I feel like we've lost ourselves. All those products to clear away all the dirt on our skin, then to moisturize because the last product stripped off the natural oils, and then on top of that, only to layer it with separate oils from a bottle. And what if you got acne? That means you must take extra good care of your skin, spend all your money and effort to get rid of the pimples on top, and obsess over your red bumps: touching it, looking at it, squeezing it, covering it with layers of make up to seem "normal." Because the flawless skin you see on T.V., in the movies, or on YouTube is "normal," right?
Let me tell you, I've been an acne sufferer for 12 years. It started when I was in middle school; my first self conscious moment was when my friend pointed out the gigantic volcano forming on my nose. I went home that day and popped that thing like no tomorrow (still have a scar from it too) and from that day on, I found myself standing in front of the mirror, hours at a time, studying my face and trying to come to terms with accepting my acne. But I couldn't because I am human! When we humans see a problem, we try to fix it. I first went to the doctors who prescribed me with antibiotics, a cleanser, toner and moisturizer as well as sunscreen; I remember my skin becoming extremely oily from those products. After that, I went from one acne product to another, trying to find a cure. The more obsessed I was, the more I picked at it, and the more I picked at my face, the more my face revolted back against me with mountains and valleys of new pimples, clogged pores, and oiliness that people I come into contact with would squirm their nose at.
Let me tell you, I've been an acne sufferer for 12 years. It started when I was in middle school; my first self conscious moment was when my friend pointed out the gigantic volcano forming on my nose. I went home that day and popped that thing like no tomorrow (still have a scar from it too) and from that day on, I found myself standing in front of the mirror, hours at a time, studying my face and trying to come to terms with accepting my acne. But I couldn't because I am human! When we humans see a problem, we try to fix it. I first went to the doctors who prescribed me with antibiotics, a cleanser, toner and moisturizer as well as sunscreen; I remember my skin becoming extremely oily from those products. After that, I went from one acne product to another, trying to find a cure. The more obsessed I was, the more I picked at it, and the more I picked at my face, the more my face revolted back against me with mountains and valleys of new pimples, clogged pores, and oiliness that people I come into contact with would squirm their nose at.
This cycle continued well into my college years. Sometime in my sophomore year of college, I discovered the acne.org regimen and like always, I decided to buy it and try it out. Yes, at first, it was effective enough however over time, I found that the effectiveness started to wear off. My acne was still present as ever. One thing I hated about it too was that it was an emotional clutch for me; I hated having to depend on the thing and having to continually worry that if I don't apply it on time, everyday, pimples will form again.
After graduating from college with my first degree, I realized I needed to stop this cycle and obsession. So I stopped using acne.org benzoyl peroxide. Cold turkey too. That summer of 2014 was one of the most difficult times for me. The masses of pimples purged from my skin, declaring war against my decision to stop using benzoyl peroxide. It was horrible. Really, just look at the pictures below. I was extremely self conscious too, going through the day at work knowing that I'm bearing my insecurities to the world. At first, I was still washing with Neutrogena Oil-free Acne Face Scrub with Grapefruit but pretty soon, I weaned off of that too. During that time, I also stopped eating added sugars (cakes, pastries, any processed products like bread with added sugars) and started exercising every other day and eating a fresh raw salad every morning with lots of water. Well, I can tell you the results but I'll show you instead. Below are pictures of when I started to stop obsessing/touching my face in September to now in mid December. By the way, I do not wear make up at all.
Start/Day 1: A lot of closed comedones in these.
4 Days in: Notice the extreme oiliness!
1 Week and 2 Days: Pimples are receding, very dry skin on lower jaw area. Scabs of dry skin actually but that meant it was healing!
1 Week 4 days: Holy cows! What an improvement! Here, I mainly suffered from dry skin rather than oily here. My skin felt very thick and rough even though it may not look like it.
3 Weeks in: Past scars are appearing more evident but who cares, look at my wonderful healing skin!! And the oiliness slowly disappeared too.
