This regimen isn't working for me :/ it's too bad, because I really wish I could just do nothing to my face and it be beautiful. Maybe once my acne heals up, I'll be able to do it. I'm going to start washing my face again and moisturizing starting tonight. I've noticed parts of my face that have always been smooth are now getting little bumps and flaky skin. The nice thing about the whole regimen is that my big cysts did go away. I think that's because I was being too harsh about cleansing and scrubbing my skin, and the lower layers of my skin were damaged. But I think if I go light on the cleansing, perhaps once every night, and just rinse with water in the morning, I should have good results.

One thing this regimen did teach me: less is more! I am going to stick with that lesson as I start washing daily again. I'll update after a week or so good luck to you all!

from past experience, this was a regret. I went one month without using anything but water to wash my face. The results = colorless bumps all over the face, red inflamed pimples on cheeks, and a crazy break out. Good luck!

 

from past experience, this was a regret. I went one month without using anything but water to wash my face. The results = colorless bumps all over the face, red inflamed pimples on cheeks, and a crazy break out. Good luck!

 

 

The same things happen to me. so what do you do to get rid of these bump.

 

@shadow

How is your face now?

I hv these colourless bump everywhere on my face. I dnt know what to do anymore. I afraid if i put something on my face, im gonna breakout even more.

Hi infinitestar, my skin is doing much better now that I started washing it again. This regimen just wasn't working for me. My main problem was that I was getting a lot of dead skin, and I'd pick at it, and cause more irritation, and more acne. I think the reason I've had acne all along is because I pick at my skin. It's the worst habit ever! Even this morning, I told myself I wouldn't pick at my skin, and lo and behold, I was picking at it again this morning! D:

My acne isn't that bad, I have a few obvious pimples on my chin, but I have more of a problem with uneven skin tone.

Anyways, I have been washing with a VERY gentle cleanser and moisturizing at night. In the morning, I apply a little sunscreen, but that's it.

Good luck with your progress, and let us know how things are going!

Sheesh not waashing face for over a month? Why not stop changing clothes for a month while ur at it?

Nothing wrong with going all natural, putting Healthy products that help your skin rejuvenate is a PLUS.

Skin is a powerful thing, our bodies, our minds.. Just avoid chemical products and you're fine

Actually i nvr wash my face with any cleansers just a hot water in shower and i hv flawless face. But i started washing with acne product last december, because i was too greedy, i took granted for the face i had. I started to hv 4-5 pimple on my right cheek (I nvr had so many pimple at one time. Usually just 1 at a time and i let them heal by themself) so i stop washing with acne product. I search the web for natural remedies. And found honey and oat good to get rid of pimple. So i try that. The pimple go away but small bump start to appear. I blame the honey for it. I dnt actually know the real causes. I search web again for mild cleanser. And i found catephil. I used it for a while but the bump didnt go away, infact it gettin worst, my left cheek hv the bump as well. When i found this thread. I stop washing with cetaphil but i still wash with cold water. I hv dead skin but only a small patch on right cheek. The rest of my face just bump with white stuff hanging from them. Some of the bump turned into whitehead, i didnt pick at it, i just let them alone, they gone within days but left a red mark. I nvr had experience with acne. It been 3 month. Every morning i wake up, the first thing on my mind is my face. Sometime i just want to cry just thinking about this.

I am considering to meet a dermotologist but i'm afraid they give something that just make my face even wrost beside i dont want my face to depend on any product.

Any advise what should i do?

Infinitestar, how old are you? It could just be that you're going through a new hormonal stage, and that's what's causing the pimples. Your best bet is to leave them alone as much as possible. Too many people out there get stuck on a medication for their acne because their skin learns to rely on it.

If i were you, I would try one last time to go back to doing nothing but rinsing with warm water like you used to do. If after a week you are still getting those bumps, then maybe start trying a VERY gentle cleanser and moisturizer. Don't pick at your skin, it's the worst thing I've ever done. I find that my pimples go away fastest on their own, when I don't touch them or apply any medication.

Moisturizer is definitely important if you start cleansing. After you cleanse, gently pat your face with a towel and use your moisturizer immediately. That way it can lock in the moisture from when you were washing your face.

Let me know how things are going!

Just an update for me: my skin seems to like the cleanser and moisturizer I'm using. I'm just trying so hard not to over wash, over moisturize, over anything! That was my main problem in the first place. I still have some nasty red marks, but I find if I leave them alone throughout the day, the redness seems to go down significantly by the end of the day!

