It’s been just over three months since I stopped washing my face and stopped letting water touch it too.
This means no washing, no soap, no water, no cleanser, no toner, no honey, no jojoba oil, no moisturizer, no sunscreen, and hardly any makeup aside from an occasional dab. Nothing. I do nothing to my skin. Check out the links below the video for the past articles about my caveman regimen experiment, so you can get up to date if you want to know more about what this is all about!
So far, I am so stoked on this regimen. It’s done some wonderful stuff for my skin and acne.
The first month wasn’t so great… my face got very blotchy, dry, bumpy, and very flakey. But I took it as a sign of healing, and, luckily – it was.
My skin has only gotten better and better over time – it’s no longer flakey or dry. It’s very smooth. The congestion and whiteheads I usually had on my forehead is gone. The amount of inflamed acne has reduced significantly, and if I do get a bit of acne, it seems to be much smaller, not nearly as red or obvious… it seems like it “blends” in better with my skin and isn’t so “angry” looking.
And the small acne that does pop up here and there also goes away VERY quickly compared to before and so do the red marks. Like practically by the next day the pimple will be gone, and by the day after that, the red mark will be gone too.
This worked out so much better for me than I ever thought it was going to, especially because I had been using only gentle, natural products for a long time before I tried this. Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like it works for everyone, but for me, it’s been so great.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhAcBeJV0Hg
Elaboration Note: You may have remembered that when I was first starting this, my plan was to do the “no water” thing for a month, and then wash my face, or get it wet every three days or so.
In the second month of the regimen, I splashed my face with cold water and exfoliated the flakiness away with my fingers a couple of times (two weeks apart), and while it did help reduce some of the flakiness, it seemed like it also just made my skin very dry and made any red marks stand out and look more obvious.
So as time went on and my skin naturally stopped being flakey, I just naturally stopped making a point to splash it with water. Mostly because I just wouldn’t think about it and forget, and two, it just didn’t seem like there was much of a point if it was just going to make my skin dry. So the “no water” part continues.
Note that I don’t freak out if my skin gets kind of wet, like a little bit from washing my hair or whatever…. I just keep that to a minimum and pat it dry after or air dry. Doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Past Caveman Regimen Articles and Videos:
How to Do the Caveman Regimen: Clearing Acne by Not Washing Your Face
My Experiences on the Caveman Regimen So Far
What is Your Relationship to Makeup? Could You Ever Let It Go?
The Caveman Regimen Experiment – My Day 30 Update
Have you tried the caveman? If so, what was your experience? I know not everyone’s experience with it has been positive, so I want to hear the good and the bad.
** UPDATE ** This topic has been so popular, I’ve finally decided to create ‘Caveman Regimen: The Ultimate Guide’ to answer all your questions and help you through the terrifying process of letting of of skin care (as well as help with modifying the Caveman to suit you and your needs better). Click here for more details!
430 Responses
Hi Tracy I’m gonna try this but how do you manage to shower and not get water on your face ?
I just want to say thank you. This was the first video I watched on the caveman method and it has changed my skin for the better. I have a modified regimen I use water maybe two-three time a week depending on how oily my skin is feeling. I am african american with oily/dry combination skin.I only wash my face at night when I do use water and I pat dry gently with a towel. Then if the weather is extreme or my face feels extremely dry I’ll use two drops of jojoba oil and pat it on my face. Ive been on this regime for about 3 months. My skin is rejuvenated! I do still get extremely small bumps from time to time but they aren’t painful in the least and usual just oil build of from the oils I put in my hair.overall my skin tone has evened and my face is 70% less oily than before. One day I will go totally caveman but as of now I’m happy with the progress. Thank you!!
Hi Tatiana,
Tracy asked me to reply to a few of the comments on her blog while she’s in India, but I’m sure she’ll be happy to read your comment!!! 😉 Your story sounds like an amazing success story! Thanks a lot for sharing!!! 😀
First I want to say thank you for sharing your experience. But I would like to ask you some questios. Do you wear makeup? And if so, how do you deal with not washing your face? And what type and brand of makeup and jojoba oil? How long have you been doing this regimen? And how long did it take to start working for you?
Thank you
What about so much dirt and dead skin …… plzz plzzz guide me…. because there is a lot of dirt and dead skin buildup on my face
This is totally interesting and I really believe that caveman could give my skin the final healing kick. Actually my skin issues only started when I started to use products, so this all makes sense. But I really don’t know how to get through the flaky phase and the itchiness that comes along with it. I think I need to prepare myself mentally for a longer time before I can pull this off. I also somehow like having a routine in the bathroom and doing a little bit of girly stuff, although it’s already very minimal now it’s not that easy to give it up completely..
and on the other hand I just started using that mrm msm cream and have really good results with it..
I’m using MSM cream too, I’ve only had it for about 5 days though, so I would be interested to know how long you’ve used it/how quickly it worked…so far I’ve had a really minor breakout this week but it’s gone now within a couple of days and I really like the way it makes my skin feel. I really want it to fade my red scars, do you think it has helped with that?
I have to quit my makeup dependence before I could attempt this regime, but let’s face it, it’s absolutely ideal to have great skin without doing anything! I’m so glad it’s worked for you – I wish more GPs offered this as an option instead of ‘here’s your benzoyl’ attitude they can sometimes take (or in my case, have always taken – 3 different doctors).
Well, I’ve also only been using it for 6 days :), so I can’t say that much. My skin is very thin and sensitive, I don’t have many deep scars and hyperpigmentation is not that visible because I have freckles anyways (ha,ha). But I had a breakout the week before I started using the cream that faded away very quickly once I started using it (although my digestion was totally wacked the past days) I have the impression that the overall appearance of my skin already got better within a couple of days, my skin tone is a little more even and it looks just a little healthier and calmer. I have two scars and spots of broken capillaries on my nose that already got a little less visible. I have big pores that seem a little smaller now and I even have the impression that blackheads are reduced aswell. I try to keep the use of the cream to a minimum though (as I know I’m prone to developing cosmetic acne or so called POD). When I don’t wear makeup I don’t wash my face in the evening, I also keep the bathroom darker in the evening so that I’m not tempted to start picking. In the morning I only rinse with cold water and then apply a very thin layer of the msm cream on my slightly damp skin. Also tried to put a little extra cream on spots, as if it was a spot treatment, not sure if it makes a difference, but it was definitely no harm so far. I hope that info helps you a bit, I’m honestly a little shocked about how effective the cream is for me. I never tried MSM internally, so I have no experience with that. I don’t take any supplements at the moment. Another great thing about this cream is that it doesn’t make my skin shiny and sweaty. Usually my face, especially my nose, starts producing a lot of extra sebum when I use a moisturizer. I don’t know how it is with the a long term use, I’m not a 100% sure about the emulsifier glycerol monostearate that is in it. Usually I would avoid any kind of emulsifier even if it’s supposed to be “safe”.
Mmm.. I want to do this pretty bad.. but the only problem is I still have pretty bad acne, mostly in my cheeks so pretty obvious and not easy to hide (with or without makeup) :(. I actually just started smearing my face evey night with the skin balm that Green Pastures makes. (This same codliver oil company). Wow, the redness has gone away sooo much. I started taking the cod liver/butter oil at the same time, so I don’t know if its helping from the inside or the outside or both. Or maybe it’s unrelated. I can never tell..
I think this would work really well for me, cause my acne seemed to get the worst as soon as I started using products for acne. They were even natural stuff, (or so it said) but it still wasn’t a good idea I don’t think. I am fine without makeup on an everyday scale, but what about any events I might come across over the next month or two? The ones where I want to look as acne free and pretty as possible!! 🙂
So I was planing on getting the manuka honey you reccomended, I already use honey and like it, but its not active or anything.. do you think I should go with the honey at least tll I can get my skin less severe, or just do it?? I need to make up my mind before I go blow $30 on that awesome jar of heaven.. what do y’all think?? Stick with honey and cod liver balm, or go caveman?? (Sorry, I just feel like I’ll get a better response here, than if I were to ask people I know..lol) thanks for any thoughts
hey thelovevitamin,
i really wanna try this regimen and im gonna start tomorrow, any advice will help! 🙁 i am really starting to break out all around my jawline and cheecks. I had my acne at bay by just washing it every night but i tried this sulfur cream and it broke me out bad im thinking because it dried out my skin. Anyway I had started this regimen on the 13Th of this month but i broke it twice when i washed it. Today i wore makeup but it started itching my skin so i had to wash it off. so i guess ima have to restart with tommorow. sorry that im rambling. its just really depressing i cant even go to work and look people in the eye anymore. Hate that it has so much control of my life. Plz respond a.s.a.p. i really need some advice and encouragement.
Oh, and swimming.. I live in Texas, its like the only thing to do outside in the summer!! If I were to do caveman, would I need to stop swimming or just not get my face wet, or just not worry about it when I’m in the water, and just not use anything other than that..?
Oh and swimming… I dont know. I thought about that… personally, I would just try to avoid putting your head in in the first month or two if you’re going to do it. For me now, I would go swimming without any issues or worrying about my face getting wet, but … yeah. In the first month, just …. do “light swimming” hahah… no cannonballs
Hi Tracy,
Im on my fourth day of the regemin.. My face is flaky and dry, but there are less pimples and my tone is evening out!!! yay for that
I was wondering if this is what you experienced at this stage if you remember? Also how did you get rid of the flakes, im trying to not wash with water… Did you use a soft washcloth or just leave them?
Thanks for all your help!!!!
Ok wow !! Thanks for the advice and for replying so quickly!
Lol im tryg to figure what to tell ppl wen they ask why my face is so dry? It sounds weird to say im not washing! My mom asked me today… Idk if they sld understand it all?? Hmmm
Im sorry, but i didnt receive the link, could you please resend it if u dont mind?
Thank you!!!!!!!!!
The link is just at the end of this article – I linked to a bunch of the old articles I wrote about the caveman.
As for what to say – haha I don’t know, but if it were me, I’d almost rather someone ask instead of just wondering if they were wondering why my skin was so flakey. I figure the best thing is just ‘oh… it’s just something I’m trying.’
Hee hee, yes I think i wld rather them ask too.. Instead of me wondering what they think about it.. It really makes me wonder, if ppl are noticing tho? Are if im so self concious that I think they are?!!!
I actually worked up the courage to tell my mom! Haha, I was shocked she actually liked the idea and thought it may work!!:)
She suggested I use distilled water at the end of my 30 days to wash it off, instead our reg tap water? What do u think of this Tracy !?
Thank you
I think it’s a good idea – I think part of the reason this probably works so well is because there’s junk in the tap water
Okay and what about itchiness? I had to stop after 5 days because my face started itching so much that I couldn’t keep my hands out of my face and then I peeled everything off under the shower and had these little skin sausages in my hands..
haha hmm…. I’m not really sure what to do about the itching, I guess I’m lucky mine didn’t itch that bad. I can imagine it would drive you crazy, but I’m not sure what you would do in that situation except will power your way through it
hm, I guess will power is the thing 🙂
Only question I have is during the caveman routine if I exercise and sweat alot during a work out, I could take a shower but the thought of not putting water on my sweaty face after a workout scares me haha. Guess that wasn’t a question but a potential fear. Any thoughts? lol
haha – this whole regimen is about breaking down fears! I always left my sweat on my face and it was fine
The salt in sweat itches/stings/clogs pores. I’m not sure how to get the sweat out of my eyes/ears without water. Curious to hear how anyone has dealt with this if they sweat a lot during workouts.
I think im going to do your candidas cleanse book along w the caveman? Do u think this is a good idea to do at the same time?
I wonder how long it takes for the book to come in?
Hi Kim, I don’t see why you can’t do them at the same time, unless you want to be sure to tell which one is working .. like if you see improvement, you may wonder if it was the candida cleanse or the caveman regimen.
Anyway, if you purchase the candida cleanse, it’s a digital product, which means you can download it right away and read it on your computer. It’s not a physical book
Manuka Honey if I eat about 3 tablespoons a day is it good for the skin ?
Yes, potentially it could help 🙂
Ok…. I was thinking of doing the candida cleanse, because i have chest and back acne!!! Do you think it will help clear this up too?
So cool that using no acne products at all is actually making your skin better.
I keep my skin care minimal these days but not sure whether I would completely stop washing it as you have.
Anyway it’s great to see it works wonders for you.
Do you have any days now where you wash your face?
Bobby
Honestly, my skin is very greasy some days and it needs to be washed to get rid of it. Maybe I need to be more careful with the hair wax 🙂
Then other days it is really dry and I need to apply a moisturizer or it flakes.
Thinking about it I may actually give it a try.
If I do ill make sure to share the results with you Tracy.
Perhaps this would regulate that?
Maybe.
I can’t try it this month because I’m testing a few products, but once I get the chance i’ll give it a go.
I have gone a few months where I have only been washing my face every few days with cold water and it went really dry.
I’m guessing though that could have been because I wasn’t drinking that much fluid at the time, and I was washing my face every few days with cold water.
Once I try it I will definitely let you know.
Bobby
This is really interresting!
I have some acne on my shoulders and chest mainly, and I wonder if taking cold baths will help? I have a bad habit of taking way too long and hot baths.
It’s very difficult not to get any water on there for 3 months.
Hi Evelyn – yes I think the caveman no water style would definitely be tough for backs…
The hot baths definitely might be irritating it, but it’s hard to say what you would get the most benefit from… like if there is something actually IN your water that’s irritating it, or if it’s just the heat… or… you’ll have to figure out what works for you to try
this totally makes so much sense. i bet it would great for me too- i have moderate acne on my face and sometimes have different skin issues on my legs and arms, bumpiness, ingrown hairs that kind of thing.
the only skin on my body that is totally clear all the time is my back and i’m sure it’s because i don’t use any type of product on it!
unfortunately i don’t think i’m ready to give up makeup yet…
Try it on your body lauren! Maybe if your other skin issues clear up, you’ll get brave enough to try it on your face if you know it’s going to help 🙂
Hi from Quebec fellow canadian!
Ughhh I want to do that. I actually went camping yesterday and didn’t wash my face with no worries. I was so proud of myself because normally I’m so strict with the washing routine xD I totally understand the flakiness struggle because I’ve got seborrhoic dermatitis around my mouth for about 1 month now and never suffered from it before. Pair this with mild acne and you got the blotchiest, most discolored skin ever. Da-yuum! I’ve become paranoid and isolated myself because people keep asking what happened to my face…It’s not like acne when people knows that you just have pimples. It’s like…they think you got hurt or something because your skin is just a dry, flaky, discolored mess…D: Anyway, I’ve been working on my diet, I just hope it goes away soon so I can start doing this caveman regimen!
When is the next candida challenge? And if we missed this one, do we still like to ask you questions on an open forum and stuff?
Hi Kim, if you want to join this one starting on Monday, you still can. The next one, I haven’t decided yet… either end of June, or mid July
THIS WORKED FOR ME AS WELL!
Your skin knows what it needs. I tryed this cause our well water stinks from sulfur. I cleared up, and washed about once a week. Maybe i will try this again, i did it at a job in my hood where i didnt really care what people thought and grew my beard and hair out(which also helped keep dirt away i think) so yea grow a bread ladies 😉
Yay! How come you stopped doing it? Did you start shaving again?
Yea shaved it after about 13 months(no trimming), def. miss my beard/long curly hair though :/
almost got my beard to my nipples lol
i just really like the feeling of cleaning my hair/face daily. I feel so much better/refreshed. Maybe being a pisces has something to do with it haha
Been doing the manuka honey/jojoba/ thing and using this desert essence facewash. Working pretty well.(thanks!)
