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I've been a lurker for a few months now, making my first post today because my acne has moved up from mild to mild-moderate ever since I started doing the caveman thing..first I thought it'd be a great thing for me because my sisters and mom are completely clear, my dad gets one pimple on his nose in 2-3 months. they both said they got the occasional spots when they were teenagers but it went away, it isn't genetic so caveman should be the right approach, but I'm hitting the 2 week mark now and it's only going downhill..I wash my face in the shower in the morning, let cold water splash down my face and then put a moisturiser with spf15.. I need SPF because I have a lot of hyperpigmentation. And I can't go back on BP, I had been using panoxyl 5% but it got discontinued. It also left three indent marks on my face. Icepick scars can't be removed by anything topical so I can't risk having more of them. I'm sure bp was the culprit. I had my dad pick up quinoderm yesterday but all he could find in the chemists was 10%, not even 5, forget 2.5.. I guess I'll use it if worst comes to worst. my diet is pretty good. I cut out diary and sugar about a month ago. So I guess my question is, does the caveman regimen show results, did it work for any of you? And also, urine therapy is one of the top rated treatments on this site, does it actually work? I'm desperate to clear it as much as possible before school starts. So please help me.
Depends. Not right away it wont, most likely. Again, depends. How long have you been using products, and what products have you been using? I'm not asking you these for me, im not a derm or a nutritionist, so dont bother answering these questions. Common sense would dictate that that harsher and longer the products you've been using the longer it will take your skin to learn how to take care of itself. I have a cousin who NEVER washes his face, and he was full of blackheads, and i mean FULL of em. Today he has absolutely nothing, no large pores, no zits, nothing. And, even animals wash (with just water or spit mind you) but they do wash. For example a bird bath. So washing IS benefitial.. IF you get dirty, and in todays soceity, thats not very hard. That being said, I strongly believe that less is more in this regard. Over washing (which most of us do, you generally dont need to wash twice a day, or everyday for that matter. "depends" on the cirumstances") will reduces you skins integrity (at least temporarily) and doing this day in and day out, you skin develops a dependance after awhile. SO expect some weird shit to happen for 6 months to a year. These are long time frames, but remember, no matter what happens (which is why Id recommened giving it a go) is because, even if you do break out (some people unfortunatley have no choice, they HAVE to wash with soaps/cleansers, mostly because this is what they have done for years and years) you can guarantee that you in the least, arent causing any damage to you skin. Only exception to this is severe, cant see any skin under all these inflammed red zits type acne, in which case I hate to say it (I really really do hate to..) you need to follow advice from a derm...
Other than that, you should be able to ditch alot of the washing, and only use water to wash, dry with a super soft towel (cotton is bumpy and rough,find a good,smooth,soft towel just for you face) and gently, very gently wipe "and" pat your face dry. This provides the very mildest form of exfoliation, and its all the exfoliation anyone needs)
After awhile (6 months - 1 year) you skin SHOULD be healthier, and i do recommened giving it a go, but not so hardcore as to never ever wash your face, if you dont get dirty fine dont wash that day, dont get dirty tommorow either, fine, wash with warm water before bed. Get dirty next day, use gentle cleanser (Spectro Jel for example) for 10 seconds or less.
Going against everything you have ever heard, drop the moisturizer. And you do not need to wear sunscreen religiously. It good to use, but only when neccessary (same as moisturizer, keep it in case for somne reason you skin get too dry, but severly limit its use) such as, amount of time you will be outside, what the UV index is, how cloudy it is, are you on anythiing that will make you sun sensitive (stopping using all these cleanser and crap all the time, and let your skin learn to function on its own, will build up a bit of protection from the sun in itself) such as any medications.
Less is more, but do whats neccessary. cleansers and sunscreen isnt bad, just when its always on your face.
DO NOT TOUCH THAT 10% ANYTHING!!
I noticed you said you cut dairy and sugar. for one i hope you dont also mean fruit sugar. Every cell in your body needs sugar/protien/fat in that order, for optimal performance. NO sugar = unhealthy.
You digestion adapts to what you eat, and for this reason should NEVER cut a food completely, cold turkey, Wean yourself off of it, VERY slowly if you think its causing a problem (obviously for you it wasnt, and the quick change may have more to do with it)
So basically, you have changed to much to fast, and thats why your getting this. You are an organism that adapts to its surroundings, dont drastically change these so quickly. But now that you have, you may choose to just stay the course. ID incorporate small amounts of dairy back into your diet (small chunk of cheese every 2-3 days, a small amount of cream in your tea once or twice a day)
Body needs Glucose, converts ALL sugar into glucose therefore if you eat foods with glucose it gets store directly into cells for immediate use (BONUS!) Fructose gets converted to Glucose and or fat in the liver, and is the easiest of the sugars for your body to convert (glucose doesnt need converting) ALL other sugars are much harder to convert, and these should be avoided. Dextrins and sucroses,and "fake" sugars especially.
Hope this helps.