I did so well not picking at my skin yesterday. Let's see if I have that kind of will power today!

This is what I've been doing for the past six months. (Skin's never looked better)

Wash your face once a day at most. Here's how:

1. No "cleanser". No washcloths. Just warm water and your fingertips. Rub -lightly- in small circles until no more dead skin comes off. (may take about ten minutes for the dead skin to start to lift)

2. Moisturize with pure glycerin, diluted with water.

Done! Simple, cheap, and so effective!

@shadow. I think i past the hormonal stage way back, i'm 19 this yrs. Thank you for ur advise. I really appreciate it u spend some time to give me advise. I'm going to do what i usually do in the past for a month. Let see how things gonna turn out. There are no change in my face. It still the same.

I think it is because of the acne product. Before the acne product I've been using a cleanser (not for acne) But i nvr stick to it, I wash with the non acne cleanser for few days then go back to washing with only water and my face is fine. But with this acne cleanser i use it for about a month. And pimple start to appeared. And I never had dead skin on my face when i wash with water only in the past. But why the dead skin is there now with water only.

Good to hear u doing great. Hopefully things are working out for you. Try not to pick for few days, things are gonna be easy from there, because u gonna get used to it. Good luck

@tritonxiv

May i know what was ur face condition before u start the method ur suggesting and after u doing the method? Sorry, if it a lot to ask.

Infinitestar: I think it's really interesting that you say your skin only started acting up after you used the acne product. It makes you wonder what scary things are in those products! But yeah, I'd try either no cleanser at all, or just a very gentle cleanser (and moisturizer!)

What might be happening is that now that you have all that dead skin, it's clogging with the oils on your face, and causing new pimples, which in turn shed more dead skin cells, and it's a never ending cycle. When I cleanse, I do make sure there is no obvious dead skin on my face afterwards by gently rubbing with a wash cloth wherever I see it. If I rub too hard, it irritates my skin, so I have to be careful! But maybe you could try that out a bit, since you're saying dead skin is a problem. But always moisturize after you do this!

An update for me: it seems to be taking FOREVER, but I think my new regimen is working. I keep imagining things though, and think I am seeing new pimples, but I don't think I have any new ones. The old ones just take so long to go away D: I've only been washing and moisturizing for a little over a week, so I think I need to give it more time.

Also, I need to tell myself literally every 10 minutes NOT TO PICK! I'm so bad at this :/ but yesterday I did well wish me luck for today!

@tritonxiv

May i know what was ur face condition before u start the method ur suggesting and after u doing the method? Sorry, if it a lot to ask.

 

My skin was acne free so sorry for not clarifying that beforehand. However my skin's texture was awful.

Hyperpigmentation, shiny rough patches, wrinkles, peeling skin, itchiness, Rudolph nose, etc. I got fed up with this terrible skin and decided to stop everything! I was going to do the no touch method just like the original poster here, but quickly realized I needed some sort of exfoliation! So I decided to do the most gentle and natural thing possible! Water and my own hands!

After not washing my face for a couple weeks and hopping in the shower, I felt the skin just gently flake away as I ran my fingers along the surface! So I just continued to do that, rubbing very lightly in small circles until I couldn't -feel- any more loose skin!

That's the secret to beautiful, un irritated skin! If you can't feel anything come off easily after the first ten minutes, it's not ready to come off! Don't look in the mirror, see a flake and try to scrub it off! That leads to the redness, irritation, itchiness, etc! Don't use products!!!! The chemicals can only lead to more irritation / dryness!

This takes a few weeks and yes, your skin won't look great until you allow it to "normalize" itself. But the skin is an amazing organ that will repair itself when given enough time and left alone.

Second piece of the puzzle is moisturization. My moisturizer has only two ingredients! Glycerin and water! (glycerin is the "active" ingredient in many moisturizers)

This stuff is three bucks at wal mart for a huge bottle, which will last you around a year or more. It's the best I've used in terms of price / performance ratio.

Good luck

@shadow

Why dont u try water and moisturising only. Someone post a link here, saying that she/he used water only to wash her/ his face and use sesame seed oil for moisturising. It been 2 yrs he/she doing that and her/his face is clear. I dont if it gonna work, everyone hv different skin. Some might work for other, some not. I dont know if u hv done this but I gonna try this if water-only method didnt work. And i'm gonna try urs and tritonxiv method too, i mean rubbing the deadskin off method. See which are best for me (after a month of course)

Good luck with the no picking. It all about the will power.

