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So yesterday, I picked at my WHOLE entire face. Then several hours later, I had this horrible tight feeling for the rest of the evening. It's like my skin realized the protective layer was missing, and it starting healing it again, and making that new protective layer. I simply can NOT be picking at my face, no matter what flakes I see on it. So I made a sticky note on my phone with the next 7 days written down. And if I don't pick on that particular day, I get to put a check mark! 
so far, I haven't picked at my face today. But it's only 10 in the morning! I hope I can make it through the day. I'll try to keep myself busy and distracted.
Right now, my face doesn't feel dry or irritated at all. Because I'm leaving it alone! It's so hard to though...
I rinsed my face in water this morning. It was the first time I have done this. I'm thinking of continuing rinsing morning and night from now on. Would this be okay for my skin? It's winter here and Im a little afraid of dehydrating my skin, since I haven't been putting moisturizer on. Would the added rinse be bad for my face?
Update---
It's been two months not washing my face. Im getting one-three new pimples everyday for 3 weeks now. I'm hating this! D: !! I'm using tea tree oil sometimes but only for pimples that are still active. The first month everything was going well just maybe two small pimples once a week but they weren't that big and turned into white heads fast. i didn't use water on my face at all but i had alot of dead skin on my face. now they're huge and just nasty looking volcanos accumulated together on my cheeks. i also have a ton of blackheads on my nose.
new plan-
not wash my face but exfoliate with a warm wet washcloth every other day.
i also started washing my hair everyday four days ago because my hair gets oily too easily. i used to wash my hair everyday until i was about 14 but stopped when i read that it was bad to wash my hair everyday. so four years later i started washing my hair every other day or every three days... the point is that i really think that getting shampoo on my face is making me break out even more. it's soo damn hard to avoid shampoo or water on my face though lol. my hair is long and thick but gets greasy at the roots. i think ill buy some sort of hair cover to avoid my hair oils touching my face. i'll make an update for the people that have long hair.
@bobbi- thanks! It's working well for me. I've been putting on a little moisturizer on after I rinse. I'll see how this works. If I break out from the moisturizer, I'll stop using it. I want my face to do as much of its own work as possible!
@dor- how old are you? You may be still getting hormonal acne if you're a teenager. If that's true, it might not just go away from not washing your face. You might just have to live it out until your oil glands slow down their oil production. But if I were to give advice, I'd say- whatever you do, DON'T over wash, and DON'T use harsh products..ever! It will only make your body want to produce more oil. Also, don't pick at your pimples, that was the worst thing I've ever done. It leaves nasty scars that take forever to go away!
Update on my status, I am almost 100% pimple free. I can't believe it. This regimen was a miracle. I'm actually feeling like I can live life and not think about stupid things like my skin. I've got 3 pimples on my chin that are healing up nicely...and that's it! I love this! 
🙂
I haven't washed my face with any soaps since a little before the beginning of the year. the only product I've used on it is jojoba oil for moisturizer when my skin gets flaky. for a few weeks, my skin didn't really improve, and I had a lot of acne on my forehead, which was sort of abnormal for me. however now my entire face is clearing up a lot more, and my forehead is much less irritated. I have only a few active pimples, the rest of my "acne" is more like red spots that stay for a long time after the actual zit goes away. usually my acne flares up before or after my menstrual cycle, but it didn't this time, which was a pleasant surprise.
My skin used to be extremely uncomfortable (it would feel irritating to move my eyebrows up and down, as my forehead was really dehydrated). Not only was my skin extremely dry, but there was a thick layer of oil that accumulated on top of this dry skin, with clogged pores and painful bumps on my cheeks. My skin was never like this until I started washing it with harsh acidic cleansers, exfoliates, or benzoyl peroxide; I started this long journey of searching for useless products when I began using proactive for a couple pimples a month I'd get from stress... I should have just left my face alone. However, about a year ago I began thinking back on how my skin was in its best shape when I didn't wash it; in high school I had no acne, as I used to just bath once a week (and no, I wasn't the smelly kid in class - my body regulated itself just fine), while the kids who presumably showered twice daily seemed to be affected by acne. I would go out constantly shopping for new products, my bathroom and closet full of moisturizers, cleansers, masks, toners, etc. My father would remark upon how many products I'd have, calling me a "Product Puppy", and I'd tell him my skin used to be fine prior to falling into this pit of useless spending and irritation, then he'd remark "...why don't you just stop?", I would reply "I can't now, I'm stuck...".