Also recently bought this vitamin called k2 mk4(Menatetrenone) heard its really good for softening the skin and acne/reducing pores/scar’s. Def thought of you beautiful! Maybe we can both find some use of it? <3
Yes, I’ve heard about it too! It’s in the green pastures fermented cod liver oil that I use and highly recommend
https://thelovevitamin.com/3452/fermented-cod-liver-oil/
Nice!
Yea it’s also in grass fed butter.
Ordered my vitamin from here:
http://supplements.relentlessimprovement.com/vitamin-k2-menatetrenone-p285.aspx
Great quality brand/site as well.
Ok thanks..my other question is once starting, can you break the weeks apart or does it have to be for three weeks straight..because we may be going out of town and dont know if i can follow it while travelling?
thanks
Hi Kim – I would think you would have to do it all in one go without interrupting the healing process. If you want to do it, I would wait till you are back from travelling
Im super enthused by this caveman method.its just a few times a week when i go out for big meetups i do wear makeup (full face). soo if i only wash my face once instead of twice a day, do you think it would help my skin? if so, which is best to wash it, morning or evening? i know it wont be the same as doing the full on caveman method, but its a start to simply getting used to not washing as much
Hi Tori – yes I think reducing washing would help, for sure. If it were me, I’d wash at night, but that’s just because if I was wearing makeup, I’d put makeup on in the morning and want to wash it off in the evening. But that’s just my preference, I don’t see why it matters, really.
Ok thanks Tracy,
I think i will do the next one in june with you…
does the ebook contain recipes?
Yes, it contains tons of recipes 🙂
Hey Tracy,
I think this regimen would benefit my skin a lot! I work at a youth camp all summer, so it would be the perfect time to do it, but I’m worried about all the swimming we do and the amount of time my skin would be in the sun every day. What do you think?
Thanks!
Well, I would say… just.. swim and don’t worry about it… keep your head out of the water when possible, but don’t worry about it if you need to swim. Is it in the ocean? the salt water may actually be healing and helpful for the process. At least it’s not tap water full of chloride and maybe fluoride and whatever else. As for sun, just make sure you are always wearing a hat that covers your face
Hey Tracy,
I’ve been thinking about this idea for awhile now, mostly thinking about how in the morning my face always looks much better than later in the day (after washing etc).
I think I’m on board. I started around 3 days ago after I started scrubbing like crazy with cinnamon (and my skin started hurting, but i was like … kill germs!!! lol) but a day later I regretted it b/c my face was itchy the ENTIRE day.
What do you think about no water BUT at night I’ll spray some aloe vera/ACV/water as a toner? Will it negatively impact the whole regimen at all?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Jeff – I don’t know haha. If you spray that on, it’s not really the caveman, so I don’t know what kind of impact it would have.
So basically toxins your body eliminates through your skin daily can be good for your skin and not washed?
or maybe the sebum is all ready purified by the body for the skin to flourish? Natural pro-biotic oil?
That is one thing about this regimen that I don’t have a good explanation for – I always thought you sweated out toxins, so, really… it doesn’t seem like that would be good for your skin. Yet this seems to work. What I think is that maybe because we aren’t washing away our sebum and dead skin now, it protects your pores, and then when you sweat out of your sweat glands, the toxins can’t get back into your pores, because … they’ve got protection. Don’t ask me if all that is true, but it sounds logical 😀
I am going out of town to my country home where the only socializing that goes on is with my grandparents. 🙂
I think this would be a good time to do the caveman, but I will only be there like a maximum of 2 weeks.. would tye worst be over by the time I get back to the city, or could I just do this for like two weeks and then stop? Would that ruin the point if I don’t go for an extended amount of time?
Well, for me, the first two weeks weren’t too bad… it was weeks two and three when things got kinda yucky due to all the flakey skin. If I were you I’d just wait till you were back or when you could do it in a continuousness until your skin starts to get better
Thanks for sharing! I inadvertently did the same thing some time ago (after moving away from home and getting into ‘life’). I sort of just got busy and stopped wearing make up and washing my face. Just happened. But ever since it did, bam! no acne! I wish I had know this in highschool where I caked on the foundation to cover the make up, used proactive and totally F’d up my skin! Once I let it balance its own oil, cleared right up! I get a small flare up ever so often so I just splash raw organic apple cider vinegar cut in half with filtered water and it’ll be gone in a day or two. Yay knowledge.
Yay! I like hearing about other caveman success stories 😀
three day update:
A. tone is already evening, spots are drying up.
B. flakiness ……………….. especially on the nose… lol.
oh well, i’m fine with that. i’d take flakiness over inflammation any day 🙂
hopefully this continues! thanks for the idea, tracy!
ive also been doing this the past three days!
so far my tone has also evened out, any scarring is no longer visable and my skin feels at a balance…not oily but definanatly not dry. so its good. im not really sure when to start bringing water back on my face though…like after it goes through the flaky peeling thing and then start rinsing once a week or so…or?
I’m not sure – I just set it for a month arbitrarily. It’s not to say you can’t use water sooner… some people do the caveman with water only. I find that it just makes my skin more dry even now, so I don’t bother. I say try waiting until you can’t stand the amount of flakiness you’re experiencing.
one week-ish update:
the horror, the horror!!! 😉 the dead skin mask has arrived 😮 it’s on my cheeks right now — at first I thought it was some random stuff that had gotten on my skin the night before … guess not, lol.
tracy, so you were saying that you just left it on ..? you tried exfoliating with your fingers but you wouldn’t recommend that?
gotcha, thanks. overall the skin tone is getting better as well.
on another note … do you still make green smoothies? I’ve kind of stopped for this week … I think it’s causing more harm than good now that I’ve looked at my symptoms (always feeling cold, not very well formed stools, acne) and according to traditional chinese medicine i have “dampness” which means I shouldn’t be eating raw foods, period. I’m going to see what happens … it’s still the same foods, it’s just steamed/cooked instead of plain raw.
wow, this was weird. I had a non inflamed pimple for a few days and then it just magically flaked off today. kinda gross but it sorta scabbed over by itself! interesting? lol
I think i am going to give this a shot. I have noticed in the past if i don’t wash my face for a few days it looks a lot better. My current battle is mainly with large pores/ hyper pigmentation/red marks. It totally makes sense though. It seems my large pores have increased since i adopted to washing 2 times daily,compared to before when only washed once a day. Right now i am using daily chemical exfoliation in conjunction with copper peptides, i barely get any breakouts just the large pores ( oil blockages casting shadows and red marks). I will start this tommorow, although i might incorporate cold water washing every couple of days or something.
This is amazing, I started a few days ago BUT it’s hard. I actually began not wearing make-up and only washing my face with a natural product about a week and a half or so ago, but was still breaking out.
It’s hard because I have actually a lot of pimples currently and scars on top of that. It’s so embarrassing to handle but I’m doing it anyway. Luckily everyone has been pretty cool with it. Two people have actually complimented me on it (BUT I know that is because I used to cover up my face A LOT for a LONG time and you could always see how much make-up I was wearing – I’m almost less embarrassed not covering it all)
I’m just curious to know if you had scars before you started this? If so, did they heal at all?
I’m having trouble with this the most actually, they are not deep scars but there’s plenty and they’re red and it’s hard for me to handle that. I was considering trying MSM cream but I don’t want to screw up a good thing I started by using products (I’ve only had about 3 new pimples since I started this) Any advice? Thanks
The Basic theory of this method is our bodies will naturally deal with acne without the use of any added chemicals/cleansers. The problems with cleansers is that they remove the natural sebum/ oil which acts as a defense system for our skin. This is partly why breakouts occur, not because of the sebum itself but the increased and unnecessary overproduction caused by the irritation of cleansers and chemical agents. These scars you are referring to sound more like hyper-pigmentation/red marks which can be further irritated and reddened by overuse of products.It makes alot of sense , even though it might not work for everyone, it seems that there are alot of people who are irritated and harmed by cleansers and other products If this system doesn’t work for you , try the oil cleansing method , but be sure to steam your face after use and remove as much as the excess oil as possible. This is a more natural way to clean your face and doesn’t lead to over oil production. I just started doing the Cavemen method today, however i might do a standard water wash every week or so depending on the flakiness factor. Just hold strong and try this out , if you experience mass breakouts then revert to a different method. However, homo sapiens a hundred thousand years ago didn’t use cleansers or products on their face, the only type of bathing would have most likely been swimming in a lake. If the real problem of acne was not washing or cleansing enough then surely all of our ancestors would have a high level of Acne and skin problems but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Evolution would most likely ensure that this type of malfunction would not naturally occur dominantly in a population.
Everyone uses this as an argument but I think we should understand something: homo sapiens weren’t struggling with pollution, global warming, hormons and aditives in their food, stress, increased radiation from sun rays and many other things
Hi Tracy-
Are there any reasons you can think of that the caveman might not work for someone? I had a hormone test and my testosterone and dhea are high. I really want to try this but I have a summer full of social engagements so I’m still emotionally attached to my makeup. Also-I will be coming off of BP. Should I wean off of BP slowly and then do the caveman or just quit BP cold turkey and go right into the caveman?
I am not Tracy , but i should mention that BP is horrible. Have a look at these.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/213/4511/1023
http://www.the-accidental-acne-treatment.com/benzoyl-peroxide.html
http://healthyskin.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7270023352/m/1150010855?r=8040020855#8040020855
http://healthyskin.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8000084653/m/4530078955/p/1
It’s really hard to say because everyone has their own ” biochemical individuality” what might work for some doesn’t for others.
The only way to find out is to do it, but once thing is certain BP is an unsafe/cancer causing agent that simply supresses damage under the skin. The quicker you get off of this stuff the better.
Thanks Ryan- Those links are scary. I am starting the process of weaning off of it. Have you found something that works for you? Did you use BP before as well?
I used BP last summer for a few months and my face was looking pretty good but afdter doing some research and see all the negative long term effects i stopped immediately. Since October of last year i have been using Skin biology products. They consist of copper peptides, daily chemical exfoliation with lactic acid/salicylic acid and more recently weekly microdermabrasion ( microdermabrasion cloth). My main problem is large pores/ redness and red marks, i do get breakouts but they are infrequent and small. The great thing about these products was that you do not get the ” chemical” feel on your face after application or the next morning but the redness after an application or wash is just annoying me. Also, i never had to use a moisturizer on these products, the cleanser is extremely gentle and the daily chemical exfoliation along with copper peptides gets rid of dry sin. Even after 6 months of these products i still do not have 100% clear complexion and at this point i am getting extremely frustrated. All these years, so many different products and never having clear skin. I haven’t had clear skin since i was 16-17 and am now 27. I certainly do not want to be a life time product user of any type of skin or face product, i would just like to get up in the morning and not have to deal with red marks/redness from washing.So, i need a drastic change. I am coming up on 4 days of not washing my face and i have already noticed some “scabby dry patches on my cheeks” and a little flakiness. My face is a little red all over , must just be getting used to the change. However, the red marks are not as noticeable and my pores seem a little smaller. I am not sure how long i will last on this because i have school/ labs and i don’t want to look disgusting or anything. Then again , i don’t really converse much and have cared less and less what people think over the years. If this doesn’t work maybe i will try tracy’s previous regime. I really hope it does though, waking up and not having to wash my face or apply chemicals feels amazing.
Thanks Tracy! I know my acne is definitely stress related and hormonal, but I think my biggest reason is stress. If I can stop stressing about my skin, I may have a chance. I don’t mind having a few break outs, it is when they start to cover my face that makes me overwhelmed and starts the cycle of stress-acne-stress-acne. I’m glad this made your acne better! I’m sure there is such a sense of freedom in not having to do anything to your face! I hope to experience that someday too. 🙂
Hey Tracy,
I was just wondering if you would still recommend using manuka honey to cleanse? Did you find that it stopped working for you?
(Just curious because I viewed an old video post that showed you using a manuka honey/jojoba oil combo. for skin care)
THANKS!
Hi Tina – yes I do recommend it as one of the best things to use if you are going to use anything to wash your face (or just raw honey works well too) – it’s not so much that it stopped working, it’s just that I’ve always been really interested in this “no wash” concept and wanted to give it a shot to see what would happen. For me using honey and natural stuff like that was significantly better for my skin than using chemical stuff, but apparently for me, washing with nothing at all is even better than washing with anything at all.
Hey Tracy,
Im now on day 13 of the caveman regimen…so far, it going pretty well
My skin tone is much more even now and much less red looking! Yay!
I think i am startg to get the deadmans mask around my forehead? Not sure tho.. Just a bunch of flaky looking skin.. I am also gettg a few blackheads around my chin area.. Did you have a problem w blackheads also?
Thanks:)
I personally didn’t experience increased blackheads, but I did get lots of little bumps… more like numerous small whiteheads
ok thanks,
Do you recommend wiping off the flakes with a soft washcloth, or will this mess up the process?
thanks
Don’t use a washcloth… try a baby brush. Scroll up the comments and see what I said to Jeff about that
tracy — not sure if you got my last message — i was just wondering how often you have green smoothies nowadays?
Well, I stopped during my GAPS and RRARF experiments, but I’ve just started them again. I’m going to be doing an article this week or next about intuitive eating, which may help you decide if green smoothies are right for you. …. basically if you crave them and they make you feel good, eat them. If you don’t look forward to them or aren’t drawn to them – don’t eat em.
Personally for me, I find that I like to take breaks from them, but that I always feel drawn to going back to them.
with summer coming up in the our side of the hemisphere, it’s probably a better time to eat smoothies as well. I think part of the problem was the fact that it was basically from fall – spring that I had smoothies EVERYDAY.
Definitely agreed – seasonal eating and intuitive eating seem to go hand in hand!
Hey Tracy,
Yes i scrolled up and read..I find this true also, that in the morning is when its most apparant!
The only reason i was starting to stress about it, is because i went to a graduation and two ppl I know noticed and were like whats wrong with your face? Idk, didnt think it was that obvious, but I guess it was because of all the dry skin!?:0
I dont want to give up now tho, Ive made it this far-day 13! I actually love not having to wash it in the am! haha..I know it sounds crazy, but its true! saves so much time
thanks:)
Thought i would post this video here on the acid mantle. It is extremely informative and very enlightening. I am so disappointed that i have been led astray with cleansers, peels, and over exfoliation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0XyX3bnjx8
Just wanted to report that i am on the 5th day of no wash or anything on my face. It’s weird after examining my face tonight, the blackheads on my t zone are much more noticeable… I am not sure if these are new or they are being pushed up as a natural process to get rid of the excess plugs? I do not want to get my hopes up , but perhaps my skin no longer needs this excess built up sebum because there is no irritants or washing occurring on my face…very interesting indeed. I have already experienced “scab dry patches ” on my right cheek t zone area.
Hi Tracy,
I happened to come across your blog. I’m also doing the caveman regimen for a couple of month. But I’m doing the “lighter” version – splash my face with water in the night. full stop. It is very humid and polluted here in hong kong, so I guess it takes greater courage to do the full version.
Anyway, the regimen helped my sensitive and acne-prone face tremendously, and also makes my life simpler and happier. I’m so happy to see ya sharing all the healthy living tips here in your blog. 🙂
I am on day four of the caveman. I am supposed to start some wood working/pearl inlay work, and was wondering how this might affect my face.. it is small amounts of wod dust, but whenever I’m done working I can see some tiny dustings of black bits on my skin. I feel like I should probably wash this off otherwise it would clog my pores.. But then I’m trying to do the caveman.. what do you think??
