Funnyfox

UPDATE 2: So I've just come to the end of my second week and it's not been as rosy as the first. On Monday (the day after writing my previous update) I could feel a deep painful cyst forming on my right cheek. I haven't had a proper cyst spot in a while, and this one was a MAMMOTH. I tried not to panic and resist the urge to slather BP all over it, but as it got bigger and BIGGER (literally like a small marble sticking out my face) I had to do something. I'd come across the aspirin mask reviews on here and a lot of people said it helped their cystic acne, so on Thursday I started applying crushed aspirin paste directly on the spot. It was a miracle! It brought it to a head and yesterday I was able to pop it and now it's healing nicely. Anyway, the rest of my face is still fine and spot free aside from this huge one. I worried that maybe it was my Lymecycline that caused the cyst as that's the only thing diet-wise thats changed, so I've now stopped taking it. Bottom line is, things are still going well with only letting water touch my face in my morning shower, and my new discovery of aspirin means if any nasty spots to crop up, I have a solution.

UPDATE: So it's only been one week and already my skin is so much better. I have no new spots, no huge ones (as mentioned above, I normally ALWAYS have one huge one on my face at all times) and my red marks from the spots look a little faded. I'll give some more information on my routine. I have only been allowing the water from my shower run across my face for about 5 seconds in the morning just before I get out the shower. I then let my face dry out naturally without touching it without a towel. On Thursday (4 days in) I bought some green tea (double dragon from Holland and Barrett if you're in the UK, it's regarded as the best and only about £2) and have been drinking about 5/6 cups a day. This was also after re-reading the positive effects this can have on your skin. Today I gently rubbed the teabag on my face after I'd finished drinking a cup, as I heard that can help due to the antioxidants in the tea. I must also mention that on Tuesday I went to the doctors about my acne for the first time in about 10 years. The appointment was booked about 10 days prior (typical wait for a doctor in London) and before I decided to go caveman. He prescribed me some Lymecycline pills and Differin gel, but after reading reviews on here which were basically 50/50 on success, I wasn't keen on using them until I'd tried the caveman method a bit longer. I ESPECIALLY didn't want to start using the Differin gel, as that's the complete opposite of what I'm trying to achieve. The doctor also said it can make your skin go red so I'm not using that. I have been taking one Lymecycline pill a day (the doctor told me to take 2 though) as I'm confident it won't make things worse. Anyway, one week in and I'm feeling really positive about how my skin is improving. All I can say is, this obviously won't work for everyone. And to be honest I'd only recommend it to people who have already tried EVERYTHING else and had no luck. I think years of applying chemicals to my face have kept it in a constant state of irritation which has made me spot prone. I've not let me skin do it's job naturally and that's where I may have gone wrong. Anyway, it's still early days and it could still go badly, but so far so good! I'll update again in a week.

I've suffered from acne since about age 14, it got So bad age 16 I used accutane, and since then my acne has fluctuated from terrible to manageable. I'm now 27 and although I've learned to 'accept' and 'live' with my mild acne, it still causes no end of frustration and low-confidence, especially as I'm a male and I seem to be the only one I know this age still suffering. Anyway, I went to Glastonbury festival last week, which lasts 5 days. Whilst there I didn't shower/wash my face AT ALL. For anyone that's been, you'd know why, for those that haven't, the toilet facilites consist of basically drop-holes full of sh*t that you can smell from a mile away. I don't have a fixed skin care routine, but I mostly still apply Dan's BP at night and sometimes in the morning if I have a particularly bad breakout, as well as moisturisers, coconut oil and sometimes Glycolic acid (again if some spots are huge and headless, but this can sometimes backfire and make them even redder and peel all the skin around it). I didn't take any of these to Glasto, and went the full 5 days caveman. My skin was pretty clear when I arrived, no major spots at the time (I've always got at least one HUGE one going on somewhere so this is quite rare) and I was a little worried that the lack of products/washing would mean I'd be saying goodbye to my clear skin quickly... Nope. The total opposite. Despite the muddy/dirty conditions for 5 days, lack of sleep, too much alcohol, some junk food, my skin remained clear the entire time. Within 2 days of being home and washing/using products on my face, I've broken out HORRIBLY with huge spots on various places on my face. Now I've found these reviews by googling 'not washing face helping acne' as I accidentally discovered that there could actually be something in this. The only thing that worries me slightly is how quickly and badly my skin broke out as soon as I returned from Glastonbury. Surely it was ready to break regardless? I can't imagine it wouldn't have done this should I have continued not to have washed, as there must have been a lot of dirt etc on my face. Anyway, I'm now going to give this a try and stop washing my face again and see what happens. It's hard for me to do when I have spots, as all my urges tell me to apply products to them to try and kill them, as I hate walking round with beacons of red on my face. I will report back in a couple of weeks to see how this has got on.