So I started the almost caveman-regime and have been improving constantly without any new breakouts over the week. I've been wondering why this treatment has been working...and I've come to a conclusion. It's my tap water. We have a water softener, but the tap water at my house still dries out my skin and hair. Doing research, I've found that many houses have terribly heavy-metal ridden tap-water and chlorine. The chlorine is necessary to keep the water clean, but must be filtered out via the home. The metals attach to the skin and make cleansers useless and the skin clogged.
Every time I spent the night at a friend's or family's place, I would splash my face with water before bed. When I woke up the next morning, I would either be broken out worse for some reason...or my skin would look fine. The weird thing is...it was always the same houses that broke me out and I couldn't figure out why.
Each of those houses had slightly different levels of metal and chlorine. My skin has always been very sensitive, so it does more damage to me than most people.
Whenever I spend time in a nice hotel, my skin cleared up until I got home...it doesn't even have to be an outdoors-based vacation...My face cleared up in a Hilton casino haha. I imagine it's due to those places having less harsh water.
Despite Zinc and Magnesium helping with my acne a bit, it never really cleared all the way..and with this new perspective and change in regime I'm feeling very optimistic. No new breakouts since I started a week ago! I'll update in a week or so!
Just wanted to chime in that you can buy this to test if it's your water that's breaking you out or not. I think it's good to rule out causes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L2824Y/
I also don't want you to try this if it's not going to help and ends up being a waste of time lol. Not all people break out for the same reasons, and if your water comes up clean, than it's likely not the water causing the problem. People who do the caveman regime and succeed are likely people who have water that breaks them out due to metals in the water that stick to the skin and turn the liquid oil in the pores to wax.
Yes, you are definitely onto something here....I always said that water can alter the skin's Ph and sensitivity.
I spent all of last year thinking it was internal because all my external treatments hadn't worked after 5 years of exploring. While it made me improve my lifestyle choices tremendously, I was on the completely wrong track. Washing with distilled/filtered water has healed/cured my acne probably 95%. That's honestly good enough for me considering how severe it's been for years.
My city gets its water from an underground aquifer, and we are known for having incredibly hard water. Here, if you leave the tap- water on or in a glass surface, it will leave a very noticeable fine white dust or stain. My new house has a water softener, which I hadn't had the luxury of since moving out of my parents house a few (but not a lot!) years ago. I did notice some improvement in my skin when I moved to the new house last year, although not enough to prevent me from going on Accutane in December. A week or so ago, I began noticing our glasses had the standard white-film on them, but because I was so used to this from previous homes, I didn't even think about it. But then I began to notice that my skin was extra dry and squeaky after getting out of the shower, and my skin began to become somewhat irritated and rough. Again, I really didn't think about it. A couple days ago I realized the water-softener was off (i.e., no power going to it). Turns out a breaker was switched the problem was easily fixed. Since then, my skin is back to its normal irritation-level and smoothness.
I tell you this story for two reasons: 1) I do think very hard water can influence the appearance of skin. 2) I don't think changing it is enough to make someone without acne break-out, or someone with acne clear. I don't think that you need to go and spend a whole bunch of money to get a water softener. I doubt it would be worth it because I don't think hard water alone breaks anyone out, I think it's just that it might cause further irritation to already sensitive acne prone skin.
One fix I've heard mention before: by a few gallons of distilled water (most grocery stores sell them). And simply rinse/cleanse your face or body with it after taking a normal shower.
If your skin improves from doing this dramatically enough, it might be worth looking into buying a water softener. If not - it's probably not worth worrying about.
One fix I've heard mention before: by a few gallons of distilled water (most grocery stores sell them). And simply rinse/cleanse your face or body with it after taking a normal shower.
If your skin improves from doing this dramatically enough, it might be worth looking into buying a water softener. If not - it's probably not worth worrying about.
Good advice to anyone reading! For me, not having one new zit in 2 weeks..which is a first in 5 years is enough for me. If I can reach a month, I'll be convinced that my skin really is that ridiculously sensitive to the water. For many other people though, like you say, it may not improve their skin as much, because that one factor may not be the real cause.
I want to say, since this is an experiment and theory, not a bible preach, that I noticed when I stopped my other beneficial habits, my skin quality did go down. Even though the water had the biggest effect, all the other modest lifestyle changes added up.
What I'm trying to say is...if something you have started doing to improve acne has only helped it a little, don't stop; A lot of little improvements = major results.
I keep coming back because I want to help people and be helped.
I finally got my hair short, and it feels great. By the 3rd week of this wash once a day with soft water regime, my face has stopped producing excess oil completely...and has yet to produce any new type of acne.
Hey there! Just wondering if you have any opinions/experience with a filtering showerhead. I think there really is validity in the quality of water because the city I live in has highly chlorinated water. When I was away in a different city at university, my skin was a lot better and my hair was softer! However, I tried washing with just filtered/boiled water and my skin looked very dirty with a lot of small, yellowy pimples. How were you able to get past that? My skin is oily like yours was too. And congrats on feeling great!
I have a mediocre filter, so I can't attest to the more expensive models available. I found an easy way to get around the buildup of water minerals (even in softened water) if the filtering isn't doing enough is pouring a bit of bottled water down your hair and face after showering. I can make one bottle last 4 showers and its worked so far in keeping pore clogging.
I have a mediocre filter, so I can't attest to the more expensive models available. I found an easy way to get around the buildup of water minerals (even in softened water) if the filtering isn't doing enough is pouring a bit of bottled water down your hair and face after showering. I can make one bottle last 4 showers and its worked so far in keeping pore clogging.
It's actually more of a soap residue issue. http://www.progressivehealth.com/acne-water.htm It's so important that we rinse clean whatever we put on.
Good thread. Water can definitely play a part. As mentioned above, we all have different triggers and it may not help with every one, but I've found this to be a big one for both myself and several of my clients.
I noticed it most in myself when I first moved to Los Angeles. My skin was already "bleh", but a week after moving to LA, holy moly! I didn't know my skin any more. It broke out worse than ever, and none of my usually remedies helped at all.
After going to visit friends out of town for a week, I noticed considerable improvement, which lead me to try the same theory. I got a shower filter, which seemed to help, and then when I washed my face at night, I used distilled water. (An inconvenience for sure, but not too bad.) It was no miracle cure, but it at least brought my skin back to my "normal" acne range, rather than "mega acne" levels. After that, some of my other methods began working better. (All of this was before I "healed" my skin, and I don't have problems too often any more.)
It's definitely worth a try. You can test it out for just a couple of dollars (a gallon of distilled water is usually about $1). After you shower, do a good face rinse with some of the distilled water. I kept a smaller capped bottle of it in the shower. And if you cleanse in the sink, try putting some of the distilled water in a bowl next to you, then use that as your rinse water.
You should be able to tell if it's working for you or not after a week or two.
Good luck to all!
some have more chlorine than, but if you're using HOT water tht's a big mistake, always wash your face in the shower with tepid water, never hot or cold. best way to combat dryness is an oil-free moisturizer.... and the only one i trust is "skin md natural", never breaks me out, i put it on before bed and my skin is no longer dry from washing my face.. i dont use any cleansers, i just was my face with water, rubbing my face like normal. the trick to combatting the dryness is giving your skin moiusture.. this prevents break outs because your skin is healthy and supple.