And thanks, u've been really helpful.

@tritonxiv. I'm gonna try urs method after a month. Thank you for sharing. im glad u found method that work for u.

How is ur face condition now?

Right now, my face hv 2 whitehead. The rest of my skin are just bumps and white stuff on my facial hair. Gross? I know

Infinitestar: be careful when you rub the dead skin off...I noticed if I rubbed too hard, I irritated my skin and caused more pimples. But I do think if you see any obvious flaky skin, you should gently get rid of it. Just be REALLY GENTLE! and also, make sure you aren't forgetting to moisturize!

The nice thing is, as my skin is healing (which I think it is!) I have seen less and less dead skin, and less need to rub anything off, which means less irritation, and less pimples!

I think the key to healthy skin is to be as gentle with it as possible, and also to leave it alone as much as possible. I've been doing so well not picking at my skin the last several days! I have no new pimples, at least that I can see. I actually felt totally comfortable going out this morning, and I barely thought about my skin at all I'm also looking in the mirror less and less, which I think has helped me not to touch my skin so much. I hope I continue to see good results!

I dont know whether there's improvement or not. Sometime it seem like it gettin better and sometime there's no change.  Im constantly lookin my face in the mirror, that i barely noticed the changes on my face (if there's any)  I need to get rid of that habit soon. Its so hard, i tend to get drawn to every mirror i found. What make it more difficult that, i usually spend most of my time in the car and mirror are everywhere. I'm feeling very self conscious everytime someone look at me because of the dead skin, that's why i keep thinking about my face every seconds. I'm gonna update if there's a major change in my face that i notice.

@shadow. Thank you so much. U dont know how thankful i am for you giving me advise like this. I feel so alone going through all of this, all of my sibling hv flawless face, i'm embarrassed to talk about my face to them. This is the first time i ever talk to someone about my face. lol.

I glad it working out for u keep updating progress.

Okay see: you are in the same boat as I was a couple weeks ago. I could not keep my face out of the mirror. I would look at it 100 times a day. I even had a magnified mirror so I could see myself up close..WAY closer than anyone ever sees me! Well, I got rid of that mirror. I hid it farrrrr away xD

My problem was worse than just looking.. I was TOUCHING and PICKING at my face. I would touch it everytime I looked at it, and pick the pimples and the dead skin. But as I've now discovered, that's what was causing so many pimples! If you read a little about what your skin is made up of, and how it works, you would understand that your fingertip is like a HUGE giant coming along and tearing up your delicate skin, and basically pushing bacteria and dead skin deeper under the surface, which in turn will of course cause more acne. Whatever you do, DONT PICK! if you don't have that problem, then you are in good shape.

Now, I really do think you need to get rid of the dead skin thats sitting on your face. That's why I went back to a gentle cleanser. The dead skin would just flake on my face and was causing more pimples as it clogged my pores.

Are you using any moisturizer? You may need to try using a moisturizer at night for a while as you wait for your skin to clear up.

What I'm planning to do is keep washing and moisturizing at night until my skin is clear. I think once it's clear, I may have an easier time going back to doing nothing to it. Maybe you should try this too

Good luck infinitestar! As an update, my skin feels better than ever. I have one active pimple on my cheek, and the rest are healing up nicely!

, think its been about 2 months now. I dont have a shower, but when I go to my parents and use their shower I definitely think its better than washing at the sink like I do everyday for some reason?

I get the odd pimple, nothing major, no whiteheads or anything like that. Usually just red for a day or 2 then goes. When I look at myself close up I still have tiny little bumps on my forehead, theyre just annoying because i dont get them anywhere else. The redness of my face has calmed down a bit.

Sometimes I think about going back to using a soap or a cleanser, but im scared of picking the wrong one and making it worse. Id love to know what most of my mates use, but obviously its a bit embarrassing asking. A couple of my mates told me though that they only use water and theyre skin is fine.

Can I just ask a question to those that do the "water only" and that it has worked for.

Im at about the 2 month stage, did your face keep improving? I just feel like this is as good as its gonna get.

Do you just use luke warm water? I use hot water and my face is still pretty red

Can I just ask a question to those that do the "water only" and that it has worked for.