You could lightly rinse with cold water.. once a day. I am not sure if this will dry you out more or not. It was raining for me today ( day 5) , my face was a little dry this morning but not anymore. Skin is looking good so far, no breakouts starting to see the formation of dead skin on my cheeks/ tzone area predominantly. Which is strange because this is where most of my problems are ( large pores blackheads and such)
Yep, i think flakes mostly appear in areas that use to inflame the most.
When there are noticeable dust on my face, i seriously cannot bear the idea of going to bed with it on my face. thats why i usually rinse with water gently at night. My skin feels a bit of dry/ tight afterwards, but only for a little while
It’s nice to see that we both started around the same time, it will be interesting to see how long we last. I will keep updating,have persevereance!
It will be 7 days tommorow morning, and i did use a splash of distilled water on each cheek ( tzone area), just gentle rubbed / exfoliated and then let it air dry. Oh my god… ridiculous amount of dead skin…like a whole layer was already formed on the one side, but not as much on the other. I don’t plan on exfoliating like this often , but i could see quite a few flakes and peeling.ONWARD TO VICTORY.
I have swam twice, this is day 5 for me, but I haven’t used anything on my skin other than that! It seems like now al the congestion on my nose is coming out.. gross i know, butnow it feels like light sanpaper cause all the little plugs are getting pushed out from underneath..! I guess that’s good..? Haha, other that that looks a lot less red!! I hope it will keep getting better!!
i had lots of congestion/bumps on my nose the first few days but it’s day 8 now and my nose feels a lot smoother.. weird!
Tracy,
What about body acne with this routine? I’ve really thought about trying it out on my face but then think, I have acne on my chest and only let water touch that in the shower, I do use my dry brush to exfoliate once in a while but if it doesn’t work for my chest why would it work for my face?
Thoughts?
Thanks!
Well, it’s been 10 days so far…Within the past few days i have noticed a massive breakout on my forehead ( smaller bumps/red) and such, lots and lots of them. Not on the sides but just in the middle, i am not sure if this is part of the healing process but i did exfoliate this area manually with my finger and distilled water on Thursday. It looks really bad now though..lol. i Possibly irritated the area though with the manual exfoliation. I had a breakout around my jawline a day or two a go but the inflammation has massively subsided. Not sure what to think at this point, but i am going to attribute the forehead with either a reaction from transitioning from washing 2 times a day to not washing, healing or from exfoliating it the other day. The rest of my face is pretty decent, not major breakouts , less inflammation, just some blotchyness. I will continue despite my forehead getting destroyed.
Aw I’m so sorry to hear this Ryan! I honestly can’t say whether this is a detox thing or not. I know this thing doesn’t work for everyone so it’s very difficult to say why it would or wouldn’t work for a person. It breaks my heart though to hear something I have recommended may have increased someone’s acne 🙁 hope it clears soon for you.
No, no. It is quite alright, i am not even sure that these are your standard pimples at this point. They are not like bright red or anything, but rather bumps the same color as the skin and they are really small. The rest of my skin is pretty good given i have not washed in 11 days, minimal redness and aside from the forehead very little breakouts. I am going to continue, I have faith in the natural and organic route. Thank you for your kind words.
haha okay… by your use of the word “destroyed” I was like…. 🙁 🙁 🙁
I feel that if you get pimples that are “different” than your normal pimples – either in their characteristics, or the place on your face or body you’re getting them, then it’s usually a detoxy type of reaction.
LOLL.. I keep thinking of “destroyed” and in the context it was used, pretty funny. I failed, i broke down , i had to wash my forehead was just too messed and i think other parts of my face were breaking out.I guess i only gave it 10 days , but i simply can’t have a completely wrecked face at this time even if it is healing. I am in school , have labs with strangers and such and having a f’d up face is a little too much for me to hand at the moment. I need to concentrate on school and not continually worry about copious amounts of new breakouts. I have no doubt that this is beneficial to some people ,and if i tried it for a longer period of time i wonder what the results would have been. Maybe i will try it when i don’t actually have to leave the house for 3 months or so . Lol. However, i have reassessed my product usage and am starting to wash my face with only water followed with an extremely concentrated blend of organic Yerba mate Green + Sea salt toner. I am only going to be doing this once a day, hopefully i will see some good results. I might even incorporate the manuka honey as a cleanser ( i do have a bottle of it , it’s only 12+ active though), but i am not sure if i will need it. Thanks for your help tracy, I will still be a faithful follower.!
Hey Tracy! I guess I just need a little more clarity about this whole thing/maybe encouragement. At this point I feel like I am trading one problem for another. Trading pimples for overly uncomfortable dry skin. I don’t like the idea of either one because they are both embarrassing/unsightly in there own regards. I went 8 days no wash then had to exfoliate the first time and now I’m on day 7 and it feels like I can only get through 7 days until I feel like I have to exfoliate the “dead skin” mask away. Is it just the sort of thing I have to jump into and after a full 28 days no wash after exfoliating that last time I won’t get a “dead skin” mask again? I just wish it would normalize without the dry skin damnmit, also do you still get the dead skin mask??? I am worried that I will even go 28 days, exfoliate and then be back to square 1 trading problem for problem never ending… thanks!
Hi Tyler
I don’t know how often you ‘should’ exfoliate or if doing it before 28 days is going to make any difference or not. Everyone’s skin is different. All I know is that with my skin, I didn’t exfoliate or touch it for 28 days, and it got pretty bad towards the end of that, then after I exfoliated the first time, the dead skin was significantly less, and now, i don’t exfoliate or do anything at all, and the dead skin just doesn’t form it at all anymore. Unfortunately, I have no idea how important it is to go the whole 28 days in the beginning, or if it really matters. That’s just what I did.
I really want to try this and was wondering (sorry if you’ve answered this before haha)how often CAN I let water touch my face to “exfoliate” as you said, and can I use oil absorbing sheets? My forehead and part of my cheeks can get really oily.
Hi Ally – Sorry, I don’t know. I don’t know if not exfoliating at all for a certain period of time (like a month or whatever) is imperative or not, or if it’s okay to do it more often. I’d try to do it as little as possible, whatever that means for you.
As for oil blotting sheets… I don’t know about that either, but I don’t see why you couldn’t
hey tracy … so … I’m about 2-3 weeks into this now.
Basically my acne has gone WAY down BUT I have these brown splotches basically on both my cheeks where I used to get acne. It’s pretty noticeable and I’ve gotten questions from my parents/relatives on it. School actually just got out, so I’m not too worried anymore. However, I’m wondering when I should actually try removing this. And when I do, should I just wet a paper towel and gently wipe it off ..? Right now it just looks like a layer of dry skin ONLY on the cheek area … it’s really weird.
okay. did you just take a shower or did you wipe it off with your finger and water?
What has helped me (I’m on day 10 no water caveman) get through some “embarrassing” flaky moments is by buying a cheapo 99 cent tooth brush and gently brushing off the visible dead skin flakes. The blotchy skin/brown spots are just layers of dead skin on top of each other so when I gently brushed it with a toothbrush it went right away. Maybe you can try that.
Sorry, i should be more specific … I’m just kind of annoyed with the two blotches of brown on both sides of my cheek. They’re really noticeable yet you said that when you tried to get rid of it with water it made it worse … but then you also said that it got better as time went on … so did the brown patches just disappear on their own?
I just wiped it off with my fingers and water.
I didn’t mean the brown spots… those mostly resolved themselves before I used water at the 30 days. I think anyway. I meant that my skin looked more irritated when I used the water… any red marks left from acne looked more noticeable than when I wasn’t washing
Hello Tracy i thank you for posting all this stuff about a alternate cure of acne maybe the big triumph of science, Im on my fourth week now and things are just getting better the redness on my face is way better and the pus filled pimples no longer exists the oils on my face work like a protection barrier and as a moisturizer that keeps skin hydrated the dry patches are just skins heal signs now as time goes on it only gets better im sure Im healed and in the end of the year ill have no sign that such an unfair illness has taken control of my life for so many years. Just wanted to thank you Tracy im just a seventeen boy who has lived, dealed and learn with acne for 3 long years. Im gonna include you in my pray and Ill always remember you for what youve done for me even if u dont know who i am or where i live ill always be grateful for what uve done for me thanks Tracy may God be with you – Cassio(Brazil)
Hi Cassio – that’s fantastic that things are getting better!! I feel honoured to have helped you get there 🙂 lots of love to you
hey tracy, im on day 8 of the caveman, and.. i haven’t experienced any flakiness at all, the 3 zits I had before starting the caveman, dried up and fell off on its own. the thing is prior to this I had been washing with water only and using EVOO as a nightly moisturizer,… intially I thought that the EVOO routine is what cleared up my acne since before that I was using a very harsh cleansing system. so when I did start the caveman I was actually …you know pretty clear just dealing with the occasional breakouts here and there before my periods… which you know was okay I was able to bear with it… so I didn’t have much hope for the caveman intially… but.. then I moved to the gulf…. I like live in a desert now and I’m way to hot, sticky, and sweaty to be smearing EVOO on my face everyday… and I don’t really know whats in the water here… so thus the caveman… okay so thats my story. long story short my skin is: not flaking at all… or if it is maybe I’m just to sweaty to notice it…I am due for my period soon and I did get one zit on my chin which dried up the next day and fell off the day after that,… remarkably it didn’t leave a scar…also i forgot to mention since im in saudi, i have been wearing the whole burqa and let me tell you it is the best form of sun protection ive ever had in my LIFE …. so all in all this little visit to the desert had been treating my acne well… the climate and protective clothing along with the caveman has done wonder for my skin …it looks MUCH more even know and …I’m really happy with the caveman..
Awesome 🙂
Hey Tracy,
Just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart! I have just finished 30 days of caveman regimen..my face is much clearer, no its not a 100% yet! I know that it will take more time to heal, because i have ignorantly and unfortunately putmany products on it through the years, in vain hope just hoping that it would cure my face!
I just want to thank you for sharing your idea with everyone and always answering our questions! I am considering going a whole another month, just to regulate my skin, since it is still pink, because if new skin growth.. What do you think of this?
Thank you and keep up the good work!!
Hey Tracy,
Sorry yes thats what I was trying to ask you.. I have already removed the mask of dead skin with wet fingertips,
My skin was so silky smooth, but its very red, thats why i think ill do another minth of no washing to maybe tone it down?
Thanks
Hi Kim – if it’s working, just keep going with it, and exfoliate as little as you can (do what you can handle… if it gets too flakey, exfoliate it again). If you’re worried about having to go another month without makeup or whatever…. personally I’ve found that even though I’ve continued with the caveman and not washing my face, if I put just a tiny speck of makeup on any pimples that show up and don’t wash it off, it’s totally fine. It doesn’t seem to be a problem at all, and this way I get the best of both worlds.
wow. i just used a toothbrush and a bit of warm water and brushed my skin gently. YUCK!!! the dead skin mask easily came off and i seriously felt like my skin could breathe again. It felt good hahaha. But at the same time, it’s really red right now. I hope that in a few hours, that’ll die down and it’ll be better. I guess I should stop washing again for a few more weeks and see if I develop another dead skin mask?
and holy crap, i just gently touched my skin and it feels like silk o.O
Has anyone tried ‘easing in’ to the caveman? Like starting out using water, then less and less until you use nothing?
Right now I only wash my face every few days using water, then splash rose water on it. If I HAVE to then I put the tiniest drop of jojoba oil on after to moisturize. I just tried to go no-poo on my hair and after a few weeks went running back to my bicarb! So I don’t know if I have the staying power to jump right in to the caveman!
Just curious if anyone has had success with just washing with water, say, once a week? Or does it need to be all or nothing for your skin to get a chance to balance?
Hi Rebecca, to be honest, I have no idea if it has to be all or nothing. Lots of people do the caveman by just doing water only instead of the no water thing (although, I like the idea of no water because you never know whats in the tap water that could be irritating). But yeah. Really, I only know what I’ve experienced, and who knows? Maybe it would have worked exactly the same way if I had exfoliated once a week instead of going the whole thirty days?
Hi Tracy and everyone!
So I’m at the end of my 5th day on the caveman regimen, and have not seen any flakes whatsoever, although I can feel some dead skin on my nose and forehead. My face has been oily (I actually think it’s the oiliest I’ve ever been!), and wonder if that’s normal. I also have more whiteheads now, but they seem to heal in a day or two. Has anyone else had anything similar in their experiences? Pease share. Thanks! I’m just really hoping it’s a transitional stage and I’m not making it worse!
Hi Serafina – that’s very normal if your skin is prone to oiliness. It’s used to being stripped of oil when you wash and then becomes prone to overproducing it.. so when you stop it gets REALLY oily, but it should even itself out soon. Also, I got increased whiteheads and congestion too in the first while… I wouldn’t worry!
I’m on day 4 of this. I’ve always noticed even before I knew what the caveman regimen was, which I just found tonight(I was googling not washing my face) that lack of washing gave me better, “different”, and definitely what I’d call normalizing results.
Thanks for sharing and I plan on keeping you posted.
I would love to try this out but I wonder about sweating…I love to work out and I love to have sweat dripping off of me.
No washing? Or would it be the same idea with the swimming comment…waiting out the first month?
Ha, this was answered so all good.
Hello everyone,
I hate to do this but I have got to share the non-success story 🙁
So I started this caveman regimen when I was pretty much clear of my cystic acne (I had it terrible on my cheeks), only had some black and whiteheads left. The start has been a little rough on me, since for about 2 days you could probably use my facial oil instead of cooking oil for your pancakes. The trouble started when on the 4th day this small cyst appeared on my cheek. I was scared at first, but then I thought it was a transitional stage and that it would go away. Well, it didn’t. And after that I started getting a new cyst practically every other day. I did have to give in after I had like 6 inflammed cysts on my cheeks that were not about to go away. I quit 15 days into the regimen.
I don’t know what the cause of this might be (my diet and exercise were coming along wonderfully) and don’t want to scare anyone who wants to try this. However, I guess, everyone’s system is really different. Anyways, good luck you guys on getting clear with the caveman regimen 🙂
My skin tone is now 80% even, and I’m on day 14…
…and that’s very, very, decent improvement. I is happy.
I can tell you this is so much better than spending money on some crap, and so much easier. I get results that I simply do not get by washing my face, when I do not wash it, and we’re talking long-term results, not a dried out and so called clearer complexion for 3 days at the most. No product has ever, ever given me a clearer skin tone, that looks naturally healthy and glows 100% naturally. If I ever resort to washing my face again it’ll most likely be water + washcloth. It might even be a simple splash of water and letting it air dry, basically how you would always see someone wash their face in a movie… I’ve come to realize nothing else is really necessary.
The marketing world is such a scam for your money it’s not even funny.
But anyway, I am no doubt very happy that I’ve come to this conclusion, and hopefully it’ll be the conclusion of my “acne” problems altogether. I quote it because I do believe I’ve grown out of the so called acne PHASE, and provoked my own breakouts, along with skin damage, by using excessive products that stripped the essential oils right out of it. Once your natural oils are gone your pH level can get messed up and that’s an open door for everything you don’t want.
Like I said before I’ve always noticed improvement when I’d stop washing a few days (normally out of fatigue…) but this time I’m going to stick it out. Before I couldn’t go more than 4 days without reverting back to old ways, but the night I stopped washing my face (14 nights ago) I wasn’t even aware of the caveman regimen at all, I just knew I wasn’t ever using a product on my face again – at least not regularly.
Only thing I’m doing different so far is keeping my DSM under control every 10 days, so I’ll be exfoliating every week or so with just my finger to catch any “flaking” dead skin. I have some on the sides, which can stay for all I care, since it doesn’t flake unless I’m messing with it.
Hope things continue to improve! I am pleased! 😉
Yay 😀 I hope things keep getting better for you!