3 months in (December): Note that the pictures above was when I was out and about running in the sun so I was quite tan. I am paler below due to being indoors during the winter. Also note that my oiliness is almost nonexistent now and the few acne pimples I do have are hormonal, increasing whenever I am stressed, lacking sleep and eating more added sugar than usual.
As of this moment, I do not wash in the morning and I only lightly wash my face in the shower at night with a regular cleanser (Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash) and I exfoliate with water every two days while in the shower. I also apply a bit of Olay night cream before I sleep. I think I'll start weaning myself off of that too to see what can happen! I cannot wait until a year from now to see how my skin will heal.
I hope this post may be useful for somebody out there. The first three months are the hardest, especially when your skin is purging and you're trying to change your lifestyle at the same time but the benefits are huge. If you're brave enough to go through what I went through, forgoing make up, acne products, and avoiding the mirror for three months straight, you might find that perhaps there is something to all this after all. Now, referring back to my opening about all those the beautiful skin you see in your daily life such as those in the media and even those around you that cover their flaws with make up--what seems like perfectly flawless "normal" skin--is simply not normal at all. Your worth is not tied to what you look like. To be human is to be imperfect, so embrace your imperfections, love yourself, keep yourself healthy and put your time, effort, and thoughts into your relationships, goals, and dreams instead. There is so much more to life, so much more to YOU than what is physically seen.
_______________
Tomorrow is always a new day.
Happiness is always a choice.
Here's to a new you~
Each day,
Every day.
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Tomorrow is always a new day.
Happiness is always a choice.
Here's to a new you~
Each day,
Every day.
***UPDATE 2018: My skin routine has been fairly the same throughout the years since I wrote this article. However, now, I do not use a cleanser at all. I only shower at night and apply 2 items: a ginseng serum and a vitamin C night cream. Both ginseng and vitamin C are great anti-aging agents! Of course, I still exfoliate every other 2-3 days and couple this regimen with regular exercise and healthy eating (lots of water and no sweets or dairy). 😉
Hi, I stumbled across your post on the caveman regimen and I want to say congrats on getting clear skin! My acne started 4 years ago after going on birth control and since then I have been struggling with getting clear skin. I have tried different products that give results but don't last. I figured recently that I need to leave my face alone cos thats what I did prior to getting acne. I wasn't one of those people that believed in using tons of products on my face. I just wanted to ask what your typical day and night time routine was like when you went through the caveman regimen. Did you wash your face with water or with soap or with both and how often? I will appreciate it if you write back to me, thank you!
ReplyDelete1.) If you haven't already, get your mensuration cycle back to normal after weaning off the pill; you can accomplish this with veggies/fruit > diet and also plenty of exercise and water and sleep. If you are overweight, it would be beneficial to lose some fat/pounds. (This actually helped me). Also avoid added processed sugars (ie. from sweets and processed food) and limit cow dairy products. Processed sugars add to inflammation within the body. As for dairy, many people are actually allergic or intolerant to it but they don't know. This can affect acne. I'm general, I suggest you to think about any possible food allergies or intolerances you might have.
Delete2.) Reduce stress and reduce clutter in your home. Stress although is not clearly present at first, can wreak havoc on you internally in all aspects of health. Also, reducing clutter and airing out your home helps get rid of any excess dust, mold, mildew that might contribute to your acne. Clean your home and any personal items regularly.
3.) When considering the caveman approach, stay away from mirrors for a few months or more; don't touch or pick your face. Basically, just forget that your acne ever exists and instead, focus on other more important things in your life.
4.) Use a simple cleanser and face cream if you can't go cold turkey. At first, I stopped using all my products and went cold turkey since I knew that one or more was contributing to my acne. I also did not touch my face at all for a few weeks and only just wet it during the shower at night. But during that time, there was a lot of build up of dead skin which started to itch. So I added back a simple face wash and exfoliating with water. Basically I wet my face, just take a bit of the cleanser, rub it in my hand and make a lather, then pat my face with the soap for 5-10 seconds and wash it off with lukewarm water. Then I gently rub my face in a circular motion for about a minute or less to get rid of the dead skin. Rinse. Then pat dry with a clean towel and apply only a tiny thin layer of a facial night cream. This is only the night routine. Right now I use Clean and Clear, foaming wash for sensitive skin and Night of Olay as a facial lotion since those two seem not to affect my face very much. In the morning, I don't do anything to my face, except just wash my eyes.
