2 hours ago, GemmaD said:

Yes! I used to get back acne and a little chest acne. As soon as I left it alone and only washed my body with water it went away. The other thing you might want to be careful of is your shampoo. Chemical filled shampoos definitely broke me out all over my back. For me I use a very natural shampoo called theraneem without any harsh chemicals. And when I rinse the shampoo out I tilt my head back so I dont get any residue on my body. Also do you shower with hot water? I used to take really hot showers and I noticed that it would also contribute to breakouts. Now I try to take cooler showers and that helps a lot. 

Thanks, yes, quite hot but I have understood that maybe I should step that down a notch. And will for sure check the  shampoo and try for a few weeks to leave my back alone. Might as well try that as I have tried everything else.

day 8went pretty well again no new breakouts....nothing has changed really since last time. I haven't been washing in the morning so by the end of the day I'm a little oily (which I actually like because it makes my skin look healthier) and then at night I rinse my face.

This regimen is going well so far....im just praying the improvements keep coming. My face is covered in red marks from my last break out and it has really put me in a depession. Normally I would be able to wear makeup to hide the redness but with this regimen I can't. It's been extremely hard for me. I'm not used to my friends or my coworkers to seeing me barefaced. It takes A LOT of willpower to go through the day without breaking down and putting makeup on. Honestly its probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Silver lining is I really think this is making me a stronger person and when I come out the other side I know I'll be able to face any challenge life throws at me!

day 10.This is getting harder by the day. Good news is I havent gotten any new pimples. Bad news is my skin is so flaky and blackheads look a lot more obvious. The blackheads on my chin are sticking out and coming out by themselves though so thats pretty cool. My previous pimples definitely look less irritated and red. However my hyperpigmentation is still very obvious which makes not wearing makeup so dificult! I did cheat last night and put on some mineral makeup because I went over to my ex's and I wanted to look decent. I took it off with a mircrofiber cloth and water. Which also removed some flakies and blackheads. Im really going to try not to put on makeup again no matter how difficult. The problem is I am so pale that every little flaw stands out. Ughhh. I would say this is by the far the hardest thing I have ever done. But I'm determined not to give up. Any words of encouragement? Because I need them!

Hey guys! I'm currently on day 4 of the caveman regimen and I've been reading through other people's caveman regimen logs on this site to get an idea of what to expect, but most of them were from a couple years ago, which was a little discouraging. Then I came across your caveman regimen log and I got so excited because it's current and you seem to be updating! So I just had to make an account to say that it's so nice to know that someone else is currently on this journey as well! Congrats on making it to day 10 so far! Since you've made it this far, I can really see your determination and I just know you have it in you to keep going!
As for me, I'm doing the caveman regimen because a few weeks ago I decided to start using washcloths to rinse off my cleanser every night and I guess I was too rough because my skin texture is grainy now instead of smooth. I think I messed up my skin barrier and made my skin dehydrated (it started looking super oily and orange peel-ish yet felt tight) and since moisturizers weren't helping, I thought I permanently damaged my skin. But after constantly researching, I now think I just need to stop messing with my skin and let it heal itself (caveman regimen!). So far, my skin texture still pretty much looks grainy all over my forehead and cheeks, but I think my skin is slowly balancing because it doesn't feel so tight anymore and the oilyness has gone down. The little pimples that I had are healing and drying up pretty good so far. My skin is also pretty flaky now like you mentioned and going to class like this is kind of embarrassing, but I honestly think it'll be so worth it for both of us and anyone else who's going through this too! Looking forward to hearing more about your progress and I'll do some updates with my progress too!

Well done guys! I see the same result after 7 days, a lot of flaking around my nose, but my back looks very good, no new pimples, after no washing and no chemicals in 7 days, absolutely crazy. Have you tried oatmeal masks for the flaking? I have read that might work and is natural of course. Will probably try that this weekend.

LittleQueen I'm so happy you made an account to share you progress with this regimen! It's so nice to have other people going through the same experience to talk to. My texture also before starting this Regimen was very uneven and my pores were so obvious from having dried out my skin with a lot of products. But everyday the texture is definitely evening out! I'm so excited to hear your progress 

dasp, I'm so happy to hear your progress with your back! I did try to use oatmeal as an exfoliater near the beginning when I started the Regimen and it did help with flaky skin that night however I woke up with a new cyst on my chin the next day and my skin also seemed more flaky.  The cyst have been unrelated to the oatmeal though since I had just started doing the Caveman. I would definitely try it and see what it does for you because a lot of people have had good success with it. I will probably try it again in a couple weeks!