Hellooo, it’s me again! 😀
I would like to add something. Although for God knows what reasons the Caveman regimen didn’t work for me, there was one HUGE benefit I got from it (and, unfortunately, I took it away from myself once I was done with it). During those 14 days, I have not popped a SINGLE pimple, including blackheads (you know, you’re not supposed to!). I have always been a picker, and just couldn’t believe how easy it was for me to stop it while on this regimen. Now I am again trying to brace myself and STOP again. So, that’s what really miss about it. Maybe I’ll try it again in the future. Thanks for taking your time to read this
Serafina
Hi Serafina, I hope that you can get back to the habit of not touching or popping or picking your skin, because it really is SO much happier. Every once in a while, I will venture back into popping things, and then realize how much damage I’m doing (and inviting new pimples), and making everything look worse, and then I manage to go back to not popping pretty easily. I still haven’t managed to kick the habit of touching my skin though (and feeling for pimples)…. one day 🙂
Hey Tracy
I have really oily skin to the point where I just feel like I need to was it because it feels dirty. Do you think my oily skin will prevent the caveman routine from working? Should I maybe use water instead of nothing at all? Thanks
hi Tracy!
I know you already answered this question for swimming, but the question didn’t specify if it was salt water or pool.
I really want to try this but my only problem is that during holidays I go to the pool on a daily basis-and to stop going is not really an option for me- not only because I love it but because it’s the only time that I am with my family and friends in Italy who are all pool loving people like me, and to stop going would mean spending that precious time on my own on the pool side. Not very exciting is it? haha
What would you do if you were me? I know that you recommended not to put your head underwater but I’m hoping there’s another solution… Also even if I wanted too I think I won’t have any choice, we play games etc… Since I usually put sunscreen on before, I was considering to just let my skin dry and not rinse it after I get out of the pool, because usually by then the sunscreen is off. But since there is chlorine in pool water I’m afraid that would be too harsh for my sensitive skin. And there is also a risk of “sunscreen build-up” after all these days, because I’m sure even though most of it is gone after the pool there is still a tiny amount left on the skin.
Even though you may not have the answer to this question I would love to hear some of your advice! Thanx
Thanks for the advice! I was going to follow it haha, but a couple of days ago I tried a few days of caveman just to start my skin to getting used to it and also as an “experiment”, but it went so well that just after 3 days of caveman almost all my pimples were gone. I decided I would follow it till I start going to the pool, and then I would pick up my natural cleansing method back again (putting my face over steamed water and some occasional yoghurt “masks”) so that I don’t get sunscreen/chlorine residue, and start the caveman once again at the end of my holidays. That way I won’t be stressed about it and also my skin will have a “little caveman” detox week before the real stuff begins haha…
It’s funny how every skin reacts differently, my pimples disappeared very fast but since I have oily skin it also got congested really fast, after not even a day I could already see the congested/sandpaper aspect of my skin. I hope this means since it came up faster maybe it will disappear faster too? haha
I wonder if the fact that I had a long transition period between washing with a cleanser and just with water could be one of the reasons my pimples were gone so fast, because it was a smoother transition. Or maybe it’s just psychological 🙂
Anyway, I find it fascinating how our skin and whole body in general has all the abilities to respond to these “problems” in the first place and the only reason they don’t is because they are trying to adapt to what we do
Hi Leah – if it helps, my skin got quite congested at first too and then went away. It’s great your pimples went away so quickly! maybe you just need to wait the congestion out, as it could just be a part of healing as it was with me
Hey Tracy
I left a comment before but I put it under another discussion so I’m going to ask again. I’ve done the caveman routine for both my back and my chest with great success now I want to take the next step and try it with my face. The only thing is I have oily skin and at the end of the day I feel like I need to wash because it’s do oily so what do you recommend for people with oily skin? Thanks Alyssa
I recommend trying it, because often oily skin is because of, or significantly worsened, by washing… because washing, and especially harsh products, strip the oil from your skin and then your skin overproduces it…. the caveman should reduce the amount of oil your skin creates
Thanks Tracy,
I definitely think my skin is sensitive to cleanser when I switched from using a harsh acne cleanser to Manuka honey I saw a big difference but still broke out in small little bumps on my cheeks. I think it’s because I bought the 16+ manuka honey and it dries out my skin. So I’m going to try it I just have to get over the no makeup wish will be so hard as I’ve been diagnosed with acne dismorphia…. This will be a huge step for me. Wish me luck!! Thanks for everything I did your candida cleanse and loved it you are amazing!
Alyssa
Good luck Alyssa! It’s a scary step, but letting go of it can teach you a lot. Glad you enjoyed the candida cleanse 🙂
Hey everyone
So I think it has been a week since I started the caveman routine first washing my face just with water and now I’m only washing my face with water every three to four days ( I work out and have oily skin so I feel this works for me). So far nothing drastic has happened just kind of weird things. Like my skin if quite flaky around my mouth and nose which a lot of people get so I wasn’t too worried. One night I tried to brush up this little piece of dead skin and (this may be gross) a black just fell out of its pore. I looked more closely and realized most of the flakes weren’t actually dead skin but my pored purging I guess is this normal? Ive never experienced this and I’m assuming it’s good really gross but good. Other than that I’ve just had more congestion on my forehead which has always been that way and one area of my face that I was hoping would go away in result of this routine. Does anyone have advice for the forehead congestion? I never used to have it now all of a sudden I do. 🙁 anyways still going stron! Feels very liberating not washing or putting makeup on my face I have all this free time 🙂
Hi Alyssa – well, in my experience, a lot of my face got quite congested, and then cleared up a month later. The purging and pushing out of blackheads sounds like it’s a good thing. Embrace it 🙂
Yeah I thought that the purging was a good sign since my skin has never done that before it has gotten better these last couple days but in turn the flakiness is coming lol. It’s like the nine plagues! But I’m embracing it my forehead is still congested which worries me a little because it’s the one area that bugs me the most. It’s always been congested and I’m hoping that the caveman will make it smooth. It’s only been two weeks so I’ll keep trucking! Thanks for all of your advice it gives me hope and makes me not quit.
I’m glad to know, after watching your video and reading the article, that you have found and are finding the same things I’m am, with this ‘crazy’ experiment. I’m probably near the end of 1 month or the start of the second, but I’ve noticed some pretty remarkable things, all positive (less oil, less breakouts, etc.).
I also, recently have been trying to not touch my face at all (learning to sleep on my back too)! After not touching my face, in combination with the caveman and diet, my face has dramatically improved. I am still breaking out, but they are smaller and go away much faster, and I know that my face is still healing.
It’s been hard for me to try this caveman thing…. again. I tried it a few months back for probably 2 months and it was a disaster! I literally had the worst breakouts of my life. I went back to honey / lemon and water. But I knew that my diet was probably the main culprit. But I switched some stuff around, with my diet and decided that the caveman might work, the second time around. I also saw you trying it out and thought this has got to work, in the right circumstances.
Basically, diet, stress, and not screwing with the natural ecosystem on your face have been the most important steps for me to beat this thing.
It’s nice to see that there are people like you who are bold enough to try anything natural, in order to heal. Thank you!
Hi Cheetah,
That’s great to hear it’s working out well the second time! You are very brave to try it again after a disaster with the first attempt! But it’s interesting, thanks for sharing this… gives some insight as to why it may not work for a person.
Also, good job on stopping the face touching… this is still my one little compulsion that I can’t seem to stop, although I’ve cut way back recently and I think it has had a positive effect on my acne, and a HUGE effect on my happiness… I notice that whenever I touch my face, if I do happen to “find” something, it totally ruins my mood. No touching, no sadness…. things are looking up 🙂
Hi Tracy,
Yeah touching and, for the most part, looking in the mirror are futile. Especially, if you’re attempting a full caveman method. Think about it, what are you going to do if you do ‘find’ something? The only thing that I start doing is worry, fear, negative thoughts, etc. So I’m just trying to take my mind off of my acne as much as possible. Although, I will say occasionally looking in the mirror and reminding oneself how beautiful they are can be a positive thing, when things are looking up.
Glad to see, things are going well for you, and thanks again for this site and being so brave to try all of this stuff.
Cheetah
hi tracy,
im starting the caveman today, hopefuly it works for me.
Just one question: How do you remove your mascara???
Thanks for sharing your story!
Steffi from germany
Weeeelll… I have to admit, I don’t always remove it :/ Maybe that’s bad I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem to be a big problem for me so far. If I do remove it, it’s with jojoba oil, just don’t get it on the rest of my face!
Also – good luck Steffi!
Hi Tracy,
I found this article very interesting. Well as I recall this morning I washed my face then used toner followed by a moisturizer and then when I applied sunscreen, bam! red, burning, itchy, scaly skin. It was horrible!! I felt like screaming. It was obvious that my skin was tired from all the harsh chemicals applied to it. So stumbling across this article I’ve decided no more stupid chemicals! I’m going to free myself from this infinite cycle once and for all.
Awesome, I hope it goes really well for you Maryam 🙂
I have a bit of an emergency so any help with be great I’m in panic mode at the minute. So I was doing the caveman and everything was going well until all these spots were coming up around my chin and cheeks like the little white heads and some big painful ones too. I’ve never had this and I freaked out. I decided to start washing my face again with manuka honey. To make it worse I popped everything in sight. My face is awful and new pimples keep coming up. Is it from switching back to washing my face should I go back to the caveman? I am completely lost and don’t know what to do. Help
Hi Alyssa, sorry to hear! How long had you been doing the caveman before this happened?
About on my third week. I had a huge panic attack a couple days leading up to breakout so I am wondering if stress caused it. The manuka honey is helping my forehead but my chin keeps popping up these little whiteheads 🙁
Hi Alyssa – if you think it was caused by the caveman, go back to the manuka honey and try to calm yourself down – if manuka honey was working alright for you before, things should go back to normal soon as long as you just let it run its course 🙂 It’ll be okay! I’m sending love your way.
Hey Tracy thanks for the advice! That’s the hardest part patience and letting it run it’s course. I have a love hate relationship with my mirror and I need to stop spending so much time in front of it. Like everything in the life this too shall pass. Thanks again!
Hi!
I’m enjoying your site so much! Thank you for sharing your life and wisdom!! It’s so good!
On my list of things I want to read up on is tap water and its effects on us. When I read this post I wondered how that factors in– could it be that water touching your face isn’t necessarily bad, but that all the chemicals and flouride in tap water bother your skin?
It’s on my to do list to read about water and water filtration ie for the shower head, etc..
Do you know anything about this?
Hi Anne!
Yes I definitely think it’s not so much water itself that is an issue, it’s what is potentially in the water that can be irritating. If you had pure spring water coming through your tap, I’m sure your skin would be so happy! Anyway, water filtration is a confusing subject, and I don’t have it all straightened out enough to recommend anything… your research is as good as mine!
Hey, i’ve been really interested in this, i’ve severely reduced my acne through massive diet and lifestyle changes (the gut diet) but i also decided to go on roaccutane. I’m on my 6th month and i’m pretty sure if i stopped moisturizing with grape seed oil and jojoba oil my skin would be dry.. i used to have an ACV facemask, honey facemask twice a day but i’ve switched to using nothing but an acv toner with grape seed oil, i don’t even wash it off. any suggestions on what to do! I still get some very small spots, i guess it’s mild acne now.
Hi Daniel – it if were me, I’d get rid of the acv and just use honey and an oil. ACV is kinda drying… and if you’re on accutane, your skin is just going to be dry no matter what. The caveman with no moisturizing may not work until after you’re done accutane
Hey Tracy,
I’m so happy that this caveman regimen is working for you. I stopped using benzoyl peroxide 4 months ago and since then my skin has just been getting better on its own. However, I still have red marks and some scars from almost 4 months ago…they are actually fading and getting better on their own and I attribute that to me living and eating so healthy. I read your story from years back on your “book” tab above and saw your acne before. It’s just amazing that you don’t have scars! What I’m wondering, is did you ever have really noticeable red marks/indents and how long did it take for them to completely go away from the years of benzoyl peroxide use? I only used bp for a month and it severely irritated my skin…I just have to be patient but am wondering if you ever dealt with what I am currently dealing with. It would really give me more hope! Do you think going to a dermatologist for the scars would be a good idea? I’m only 17 by the way…your story is amazing
Hi David,
I guess I am lucky that my skin doesn’t scar that easily and so I never ended up with raised or indented scars… mostly just hyperpigmentation, which slowly faded over time. It did take a a fair few months for that to go away. If you have indented scars, give MSM cream a try: https://thelovevitamin.com/3586/rolling-acne-scars-msm-cream/
Haha yeah you are! But I’ll use that. If I have redness do you recommend I use sunscreen with zinc oxide if I have red marks? Or should i just leave my skin alone out in the sun and maybe use a hat
Some people do find the sun makes their red marks more noticeable… but I personally don’t like sunscreen, especially on my face, and especially as an every day thing. I always lean toward a hat instead. But if you need it, this article will help you choose a good one for your face: https://thelovevitamin.com/4012/sunscreen-and-acne-part-two/
Awesome, thanks for the tips! Do you take msm? Do you take any multivitamin? What supplements do you recommend for skin health? I’m just taking fish oil and msm as of now..
Hi Tracy!
I am wanting to start the caveman regimen. I really just have one question. I workout almost every day and sweat alot is it okay to splash my face with water after a workout??
Well, if you are doing the water only caveman, then yes it’s okay.. if you’re doing the no water caveman, then nope, it’s not! It all depends on what you want to do… I don’t think there’s really too many rules
2 weeks into true caveman, no water no nothing, the results are great! When I started this I didn’t have any red spots, I did however have dark purple hyper-pigmentation, in many areas on my face, some looked brownish as well. Since starting what I have noticed is that those hyper-pigmentation marks are just deeply trapped pores, the whitehead is so deep in the pore it just never surfaces, due to constant water use. Those marks in the first week surfaced, coming to a head. I did not pick at them I just let them pop and heal on their own. It is like a healing stage right now, I still have about a week or two to go before all the marks heal, but it truly is and was my downfall.
Before starting this I just let hot water touch my face in the shower, and it drastically dried my skin out. I just realized from doing this that my skin is ultra sensitive and needs to avoid things that dry it out or strip it of the acid mantle, like water. Water on my skin from time to time will not cause problems, but it must not be an everyday thing. I shower everyday just don’t let the water touch my face, and tilt my head back to rinse my hair.
There were several times during acne where I managed to clear it, and both times they had something in common, no water. I went on a 30 day camping trip and to my surprise my skin was 100% clear at the end. I originally thought it was due to no sex/masturbation, but now I realize it wasn’t. When I had sex or masturbate I quickly took a shower directly after (I still do) but now I know not to allow water on my skin.
I take cool short showers (1-2 mins). I can’t believe how fast the turn around is, I mean in 2 weeks my skin is almost 100% clear and just feel amazing, I no longer have stress about my skin or a dry feeling. I tried everything from topicals to raw vegan, and nothing worked. Thanks for giving me the motivation to try this, has really been a life changer!
YOU’RE A BADASS!!!
Yay!! That’s so fantastic!!! I’m so happy for you MJ (and I love being called a badass! haha)
Hi Tracy,
just wanted to give an update on my Caveman Regime.
around Day 40
my skin hasn’t looked so good in the last 4 years, almost no breakouts (the only once that appear are in the areas that I cant stop picking at)
my skin looks so much younger, it is almoust glowing!
Im so thankful that I’ve found your blogpost! IT CHANGED MY LIFE!
I was sooo depressed about my skin condition, it looked so bad and inflamed for the last years!