5.) Keep in mind that for this to work, it takes a lot of time, more than a few months actually. Basically, I had to change my lifestyle for the past year to get to this point and there were many ups and downs as well. Right now, I only get acne on the latter half of my menstruation cycle so mine is hormonal as well. But it's not a lot, they aren't noticeable and they clear up right when I get my period/start a new cycle. There's not much I can do at this point but I no longer obsessed over it so it's no big deal. I do notice however that when I visit the countryside or go somewhere with clean air and when I eat less dairy and more wholesome cooking, my acne tends to get better so there are environmental and nutritional factors to my acne as well. It might or might not be same with you.
Hello Miss Bee,
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer in the natural approach; your situation, however, is a bit different from mine since I've never taken birth control pills. If your acne started from BC pills and if you haven't already done so, I suggest you wean yourself off the pills. Often times, it's the hormones inside you that causes inflammation, not your actual skin/face. That being said, once off the pills, you'll most likely get a lot more acne because of hormonal imbalance. If this is where you are, I can suggest some holistic approaches. These may or may not help but it's worth a shot.
Well those are all the tips that I can offer for holistic acne approaches. But big thing is, as you've already concluded, is to stop using so much products on your face and touching the face. By doing so, you're constantly changing the environment on your skin and the skin cannot adapt so quickly so flare ups can occur from that. Also, the birth control pills... If your acne comes from that (assuming you're still on them), your acne will continue to occur because of that. If you can't live without them, then perhaps you can switch pills as different pills can affect you differently. And of course, time is another huge factor. The caveman approach is not for someone who wants a quick solution. Often for people with acne, we tend to be really impatient because we're not seeing results right away. So every now and then, we pick at the skin or touch it or obsess over it and this simply makes things worse, not better. And then we give up and try new products. I know what's it like! That's why I now tell people to follow a holistic lifestyle approach. Patience is the key ~. Hope I helped!
DeleteYea thanks! I got off birth control about 3 years ago and I haven't gotten back to it. I think with using different products my skin is weak cos before now, I would get a pimple or two and it would heal by itself. I didn't need to use any facial wash. I eat very healthy, exercise and also clean so I doubt it has to do with my diet or anything like that. Did the caveman regimen help with clogged pores? Right now I am in the purging stage and I feel like everything that has been hidden under my face is coming to the surface. I try not to look at the mirror but I catch myself doing so. I will definitely work on not looking. I also don't pick my face except when it itches and in that case I will usually use my cloth or tissue to pat it. Apart from that i don't pick my face or any existing pimple. I will stick with this regimen for a little longer and hopefully it helps me with clearing my face to an extent and I can slowly re-introduce mild products to my face. Thank you so much for replying.
DeleteJust a quick question :
ReplyDeleteDid you notice any difference in pore size after undergoing this regimen ?
Yes! My pores did gradually get a bit smaller and skin tones became overall more defined. Hope this helps. :)
DeleteHey, I'm happy to read your post. I just got one more question though, would it be okay to completely stop using topical products (except moisturizer at night) and just wash the face with water? Coz I have a different approach, but I'm not sure if it's okay or not.
ReplyDeleteI wash my face with water only, then tap my face with clean cloth. Massage my face with ice cubes ( everynight before going to bed) then, put on some moisturizer (Nivea). Will it help? On my 3rd night now, then wash my face every morning with water only. Think I'll go with the same cycle for the coming days and observe. I'm just worrying if it's gonna have any long term effect (bad) in the long run if I continue with doing cold turkey.
Im suffering with all the world's facial skin problems and I'm almost gonna lose my shit finding the right way to cure it 😂... I'd really appreciate if you can write back, thanks!