Today isday 12.I really screwed up last night and put on my mineral foundation again...it's just so hard going to social events without it! Anyways so when I got home I took it off with a microfiber cloth and water and that really irritated my skin. I think it was way to abrasive and my pimples that had been fading in color looked a lot redder and more irritated this morning... Some good news is my pores are definitely getting smaller and my skin tone has a healthier color and glow to it. I feel like I would be a lot further along with my acne though if I hadn't worn makeup twice and then removed it. My skin is just so irritated and sensitive that I think it just needs to be left alone completely. I think I'm gonna try to start only washing my face with water every two or three days to really let my skin even itself out and let the natural oils do what they need to do to nourish my skin.

Also I've been slacking on exercise and my diet hasn't been amazing (not bad but not great). Ive read that exercise is supposed to speed up healing 25%...so I feel like that could possibly apply to acne scars? So I'm going to try to step that up. As far as diet I want to start making green smoothies again and eating more vegetables in general. I've been eating mostly chicken and beef for meat and I'm going to try to replace that with more salmon and sardines for the omega 3s. I also might get some cod liver oil or flaxseed oil. My goal is to really improve my skin tone and quality and general..does anyone have any advice on any supplements or dietary recommendations that might help with this?

It's now day 10 of the caveman regimen for me! I've only been looking in the mirror before I leave to go somewhere because I don't want to get too worried or stressed out about my skin. Not much has changed: I'm still pretty flaky on my cheeks and especially my chin and the overall texture is still bumpy. The only thing that has changed is that I'm noticing some dead skin sticking to my face in certain areas, mainly on my forehead, chin, and under my eyes. This is making my forehead look pretty gunky though, so wearing a hat when I'm going out really helps to hide that! Also, my skin sometimes feels a little dry around my nose and the corners of my mouth. Anyways, I read that it takes about 14-17 days for the skin barrier to rebuild itself and it takes about 35 days for the epidermis to replace itself. So around my 17th day, I hope to see some improvement, maybe more with how my skin feels. And closer to 35 days I hope to see improvement with how my skin looks. I'm expecting to get the dead skin mask too and I think I'll try to leave it alone until it comes off on its own since I definitely don't want to exfoliate anytime soon.

GemmaD, I think it sounds like a good idea to leave the natural oils on your skin for a few days and I think it'll help your skin find a balance! I also haven't been keeping up with my usual workout routine for the past couple weeks. But I think you're right about exercise speeding up healing and I think it's just good for your skin in general, so I'll definitely have to get back into working out this week, too!

How's it going guys? I think it has been 3 weeks for me at this point. and pretty much no new breakouts, only some very very small white heads. I read some more research about the reasons for skin problems today compared to former times and the major thing mentioned was that many people today shower more than twice a week which our skin is not built for. It dries it up. This made me stronger in my belief and conviction. My current regime, that seems to work so far:

Supplements
Probiotics
Multi vitamin pill
Omega 3 pill

Diet
Low carb
Low dairy

Face
Wash with water every other day, trying not to pick and touch at all

Back
Rinse with water when taking daily shower, trying to take fast showers and not too hot

Shampoo
All natural aloe vera shampoo for sensitive skin

Results
No breakouts
Flaky, rough skin on nose
Itchiness

Would like to exfoliate but trying to hold on for now

Comments? Have tried oatmeal mask once but made me a bit too dry. Very flaky and rough now so might try it again. Otherwise honey mask perhaps??

I tried this method before, i like that it heals pimples fast with no new breakouts and i want to continuously do it but my skin is dry and it gets flaky if i dont put on any moisturiser, but before putting moisturiser i always feel like i need to cleanse my face first hmm anyone with the same problem? What do you do?

53 minutes ago, Bloob4 said:

I tried this method before, i like that it heals pimples fast with no new breakouts and i want to continuously do it but my skin is dry and it gets flaky if i dont put on any moisturiser, but before putting moisturiser i always feel like i need to cleanse my face first hmm anyone with the same problem? What do you do?

Hmmm, yeah, I might end up there as well maybe, don't know yet, if I do I would try to find a very mild moisurizer for sensitive skin first and see if that helps, but I would first really try to wait a bit longer so that I am certain that my skin doesn't have the ability to moisturize itself.

Tried the honey mask, pretty messy and hard to tell if it worked on inflammation as I didn't have any active acne at the moment. But it was fun!
I also washed my face yesterday just to try and see what happened. First time with cleanser in the last 3 weeks. I found a gentle cleanser with pH 3.5 for sensitive skin and was very gentle and used cold water. Now at least I don't have to worry about being very dirty. Might do this once a week just to be safe from bacteria etc.