Finally I’m FREE of my acne!
Oh by the way, I still used Foundation everyday over the last 40 Days and it still worked!!! It looked very bad the first two weeks, but it got better. For about one week now I only use cold water in the evening to splash my face. I guess this is best for me.
And now i’m down to a tiny amount of foundation.
You dont now how thankful i an!!!
Tracy you are my hero <3
You changed everything for me!
I love your whole Blog!
THANK YOU!
Steffi from Germany
Wow, great news Steffi! I’m so, so happy to hear this simple thing has made such a difference for you!
Tracy, question for you – what is your eyebrow grooming method? I ask only because if, for example, you wax, doesn’t that strip the skin of its natural oils/surface cells and act as an exfoliant or soap? Even threading does that, and even, to some extent, plucking.
In an ideal world, I would never groom my eyebrows, or any part of me, but alas…
To be honest, I typically don’t break out when I wax them, BUT I haven’t been waxing for months and months now due to using Retin-A.
I’ve decided, though, that the chemicals on my skin have to stop. My boyfriend and I strive to be so natural and chemical-free in other ways (we make our own soap, grow our own food when/where we can, buy only organic, clean with vinegar, yadda yadda yadda) that there’s no reason that shouldn’t extend to my face.
I think what appeals to me about the “caveman” is the fact that my skin always looks the best when I haven’t washed it, picked it, or messed with it at all (eg, when I wake up, or after working for eight or nine hours). So why not do that ALL the time? This seems like a no-brainer, but I have struggled with OCD where my skin is concerned for a very long time. Although I’ve been through hormonal ups and downs, I would say nine times out of 10, the miserable, damaging obsession has been FAR worse than the acne itself.
Anyway, this whole “realizing I have OCD about my skin” is happening pretty quickly and I’m making some serious changes, so thanks for letting me rant about it a bit.
More to the point: I don’t wear makeup or do my hair, and I don’t feel like I need to at ALL, but shaping my thick dark eyebrows is the one beauty habit that would be very hard for me to kick. Perhaps I’ll just try it and see what happens, since in the past it hasn’t had a tendency to break me out.
Hi tracy, ive had some luck using just water method, but always seem to resort back to using some sort of product. I really want to try this out but the thing is im in college, and if it will be embarassing in a months time with dead skin idk.. Oh yeah i have one more question how do you turn your hair into dread locks its seems like a great style to try out:)and an advantage as you said in earlier post. Thanks, Brandon
Hi Brandon,
I know, the dead skin mask sucks… it’s embarrassing no matter what phase of life you’re in! But so is acne, so I don’t know. – it’s just another thing to deal with… either way, good luck if you decide to make the plunge!
As for the dreadlocks, check out this article: https://thelovevitamin.com/2668/getting-dreadlocks/
7 years of this. 7 very long years of BP, sulfur soap, different prescribed topicals, antibiotics, and different diets, and all this time, it was due to me putting to much stuff on my face. I haven’t washed my face in 2 weeks, and I shit you not, my face hasn’t been this clear since I was 13. My face isn’t really oily. Some dry skin build up on my forehead, but you can’t even notice it if you look up close. It feels rough to the touch though but otherwise my complexion is SO MUCH BETTER. Thank you so much. Seriously. THANK YOU.
Questions: Are you still doing this regimen? What are you doing currently?
Wow, amazing! So happy for you Dillon!
I’m still doing the caveman. I can’t say it’s totally cured me of acne completely – I still get mild acne, but it seems like any acne I get is smaller, goes away quicker, it’s less inflamed over all. And this is compared to even when I washed my face with natural things.
I do have a some very small little bumps on my forehead. I’m not sure if its acne or dead skin build up, im afraid to try and get it off. Does the dead skin build up go away after a few more weeks? How do you deal with the forehead build up?
Hi i am doing this, still with some red pimples, but healthier overall. Main problem is dead skin, i tried to clean it with my finger but then my face gets red, i got a breakout (no too bad) and dead skin appears 5 days later or so. My question is, how many time will take the dead skin to go away on its own (in other forum someone told me that the daed skin goes away on its own eventually). Can you explain me the progress of your dead skin mask? I feel when my face gets wet (because water) the dead skin is more noticiable, i think this is normal.
Thank you anyways.
@Dillon & Adolfs,
I can only speak for myself with the dead skin mask and what happened for me, but for me, I left it be for 30 days, by which it was VERY flakey. Then I exfoliated it off with just some water and my fingers, and the dead skin mask came back, but not nearly as strong… two weeks after the first, I exfoliated again. After that the dead skin mask never came back… I mean, essentially it is still there, but it is invisible. And I don’t exfoliate anymore.
Good to know. Thanks Tracy! Wish me luck.
I have done the exfoliation already. However what i think it that until the skin is not strong again (it can take like 6 monhts or more) it will create dead skin, maybe it decreases. What i say so? Because when i exfoliated, my skin without the mask, it was red a lot with small but few pimples, so i thouhgh that i still NEED that dead skin to PROTECT the new skin that its creating. What you think?
I just came back from China and I am not sure what to think now. I probably took a shower once every 2 days, but never rubbed my skin or even touched it.
I just finished up a shower and noticed that there was a layer of dead skin on my face. I started rubbing and literally, more and more dead skin came off my face. I rubbed it for like … 3 minutes.
?? Is this just all the dead skin buildup from the last month? Should I rub my skin after showers now every once in awhile? o.O
Hi Jeff, yes this happened to me recently when I went in a sauna. My skin actually looked a lot more vibrant after, and I considered starting to exfoliate every once in a while… if I’m not too lazy
Hey there, I work out almost everyday and sweat a lot! (Especially here in Florida) What about rinsing with water after my workouts? But keeping water to a minimum? Hoping to see good results!
Got my answer! Thanks!
Hello! I been doing this caveman regimen. Today is my 3rd day. I think its really works on me because all of my whiteheads and blackheads surround my cheeks are dries up. I have a flaky face right now.
can I ask something?
-Would i pick all my DRY whiteheads and blackheads or It will gone on it’s OWN?
This works, but it works better with water and in drier conditions. I recently moved, and for 2 weeks I did nothing to my skin, it was getting very very nice, but what I noticed was build up of dead skin. I moved to a much drier environment, I do nothing to my skin except shower water on my skin, it helps to dry out the dead skin and allow it to flake off on its own, like my skin is actually going through its natural process. My skin looked way better when I was living in a humid climate when I didn’t do anything to it, but in the long run it was just dead skin covering over any marks that were really there. Now that I live in a drier environment, and use water to splash my skin in the shower and in the sink, my skin is healing up very very nicely, almost to a point where I don’t have any marks left. It is really a good thing to do, but I think people will have a harder time in a more humid environment. If you live in a humid environment I would recommend you splash your face 2-3 times a day and shower 1-2 times a day if you have oily skin and skin build up. Don’t put anything on your skin, don’t touch it, just allow it to shed on it own. In some cases you can use a gentle cotton cloth (t-shirt) to rub away any dry flaky skin. For me this has cleared me up in several instances. When I traveled and camped in the desert for a month my skin cleared up, dry environment. When I went to the beach for 2 weeks on vacation, my skin cleared up, ocean winds + ocean salt water = dry environment, natural and doesn’t clog my pores. Now that I live in a dry environment my skin is getting rid of all the gunk it had in the pores from dry skin and humid environment.
I have dryness on the outer corners of my eye & kinda cracks. Is it ok to put some jojoba oil there while on this regimen? I’ve actually been using a cool mist humidifier to try & help a little naturally bit eh , not so much.. It just doesn’t help with my eyes.
Hi Kelly – yes I would. If I had a dry patch around my eyes that wouldn’t go away, I would put some jojoba on it, even on this routine
I commented here earlier about my progress, but about 2 days ago, i “exfoliated” my skin with my fingers and some water, and it broke me out and made some of my underlying pimples mad and red. I recommend letting your skin just do its thing and leave the dead skin mask on. Dead skin looks better than red dots in my opinion, so take that as you like.
I would suggest you go atleast 2 weeks before using water on your skin. At that time you will have a good amount of dead skin, at this point, you should take a hot shower, allow the skin the flake off, if it is still on the skin, do not remove it while your skin is still wet, this will just push the oils into the pores and cause breakouts with the dead skin layer, doing this is a very delicate procedure. Less is more.
I just started today, we’ll see how it goes!
Also, you sound really Canadian at 0:08 when you say “super”, its adorable. lol
Awesome! I really hope it goes well for you. And yeah .. lol, I had never noticed that I had a Canadian accept until I started doing these videos!
Okay thankyou so much for the information. Well, the truth is i havnt really been eating healthy but ive tried to cut out soda, fastfood, chips, chocolate, or any type of candy. ITs just hard to do sometimes. Okay, so im on my 5th day of the regimen. My face “seems” to be clearing up a bit (dont want to get to excited. Also i have a really hard time keeping my hands off my face. Its like if i dont even notice i do it. Especially since my skin is kind of dry and scabby. (since i picked at some) 🙁 which i know i should stop. But, i pray this works cause it is a huge relief to not have to wash my face no more. Im trying to keep faith that in a month it will be all worth it!! Godwilling!! 😀
Hi Tracy! I’m 18 years old, and I’m going to be 19 this December. I have been getting acne on mainly my face since I started puberty at 12 years old, so around 6th grade. I never used products on my face until I was a freshman in high school, and that’s actually when it started to get worse. I just never really thought about it being a culprit to why my acne has been getting so bad. I’ve also noticed that my back that is never really washed at all with products like my face was, will breakout but it will go away on its own, and the same goes for my chest. So that’s a sign that my body will actually take care of my facial acne, like it does for the other parts of my body. Anyways. A few months ago from around June-July, I became lazy and never washed my face and my face was mostly clear and had minor minor break outs that went away fast, which is how my skin used to be before I started using products. After not washing my face for those two months I decided my face felt dirty and needed to be cleaned, and from there on out I kept washing like a maniac up until this October 1st, when I found your site. My skin started to progressively worsen around August 19th, and I started getting excessive cysts/nodules and a lot of white heads and black heads all over my skin. I have had all of that before, but never to the extent that I had it then. When I saw what was happening to my skin, I bought a toner with alcohol in it, face wipes to remove oil, and 2 new facial cleansers with salicydic acid in it, a long with Clearasil Benzoyl Peroxide 10% cream for a spot treatment, and I used all of that on my face sometimes even twice a day. I would splash water on my face until I felt I got every inch of the cleanser off. I made sure after cleansing that I wiped my face with the oil-free face wipes, used a lot of toner on a cotton square ALL over my face (it made my face burn), and then I put on my Benzoyl Peroxide 10% cream ALL over my face, and sometimes just on problem areas (which supposedly can be linked to cancer from using D:). I came across this site when I obviously was looking for something to help me with my overproduction of oil, because I noticed my skin would feel dry after my acne regimen and then an hour later it’d have oil spots again. I’ve always noticed that my skin looks worse after putting stuff on it, but I used to do it to feel clean and because I thought that it WOULD get better from doing it. Everything you’re saying and everything the other people who are trying this regimen makes sense. I also started having carrots, two apples a day, green tea drink, eating a high-fiber diet, and started biking! Me being healthier definitely makes everything in general better. It’s making me “go to the bathroom more” and going to help me live longer by making me healthier, which should help my acne too. A random note: I don’t like the way I look even without acne, but it’d help if it were gone or reduced, you know? Plus it’s hard for me to like how I look with makeup on when I have pimples everywhere. I don’t mind wearing makeup to make me feel better about my appearance, plus I don’t really put a lot on I just put on concealer under and around my eyes, and put on brown eye shadow on the crease of my eye. So makeup during this process isn’t really my concern like everyone else, I believe it can still be worn..just don’t wash your entire face to get the makeup off. Anyways, I’m only on Day 4, and I’ve already seen major major improvements. As long as I’ve had acne, I learned that it is good for them to come to a “head” or to “puss” because it is how the acne goes away, and that’s what all of my acne is doing right now. ALL. From what I can tell, I can’t see any new acne forming. For about a week, I’ve had a cyst that took forever to even get to come to a head, and today it’s at a head. Nearly every pimple I was having a problem getting rid of, is coming to a head. I guess that my face is taking care of it for me, which is a relief, I HATE washing my face. The regimen obviously isn’t harming me at all either, because I don’t see a bunch of cysts or other acne emerging, and none of the pimples are getting worse. My face does look oily and dry still though(I have combo skin), but it’s supposed to be expected since I have oily skin and because I’m leaving the dry skin on my skin as well. I also have horrible black heads on my nose, like really really stubborn black ones that never ever go away, but I can see them coming out a little. {I just have a few questions for you though. Sorry it took me so long to ask, I just wanted to tell you a little bit of my story. I’ve seen you address these things before, but I think I have to ask them differently to understand. 1.) So if I have all of this dead unsightly skin on me, will it go away if I never wash my face ever again? Because that’s my plan. 2.) And would it be bad for me to not get rid of the dead skin? 3.) And…I haven’t wiped away my puss from my pimples, because you said it can be left on the skin, so does this mean it won’t spread and infect other parts of my skin and will fall off eventually? 4.) And you said you left sweat on your skin after exercising, wouldn’t that make the skin worse, and what is your theory about that not being bad? 5.) If I left the sweat on my face would it harm my pimples that have “opened” in any way possible? 6.) I also have considered getting these dietary supplement pills, because you said flaxseed is good for you, and along with flaxseed oil it has fish oil and borage oil, can you look into these and tell me if this would be good for my acne? Here’s the site: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Spring-Valley-Fish-flaxseed-Borage-Oil-Contains-Omega-3-6-9-Dietary-Supplement-120-ct/10316853 7.) And last question, how do I get rid of my black heads without using products of any sort? Some are coming out, but I have so many, that they’re kind of just stuck in there. I’ve had most of these same blackheads since 6th grade, and it’s annoying as hell.} I put all my questions inside the bracket, in case you get lost. I hope you can answer all those questions for me because I’m really hopeful and excited with the results of just 4 days into the regimen, and I’m very curious about things as well. You’re very inspiring, and I’m glad you healed your skin the right way and are teaching others about it. Thanks so much. 🙂
Hi Holly – the answer to your questions is simply that the sweat and the sebum may actually protect your face, not harm it like is commonly believed. So it’s okay to leave it all there.
As for not washing your face again, I have noticed that dead skin does build up after quite a while, but it’s not the same as it is in the beginning. You can’t see it and it’s not noticeable at all, like you can in the first month or two of this regimen.
However, after the first couple of months I think it is fine to gently exfoliate it every once in a while (like every two weeks) if you want – or don’t. Really what you do is completely up to you – there is no one set way to do this… the thing is – you don’t have to make it so complicated. You already know the answers to these questions because you yourself said that you’ve done the caveman and your skin has gotten better. You’ve seen it happen! so don’t worry – just do whatever you did before and the magic’ll happen again 🙂
As for Omega 3s and supplements for your skin, if you want something really great for your skin, try this stuff:
https://thelovevitamin.com/3452/fermented-cod-liver-oil/
Thanks for replying! And I’ll look into that, thank you very much for just being you! 🙂
Hey it’s me again :p I was reading a few days ago about what you said about how to get rid of dead skin mask with dry brushing? What dry brush would you think is best to get from Walmart? I searched “body brush” on walmart.com, and that’s the only place I can really shop at atm. If you can tell me which one to buy that’s cheap-ish and good for the skin, that’d be great!:-)
Hi Holly,
I don’t know specifically – just look for a small brush that is meant to brush baby’s hair
Back, update! After researching the acid mantle and doing my own trial and error (terrible error, lol) I was able to come up with what works for me. I went about 4 weeks without washing my face, my face cleared up pretty well, but it wasn’t 100%, and still looked somewhat blotchy. I moved up north, and during that time I had just tried to take hot showers (colder) it seemed to be doing good things for my skin at first, but it did leave a very distinct dryness to my face afterwards (I was showering only once a day and didnt wash my skin, just rinsed in the water). After 4 days of this my skin produced cystic zits (something I haven’t had in awhile), there were about 4 of them total, and then after I stopped letting water touch my skin, my skin was still breaking out (not terribly, but not great either). I haven’t let water touch my skin for 3 days now and it has been a huge (HUGE!!!) improvement. Even after I stopped letting shower water touch my skin, I still splashed it. It left my face pretty clear I must admit, but my skin was still really dry looking, with flakes.
