So before I get into what has been going on, a little about me, I used to have pretty bad acne when I was 15-17 all over me jawline cheeks and chin, but now I am 21, and Ijust get the occasional breakout of 4-5 spots around my and chin, nothing too bad. Why am I doing the caveman regimen? I have been cleansing,using benzoyl peroxide and moisturisersfor as long as I can remember having acne. I have never tried letting my skin do its own thing.I only seem to get acne where Iuse these products now, so I am really curious to see if cutting them out and not touching my face at all except with water will help.
morning and night, splash COLD water on face, every now and then rub face with clean hands to reduce dead skin buildup.
Day 1- No noticeable difference, i stopped taking lymecycline a few days ago after a month with no change whatsoever. Worried my skin will flare up without it
Day 2- I got super drunk last night and woke up with a few large whiteheads, but they look way less pissed off than usual (less red and angry).I completely forgot I have seborrheicdermatitis around my nose and not moisturising this area is causing it to breakout again, Iordered some biom8 to use only where I have seborrheic dermatitis.
Day 3- Spent today driving back home from my friends, on the way home I scratched my chin and it looked like I had deep fried my hand, it was sooooo oily. hoping this sorts itself out.
Day 4- Woke up today to my dermatitis being very red, really want this biom8 to arrive having heard such good things! my spots from partying are going soo nicely, the redness goes down so quick, unfortunately it looks like I have 2 big red spots coming on my chin. Weird thing is, the area is red but there is no bump, will be interesting to see what happens to these if Ijust leave them alone
Ok so the next couple of days went like this:
Day 5- Those massive spots on my chin were actually quite a bit smaller than i expected, the became whiteheads today, but they were way less inflamed than i anticipated. It's REALLY hard not to touch your face at all. In terms of skin texture, my skin is a bit weird, the biom8 has fixed my dermatitis, but where i used to have spots my skin is flaky and it looks like all the blackheads are falling out, pretty odd looking, nothing too crazy yet though.
Day 6- Spots and scarring on chin have completely gone... crazy quick! But a new big spot has arrived next to my mouth, it started last night and over night it developed a whitehead, hoping it goes like the chin spots, i only have that active on my face now, one more is coming by my nose, after that i'm hoping tides will turn! The main thing i would say is that my face is really not that different from when i used a load of products, and i'm worrying way less about it since there is nothing i can do!
Day 7 - The spot by my mouth is slowly dying away, its very red! my skin is no longer oily or dry, its completely evened out! My skin looks about like it did when I used products after just a week of not using them! I am never using products again, what a waste of time, all I used to do was worry and slather shit on my face to cope. the spot by my nose never became a whitehead. Progressing everyday, at this rate I will be all clear in no time!
Day 8- I got really drunk last night again... But for the first time, I have no new spots at all after a sesh. Well not yet, I see some things brewing, but hopefully its just my imagination
Right so ill keep adding: UPDATE It's really not going well haha.
Day 9: couple of new spots. really sucks. 2 really big sports have arrived too, most of the other spots are small and inconsequential .
Day 10: This is by far the worst my skin has looked for a while (i was using antibiotics so i was kind of cheating). The 2 massive spots are not leaving and i'm pretty greasy again haha. I decided to rub off the dead skin on my face yesterday and since then my skin has been greasy and sensitive. I think that dead skin was actually protecting me, not sure though. Will upload some pictures and keep going. I'm really over this.
I know people have it a lot worse, and to all you, i really hope it gets better. Im hoping my skin sorts itself out
Day 10- So I went to the sea today and spent hours in the water and the sun which was super nice, unfortunately i got pretty burned, i think my skin is a little more sensitive since going on antibiotics... My spots got way better from the salt water though! most of them healed or fell off, but now my skin is super dry again, Ithink it will take a while for my skin to regulate itself...
Day 11- more improvement overall, both the big spots are completely gone now, only small whiteheads remain, i think if my skin was the the correct dryness my skin would look really good, but unfortunately its pretty dry still! It's really dry and flaky but only around my mouth where i used the most product before. I think it will take time for it to come back to its former glory! But for now, pretty positive!
Day 12- Went back to the beach and my skin is sooooooooooo flaky!like i look pretty gross its unreal, but ive got to keep going.
Day 13- Spots that look like they will become hug just stay really small and fade quickly which is amazing, and i think under all the dead skin my actual skin is looking really nice, but im not going to touch it for at least one more week, im just going to keep letting it heal. In general skin is dry with loads of small whiteheads, which everyone who has done this regimen has gone through, it really looks like my skin is purging it all
THESE TWO DAYS WERE HELL
Day 14- I really hated the way i looked today, i literally have 5 massive whiteheads on my face, luckily I don't have to go out. the white heads are where i put suncream on, so i wont be using that one again...
Day 15- It really looks like my skin tone is way worse, the bit spots have come but way more are on the way... skin still looks super shit. No improvement from before, I'm going to give this a few more days but i cant keep handling these breakouts. what sucks is that the skin on the rest of my face is perfect, no matter what I do, just around my mouth is fucked.
Day 16- Finally a bit of improvement in general the big spots are all gone, but now i have a load of tiny whiteheads, this regimen is really hard! i'm constantly having to look at inspiration to get through this purging. If anybody is reading this going through/have gone through the same thing keep strong and let me know how it is going! I hope to make it through this, this regimen really makes sense to me so im going to keep strong for you!
Day 18- So i went out again, it is becoming very apparent that i might go out too much, anyway, my skin is fine after going out, im just getting fed up of this dry skin, making me look really gross, might try exfoliate with a towel soon, one thing to note is that i have not really had BIG big spots, like the ones i was complaining about before only felt big because they all came at once (purging) with all the weird red blotchy parts.