My skin looks quite good apart from the large pores on nose and around the nose. What could be done about those?

10 minutes ago, dasp said:

Tried the honey mask, pretty messy and hard to tell if it worked on inflammation as I didn't have any active acne at the moment. But it was fun!
I also washed my face yesterday just to try and see what happened. First time with cleanser in the last 3 weeks. I found a gentle cleanser with pH 3.5 for sensitive skin and was very gentle and used cold water. Now at least I don't have to worry about being very dirty. Might do this once a week just to be safe from bacteria etc.

My skin looks quite good apart from the large pores on nose and around the nose. What could be done about those?

was it raw honey?

4 minutes ago, chrt_mvc said:

14 minutes ago, dasp said:

Tried the honey mask, pretty messy and hard to tell if it worked on inflammation as I didn't have any active acne at the moment. But it was fun!
I also washed my face yesterday just to try and see what happened. First time with cleanser in the last 3 weeks. I found a gentle cleanser with pH 3.5 for sensitive skin and was very gentle and used cold water. Now at least I don't have to worry about being very dirty. Might do this once a week just to be safe from bacteria etc.

My skin looks quite good apart from the large pores on nose and around the nose. What could be done about those?

was it raw honey?

Yes of course, it was very raw very eco honey! Have you tried it?

11 hours ago, dasp said:

Yes of course, it was very raw very eco honey! Have you tried it?

nah , I remember using sheet masks that had honey as ingredient. It soothes the skin and reduce redness

2 minutes ago, chrt_mvc said:

11 hours ago, dasp said:

Yes of course, it was very raw very eco honey! Have you tried it?

nah , I remember using sheet masks that had honey as ingredient. It soothes the skin and reduce redness

It kind of did I guess. I must say, for me, this whole going natural/water only/caveman thing has been absolutely amazing so far! Have shifted the focus completely in a very positive direction.

I would like to hear a new update from GemmaD!

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while. I hate to post this update because it's not a good one. But I have not been doing the Caveman the past week or so. I had so many social events this past week that I caved and have been wearing makeup. I've been taking it off with black soap. My skin hasn't broken out too bad except for on my chin which has a couple new cysts. But my skin is irritated, dry and my skin tone is back to looking pretty unhealthy. So I am restarting Caveman today! Reading yall's updates is really inspiring knowing that I'm not attempting this alone. I'm hoping this time I will stick too it because I had been seeing very positive results.

Also dasp thanks for reminding me about supplements! I think I'm going to go pick up a multivitamin (Vitamin code for women is what I previously used and really liked it), probiotic, and maybe some cod liver oil for omega 3's. Diet wise I've been trying to eat healthy in general but I could still probably be getting in more green veggies. What do you guys typically eat in day? I'm really trying to eat as many antimflammatory foods as possible.

OK, don't beat yourself up for wearing some make up, in the long run you are still making progress and learning more about your skin which is important. I would also use cod liver oil if I had a supply of it because of the Vitamin A in it btw.

I am eating everything except for dairy and I keep away from "insuline peaks" meaning no fast carbs. I might start with even some extra zinc pills on top of what I get from multi vitamin pills. I feel every pimple I get now is getting me closer to the ultimate diet+supplements. Empirical evidence!

Hi guys! Thought I would contribute because I've been trying to do this myself. Congrats onall of you successfully working on/completing this journey 🙂

Back story: Never washed my face for 21 years and had really clear skin besides the occasional pimples around that time of the month, two-ish months ago I got a hormonal breakout and I was like "oh, I'll try washing my face and actually getting a skin routine" since I'd never had one before. Bad idea, my skin is the worst it's ever been and in the course of 2 months, I've used about 8/9 different products when I havent used any in 21 years. I finally came to realize that I need to just leave my skin alone because DUH if I've never washed my face of course things are gonna break me out. It's quite difficult to stick to this as it's been terrible for my self esteem because I don't want to and shouldn't wear my makeup to help my skin heal faster (Except I have to wear makeup this weekend because I'm going to a wedding). It's definitely gonna take some time so I'm hoping by forcing myself to post updates on here, I'll actually follow through with this and not wanna give up and hopefully my skin will return to what it once was.

Starting skin: not very many huge/active pimples or anything like that but lots of tiny pimples on my forehead and around my nose area/near both cheeks. I started 3ish days ago and just cleaned my face with distilled water. Skin obviously doesn't look terrible but it's been terrible for me since I've had clear skin for most of my life. We'll see how this goes! (Also sorry if I come off as complaining, I'm not trying to be all princess-y about my skin but it's just hard when you've been taking your clear skin for granted and life decides to teach you a lesson.)