The zits that I did get are but gone now, just some with a couple red spots that will fade in the next week or so, not a big deal. I also noticed that when I don’t allow anything to touch my skin, the old deep red marks (ones that you thought were gone) resurfaced and cleaned itself out. It is a relief to know that my skins acid mantle can and does work if I allow it.
After researching the acid mantle I am 100% convinced that my acne has always been created by my lifestyle and how I use to clean my body, basically getting rid of the defense my own body creates. I now understand how important it is to allow my skin to be its own, and allow it to do its own thing. I agree, if you want or have to remove dead skin, do so with a gentle cloth, I usually just do it with an old bed sheet or tshirt, gently of course. The acid mantle is basically a balance between you, acne bacteria, and good skin. Bacteria do not like the acid mantle due to the pH of the mantle, so if you use soaps that eliminate the acid mantle, bacteria has just found its new home. Also, washing your skin with soaps just moves the bacteria around more. And from what I conclude, cystic acne is the end result of drying out the skin and allowing bacteria deeper into the pore.
I know it’s weird that we can’t just do what everyone else does (i.e. use soap, take long hot showers…so on and so forth), but our skin is just sensitive to these sort of things. In the long run it’s easier, cheaper and more natural to maintain good skin with sensitive skin (that is if you understand and allow your skin to work its’ own process).
I’ll check back in later and let you know how everything is going, thanks again!
Hey MJ – this is great! Thanks so much for the update 🙂
Not problem, also check out this great article I’ve found, SCIENCE IS FINALLY CATCHING UP!!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/fashion/31Unwashed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Thanks for the article, MJ!
You’re welcome, I knew it all along. Now it’s just time for me to do it. I went on a month long camping trip, in which I only had access to a shower 2 out of those 30 days, so I went around 7-15 days without any showers (just the usual baby wipes for the armpits, genitals, and feet). My skin was flawless at the end of it and I just couldn’t figure out why. I ate loads of garbage.
Anyways, I am back on track now, and even more motivated.
This part of the article is what I want to learn more about:
Resist the urge to recoil at this swath of society: They may be on to something. Of late, researchers have discovered that just as the gut contains good bacteria that help it run more efficiently, so does our skin brim with beneficial germs that we might not want to wash down the drain. “Good bacteria are educating your own skin cells to make your own antibiotics,” said Dr. Richard Gallo, chief of the dermatology division at the University of California, San Diego, and “they produce their own antibiotics that kills off bad bacteria.”
If you can find more information from Dr. Gallo or others please let me know thanks!
I also found that to be the most interesting part of the article! That would make lots of sense as to why the caveman works
http://dermatology.ucsd.edu/faculty/profiles/gallo.shtml
This is a link to his page with his research and so on. Apparently he was the first to discover the anti-microbial behavior of mammalian skin, and on human skin as well. Very awesome stuff!
Shiny! As much as I’m a hippie type person, all the new age speculation starts to bug me after awhile. I want cold, hard facts with some solid science behind it 🙂
Basically do what works for you, I’m pretty sold on it!
Do you think DERMA FACIAL good to remove all my whiteheads and blackheads? or its better to stay at home and save my money..
I don’t know, I have no idea what that is. Sorry Jasmine
HI TRACY CAN I ASK QUESTION? ^__^
DO YOU THINK IT’S BETTER to let acne runs its course? MY PARENTS SAYS ”If you get a breakout, there’s only so much you can do until your skin pushes the blockage out on its own.”
I’WILL WAIT FOR YOUR REPLY THANKS! :*
I’m not Tracy, but here is my response to this based off of the evidence for caveman regimen. Your parents are correct, but only if you allow your skin to do what it’s meant to do. This simply means not getting in the way of your skins natural process. No touching, no washing, no scrubbing, no topicals/chemicals, and no water. It has to do with your skin’s own natural anti-bacterial balance. You skin produces good bacteria that fights off bad bacteria and infections, similar to your gut flora. If you wash this away daily and strip the skin of it’s natural oils, you are just prolonging your acne. I would suggest you do what Tracy did for 3 months, caveman and do not let water touch it. The first month is the toughest because your skin needs to return to health and by doing so it produces a blotchy look, with some dead skin. You should see your skin purging and getting rid of all hyperpigmentation during this time, although it may take up to several months for that to go away, in my experience it took around 1 and 1/2 months to get the hyperpigmentation out. Good luck!
Currently, I am on 2 weeks. I messed up bad and my acne returned, not terribly but in a moderate to mild form. So far it is looking great and has made a lot of improvments, but some hyperpigmentation is still hanging around and I have two white heads at the moment that are clearing out (do not touch them they usually go away in a day or two).
HI MJ THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! GOD BLESS! 🙂
I HAVE 3 RED LITTLE BUMPS ON MY RIGHT CHEEK.. ITS SO UGLY.. I HOPE AFTER FEW DAYS THE REDNESS WILL FADE AWAY..
hi, i just want to ask a question.. i have a Friend..
before he has a lot of pimples all over his cheeks,. but after few months he’s pimple is gone.. NOW HE HAS A CLEAR SKIN and i asked him what did he use to his face,. he said i wash my face using water only.. NO DIET. He said he’s still eating BREAD,CHOCOLATES,BURGERS etc.. do you think it is possible.. to heal pimples using water regimen TO WASH FACE?
-I AM ASIAN SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH GRAMMAR ^.^V
hope u reply
some people are fine with washing with just water, others like myself arent. it all depends on how sensitive your skin is, and really we are talking good bacteria and the acid mantle. If your skin flora doesn’t notice any changes from using just water than it could very well work for you. if it does strip and wash the skin flora away then your skin will be prone to infection and acne.
So it’s me again, I previously posted on here a week or so ago. So for the first 7-8 days on this regimen, my skin was not breaking out, like my acne just paused, and my skin was not having new pimples, and all pimples that were present already were coming to a head, and then I started getting a lot of purging after 7-8 days. Most people don’t realize they will be purging no matter what if they are doing this regimen after washing their face with products for their usual regimen. It’s a good thing for your skin to purge, how else do you expect acne to get out of your skin?
So if you get a lot of acne during this regimen or even a little, it’s probably not going to be the worst you’ve had before this regimen, because all of mine blend in to my skin more, and go away VERY quickly (when they appear, they are already at a head). I’m on Day 14, and I have a lot of Dead skin on a cyst that is going away and my stubborn black heads on my nose are for the most part, attempting to purge, rather than stay there like they used to.
After not washing my face anymore, I don’t really care so much about my acne. Acne used to be my number one stress and topic that was always on my mind. I used to look in the mirror wayyyyy too much for my own good, and now I only look a few times a day. Life is so much easier, I don’t have to spend an hour in the bathroom trying to make my face squeaky clean with a bunch of irritating and annoying products. I can just go to bed when I’m tired and not have to worry about getting that face wash done. I always dreaded it.
My oil has pretty much subsided for the most part. I mean, I still have minimal oily skin, but I don’t see or feel the shiny grease anymore. And Tracy and every one else is right about the whole “removal of dead skin result”, your pimples/skin will most likely be red if you take off the dead skin patches or w/e it is you call it. I took off a few dead skin patches from pimples, and they looked red and worse than the dead skin that was on it..but that will go away fairly soon and it’s expected because your skin is still healing itself. And before I started this regimen I read a lot of posts from people who did this regimen and said when they take off the dead skin, it’s slimey kind of. Yeah, mine was horrible..the dead skin was really slimey.
So if anyone who is afraid to try this regimen, and is hesitant, just like I was, and everyone else who is or has done this regimen, you need to do it. Your skin is on you for a reason. Skin protects you from bad things and heals you when you get injuries, and that includes healing your acne.
Also after not using water on my skin after 14 days, I realized that when I tried using it again, how it really does irritate your skin. I never noticed how bad tap water is for your skin when it’s touching it, because for years I had used water on my face to clean my skin. My skin used to burn, overproduce oil and feel greasy, was red ALL over, have nodules & cysts. Now my skin does not really do any of those things unless I willingly force water onto my skin or rub my dead skin off. So dead skin is good..and if it was bad we wouldn’t have it in the first place.
So if your skin is making you depressed or just in general is a huge ass burden for you, then you need to do this regimen. People on this blog have had comments saying they couldn’t do it anymore after a few days, weeks, or months, but if they haven’t continued this regimen permanently, how would they notice true results unless they kept at it?
You won’t have flawless skin right away, and maybe not ever. If you have the acne gene, and have hormones, you will most likely always have acne..but this regimen will for the most part, calm down the size and redness and the pain of the pimple, lessen the cysts/nodules, and just in general make your skin better. Some people bruise easily, others get acne easily, we all have something that we can’t cure, but we can at least manage it the right way. I CAN imagine how much worse my skin would be if I kept washing my face with water and chemical products, but I CAN also imagine how much better my skin can be by continuing this regimen. It’s made my life easier, better, and less stressful. That’s my testimonial for the caveman regimen.
Congrats! keep up with it. I am on week 3 myself, so around 15 or 16 days, we are almost identical. I before this I messed up bad and took long hot showers, it dried my skin and broke it out. I am now recovering from this. Currently it is working pretty good, this last weekend I removed all the dead skin that was on my face. It was the infamous dead skin mask. There are still some discoloration appearing but it is fading on the daily. There are one or two hyperpigmentation marks left that I feel that are probably going to come to a head soon, very deeply trapped cysts. Overall I am glad that I am doing this and I know in time, I would say in about 3 more weeks from the end of this week, I should have very clear if not 100% clear skin. I say this from previous experience. I cleared my sin 100%, had people commenting on it all the time and asking me how the hell my skin was so smooth and soft looking. I also see it everyday at work. I have a few coworkers that go to the gym on their lunch breaks, when they get done working out and showering they come out and their skin is red and irritated and some even started to have acne. I know understand why….skin bacteria, acid mantle is being washed off super fast. Good luck and I hope to hear from you again so we can relate our progress!
Hey MJ,
I read that you had hyperpigmentation and that means your skin was purging itself.. I did the caveman for a month amd i developed a brown spot under each eye.. Like a big dark freckle.. Even after washing and exolifating my face, cant seem to remove this!!!
So your saying a person needs to do the caveman for 3 months to get rid of these? And did you have yhe hyperpigmentAtion before or after the regimen?
Thanks..
Hi,
I had hyperpigmentation before the regimen started. Those dark spots had to come to a head, which means they were just deeply trapped pores that didnt have a chance to heal until I allowed the skin to regenerate its acid mantle and good bacteria. Every single little hyperpigmentation, big ones as well, will take different amounts of time to come to a head, clear out the gunk and heal itself back to normal skin. For me it took around 1 and 1/2 months of not washing my skin to do this, and this was coming from moderate to mild acne. If you apply water, wash your face, or rub your skin where you have hyperpigmentation, you will only prolong your acne. This washes away the good bacteria, acid mantle and natural oils the skin produces to help protect and fight off infection. This purging phase is weird, because some days you look really good, and some days not so much. But in the grand scheme of things you should notice good progress on a weekly basis. For someone with severe acne this could take longer, I would say 3-6 months due to the severity of it. Tracy cleared up rather quickly, roughly 1 month her mild acne was pretty much all but gone. Do not touch your skin, sweat doesn’t cause infection or acne, so if you are worried about that you shouldn’t be. If you get a dead skin layer you can gently remove the dead skin, as I would recommend so you don’t go around looking like a crusty old person…with a a cloth, I just use an old t-shirt to do this. The dead skin layer should only occur on the first month or so, for me it was 2 weeks. This layer is dead skin from water, as the surface of the skin is dry and dehydrated. It’s a rather intense process the skin is trying to correct, just think of all the time you were washing with soap, your skin needs time to make up for it, and to me even if it does take 3-6 months, thats still pretty fast, the body is a wonderful thing. Good luck.
Well it has been 13 days in the caveman regimen. It’s been a tough second week because a lot more white heads are popping up as well as the redness (8 white heads and 5 red pimple). Mostly located around the side of my eyes, forehead, and below my eyes. I’ve decided to just detach myself from all social confrontations and try this regimen for a good month and a half. The first week, results were good. Then I think I reached a purging period. Funny thing is, this isn’t the first time that this happened to me. I remember being fed up paying an outrageous amount of my money for cleansers and bp from acne.org. Stuff worked alright, but I was sick of the flaking around the afternoon time, flakin when I took a bite out of my sandwich. I was sick of it, and I will not go back this time. It was usually at this point, I reverted back to my acne.org stuff. Work has been hard but I’m still going. My only question for the guys, what kind of shaving cream and shaver do you use? Another real bad thing is that I haven’t gone to the gym in 2 weeks because I don’t want ppl to see me which is silly honestly. I hope to have better news next time I update you guys. I am also taking a vitamin supplement for magnesium, calcium, zinc, vitamin d from nutrimade.
-jl
Stick with it, your pores need to clean themselves out of all the dry irritated skin that you did from all that time before now. If will take a good 2-4 weeks to “purge” based on the severity of your acne, sometimes long in extreme cases. You should not touch or pop those pimples if you can help it. Just allow the skin the do it’s thing. I would highly recommend an electric razor, I use a braun electric razor, it shaves nice and leaves no irritation, best thing is it is a dry shave, no water or shave chemicals touch my skin. Good luck, you should workout at home if you can’t hit the gym.
Day 17:
The Damages:
The whiteheads / acne has surfaced on the corners of my forehead. My
left cheek has tiny white heads / healing marks. Around 7 (1 that
hurts when I try to bring my lip down) pimples between my nose and
upper lip. It looks I got the herps :(. My skin is a bit rough to
the touch as in I need to do some exfoliation. I need to really
detach myself from the mirror because all I do are count the number of
pimples I am getting.
Thoughts:
I’m worried to shave because I think that was the reason why I got
these pimples around my mouth area in the first place. I might just
put some jojoba oil on it as a shave prep and do it. I’m still
waiting for my shaver to come from the mail. I keep telling myself
that it is going to be better. I’m definitely going to work out at
home, the first time in 3 weeks.
Question to you MJ:
Do you workout with the addition of protein powder supplements? The
reason why I stopped was because I thought it was making me break out.
Any thoughts?
I do workout with whey protein shakes, and in addition I have stopped the caveman regimen. I now take daily showers. I stopped the caveman 1 week from today. It had some success, but the skin was just covering my face, like old dirty makeup. My skin is clearer than ever. I don’t wash it, I just rinse it in the shower. I am not telling you to do this I just thought you should know.