 

Im at about the 2 month stage, did your face keep improving? I just feel like this is as good as its gonna get.

 

Do you just use luke warm water? I use hot water and my face is still pretty red

 

You probably shouldn't use any water at all (especially not hot water).

If your face is really dry/oily, red, and irritated - I would especially not use water. You might want to find a good moisturizure and simply dab it on across your face (no rubbing it in), and do this twice a day. It's hard finding a moisturizure that doesn't pile up if you don't wash it off, but avoid petroleum products.

I was told by a thread in the rosacea community to simply not wash at all, and apply moisturizure twice daily (not rubbing it in, but patting it on), while apparently this gentle approach of either not washing, or not washing and applying moisturizure, or for some just washing with water only (splashing your face, and not rubbing your face), can be the key to solving your acne, oily skin, irritated skin, etc. for good.

However, this might take 6 months up to a year to show major improvements. It take's time, but it worth it in the long run. The people who say it hasn't worked for them, from what I've seen, have only given this 1-3 months or so.

Hi everyone, i write this to share my experience with this regimen. Maybe it will be helpfull for someone.

A State of my face skin before the regimen.

I didn't have acne and any pimples but despite that fact my face was really bad.

The problems with my face were: really red skin, especially nose and chicks (areas between my eyes and nose - are they inner chicks?? i do not know i am a Pole and my english is average). Another problem was that my skin for most of the time was hot. I hated this feeling. My face didn't use to be calm. I always felt my skin. In addition i think that my face was both dry and oily (not moisturated). Because of this oil on my face i thought that i had to wash it very often. I used to wash it twice a day (morning and evening). I did not use cleansers because it would be suicide for my skin. I used water every morning and evening. Unfortunately water was too harsh for my skin.

Some day when i woke up and went to the bathroom i looked into mirror and saw my destroyed face (oily, dry, red, wide pores, hot) i did not what to do. I knew that whatever i decide to do it would be bad for my skin. It was a moment when i decided to not to wash my face. I didn't have to go to my Univerity for a few days so i was a little lucky. The same day i started looking for infos on the Google about people who do not wash their faces and i found that thread. I was really surprised that there are so many people trying no wash thing or water only

For first three days my face was VERY oily. After day number 3-4 i started seeing that the colour of my face is more natural. It stopped being red. In addition my face calmed down very much. I stopped feeling my face. After 5-6 days my face became softer and moisturized. It stopped being oily and dry after 6 days. After 10 days I really felt that my face is much healthier. Not oily, not dry, not irritated, not red, no pimples (but as i said it was not my problem), no wide pores. It looked its best since about 5 years. Now i am 25yo.

After 10 days i decided to remove dirt which was not very visible and dead skin (there were not much dead skin). The only problem was how to remove that all from my skin without using any cleansers, soups etc. I did not want to irritate my skin again. I tried a few ways of cleaning my face. The best of them is to just splash your face with water (cool water). Let it air dry, and when there is not any water on your face left, then i remove all mask of dirt and dead skin with my fingernails. It is a little tiring becouse it takes much time (sometimes 20 min to remove that all). It is impotant to do that really slowly and gently.

Using your fingernails is much better than for example towel to rub the dead skin and dirt or cleansers.

So now my regimen is to splash my face with water when taking shower. Let your skin face air dry. Use your fingernails to remove VERY gently the dead skin and dirt. When i do that i leave my face alone for 4-5 days. After 4-5 days i wash again. Now my skin is calm, only a little oily but it looks naturally. It is not dry and red. Pores looks small. Colour is naturall on my whole face.

I think that everyone who give it a shot must leave own face alone for 10-14 days (no water or anything). After that time wash every 3-5 days.

Sorry for so long post but it was a big experience and lots of to share. I hope i helped a little. Good luck for everyone.

On 3/26/2012 at 8:08 AM, Infinitestar said:

On 11/27/2011 at 9:19 AM, ohhhhhhnooooooo said:

from past experience, this was a regret. I went one month without using anything but water to wash my face. The results = colorless bumps all over the face, red inflamed pimples on cheeks, and a crazy break out. Good luck!

On 11/27/2011 at 9:19 AM, ohhhhhhnooooooo said:

from past experience, this was a regret. I went one month without using anything but water to wash my face. The results = colorless bumps all over the face, red inflamed pimples on cheeks, and a crazy break out. Good luck!

The same things happen to me. [Edited link out] so what do you do to get rid of these bump.

