(TLDR version, Modified Caveman)

I made this account and this thread in the hopes that the recount of my experience will help others who've suffered from the same condition that I did for the past 7 years.  I™m not a great writer, this is more stream of consciousness. 

Some background information,  I am a 25year old male, 5'10" and 175 lb.  I am athletic and love being outdoors.  I run, hike, swim, rock climb, dance, weigh lift, sky dive, regular dive, back pack and basically any other physical activity you can think of I've done.  But for the last few years I've held myself back from going anywhere where people would be because I was self conscious/ angry that I could not figure out my own skin.  In terms of washing I've tried benzol peroxide, oil cleansing, steaming, just water, for a long time with lots of short term success (usually a week and a half).  I also tried a clean diet with only fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and eggs.  I used to be super anal about my pillow case, shower towels, and anything touching my face.  I'd use a new clean pillow case every night, never use a dirty towel to dry my hair and face, and sleep on my back so my face wouldn't ever touch anything.  It didn't make any sense to me to see people with clear skin eat horrible foods, live a sedentary lifestyle, and not stress about their face touching things.  So for the past 5 months I've been using the regimen based on the theory that everything people say about acne is wrong. 

I'll start with my routine and then what I've seen in the last 5 months and why I think it works.

  My routine is to wash my face once a week using only my wet hands that I run under the shower.  That is it!  I wash my hands so they™re clean and then gently rub my face to pick up dead skin and then rinse my hands off and repeat.  I only do that enough to get the dead skin off and no more.  Then I dry my face with a clean towel and I™m good for the week.  If I get especially dusty or sweaty at work during the week I will take a damp paper towel and just lightly blot off the dust/ sweat.  I've found that water dries my skin out a lot especially when I used to rinse my face directly in the shower stream.  In the first 2 months I noticed that my face got a lot less oily after showering.  It used 5 minutes after washing my face and Id have pools of oil on my nose.  After a month it lengthened to a day and a half before I'd see the oil and now it's 3-4 days before I really feel oily.  My acne stopped hurting and my skin doesn't feel tight anymore.  For a long time even if the top of my skin Looked clear, I would get large acne bumps under my jawline and on my cheeks and temples which hurt a lot and take a long time to go away.  After five months the pimples are not large and deep under the skin.  They come and go very fast and don™t leave any scaring.  I™ve also noticed after 5 months that the amount of dead skin during my showers has decreased.  I attribute it to the decrease in acne that I have.  I think that if your skin is healthy then the amount of skin that dies is minimal (think of skin elsewhere on your body)  If you are going to try this don™t expect to not get pimples.  I still œbroke out on a bi weekly basis for the first 2.5 months.  Then it starts getting lesser and lesser.  The reason you still will get pimples is because if you™re like me, you™ve damaged the deeper layers of your skin by washing and drying out the top.  As your skin rebuilds itself It pushes the damage to the surface and once it starts pressing on the top layer of skin, that is the pimple. 

Here is a diagram on how I've learned my skin works.

1.       Your skin is normal and happy.

2.       Trauma to the top layer of skin causes your skin to freak out creating damage deep beneath the surface.

3.       As the skin cells multiply under the damage it pushes it out towards the surface.

4.       As the bundle of damage reaches the surface it presses against your skin and creates a pimple.

Once the topmost layer of skin flakes off and it becomes thin enough that is when you™ll get a whitehead.  Benzole peroxide and other topical washes work short term because they dry out the top layer and make your skin tight making it appear that your skin is better but It™s only the top layer which is tight and dry and keeping the damage down.  But you can't keep it down forever and eventually it comes up. 

And that is it, that is poor presentation on how I think skin works.  My only evidence is my own experience but I™m pretty confident in it.  Acne is definitely not caused by clogged pores.  Especially under my eyes, I can see little white spots where I know there is some damage.  And now that I leave my face alone for an extended period of time, I see the damage come to the surface.  Turn into a little red bump or whitehead and then disappear without a trace and it doesn™t come back.  My skin continues to get better and better.  I don™t stress about food or sleeping position or showering frequency.  All the talk about dirty clogged pores causing acne is complete garbage.  I leave my face alone for an entire week and bother it as little as possible and it is on it™s way to being perfect.  If you are going to try it you will see lots of dead skin in the beginning.  Don™t stress about it, just don™t hurt or dry your face while taking it off.  Use as little water as possible to avoid stripping away the moisture.  The dead skin gets less and less as you go.  A lot of people only stick with caveman for a couple of weeks to a month.  I know this isn™t a strict caveman but I™m getting closer and closer to not doing anything to my face as I get less and less dead skin and oil build up.  Based on the rate that it's going I'd say 8-9 months and I wont have any more issues with pimples.

If you have any questions let me know. I don™t have any before and after pics, wasn™t really planning on sharing but I feel like I should help anyone that I can.