Hi tracy i’m kinda sorta doing the caveman regimen but i have been splashing my face with cool water and i let it air dry (after i do my workout) ,, should i just let the sweat sit on my face and just not wash it off ,, because right now i have been splashing my face with water and my skin is really dry and flaky,the acid mantle of my skin just wont come back to normal ( i have been doing this regimen for about 2 months ) soo should i just not splash water on my face? thank you tracy ! :{D
Thanks Tracy 😀
Like I posted above, I have officially stopped caveman, here is why…Everything seemed to be going great, however I was still getting cystic acne, not bad, 3-4, but bad enough to have to stop caveman. My face looked like it was covered in old dirty makeup from all the dead skin layers. I know shower daily, and just rinse in the water. My skin is clear as day…I have done this for a week. It is still somewhat of the caveman, just with shower water touching my skin. Other things I haven’t done….EJACULATE. I recently broke up with my gf because I moved far away and we were on different paths. I haven’t had an ejaculation for 2 weeks, and what do you know…no pimples, no cysts, all old zits are gone, face is 100% clear. I fall into that rare category of people that have this DHT issue. But to me it’s fine. I have way more energy, I am over all much happier, and have an extra spring in my step, not to mention that clear skin confidence. The stress has been lifted off my shoulders. Now I understand why I got clear on my camping trip years back, it was due to the lack of ejaculation, not because I didn’t shower…silly me. If caveman is working keep on doing it, but for me nothing worked like cutting out ejaculation. If something truly is the cause of your acne, trust me you’d know it in 1-2 weeks time. If you aren’t seeing progress I wouldn’t continue with this.
As a side note, after 2 weeks of not washing my hair, I smelled like a dirty wet dog in the office, if I could smell myself, I know others could.
Awesome MJ, I’m glad things are working out for you. So how long did you do the hardcore caveman before rinsing in the shower daily? ~2 months aka 60 days? Well, I have a long way to go but thats awesome to hear.
Day 23: I believe I am still purging. The whiteheads on my lips are still there; but they usually go away after 2 days (When it emerges, I leave it alone and by day 2, it gets pretty big. By the day 3, it usually just disappears (I think it falls out or just gets scraped off by the towel that I sleep with); however, there is still a redness tone in that area). Currently, I have one thats on day 2, and another that just about to emerge. I’ve also got three whiteheads around my nose area. My neck area filled with old acne scars have been changing towards my regular skin tone (there is no drastic color change between my neck and face). I have multiple dead whiteheads around the corners of my forehead. The whitehead on my cheeks have been calmed down but not out of the woods yet. I take showers about every 3 days and is in dire need of a haircut. I’ve worked out twice this week, but I will be stepping it up for next week and so on. Seriously need to suck it up and just go the gym without being self-conscious. Reading a lot of the success stories here and acne.org forums, and I am hopeful for this method. This is the longest I have ever been on caveman and without this forum, I would have reverted back to the old ways a week ago. Hope everyone’s weeks are going great! Be strong!
I went about 5 weeks doing caveman, and after I started showering, I had so much dead skin for about 1 week. Everyday I was removing dead skin, just with a tshirt, I just gently removed it. This was all the dead skin that built up over time. The thing for me was ejaculation. It spikes testosterone (in males and females) and can create elevated DHT production. DHT regulates sebum oil glands, and when high amounts of DHT are present they over stimulate the glands and the glands produce a lot of oil. This has and was my culprit. Now that I have not ejaculated for going on week 3, my skin is no longer oily, it is healing, all the marks are almost completely gone. Not to mention, my mood is better, my back no longer aches, and I am a lot more clear headed. Before my back, neck, shoulders were always popping and cracking, not anymore. It is weird that this occurs, but I have found many online with similar issues. Good to see you shower occasionally. One thing that upset me was, while doing the caveman it seemed to be working, but in reality it was just covering up all my marks, and masking them, not truly healing them. Plus I love the ocean and swimming/surfing, and that’s one thing I now know I can do without worrying about water touching my skin. Goodluck
I am doing the caverman (2 months now), and some regions of my face the dead skin mask its starting to go away on its own.. I thought before too that ejaculation could create acne, indeed in my past it did, since i used to wash twice a day, but now it doesnt (think about it, its absurd to think that ejaculation, that allows human species perpetuation, produce acne and pimples). I think that when your face is Weak without oils and the acid mantle, ejaculation indeed can do the acne worse with a damaged skin, but once you recover the acid mantle it doesnt (same thing as ejaculation is the diet).
I would recomend the people doing this that STOP showering and start bathing. Baths let the oils in your face to remain intact, not as showers (and hot showers are yet more detrimental). Apart from this, baths hydrate the skin, while showers IRRITATE and dry up the skin.
By the way, i Havent had any inflamation or redness or new pimple in the last month, only the nasty dead skin mask that curiosly its starting to go away ( at least on my forehead).
Thank you for sharing your opinion. I also thought this about ejaculation before. Then I didn’t worry about it and came back the acne. Not everyone is the same, and the theory that DHT creates acne through 5-alpha reductase has been around fro a long time. It is good to see making progress with the caveman and I do agree, that chemicals on the skin are not good!
Showers right now are great for my skin, they use to dry them out and peel, but now my skin feels great after a hot shower, or swim in the warm ocean. There was so much dead skin on my face after the caveman that I thought it was my skins natural process of shedding that much skin, definitely not true. It was just all the dead skin from the dead skin mask. Now that it is gone my skin is normal, hot showers or not…minus the ejaculation of course. Good luck!
I dont know about the dead skin mask exactly… Dead skin mask is suppose to “protect” your skin until you recover the acid mantle and the ph levels, but i am not sure. And again in my forehead the dead skin mask is starting to disappear on its own, this is a good sign (in fact is just like a shedding process) and in my forehead no new dead skin is being created anymore once this goes away. From my exp. only thing i know about it is WHENEVER i try to modify my skin healing process, it gets worse. I dont worry about my diet,as well as i am not never concerned about the dht levels since i started this, and i repeat, i havent had new inflamations, redness or pimples in the last 4 weeks, that this is a lot.
And again about dht, i know that when i used to wash my face, cleanser etc, it made my acne worse, or simply it created new acne. No now, i know the reason of acne is to dry up the skin or destroying your natural protection.
Caverman is fast, but at least it will take 4 or 5 months to cure a sever acne totally (think about accutane, it takes about 6 or more months to cure your acne, so caverman is faster).
I must add that i am not agree about the hot showers you say. Showers doesnt exist in the nature, and showers (hot showers even more obviously) open the skin pores without hydrating your skin, and if your skin is not normal, has been destroyed by cleansers for years, it will be detrimental to the skin. Your skin NEEDS to be hydrated and baths do it. If you dont have a bath you can do it by dunking the face in a container full of water or something like that, then your face will become hydrated.
Showers don’t exist in nature? What happens when it rains? What happens at a water fall or stream cut off near a pond or lake (some of the most beautiful places in the world – Hawaii ring a bell?). I can agree with chemicals not being natural, yes they are man made, however even natural chemicals can alter your skins pH and acid mantle. I understand dunking your skin and not doing anything is working for you and that is great to hear, however let it be known…just because one thing works for you does NOT mean it is going to work for others. Yes, ejaculation creates excess DHT in my blood and produces more oil on my face, for you this could be the opposite. There are many things that can lead to acne: stress, lack of sleep, diet, ejaculation, other hormonal issues (glands), chemicals on skin, etc…
I do not diet, however, I am health conscience and pick natural foods over produced foods.
Good luck.
Day 27:
Woke up with what appears to be loose skin (dead skin?) around my nose and under eyes. Just used my finger to rub it off. Currently, my forehead and cheeks have definitely calmed down as in there hasn’t been any new ones. There are 3 healing on the left side of my forehead (blood clot). Thats the good news, now on the bad news.. I have a around 8 white heads (4 that are up-and-coming, 3 that i have popped, and 2 that I’m just going to leave along) between my nose and lip. I’ve got a couple of small whiteheads on my nose (3) but not has big as the ones on the top of my lip. Its pretty dreadful. Especially, when the whiteheads are right next to each other and its hard to pop. I know we’re not suppose to pop the whiteheads, but I have had a meeting that day. It is hurts when I try to eat because I have one that is growing on the side of my mouth; in addition, when I pull my mouth down, it is painful. MJ, I know you have recommended me to shave dry with an electric razor, but I am starting to believe that, thats the issue. Have you had issues with it in the beginning since I guess your skin needs to get used to it? Also, I dont know if I’m getting a close enough shave either since there are stubbles left under my chin that I cannot for the life of me get. Question to adolfs, how do you take a bath? As in, do you wash your body during the bath and dunk your head in the same water that you’ve used to clean with? Or do you shower and clean, and then take a bath? Thanks for the follow up guys. Again, I need to keep up with working out, I swear if my lip area and a little bit of my nose and jawline were clear, I’d destroy the gym… ARGH!!!!!!!!!!
Question I ask myself: Do I regret doing the caveman? Thats a definite hell no. It feels great to wake up and not worrying about washing your face for 30-40 minutes. I’m still tallying a lot of the whiteheads popping up as purging. Its almost been 4 weeks. The progression of my journey started out as: (forehead / T-zone breakouts –> cheeks / jawline / corner of my forehead –> nose [forehead and clearing up] –> moustache and chin area [cheeks and jawline clearing up].
Day 27:
Woke up with what appears to be loose skin (dead skin?). Just used my
finger to rub it off. Currently, my forehead and cheeks have
definitely calmed down as in there hasn’t been any new ones. There
are 3 healing on the left side of my forehead (blood clot). Thats the
good news, now on the bad news.. I have a around 8 white heads (4 that
are up-and-coming, 3 that i have popped, and 2 that I’m just going to
leave along) between my nose and lip. I’ve got a couple of small
whiteheads on my nose (3) but not has big as the ones on the top of my
lip. Its pretty dreadful. Especially, when the whiteheads are right
next to each other and its hard to pop. I know we’re not suppose to
pop the whiteheads, but I have had a meeting that day. It is hurts
when I try to eat because I have one that is growing on the side of my
mouth; in addition, when I pull my mouth down, it is painful. MJ, I
know you have recommended me to shave dry with an electric razor, but
I am starting to believe that, thats the issue. Have you had issues
with it in the beginning since I guess your skin needs to get used to
it? Also, I dont know if I’m getting a close enough shave either
since there are stubbles left under my chin that I cannot for the life
of me get. Question to adolfs, how do you take a bath? As in, do you
wash your body during the bath and dunk your head in the same water
that you’ve used to clean with? Or do you shower and clean, and then
take a bath? Thanks for the follow up guys. Again, I need to keep up
with working out, I swear if my lip area and a little bit of my nose
and jawline were clear, I’d destroy the gym… ARGH!!!!!!!!!!
Question I ask myself: Do I regret doing the caveman? Thats a
definite hell no. It feels great to wake up and not worrying about
washing your face for 30-40 minutes. I’m still tallying a lot of the
whiteheads popping up as purging. Its almost been 4 weeks. The
progression of my journey started out as: (forehead / T-zone breakouts
–> cheeks / jawline / corner of my forehead –> nose [forehead and
clearing up] –> moustache and chin area [cheeks and jawline clearing
up].
The dead skin mask will always keep coming back for me, unlike Tracy, who took her dead skin mask off and it never came back again. I’m done with the Caveman Regimen, it makes sense and I’m sure it works for others, but I can’t do it anymore. The first week or two, my skin was calm and not breaking out anymore, and I’d have maybe a few small zits that’d go away immediately after coming to a head. The third week of the regimen, my skin got worse..and I hadn’t done anything different to it, not even use water or sleep on my pillow case. I used water to take off the 3 week dead skin mask, and my skin was glowing, but it wasn’t clear, and it didn’t look dull and disgusting..but it was still breaking out. I have no idea what the cause of my acne is, and it’s pissing me off to no end. I will probably never figure out the real reason for my acne, as long as I live. As much as I’d like to not wash my face and see results, I’m not seeing results right now, and I’d rather put in the effort trying to get clear skin by washing vs. not putting in any effort at all. It felt like effort at first, by resisting to use products on my skin, but I feel like I still need to do it..no matter how much more acne I get or how much I hate taking the time to cleanse my skin and put topical treatments on it. I do believe that the dead skin stopped me from getting more acne, protected/helped heal my current acne, and made my skin less oily, but my goal is to have the “appearance” of good looking skin SOON, and I’m not going to wait it out to see results, because I know if this regimen were to work for me – it would take a long time, and I don’t have that kind of patience. I know benzoyl peroxide is supposedly bad for the skin, but honestly, it has not dissapointed me in all my years of using it..if it really has a link to cancer, then so be it. It’s been exactly a month, and my skin is 10x worse than ever before. I recommended this regimen at first..but purging and breaking out..are just about the same to me, because it’s still some form of acne..and I’m trying to diminish that, so I’m done. Good luck to you all who are trying it, and whoever it worked for..that’s great..but it’s not doing jack squat for me.
you shouldnt have peeled off the dead skin mask
I found this article because I have been thinking for a long time about children of different counties. I realized that a child here can have a bunch of acne but a child in Africa has barely any. I thought about it a while and realized that African children didn’t have as many baths as us. So i tried going without washing my face just like you, and my face is really clear. So I wanted to find so proof of my method so i Googled it and found you.
Hi Brandon – yes there are a lot of things that people in third world countries do without and they are just fine! We think we are all better off here in the “first world”, but I donno! In some cases, certainly, but not as overwhelmingly as we all assume. Glad to hear the caveman worked for you! 😀
Hello Tracy and everyone!
I already posted a non-success story 4 months ago. For some reason I’ve never given up on the idea of trying the caveman sometime again, and this is exactly what I’m doing right now. I’m on day 16 right now, and apart from the dead skin mask, which has subsided a little in the last 3 days after being extremely thick, my skin looks pretty wonderful(knock on wood!!): no redness at all, occasional little (and not so little) pimples dry out literally in a day, and thank God no more cysts! Oh, and I forgot to mention: I am currently residing in an EXTREMELY polluted part of China (to the point where I’d go outside for 30 minutes and see literally dirt in the crease of my eyelids – gross, I know!!). So I was very uncertain about the possible effect of not washing, but it’s turning out great so far!!
My only concern is the social issue with the dry and flakey skin on myn cheeks. All my friends ask me if I’m using the right moisturizer because “your skin is sooooo dry!”, and I really don’t want to tell them I’m on the caveman. I also can’t avoid socializing all that much because I’m doing a student exchange in a foreign country and need to enjoy every second of it.
I’m really sorry for this being an essay, but has anyone else had this problem of other people being overly concerned about your skin? What do you tell them? Thank you.
Hi Serafina – good for you for giving it another shot, and I’m happy for you it seems to be going well this time 😀
It’s normal that people might say something, and it’s super annoying… but my advise is just to humour them. If they mention how your skin is dry just say something like “oh yeah, I know. Don’t know what happened. It seems like my moisturizer just stopped working all of a sudden. It sucks – hopefully my skin figures it out soon”. And if they give you suggestions on the best moisturizer they ever used just go “oh cool! Thanks! I’ll look into that and maybe give it a try”.
Truthfully, people are annoying, but they don’t actually care if your skin is flakey… they care about their own faces, so if you just humour them a bit, they’ll probably just accept that you are doing your best for the situation and move onto different topics.
Thank you Tracy! I really needed advice on how to respond to that, because I’d just get lost and mumble something lame 😀
Day 32:
I have about 9 whiteheads above my lip. Two are about to pop
hopefully. Three are tiny. Rest of them are brewing. There is a
really painful one on my chin area. I believe this week, more from my
chin are/will be rising. I thought at this point, things should be
getting better, but hope has not faltered. Most of these whiteheads
between my nose and upper lip are localizing on the left side of the
cleft. I had a bunch from the week before that were popping out from
the right side of the cleft. I still believe that I’m still purging.