Last september I finally decided to just go for it, witnessing the success of many on this board, and other forums online.I noticed the ones who had experienced "failure" with these methods where the ones who simply did not give it enough time, only trying this approach a maximum of 3 months or so. I noticed the ones who experienced success had stuck it out for at least several months. I began by using water only, but felt this left my skin feeling extremely dry as well, so after a week of this I ditched any cleansing of my face altogether.
I've been doing this for about 3 -4 months now, and for the first 2-3 months my skin was disgusting, there was many layers of dead skin on my forehead and nose (the oilier areas), a TON of clogged made my skin appear the texture of an orange peel (a very oily orange), I began experiencing acne on my forehead and temples beside my eyes, going through various purges throughout these months, but my skin felt a little more comfortable each month, with the oil secretion slowly lessening. At new years I decided to gently wipe away the collected dead skin with a soft wash cloth in the shower, just once, and began trying out extremely gentle moisturizers twice daily, simply dabbing/patting it on without rubbing it in. My skin is getting even better, and it feels a lot quicker now - I am not washing the moisturizer off, just applying it twice a day, and if you are extremely oily in the middle of the day, you can gently pat this excess oil off with a damp (not soaking) soft baby cloth (try to only do this once every few days, or not at all if possible), and try not to pop pimples as well (believe me, if people see a guy or girl with pimples, they really don't care). My skin has a fraction of oil as it once had on the surface, I hardly experience pimples, red marks fade quickly, and it feels a lot more comfortable to move my face around. If you're going to use moisturizer, use a gentle one like baby lotion, or if you want, you can sent me a message, and I'll try to give you some recommendations.
It takes time, several months or possibly even a year, be patient and it will be worth it in the long run : )
I haven't washed my face with any soaps since a little before the beginning of the year. the only product I've used on it is jojoba oil for moisturizer when my skin gets flaky. for a few weeks, my skin didn't really improve, and I had a lot of acne on my forehead, which was sort of abnormal for me. however now my entire face is clearing up a lot more, and my forehead is much less irritated. I have only a few active pimples, the rest of my "acne" is more like red spots that stay for a long time after the actual zit goes away. usually my acne flares up before or after my menstrual cycle, but it didn't this time, which was a pleasant surprise.
I'm doing a regimen similar to this and I've been breaking out on my forehead a lot more often too. I'm glad your skin is clearing up overall. That gives me even more faith in this regimen.
I'm doing a regimen similar to this and I've been breaking out on my forehead a lot more often too. I'm glad your skin is clearing up overall. That gives me even more faith in this regimen.
It's pretty interesting that the forehead thing is happening to you as well. It does get better, at least from my experience. I compared progress photos for today and a couple months ago, and the difference is incredible.
@shadow - i'm 18 going to turn 19 next month haha. i get new pimples everyday and they arent healing fast. hmmm, okay i think i'm going to put moisturizer on like awake did. i'm not over washing but i just stick my face in front of the shower head.. it dries out my face sooo bad lol. so relaxing though. it's amazing how my face isn't like the bp oil leak anymore. but it is causing my skin to break out more. i'll try not to use benzoyl peroxide urrg. how many months have you been doing this?? my skin looks really ugly but i have hope it'll get normal again. i've been doing this since the first of december, any advice ? anyone use tea tree oil??? should i keep using this to stop pimples and dry them out? i have jojoba oil but i'm scared shtless to put it on my face since it's all greasy. i only used it to moisturize my ears since they're stretched and it gave me horrible pimples on my earlobes
I'm doing a regimen similar to this and I've been breaking out on my forehead a lot more often too. I'm glad your skin is clearing up overall. That gives me even more faith in this regimen.