I'm so glad to have found your thread GemmaD! It seems as though we began the caveman regimen around the same time. I used to have pretty OK skin. It has never been flawless, but during my early to mid twenties my acne was manageable and did not cause me any sort of emotional distress. Last summer my husband and I moved to a new area and within 2 weeks I experienced the ABSOLUTE worse breakout of my life (quite embarassing for a 27 year old). I chalked it up to stress of a move, grad school, new environments, etc. I then began to travel extensively for work (3 weeks out of the month every month) for about 4 months. So I then began to chalk it up my issue to never becoming acclimated to our new environment. Now that I have been home for 5 months there's still no relief. I know it's noticeable, I know that it's unsightly, acne has come to be in the forefront of my mind everyday.

I somehow came to stumble upon caveman and thought, "why not?" It made sense. My husband has amazing skin and he purposefully washes his face a handful of times a week in the shower. A good friend of mine who struggled with blemishes during college realized her face took a turn for the better when she cleansed with nothing more than a Dove beauty bar. I myself probably stopped diligently washing (and definitely stopped using acne cleansers) once I came to outgrow the constant breakouts that plagued my teen years. Within just a day or two of abstaining from 5% benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid zit zapped my husband said my face looked much calmer and that I should definitely continue to avoid using so much "stuff" on my face. I find , more than anything, caveman is such a psychological battle. It took about 4 days for me to realize I COULD forgo washing (even washing after the gym) and my skin would probably not break out...or wouldn't break out any more than if I had washed it. Today marks day 9 and I'll definitely be keeping caveman up. I'm very good on the weekends, but the workweek really throws a wrench in the whole "nothing on the face" thing. I work in a very team oriented office and am very self conscious during meetings and whatnot. Hopefully over time as my skin heals I'll have the gall to go barefaced!

Hi! I came across this and I'm doing a similar thing myself, I used to use so many different products on my face and if I didn't think it was working I'd change to something else and my skin gradually got worse. I was then told to stop moisturising because my face was so dry and disgusting I just assumed it needed moisturiser which it turned out I was over doing it, so I stopped moisturising over a month ago now and have been only using the basics on my face. I won't give up wearing make up though as I'm not confident enough to go to work everyday without it on and k have a lot of scarring and redness, so I wear makeup for work everyday and soon as I get home I'll take it off and wash my face with either just water and a wash cloth, Manuka honey or just an organic cleansing butter. Like you mentioned I started to get a lot of dry skin which I found really difficult to deal with cause my makeup stuck to it and look awful! But if your skin is sensitive to all the chemicals in exfoliators like mine was I found the best thing to use was brown sugar mixed with raw or Manuka honey and use that as a gentle scrub to get away some of the flakes, and I would have never dreamed of doing it before but if I'm feeling a bit dry after using the scrub or getting out of the shower I put a little bit of pure sunflower oil on my face and rub it in and it leaves my skin really soft  not sure if any of this has improved my acne but I haven't had any new breakouts and the ones I've got are fading!

On April 30, 2016 at 4:07 AM, dasp said:

How's it going guys? I think it has been 3 weeks for me at this point. and pretty much no new breakouts, only some very very small white heads. I read some more research about the reasons for skin problems today compared to former times and the major thing mentioned was that many people today shower more than twice a week which our skin is not built for. It dries it up. This made me stronger in my belief and conviction. My current regime, that seems  to work so far:

Supplements
Probiotics
Multi vitamin pill
Omega 3 pill

Diet
Low carb
Low dairy

Face
Wash with water every other day, trying not to pick and touch at all

Back
Rinse with water when taking daily shower, trying to take fast showers and not too hot

Shampoo
All natural aloe vera shampoo for sensitive skin

Results
No breakouts
Flaky, rough skin on nose
Itchiness

Would like to exfoliate but trying to hold on for now

Comments? Have tried oatmeal mask once but made me a bit too dry. Very flaky and rough now so might try it again. Otherwise honey mask perhaps??

Hey, that sounds good.I'm sure you're correct about the showering but I just can't...too Westernized lol. I think the chemicals in water are hell on skin too purified water is best.
id suggest throwing in some turmeric capsules or a honey turmeric milk mask. Honey won't dry you out.
maybe try some spearmint tea for oil reduction.
keep going!