It's been almost 8 months since I've done this. What really helped me get rid of the bumps was benzoyl peroxide and an exfoliant. I had bumps like crazy but now the bumps are 80 percent gone! Hope this helps.

I would like to share my experience.

I've had SEVERE acne for at least 5 years (am now 19). Cystic acne, pustules, whiteheads all over my face. My entire face skin was bright red, even where there weren't active pimples. Five months ago, I came to be convinced that all of that was caused by excessive use of harsh commercial skin products that fucked up the skin. The products completely damaged my skin (causing the general redness) and rendered it completely vulnerable to acne. Upon realizing this, I immediately started the no wash/water only regimen.

Now the question is, has it worked? 5 months seems like it should have been long enough of a time period for the skin to have healed itself completely. Not so. I guess the extent of the skin damage must have been extreme, since I still have massive amount of clogging/dead skin build-up in my nose, flakes all over, and general redness. Despite this, I must say that there has been some improvements. 1. the number of active acne pimples has decreased noticeably. 2. before, my ENTIRE face was red (except an oval area surrounding each eye) - now I'm starting to see some white areas (read: healthy). At the very least, it not any worse than when I was using skin products.

I had read somewhere that it takes the skin 6 months to completely replace itself with new cells, suggesting that perhaps that would be the maximum time required for the skin to repair itself when left alone. Either that number is wrong or the mechanism for repair is not so simple. Maybe I've just been doing something wrong. Whatever it may be, I will nonetheless continue to stick to only water and see where it takes me, even if the progress continues to be as slow as it has been so far.

I want to fully 100% commit to doing this, but can someone who's had success answer me one question...I work full time (40 hrs/week) in an environment where I am constantly face-to-face with ppl...How did you go about doing this while avoiding people in work? (If you dont work full-time, then @ school, social activities, etc)

I've read this ENTIRE thread and it seems like around day 4-5, most ppl start to have socially-acceptable skin/faces (close to NO oily skin, great complexion, etc)... seems like the only solution is to get off of work for atleast 1 full week (5 business days)?

My main concern is the oilness that will be induced starting day 1-3.

I want to fully 100% commit to doing this, but can someone who's had success answer me one question...I work full time (40 hrs/week) in an environment where I am constantly face-to-face with ppl...How did you go about doing this while avoiding people in work? (If you dont work full-time, then @ school, social activities, etc)

 

I've read this ENTIRE thread and it seems like around day 4-5, most ppl start to have socially-acceptable skin/faces (close to NO oily skin, great complexion, etc)... seems like the only solution is to get off of work for atleast 1 full week (5 business days)?

 

My main concern is the oilness that will be induced starting day 1-3.

 

Well I am on day 24 of this regimen (though I would be on day 43 if I hadn't caved & washed my face 18 days into it) & so far it has been anything BUT successful. I'm still continuing with it because I am sort of secluded from the world with my current job. So really, there will not be a better time for me to test it out.

You're concerned about having an oily face. Well my face is definitely oily, but it's not super slick & shiny. It's more like a matte gloss - I suppose this is due to the dead skin sort of abosorbing it. But I can attest that my eyes have burned on several occasions (it feels as if you are in the middle of chopping onions & then you rub your eyes with the pieces you chopped - seriously) apparently due to the excess sebum being produced. This past week my lips have become quite greasy as well.

I have had mild to occasionally moderate acne off & on for, 12 years maybe? And while on this regimen my acne became severe to occasionally moderate. I am kind of amazed that most people have seen improvements within a few days because my experience has been the complete opposite. My skin has never looked worse. There are moments where it I think it's looking better & then several hours later I am back to being horrified.

My last job was in a fancy shmancy wine bar & I dealt with dozens upon dozens of patrons every shift, so I completely understand your concern. Honestly, if I still had that job there is no way that I would be trying this regimen. It's just too unpredictable & I couldn't risk the negative effect it may have had on my wages. If you did get a week off, then go for it. You could use those 7 days to gauge how you think your skin would continue reacting beyond that. Or maybe even just try it over the weekend.

And just to be clear, I'm on the no wash/no water/no nothin' regimen.

Wow, you're probably one of the only ones (atleast that have admitted) that this regimen isn't all its cracked up to be. However, it seems like the general consensus i've gotten from all these treatments is that not every treatment will work for everybody until you've tried and test it on yourself.