It's pretty interesting that the forehead thing is happening to you as well. It does get better, at least from my experience. I compared progress photos for today and a couple months ago, and the difference is incredible.
I think it might have been my conditioner that was breaking me out. I stopped using it and now I'm only getting a few whiteheads one my forehead. Which is still unusual but it's not as bad as it was.
Just an update, i stopped rinsing my face in the morning. I found that it was drying out my face and causing the red marks to be more noticeable. And I'd pick at them more too.
This morning I just woke up and did my makeup routine without using water. I did cheat a little and used a little alcohol free toner on some spots that looked a little oily. What I noticed, though, is that the toner did not strip the oil off my face, but I did see a little dirt on the cotton pad. So I might do that every morning and see how that works. I may not need to rinse my face twice daily until the humid summer months come.
Today I looked at myself from about a foot away from the mirror, and it looked like I had never had pimples at all! Of course, I know there are still red marks, but they are flat, and healing fast
Oh @dor: if you're only 18, it must be something in the products you were using that dried out your skin. 18 year old skin should be well moisturized and naturally healthy on its own! If I were you, I wouldn't use any topical acne products. Let your sebum/sweat combination do the job of clearing up spots. I found it worked faster than any topical I've ever used! It may feel a little oily at first, but you need to wait it out until your oil production slows down. Also, rinsing your face nightly should remove excess oil from the top layer of skin. Just don't rinse too often or you'll feel dry like I did.
It takes a long time, but it's worth it! I'm on day 30 and I'm still seeing an overproduction in oil in my t-zone, but WAY less than before.
You should still make sure your acne isn't due to hormones...
Do you guys use moisturizer? I'm always dry around my mouth and top of my forehead.
I gave in and used the cetaphil antibacterial bar soap for dry skin :/
It's seriously amazing how this little bar is working in just 3 hours...
My acne is more from my face having dead skin cells and going 2 months without washing it.
I'll use this soap every other day
I am sick and tired of all you people saying you are doing the water only regime, most of you are saying well I only use water, then I use honey, or oil, or moisturizer...come on people, stick with the program or make a new thread. NOTHING ELSE EXCEPT WATER.
I always secretly knew this was my problem, and this idea has been building in my head and eating away at me every time I apply my stupid epiduo every night. I mean honestly, who gets acne at age 20?? I never had acne before but one day I stupidly thought hey why not use my brothers old proactive, I'll get rid of these 2 little zits I have and my face will be great! I could have avoided these last 1.5 years of misery. I really, really want to start this as my face has been unusually oily (it was always normal) after starting epiduo in december. I just don't even know though cause really epiduo does work great (except for making my face oily). My mom has always told me though STOP putting stuff on your face, just let it be!! I'm really gonna bite the bullet and try to slowly ease up on the use of epiduo, abandon it completely, and then abandon water for awhile as well. The only problem is I have to get the courage to stop using stuff. And I'm sure I'll get breakouts along the way but really I'm just sick and tired of dealing with this as a 21 year old guy that is definitely supposed to be past acne.
I always secretly knew this was my problem, and this idea has been building in my head and eating away at me every time I apply my stupid epiduo every night. I mean honestly, who gets acne at age 20?? I never had acne before but one day I stupidly thought hey why not use my brothers old proactive, I'll get rid of these 2 little zits I have and my face will be great! I could have avoided these last 1.5 years of misery. I really, really want to start this as my face has been unusually oily (it was always normal) after starting epiduo in december. I just don't even know though cause really epiduo does work great (except for making my face oily). My mom has always told me though STOP putting stuff on your face, just let it be!! I'm really gonna bite the bullet and try to slowly ease up on the use of epiduo, abandon it completely, and then abandon water for awhile as well. The only problem is I have to get the courage to stop using stuff. And I'm sure I'll get breakouts along the way but really I'm just sick and tired of dealing with this as a 21 year old guy that is definitely supposed to be past acne.
