This is something I have started doing this week, water only washing. I posted a comment I found on a YouTube videoon another thread that kinda made sense to me. It basically says that hormones are the root cause of acne and cleansing and using to many products make it worse.

I'm in my 30s now and have tried absolutely everything except not washing with soap. I was always taught to wash my face daily, even twice a day and I have always had some type of acne ( except for a year or so following roaccutane).

I recently read about this American politician who had amazing skin and said the secret was she never washes her face and moisturises twice a day.

That had me curious so I started asking everyone I know who has good skin what they do, and it turns out just washing with water was the the most common method.

So for the last 6 days I have used nothing but water and moisteriser and actually my skin is pretty good at the moment. I had 1 spot come up a couple of days ago but it was different to normal, it didn't get inflamed or painful and dried up in a day.

Also my skin just feels 'happier' at the moment, less red and inflamed.

I joined up on this forum as I wanted to see if anyone else tried this and what the long term effect was as I don't want to explode in acne in a month or 2 without regular washing.

I stopped using soap, but water alone was insufficient tocut through the grease that builds up on my skin. you can try using salt or lemon or both. they work and leave your skin feeling better than soap.

You are on the regimen now? I've been on the regimen for 2 years, during these 24 months I've done the regimen with and without a cleanser. Honestly I haven't noticed any significant difference between using the regimen with a cleanser or only water.

I did see an improvement when only washing with water and moisturizing, I'm gonna try it again. Too many creams and solutions might indeed do more harm than good.

you do not really need a moisturizerbut theyare mentally addictive. I felt ''naked'' after stopping using moisturizers, I guess similar to what women can feel without makeup. The downside of moisturizers is that they interfere with the natural process of skin shedding, my skin is in better condition after having stopped using them. Instead I use a mild lactic acid serum after showering.

The great thing about washing with just water is that after several weeks you get a much better idea of your skin type.

My large, inflamed, under the skin type of spots have completely disappeared since I started washing with just water. At about week 5 though I started getting several spots on my face at a time but they were just very small whiteheads that disappear very quickly.

What I realised though that around the spots the skin was dry and flaky and that was actually my lightbulb moment. I naturally have dry sensitive skin.

I think because my skin is naturally dry, all those years of cleansing made it even drier, irritable and inflamed, no matter what cleanser I used. Moisterising helped the very top layer of skin stay under control but deep down it was dry and cracked, causing my skin to produce to much sebum.Put some sebum into those cracks and you have inflamed cystic acne and my skin tricking me into thinking it was too oily, when it wasn't.

Stopping using cleanser calmed down my skin and since I started moisturising daily again the whiteheads have died down. Right at this moment I have 1 single spot on my face, which is actually just under my chin so not even noticeable.

I am having good success with ponds dry skin cream on my face. The ingredients are not the best but it is great at moisturising.