Have you followed this strictly? I feel like most of the ppl who've had success with this come from a background of using chemical after chemical to treat their acne, hence why this caveman routine brought them from going from one extreme (with chemicals) to another (strictly NOTHING, just water) and why they have so much success (from extreme treatment change).

I'm actually on my own custom natural/semi-organic regimen (thankfully this has worked to yield me only mild acne):

[morn-wash with mild cleanser & tone mid-stream urine/afternoon (b4 work or social outings) wash-aloe vera gel from natural leaf/ night- wash again with cleanser/spot treatment with organic AppleCiderVin/spot treat 2- raw honey on breakouts (leave overnight)]...

but would love to try this caveman routine out. Not sure if it will wwork though now thinking about how it seems perhaps only chemical treatment users benefit greatly.

It seems like im washing too much but my face produces oil even like 10 min after I wash it, so i feel like i have to! (which is why im desperate to try something new). I used up alot of my vacation days though, so I wont be doing this til I accumulate more; prob not til June [Edited link out]

Well I've pretty much always had oily skin, though it has waned quite a bit over the years. I don't let it bother me cause I like to think that my face won't age as quickly as others, lol.

It does kind of sound like you're washing too much & that could very well be why your face is producing so much oil. It's sort of the same thing that happens when you wash your hair too often, right? You should probably try weaning yourself off from washing 3x a day, to give your skin a chance to balance itself better. You should also try leaving on a moisturizer. Now that I think of it... I started using moisturizer around 16/17 & my skin was definitely not as oily at the end of high school, as it was in the beginning. So, try that out. Maybe start with just using it at night if you're uncomfortable with having it on during the day.

I have been as strict as possible while on this. I wash my hair every couple days & maybe one drop of water will escape & slide down my forehead - about the same size as a tear drop. Though the top of my neck & bottom of my chin have gotten misted several times from the spray bouncing off my shoulders, etc. I find it always goes better if I'm not really thinking about it.

During my first attempt at this I had 2 really good gym workouts where sweat was consistently dripping off my face & I had to lightly dab it with a towel or my shirt. Other than that I never touched it. Also during that first round my main issue was how blotchy my skin became. I did also get plenty of whiteheads & pimples, but my skintone was disgusting. The morning of the 11th day I looked into a mirror & saw a zombie looking back at me. I seriously, no joke, scared myself.

The main issue in this current attempt is the number of breakouts I've had. Pimples have been running rampant across my entire face & most of my hairline. I never had acne on my cheeks before, but they have now left a good sized trail on those areas. And everything just seems really red.

I definitely spent many years using chemical products from Proactiv & Murad to Neutrogena type stuff. I almost always used something with Salicylic Acid to wash & then maybe another acne product to leave on or I just used Oil of Olay Moisturizer. But my acne was usually mild so it wasn't something I really worried about, therefore I never stuck to one set of products, nor did I ALWAYS wash my face twice a day, etc.

A couple years ago I went vegan (for environmental reasons) & maybe 5 months into it my skin improved drastically (to my surprise). There were 3 occasions at work where a patron would be in the middle of ordering their food & then stop, move closer to my face, & say "You're skin is amazing! Did you see her skin? Isn't it incredible!" No joke. And there were almost a dozen more incidences like that in random places around town. I couldn't believe my luck, haha! Anyways.... I can't completely attribute the change to my diet. I also had a very active lifestyle which I know helped greatly.

But my skincare routine at that time was... morning -- wash with Neutrogena (it was greenish, w/ gentle exfoliating beads or whatever) & then Oil of Olay Moisturizer &/or sunscreen, night -- same thing (minus the SPF), though I would often be lazy & just sleep with a dirty face. Nothing else.

Since then, I've moved to a new state & have a completely INactive lifestyle, plus more stress. I know those are 2 major factors as to why my skin went down the toilet. A few months ago I started looking into a more natural approach & started putting raw/organic honey on for 30min-1hr, morning & night. Sometimes I would mix honey, cinnamon, & lemon juice -- my face seemed to like that better. But after a few weeks I saw no real improvement & randomly found this regimen & gave it a go.

So, you may very well be right about it working best for people who constantly packed on the chemicals for years & years.

I honestly don't know what to do right now. I don't want to wash with water just yet, but I do want to scrape the dead cells off. I'm just afraid of doing it too early & then having to start all over again. Sunday will be Day 30 (really Day 49), so maybe Monday I'll take the plunge.