more sense.
last night I didn't wash my face and only used a couple drops of jojoba oil (I am going to do that indefinitely). this morning I woke to find that my face is significantly better, less inflamed, calmer-looking. better complexion. I have moderate acne, at least. I'm a 16 year old female and I've had acne for 3-4 years. tried everything, except nothing. and nothing works! as in, doing nothing.
I am trying this, I believe it's been a little over 3 months since I've begun.
My cheeks have perfected themselves, however the area just under my eyes beside my nose is still a little oily and pink looking, with a rough texture along with occasional pimples.
My nose is rather clogged up with hardened sebum plugs that stick out a bit (I can only feel them, not see them), along with an oily shine to it. The pores on my nose however have shrunk a little.
The sides of my head (the temple regions) don't appear oily, but contain a handful of bumps on either side.
The center of my forehead is my problem area, for it appears to be covered in grease, rough texture, and what appears to be a layer of dead yellow skin with plenty of hardened sebum plugs. If I have a restless sleep, and this skin rubs off - underneath looks raw and shiny. I may try to practice sleeping on my back.
I am at least thankful for the state of my cheeks since I began, my nose is pimple free, but still oily while plugged with sebum, and I know my forehead will eventually clear up of grease and texture, along with an uncomfortably dry feeling when I move it up/down with my eyebrows (which has improved a little since I've begun).
I am but only three months into this; from what I've read it could take as little as three months to show signs of hope, and as long as a year to perfect.