On May 17, 2016 at 4:04 PM, Caseyy said:

Hi! I came across this and I'm doing a similar thing myself, I used to use so many different products on my face and if I didn't think it was working I'd change to something else and my skin gradually got worse. I was then told to stop moisturising because my face was so dry and disgusting I just assumed it needed moisturiser which it turned out I was over doing it, so I stopped moisturising over a month ago now and have been only using the basics on my face. I won't give up wearing make up though as I'm not confident enough to go to work everyday without it on and k have a lot of scarring and redness, so I wear makeup for work everyday and soon as I get home I'll take it off and wash my face with either just water and a wash cloth, Manuka honey or just an organic cleansing butter. Like you mentioned I started to get a lot of dry skin which I found really difficult to deal with cause my makeup stuck to it and look awful! But if your skin is sensitive to all the chemicals in exfoliators like mine was I found the best thing to use was brown sugar mixed with raw or Manuka honey and use that as a gentle scrub to get away some of the flakes, and I would have never dreamed of doing it before but if I'm feeling a bit dry after using the scrub or getting out of the shower I put a little bit of pure sunflower oil on my face and rub it in and it leaves my skin really soft  not sure if any of this has improved my acne but I haven't had any new breakouts and the ones I've got are fading!

I just use water and a washcloth and sometimes witch hazel maybe 2x per week. I like sea buckthorn oil topically it doesn't break me out. 

Today I had my first morning of, "eh...I just don't wanna wash my face." And it was glorious! I will admit there have been some mornings when I will wipe my face with 1 part apple cider vinegar, 4 parts water on a cotton ball. Or if I happen to scratch, pick, or pop (I know, I know, I'm sorry) I'll apply some of this solution with a q-tip to the spot.

I am really beginning to think my issue stems from the city's water or general urban pollution. When I traveled for work I was usually gone for 3 weeks at a time and after perusing progress pictures from earlier this year I realized my face was blemish free (albeit covered in some pretty rough scarring) after a month in Key West. Maybe it was the sunshine, maybe the salty air, I don't know, but really environment is the only variable between my face then and now. I would still cleanse as I normally did (a SA wash by Clearasil), still wore tinted moisturizer and/or makeup, still kept a similar diet, same just about everything. So for this reason I have given thought to trying out water free cleanser once I have given caveman a good month or two. But don't really know much yet about these products; does anyone have any experience?

I've been wearing makeup during the week to work (I'm SO close to going bare face. This weekend was the first time in almost a year I've gone anywhere without foundation on). And I will admit I used oil makeup remover/cleanser twice this past week to remove a good caking of foundation. BUT, it's been about 3 weeks now since chemical acne treatment has touched my skin. I'd been taking a multi-vitamin and zinc supplement for some time, but began to decrease the use of the multi after I read iodine and biotin (which this multi is pretty heavy in) can cause some individuals to breakout. Before having this insane case of acne I rarely took supplements, so I think I'll taper back and see where that takes me. So far the results are about what I'd expect after 3 weeks. No major breakouts...a couple pimples that don't thrill me and a few nodules I can feel if I touch my face but are not actually visible. Existing zits are taking their merry time to go away and generally seem to be drying up and flaking. The hyper pigmentation and general redness is still there but much more tolerable. Fortunately the flakiness isn't nearly as bad as it was during week 1. But oh my the itchiness! So so so itchy. But it's a gentle itch that definitely feels like a healing itch (like when a scab begins to form). So for that reason I can bear to not scratch.

On April 19, 2016 at 1:01 AM, GemmaD said:

day 8went pretty well again no new breakouts....nothing has changed really since last time. I haven't been washing in the morning so by the end of the day I'm a little oily (which I actually like because it makes my skin look healthier) and then at night I rinse my face.

This regimen is going well so far....im just praying the improvements keep coming. My face is covered in red marks from my last break out and it has really put me in a depession. Normally I would be able to wear makeup to hide the redness but with this regimen I can't. It's been extremely hard for me. I'm not used to my friends or my coworkers to seeing me barefaced. It takes A LOT of willpower to go through the day without breaking down and putting makeup on. Honestly its probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Silver lining is I really think this is making me a stronger person and when I come out the other side I know I'll be able to face any challenge life throws at me!

First of all, you are so brave. It doesn't matter that you slipped a couple times and wore makeup. It takes a lot of guts for you to not wear foundation or at least concealer for even an hour out in public. Secondly, I have tried this in the past and yes, it does work. But, I've also found(as you've touched upon), that diet is important to healing as well. I think this regimen works because most skin products out there further irritate our skin and hinder our natural healing process(especially "anti-acne" products)! Before I went on Accutane for the first time(around 14)I remember stopping all of my skincare products and it was honestly so helpful. But my dad insisted that I use soap on my face which ended up irritating my skin and making my acne worse. I have to use products on my skin now because it is so dry due to two rounds of Accutane. I use very natural, ph-balanced products now though. Good luck to everyone. You WILL beat this!!!