I was on a beach vacation for about a week. In that time, I had one whitehead and all the redness subsided despite being in the sun for awhile each day (First time clear in months). I came home and developed a terrible breakout that doesn't seem to want to go away.
I'm not sure why my constant breakouts was cured on vacation...could it be?
A. Pillowcases changed daily
B. Being in sunlight for longer than usual at home, to the point of almost burning.
C. sleeping early?
D. Wearing sunblock with zinc in it?
Those are the only things I can think of that would affect anything...I don't understand it. I was so excited that it was going away...
yeah i am sure its a mixture of no stress and the sun as well. do you workout when you are at home? if not i would definitely start doing that it helps so much with stress and for me it really lowers my anxiety. also what is your daily regimen like? do you use anything with AHA or BHA in it? if not i would look into adding that to your daily routine.
Thanks for the replies. Yes I workout at home; I have a pretty strict regime. I actually just started taking AHA. Now that I think about it, the sun reduced the amount of oil that my normally makes, which kept me from feeling oily. I guess stress really does affect a lot as well.
I'm not a huge believer in stress = acne. Can it make the already in place acne seem worse, of course, it's called stress.
Make a list of what exactly was different. You arleady said sun, and I imagine you were in the water a lot, so salt water as well. Next you'll want to look at the differences between being at home and being on that vacation. Being at home you use regular water to shower (this actually dries the skin), no more salt water and not as much sun. The sun can cause your skin to peel, a natural peeler that can lift the dead skin. The sun will also give you a reddish hue to mask any of the so called marks for awhile. Next the salt water will go in and clean the pores, this will burn if your pores are open. If you add all these things in you will have a face that appears to be acne free. Then you get home and about 1-2 weeks later your skin isn't looking so great. The red sun hue is fading and your natural color is returning, along with the red marks. The salt water is a great thing for clogged dirty pores, however, it can be drying on the skin. I believe a combination of these things led to the appearance of clear skin.
Best way to beat acne (IMO) is to allow your skin to heal itself, do not dry it out. No washing, scrubbing, no WATER (as water dries the skin), clean with a dry towel gently daily on the surface of dry skin.
Great deduction GeoGuy! Yes! I decided to do an almost caveman regime a few days back to see. I say almost because I'm not careful enough to not get any water on my face when I wash my hair. It's limited to no more than 1 time of contact a day max and no touching of the face whatsoever. It'll at least take a week before I can even begin to notice change, but so far after I think 4 days, the acne is becoming less aggressive..and despite not washing as much..the issue of excess oil is fading.
I noticed a marked changed after the first week, and then slowly over time, I'd say around the 2-3 week mark I noticed a drastic change, the change to a mark free face. It took another 2-3 weeks after that point to even out my skin tone, color and any dry spots, but I was acne free within 1 and 1/2 months.
Their is no problem with a little water contact daily, however, the majority of people on caveman complain about an excess deadskin layer. The reason this layer is apparent is due to the water contacting their skin and/or dry skin left over from scarring. You can easily remove this dead skin gently with a dry cloth on a dry face. If you use a wet cloth or a wet face you will dry out the skin more and cause even more/bigger damage. There is absolutely zero need to walk around daily with a dead skin mask. The mask does nothing to repair your skin, in fact, the repair is done by your skins natural oils. The oils will push out the pore, thus releasing whatever is inside the pore with it and come to the surface of the face. The oil mixed with the acidic acid mantle will begin to kill any p. bacteria that feeds on the skin and causes acne. The oil also moisturizes and nurishes the skin to heal it and bring it back to an even surface (no puck marks or dents).
I noticed a marked changed after the first week, and then slowly over time, I'd say around the 2-3 week mark I noticed a drastic change, the change to a mark free face. It took another 2-3 weeks after that point to even out my skin tone, color and any dry spots, but I was acne free within 1 and 1/2 months.
Their is no problem with a little water contact daily, however, the majority of people on caveman complain about an excess deadskin layer. The reason this layer is apparent is due to the water contacting their skin and/or dry skin left over from scarring. You can easily remove this dead skin gently with a dry cloth on a dry face. If you use a wet cloth or a wet face you will dry out the skin more and cause even more/bigger damage. There is absolutely zero need to walk around daily with a dead skin mask. The mask does nothing to repair your skin, in fact, the repair is done by your skins natural oils. The oils will push out the pore, thus releasing whatever is inside the pore with it and come to the surface of the face. The oil mixed with the acidic acid mantle will begin to kill any p. bacteria that feeds on the skin and causes acne. The oil also moisturizes and nurishes the skin to heal it and bring it back to an even surface (no puck marks or dents).
Thanks so much for the post! I've been so paranoid about wiping my face with a dry cloth. Glad to know I don't have to worry about ruining the regime by doing that. Everyday my face gets less oilly by nighttime than the day before! Seriously stoked about how this seems to be improving day by day.
Yeah, you'll want to get off the deadskin, I personally do this in the morning. A simple gentle cotton cloth or towel will work, be gentle and do not press hard. Move in little circles. The dead skin will flake off and you will be left with a smooth surface. In the beginning what happens is all your blemishes and marks that are on your face, whether they be red, dark burgandy, or purple will come to a head, they will clean out from the inside out, and then they will heal. Expect dry skin in those areas as the skin heals those spots. After you wipe with a dry cloth on your dry skin (I also recommend letting your face airdry after you shower) you may notice your skin is a little red, no problem here, it's just the blood near the surface of skin, it will go away within 20 minutes. The frist month of progress is truly amazing, and it will dawn on you how powerful the bodies natural state can be. Years of scarring, destroying your own skin and boom, in a short amount of time the body is given to recover without adulterating it it is back to normal. Good luck.