I feel your pain. I'm 27 and I should be past having it but adult acne happens to people. We're just one of those unfortunate ones. I think your mom is right. Stop applying things on your face and let it take care of itself naturally. I've been using all sorts of acne stuff from proactive to Dan's Regimen ever since I had acne which was in my early 20s and I think that may have been my problem. That is just a temporary fix and will always come back unless you correct it internally. I stopped using Dan's Regimen late last year and have been using water to wash my face. I think it is working just as good or even better than using the medication as I'm seeing less breakouts.
I feel your pain. I'm 27 and I should be past having it but adult acne happens to people. We're just one of those unfortunate ones. I think your mom is right. Stop applying things on your face and let it take care of itself naturally. I've been using all sorts of acne stuff from proactive to Dan's Regimen ever since I had acne which was in my early 20s and I think that may have been my problem. That is just a temporary fix and will always come back unless you correct it internally. I stopped using Dan's Regimen late last year and have been using water to wash my face. I think it is working just as good or even better than using the medication as I'm seeing less breakouts.
So im curious as to how you have stopped Dan's regimen. Did you gradually go off it or just one day stop completely. I think the hardest thing for me to do is just stop and believe myself that I'll be okay. You have it in your mind for so long that these topicals are helping you, but in the long run I really don't think there good at all. Everyone wants the easy route. Even though just using water seems easy lol. idkkkk anymore
I feel your pain. I'm 27 and I should be past having it but adult acne happens to people. We're just one of those unfortunate ones. I think your mom is right. Stop applying things on your face and let it take care of itself naturally. I've been using all sorts of acne stuff from proactive to Dan's Regimen ever since I had acne which was in my early 20s and I think that may have been my problem. That is just a temporary fix and will always come back unless you correct it internally. I stopped using Dan's Regimen late last year and have been using water to wash my face. I think it is working just as good or even better than using the medication as I'm seeing less breakouts.
So im curious as to how you have stopped Dan's regimen. Did you gradually go off it or just one day stop completely. I think the hardest thing for me to do is just stop and believe myself that I'll be okay. You have it in your mind for so long that these topicals are helping you, but in the long run I really don't think there good at all. Everyone wants the easy route. Even though just using water seems easy lol. idkkkk anymore
I just stopped completely. I was out of BP once and forgot to make an order in advance so there was a period when I just didn't have anything. I used cleansers and moisturizer during the time but that didn't help so I decided to give just water a try. It's been about 2-3 weeks with just water. I definitely did think these topicals would help me and they did keep it under control somewhat but once I got off off of them, I broke out like crazy because of my dependence on them. That's how it was for me when I got off of Dan's regimen. There's no easy way out of this. One treatment may work for one person but not the other. That's the trouble with acne. As of right now I'm just watching what I eat, take supplements, wash only with water, and try not to masturbate (sounds off topic but I think it affects my acne).
I just stopped completely. I was out of BP once and forgot to make an order in advance so there was a period when I just didn't have anything. I used cleansers and moisturizer during the time but that didn't help so I decided to give just water a try. It's been about 2-3 weeks with just water. I definitely did think these topicals would help me and they did keep it under control somewhat but once I got off off of them, I broke out like crazy because of my dependence on them. That's how it was for me when I got off of Dan's regimen. There's no easy way out of this. One treatment may work for one person but not the other. That's the trouble with acne. As of right now I'm just watching what I eat, take supplements, wash only with water, and try not to masturbate (sounds off topic but I think it affects my acne).
