I have signed up here just to pass on what has worked for me as I know what having acne is like and I think if someone has found something that has worked for them, it's worth passing on.

I don't want this to sound like one of those 'miracle cure' types of posts so I'll cut to the chase and reveal my secret straight away and tell you that nothing worked. When I say nothing, I literally mean nothing. No soap products of any kind whatsoever, only warm water.

My story - I have always suffered quite bad with body acne, mostly on my chest, my back and even on my stomach, although not quite as severe. I also used to get bad breakouts on and around my nose. Huge pimples. One morning in the shower I was washing my face whilst trying the latest in a very, very long line of products that I believed would be the miracle cure when it struck me that perhaps it was the products themselves that were creating the acne. I decided to simply stop washing my face in any kind of soap product whatsoever, even acne products, and only use water. It took a couple of weeks but after that I noticed I wasn't getting any new breakouts at all. That was two years ago and after my initial trial, I have not had a single spot since. Not one.

My body acne however, still plagued me and I carried on trying all sorts of products until about three months ago when it started to occur to me that perhaps the same reason that caused my nose acne was the same that was causing my body acne. But how can you wash your body properly without any type of soap at all? I did some research and found very little information about washing in water alone. Thats when it occurred to me just how in ingrained people are regarding soap. We use it every day without a thought and have been led to believe you simply cant get clean with natures solution alone - warm water. I found some wash cloths that claimed to have antibacterial properties and were designed specifically for people who didnt want to use soap. However, I kept forgetting to take them into the shower and ended up not using them, instead just using my hands to rub my skin under the shower. I should note that i do wash my hands in soap before I shower, just so they are clean before I use them to wash the rest of my body.

My experiment started three months ago and again, after an initial settling in phase of a couple of weeks while my skin got used to my new routine, I noticed I wasnt getting any new spots at all. I still had remnants of old ones but not a single new one. To add to that, not only did I not smell, but my skin started to feel just as soft when I got out of the shower as it did when I used soap. Its natural to think you may not think you smell, but but believe me, we all know when we smell, and Im 100% confident my friends are honest enough to tell me if they thought I smelt. (I do continue to use deodorant)

Three months on and Id say 80% of my old spots / scars have totally disappeared, leaving just the odd scar here and there (I had body acne for many years, I dont expect my skin to ever heal 100%) but again, not a single new spot. Not one.

Im aware there different types of acne and facial acne may not be the same as body acne. Im also aware that everybody is different and what works for one person might not work for others, however, I am so amazed that my solution turned out to be so simple, and knowing that its something most people wouldnt even consider (I didnt for many years) I just felt I should at least tell my story and leave it up to others to decide for themselves whether they would like to try it or not.