I mostly felt like making this so that i could keep track of my own progress. Sadly, I didn't think to do this till a day ago and I'm currently on day 7 of the regimen.
I started breaking out just about exactly 2 years ago. my break outs started when i began to use specifically a facial cleanser and since then i have tried a bunch of products which only made my skin much worse. I'm only breaking out on my cheeks and the sides of my chin.
i got the idea to to do the cavemen regimen when i decided to go back to the skin care routine i had when my skin was flawless. at the time my skincare routine was: only washing my face in the shower with water, thayers witch hazel toner for removing makeup, and on occasion using an oil-free moisturizer from trader joes. when i did some research looking into simplistic skincare thats when i found the cavemen regimen. i am not doing a total cavemen regimen because i will be spashing water on my face in the shower at times as well as removing makeup with micelle water/witch hazel toner.
i started the regimen on july 16th. when i started i was only broken out around my mouth, and i must have put something irritating on my skin because i had very red itchy pimples that also kinda burned(not normal for me).
in the first few days of the regimen the red itchy pimples were gone and my skin was improving greatly. my skin was very dry and the only part of my face that was oily was my forehead. in the last few days however, my skin is slightly broken out and just slightly red. yesterday i did use the thayers toner but other than that i havent washed my at all in the last 7 days.
day 7:
I'm a little broken out but not too badly and only a bit red where i have breakouts. the breakouts i have are all little and surfacing quickly. where im not broken out my skin is very glowy. I'm only flakey where the itchy pimples were probably because i was scratching them lightly.
day 8:
the breakouts i was getting in the last three days look like they're just about gone. I'm a bit more flakey today but its not noticeable. i have no new breakouts. hopefully the last few days was my purging period because it was extremely bearable. the breakouts that i had closer to the start of the regimen look like they are working their way out but are a bit red (not inflamed though). when i was in the shower last night i did put cold water on a wash cloth and wipe my face gently.
I should probably also mention i I'm starting my period in three days and its normal for me to get red inflamed pimples around this time in my cycle. compared to how I've looked in the past around this time on the month my skin looks pretty great.
day 10:
no new break outs that i can tell. when i removed makeup last night a lot of skin came off my face. there was so much skin that at first i thought it was pieces of the baby wipe i used to take my makeup off.
my hyper pigmentation is almost nonexistent unless my face has gotten wet recently.
so far this regimen is working better than expected. my breakouts cleared up quickly. i do still have a few but they are very tiny now. i didn't think not using products would affect my pigmentation but it actually did. I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures now because there has been a drastic change in the last 10 days.
i have heard of people breaking out badly around the 15 day mark, so ill have to see what happens
day 11-13:
i have one new pimple and its consistent with where i normally break out from my period. the one pimple that wouldn't go away for the last 4 weeks is finally gone. A downside that i am noticing that my face is textured. i have a bunch of very tiny bumps on my face that aren't pimples. i think that the bumps are my skin still adjusting to not washing it. makeup doesn't seem to be breaking me out and I've been eating not great too. my face doesn't look completely back to normal and i still have redness where i do have breakouts (the new one and the healing ones). my face also isn't peeling anymore but is still itchy randomly.
day 19:
down to two pimples left. where some of the pimples just went away theskin is very red. way too tempted to put vitamin C on my skin. I've worn light make up 5 times so far without an issue or breakout, washed my face with just water three times, used micelle water twice (it felt like i was washing my face when i used it), and used witch hazel toner maybe 7-8times. I'm just about back to the skin a had two years ago minus the hyper pigmentation and scarring.
day 22:
I officially have no active pimples. I did wake up today and find that my skin is peely around old breakouts so Im not sure whats going on there. I also have texture around the bottom half of my face still.
If anyone is reading this thinking that they might want to try this regimen, I think that the only reason this worked so well for me is because it seemed like my face broke out from using face wash and drying products.
day 23:
So i have been wearing makeup for the last few days but its been light(concealer and facial powder). i had makeup on all day today and when i got home i noticed some blotchiness under my makeup. i took all my makeup off and my skin is pretty red and blotchy even in places where i don't breakout. i also look like i have a few small bumps where some of the blotchiness is. it could just be from removing my makeup or having makeup on in general. ill update tonight if the redness goes away.
i didn't want to make another update till i had a significant change. pretty much i have 3 small pimples on my face which it a huge difference from where i was two months ago. most of the red blotchiness i was experiencing is gone but not completely. my face is definitely still reacting to not washing it because I'm still getting clogged pores but they aren't turning into pimples. i did change up what i was doing skincare wise and i feel like that has helped with the redness. I now use toner at least once a day, a peel off mask once a week, and at night i massage HA and vitamin C serum into my face.i also sometimes put vaseline over where i have a breakout before bed.