Yeah I stopped the regimen in August when i went to the beach. Bad breakout in September and played around with different things until I got home from college for winter break and I went to the dermatologist. I'm thinking that since I'm just using an extremely small amount of epiduo once a day I hopefully won't get an extremely bad breakout when I stop. But, of course I've had my fair share of bad breakouts when stopping different things so it's not like its the end of the world for me. So how is the status of your acne right now? Getting better?
It's getting better. I'm breaking out less. I used to get pretty bad pustules, but have been getting less of those. It hasn't been that long but I'm noticing an improvement. I still have a lot of redness but it's fading a bit I think.
That's good. Today's the first day where I didn't wash my face at all in the morning, but at night I just get water on a paper towel and kind of dab it on my face. However, I'm still using a small amount of epiduo at night because spring break is coming up and I really don't wanna go back to my family and have them give me grief about it lol. But surely after spring break I will stop with the epiduo slowly.
Hi everyone. I'm trying to go full caveman right now, nothing touching my face at all, and I'm one and half days in. The oil build up is unbearable now - I can feel it sitting on my skin and it's really itchy. Can I blot it with toilet paper without worrying, or is that a no-no when doing this regimen? Here is a link to my log: http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/311563-not-another-caveman-log/
Yea I am infact doing the water only regimen, it makes my skin much better.
Have you ever even wondered why most people don't really even wash their face and they don't break out? Well it really isn't about bacterias or dirts, its all INTERNAL.
Just wash with water,as long as it's water it means it has low solution concentration meaning it won't dry your skin by osmosis.
Everything with solution always will dry out your skin by sucking the water from your cell. Its a natural law of diffusion.
Hi guys. I've been doing the full on caveman regimen for about a week now, and I was wondering if there are any dangers or risks to this regimen. Is it safe to not wash your face at all? I would keep doing the full on caveman regimen but I'm scared of developing a disease or something if I continue for too long. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Btw, the full caveman regimen is working well so far. Breakouts have reduced significantly, although not fully -- but the best part is that my skin tone is more even. My complexion has improved a lot, and this alone is the reason why I am liking this method so much. Just to be clear for all you specific guys .... im not letting anything touch my face except my pillow at night. Goodluck everyone
Hi guys. I've been doing the full on caveman regimen for about a week now, and I was wondering if there are any dangers or risks to this regimen. Is it safe to not wash your face at all? I would keep doing the full on caveman regimen but I'm scared of developing a disease or something if I continue for too long. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Btw, the full caveman regimen is working well so far. Breakouts have reduced significantly, although not fully -- but the best part is that my skin tone is more even. My complexion has improved a lot, and this alone is the reason why I am liking this method so much. Just to be clear for all you specific guys
.... im not letting anything touch my face except my pillow at night. Goodluck everyone
I can't imagine there being any dangers in normal circumstances in this regimen - in fact it should result in healthier skin as your acid mantle will be restored. The only thing I can think of is if you have any open lesions or cuts of any kind on your face and they come into contact with anything that may cause infection, you should still spot-treat with some antibiotic ointment, e.g. Neosporin, to prevent this happening. I would NOT class day-to-day grime from dirt or food as something that would cause infection, however.
Glad to hear its going well for you too!
Just an update: I am STILL getting small breakouts. Last night was horrible. I broke down and scrubbed my face with a washcloth and a gentle cleanser. I was crying...it was so horrible. I applied a good amount of moisturizer and went to bed. This morning, I woke up and my face was very smooth. I still have the breakouts, but I feel like I got rid of the dead skin, and that really helped. I think that's been my problem. I'll normally just rinse with water in the evening, and when it dries, my skin has some flakes on it. I think those flakes are clogging my pores and causing more pimples.
Now, last night was a bad thing. I shouldn't have scrubbed too hard, and I shouldn't have used cleanser. So tonight I'm gonna do it a different way. I'll gently use a wash cloth and rub it in circles on my face when its wet. I won't scrub, just rub it gently. Then, I'm going to apply moisturizer. I have been finding that my skin just dries out too much if I use no moisturizer.
I'll update tomorrow 