I have what looks like red irritation around my jaw line where i used to use quite a lot of benzoyl. Its going down but super slow, i'm hoping within the next month it will all be gone
Day 19- So continued progress, slow, very slow and steady, Im going to try gently exfoliate tonight i think, lets see how it goes!
So its been a few
its now Day 24and my skin keeps improving, I made a youtube video as well since i really want to share my experience in hopes that it will help others. I really feel like my skin is better in the way that it no longer looks either really oily, unfortunately the dead skin is still around although way less that before, and the weird red patches of spot like things on the side of my face are also still there, but every day, there is a little bit of improvement.
Another thing to note is that I have been eating what ever i feel like at the moment, and my skin is reacting fine, although i have gotten my first big whitehead in a while, (will keep experimenting). either way I'm still hopeful about the future and really think this is my way out.
Day 32- I genuinely cannot believe Imade it this far, its so hard to keep going, but I still think its going to keep getting better...
Lets get a few things clear.
I no longer get big painful spots. EVER.NO MATTER WHAT I EAT
Skin is way easier to maintain and i love the freedom
BUT:
The dead skin is killing me, everytime i do water sports i get soooo much dead skin.
I end up having to gently exfoliateevery couple days, and that is the only thing giving any spots, or else im pretty sure i'd be completely clear. I'm also still a little red and blotchy in areas, but i think one more month and this will all smooth out.
Its been a really tough month, but hopefully after i'm done for life, I am definitely never going back to benzoyl peroxide thats for sureeeeeeeeee
Day 41- So i kept going, and its still improving but super slowly, the red blotchy areas are getting better, and no matter how i eat, my skin continues to stay solid, the dry skin is slowly getting better but because i used benzoyl for so long my skin is taking a while to recover. I'm going to keep going with this for the next couple of months, i think ill get back on here at the day 60 mark.
To sum up, my skin keeps getting better and better and better (i'm super happy) but progress is slow. skin is very dryfeels good to do it naturally though.
On 4/30/2019 at 7:52 AM, Haliuka said:Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
It's amazing how you've come this far because we all know how excruciating it is to not pick at your skin. :'(
Keep going and good luck on your journey!
Thanks! I definitely recommend this regimen if you haven't tried it, maybe just wait for one or two more months to try it to see how mine goes! It's really hard to keep going cause when you get spots you actually feel super gross, but i haven't got any spots in so long now, just weird red bumps which go away after a while. Just need my skin to stop being so flaky and i'll look super good!
Flaking skin is a sign of an outbreak of malasezzia fungus (which can also cause acne like symptoms, and will get worse if one's skin is left wet, ie, after water sports). Do you also have dandruff ?
Apply topical terbenafine antifungal cream (often sold as Lamisil) - this should clear the flaking skin. If you cannot get terbenafine cream, apply clotrimazole cream (which is an antiantfungal cream, also). And use an antidandruff shampoo if you have dandruff. You can use antidandruff shampoo on your skin also, although some of them are quite harsh. The best anti-malasezzia shampoo is Mustela Foam Shampoo for Newborns. This shampoo is very gentle and it will clear malasezzia fom scalp and skin, and hence stop the flaking skin.
6 hours ago, Aussie Scientist said:Flaking skin is a sign of an outbreak of malasezzia fungus (which can also cause acne like symptoms, and will get worse if one's skin is left wet, ie, after water sports). Do you also have dandruff ?
Apply topical terbenafine antifungal cream (often sold as Lamisil) - this should clear the flaking skin. If you cannot get terbenafine cream, apply clotrimazole cream (which is an antiantfungal cream, also). And use an antidandruff shampoo if you have dandruff. You can use antidandruff shampoo on your skin also, although some of them are quite harsh. The best anti-malasezzia shampoo is Mustela Foam Shampoo for Newborns. This shampoo is very gentle and it will clear malasezzia fom scalp and skin, and hence stop the flaking skin.
I genuinely do appreciate the advice! But my flaky skin is just another way of saying its super dry, it's not actually "flaking" off, in terms of all the things you suggested, I'm getting really good results by not putting any chemicalson my face! the dryness keeps getting better everyday, but if it persists/gets worse I'll for sure look into what you said!
Day 60 ish- So its been around 2 months, and I can really tell that my skin was ruined by benzoyl peroxide, it's going to take a little longer to fix properly...
My skin is looking way less dry now though, the flakiness is slowly going away which is great! I got abreakout on one side of my face recently which got me down, but i just kept going with not washing my face. At the moment i'm testing the theory about diet, i'm literally eating whatever i feel like, and going partying pretty much every week, I still can't figure out if it plays a role. I'm pretty sure the reason i broke out is because i exfoliated loads in the second month which means that nothing really had time to heal, so now im not going to touch my face for a while.
I know this is doing good for my skin, but i have to give it time. Soooo much time, in general spots are still always small and go away quick, while dry skin is slowly no longer becoming a problem.
For anyone out there also doing this, just know that nothing immediately just works, it usually gets worse for a while before the benefits come through. I will return to this in another month!
Hope this helps someone!
Day 90- 3 MONTH UPDTE! this is crazy...what can I say about my skin now?
My skin is almost 90% clear, I no longer really get acne pimples, every now and then I get tiny whiteheads but they go away in 1-2 days.
I still have flaky skin but the area of flakiness is getting smaller every week.
if i had no dry skin, this would be the best my skin has been in years...
Will update again in another month!