I have dunked my face in water three days ago in warm lukewarm water, and there were no noticeable changes. I’m just waiting for my
whiteheads to get be gone, but I’m not sure when this will happen. I
have been working out more so that’s a big plus; however, I have been
popping as well. I know this goes against the caveman regimen but
damn.. its so hard seeing a giant whitehead in front of your mirror.
My only input on a successful whitehead extraction is get a needle
(usually those disposable needles for pricking your fingers located in
the insulin section of a drugstore), stab the whitehead sideways so it
enters and exit with one prick, and instead of squeezing, you stretch
it. Again, this is only if your whitehead is about to be popped and
not when its small, and i understand that desire to pop all of them
once you start. Refrain from popping the small ones because they
usually come back (from my experience). In two days, there is usually
a scab that goes over the popped area, and I usually rip it off to
find that most of the skin is healed. Longer you keep the scab there,
the greater chance that the affected area will heal. I’ve realized
that everyone’s faces are different, and time will heal all wounds. I
still dread the days when I have to shave because I feel that is
irritating my area a lot; ergo, whiteheads form in those area. Its
too early to tell.
Stick with it… Dont remove the dead skin mask, maybe if you have had a mild acne 4 FULL weeks (no 3 weeks or 20 days or something) its enough, not for worsen acne.
As i told you, and from my exp or attemptings doing this, i would leave the dead skin mask, many weeks. At week 5-6 maybe it will start to go away on its own (and those regions without dead skin mask, wont do more dead skin anymore), i havent tried yet to remove gently with my fingers, i prefer to leave it some weeks more, and i will see afterwards. Read my previous posts, i gave you information about it.
JULES, i saw you asked me about how i take the bath. I ll tell you. I do shower first (mild shower, not too high temperature, and avoiding a strong string of water, i try to keep my face as dry as possible, no big problem if some water gets there, because after that you will bath). After that, simply full a container of water (i only use that for my face) and dunk your face there. Why i do so? Because with the bathing, your face gets hydrated (shower doesnt), and it helps also the time the dead skin mask takes to go away (this is empirical).
Important, dont use shower after that, let dry air.
Shaving, I can shave with wet as well, but in my experience shaving with an electric is less abrasive. If you wet shave use a 2 or 3 (max) bladed razor. And use a foam to shave, not a gel, foams like barbasol they dont clog pores. It will take some time to get use to wet shaving. Some skin types are too sensitive for this however. Personally I believe many people are the cause of their breakouts. Cosmetic acne is everywhere. Don’t rub your skin, don’t put chemicals on it. Don’t spray your face with water, simple really. You can bath or shower, but just don’t get the stream right on your skin, it will dry it out. Shaving can be beneficial with acne, and can work to unclog pores and exfoliate the skin…it all ready depends person to person. Some skin will do really well with wet shaving, others badily, you will have to test it out for yourself.
Miss Tracy,
I’ve been not-washing-my-face-with-cleansers thing for about a two months (only splashing it with water), and have been strictly caveman for about a week. I have always had tolerable skin, with pimples here and there, the bad breakout occasional. What bothered me more was my skin tone, being red and blotchy and shiny. I decided to try the caveman because, being 21, I was frustrated that my acne from teen years had yet to go away. Clearly the other methods weren’t doing squat.
At first, the results were pretty good. I started when my skin was on an upswing, so I was tricked when it just kept doing it’s thing. About three weeks ago, my forehead broke out in the most horrific way is ever had in my entire life. And it’s been this way for three weeks. I’ve consulted the chinese face maps and decided to drink more water, cut back on processed foods, and exercise more. It hasn’t really done much — and I’m starting to think, sadly, that this might not be the regimen for me. 🙁 My forehead has never been this bad when I was on commercial cleansers. It’s frustrating, to say the least.
Anyways, I was wondering if you had any suggestions for someone who has tried the caveman and it didn’t work. In fact, it made it worse. Guess that’s the way it’s gonna be 🙁 Any other clensing methods you would recommend for someone who has skin that is heither dry nor oily — right in between — but still gets horrific, under the skin pimples? uuugghhhh.
Sadly,
TheBeanie.
Hi AnnaBean,
Aw, I’m so sorry to hear this 🙁 My heart is really going out to you!
As for the caveman, it seems to be pretty 50/50 for who this works for, just judging from the comments (perhaps someone here who it didn’t work for could offer some personal advice for Anna?)
I’m wondering, did you come straight off of chemical cleansers right into the caveman? Read this article: https://thelovevitamin.com/1248/why-is-manuka-honey-so-special-for-acne-and-acne-scars/ – in it, I explain that often it’s not the thing you’re switching to, it’s the fact that your skin is totally freaking out from withdrawing from the chemicals. However, it’s usually the new routine that takes the blame. So in this case, I might suggest either using a natural face cleansing method (https://thelovevitamin.com/3477/14-natural-face-cleansing-alternatives/) and waiting it out, or, going back to the chemicals, getting things under control, and then weaning yourself off them slower as to avoid a breakout (if you’re brave enough! It’s okay if you’re not!)
Either way – I’m seriously sending you love. I’m sorry to hear how this turned out for you!
Tracy,
Thank you for the response 🙂
Yes, I did switch immediately from harsh chemicals washes, acne spot treatments, and constant exfoliation. I have been doing those things since I was 14 — and now that you mention it, it seems more likely that it is withdrawal, not the caveman, causing my skin to have a major hissy fit.
I could never go back to pouring chemical junk on my skin, so I think I might just wait this out and go back to splashing my face with water, maybe incorporate an apple cider toner that you mentioned in your links.
Absofruitly thankful,
TheBeanie.
Good luck, love 🙂
Day 37 (Week 5 and couple of days)
Still, I’m getting some on my lip area/chin. I have three that are fresh but not ready to pop, two that are brewing, and one that is fading away. This absolutely sucks. Red marks / acne without a head are growing on my forehead as well now. I’ve worked at my gym because I thought it was getting better; however, that does not seem to be the case. I have two that are ready to pop on my forehead. The corner areas of my forehead have multiple (3-6 total) red marks without a head on them. It might be due to the protein shakes after I worked out from. ARGHHHHHHHHHHH! I hate being in this situation. Tomorrow I gotta shave, and thats going to be like shaving around land mines. I’m going to try to incorporate some water in the regimen now because this is getting ridiculous.
Yes, shaving doesnt cause acne, in fact in my bear and neck, my skin is perfect, no dead skin and no redness. Electric razor maybe better on this weak skin after destroying it with the cleansers.
One important question about dead skin, if you try to remove it prematurely, it will come back again and again in a few days or weeks, and probably you will get lots of whiteheads again. But if you keep your dead skin mask for many days (2 months at least) and you very gently remove it, it wont come back again, maybe very slightly but not noticiable at all.
Dead skin is in fact irritated skin that heals up, your body wont produce it forever.
Well this think of dead skin deppends as well in how your skin gets hydrated during these days (the bath thing or the hot shower). As i said, the hot shower will open your pores, and if you dont hydrate it after this, your skin will get worse.
Day 40
Three whiteheads on chin. About three on on my upper lip. Congestion on my lower jawline near my ear. Couple of that are recovering between my eyes and ears. The top forehead corner have been calmer. Its been alright. Dryness on my chin and the side of my nose. I think it was the protein powder that I was taking (optimum nutrition) because I weened out of that 5 days ago. I think will start doing so after my face gets better. Adolf, 2 months of flakes? That’s insane. I have been dumping my face in water to keep it hydrated. I guess it is working, I’m not so sure. I’ll update in a couple of days.
Jules, what are you doing then? Are you exfoliating the dead skin or rubbing your face each day?
I say so, since if you do so in the first stages, hardly your skin will heal up. Upper my lip i had the dead skin mask for the first month or so, now i have no dead skin, is just fine.
People who fails doing this, is because they just remove or get scared once they see the dead skin forming. But without at least some weeks without touching your face, it will be useless, more flakes will be created afterwards. From my exp, even almost 4 weeks wasnt enough,50 days at least i’d say.
Hey Tracy,
I’ve been following your blog for a while now, and I just want to ask you a few questions. I started your caveman routine during (I think) mid-August, but I wasn’t very good about it. I “exfoliated” my face with tap water and just my hands a couple times, but noticed that it made me dry and a little more pimple-y, so I stopped that. However, I was pretty obsessively using raw ACV on my spots, so I don’t know if that was messing with my acid mantle/causing irritation. Any who, I then transitioned to splashing my face with water once a day, and recently transitioned AGAIN to just letting it get wet in the shower, which is every 3 or 4 days (yes, I’m a dirty stinky hippy :)). The whole point of this is that my skin, while it did have 2 or 3 clear weeks thrown in, has never cleared up — do you think it’s because I never really stopped using some kind of product, be it water, ACV, or gentle exfoliation?
Hi Samantha, it really is hard to know why – external skin care is only one piece of the puzzle. Are you also working on changing your lifestyle and diet for the better? As for the caveman, if you’re going to do it, I say just really do it. Give up everything and really do nothing! Switching between things too much can really confuse your skin and cause it to break out
hey tracy, i know this is way off topic but since you did tell me about changing my eating habits earlier on a post. anyways i was wondering what kinda meats can i eat that wont cause me to break out? also can i eat chicken? im thinking about purchasing your book. Just dont have a credit card at the moment. anything will help plz and thank you 🙂
Hi Ruby, generally all meat is fine, but the quality is important.. if you can, really try to find meat that’s antibiotic and hormone free (and ideally the animal ate its natural diet). I know, easier said than done, but .. yeah 🙂
Day 45:
My upper lip has gotten significantly better. There are no whiteheads, but if I do get them, it disappears within the day; however, there are red hyperpigmentation on the spots where there used to be a huge pustule. Still, it was a victory for me when I shaved and didn’t have to irritate any problem spots. The corners of my forehead has been cleared. I still have a couple healing (4-5 that are scarred from blood clotting) on the side of my eyes. It is really hard not to rip off my clots. The biggest trouble spot is jawline to my ear. I’m getting the red pustules without heads which hurts when touched. The problem spots have migrated to the side of my face to my ears, neck, and jawline. I have dryness patches around the lower part of my lip / upper part of my chin. If I count all the red pustules on my face / neck area, it would be around 15. So it is a bit moderate. One thing I have noticed is that I ate some hardcore bad stuff this weekend such as pizza and curry (usual things that would break me out really badly); however, I did NOT break out really hard. I believe it was about 1-2 that came out under my left eye. I’ve noticed that over the weekends, my acne gets a bit worse. Maybe it is because I stay in mostly, and my room is a bit dusty. Towards the end of the week, it gets amazingly better. That is a trend that I have been noticing. Adolfs, I have been dumping my face in water in a bowl during my shower every other day or so. I have not been using my finger to get rid of flakes. I just let it be for now. I’m not sure how long it is going to take to when its fully cleared, and I really want it to be clear for Thanksgiving before I see my relatives.
Hi Tracy, long time reader here, and sorry to add another question to the many you already have but I really can’t find any other knowledgeable people on the caveman lol.
Anyway my question is: my skin got very irritated and stripped down of it’s protective barriers and oils in 2011 when I got on harsh acne products (everything ranging from proactive to retinoids to antibiotics). I’ve healed my skin of a lot of the really bad redness an hyperpigmentation that I had from that over the course of the last few months by using emu oil and aloe Vera. But my skin is still incredibly sensitive, so much so that when the weather changed and got cold and dry this last month, my skin too got incredibly dry and rough all of the sudden (also resulting in more acne).
I realize internal health can help a lot with any and all skin problems, and I’m doing everything I can to be as healthy as possible now (thanks in part to all the great stuff I’ve read here), but I also realize that my skin might need something more drastic to properly recover and regain its strength and oils and such. Do you think that the caveman could help me in this? I read on another site that caveman is good or healing skin as it allows your skin to learn how to take care of itself again without the interference of products (right now I’m using emu oil and aloe Vera and MSM cream). I’m torn because my skin has certainly seen a good deal of surface improvement recently from using said products, but I feel like long term it might not be smart for the recovery and health of my skin to keep relyin on them, and that I wont see a real recovery if I do. My skin is still pretty dry right now even with all those products.
I’m really sorry to add another long comment but if you or anyone else reading has any thoughts on this I would appreciate it so much cause I’m trying to gather as much info as I can. Thanks so much and keep up the great work here 😀
Hi Hunter 🙂
Unfortunately I can’t say exactly how doing the caveman would work out for you, but in my own experience, I have found that in winters even with moisturizers and other things that my skin was always a little bit dry and a little flaky. This year, nothing. My skin isn’t dry at all, and it’s perfectly normal, which is a first. I am happy I let my skin just take its natural course and return to its own workings, so if you feel you could benefit, you may as well give it a try. I think it’s a great routine for sensitive skin – probably the best. Remember that it might take a while before your skin really normalizes itself with this though so you have to be patient.
In certain time, youll see that you can remove your dead skin mask easily. What i recommend is a wet face and dry fingers. But again, it should stay there for some weeks, otherwise it will come back and youll get a breakout.
Hey there,
I went for over a week without washing my face at all and there were some major improvements – but then I just felt…dirty, and I had to wash. How feasible is it, really, to not wash it for months on end? If you exercise or get dirty somehow, what then? When you get up in the morning and the skin around your eyes or mouth is caked, hwo do you deal with that? I’d like nothing better than to stop washing my face altogether with the improvement that it seems to bring, but how long can you raelly keep at it?
Hi S – well, you know, I honestly think that it’s all in your head. It’s just conditioning… we’ve conditioned ourselves to feel dirty without washing. So it’s just something that needs to be worked past… I haven’t washed my face in months and months, and I don’t feel dirty at ALL. I mean if I actually got dirt on my face, that you could see… like I rolled around in the mud, then I’d probably just wash it off, but that doesn’t really happen too often. With sweat, you can just towel it off.
Also, I’m not sure what you mean by your skin being caked?
Hey,
This is a GREAT post, so I just thought I’d throw in my own two cents from personal experience – for one thing, I don’t know if anyone has pointed this out already, but the article that you linked to is about a girl who said she uses ONLY mineral based concealer – I’d hardly say that qualifies as make-up. In fact, I’d recommend it to anyone suffering from acne. I don’t use make-up at all, except for this one mineral based Loreal concealer, and I use it in and outside the house simply to improve my skin, as a substitute for neosporin powder when that’s not on hand. And it is possible to do the caveman routine at the same time – both thse powders only serve to dry up pimples and they come off naturally. For example, if you put some neosporin on before bed, it wouldn’t b there in the morning. Maybe it would be on your pillow case, on second thought – but it brushes right off.
Also, in addition to drying your skin, the powders will stop you from picking. That’s why I started using them, to be honest. And we all know most of us will still pick that occasional whitehead, so if you’re going to – follow it up with the mineral based powder. Not only does it conceal the redness, but it reduces CONSIDERABLY. Also, if your skin begins to flake – and it will – I’d advise a towel dipped in warm water rubbed over the spot, and then cover the redness with powder – mineral-based skin colour if you have to leave the house, or just a healthy sprinkling of neosporin if you don’t.
Cheers and good luck,
S
You’re right, I’m sure it’s largely psychological. When I say caked, I mean crusties at the corner of your eye, that sort of thing.
Great thanks. I’ve read a lot more about the caveman and I’m definitely gonna do it. I just have this overwhelming gut feeling that all this washing and all these topicals, no matter how natural, aren’t helping.
I’m wondering about the dead skin mask though. Should it be rubbed off after a few weeks? Or left until it goes away on it’s own?
Hi Hunter,
Well, it seems that it is best to leave it for a while… at least thirty days if you can. Seems like people have problems if they try for sooner. Then you can gently rub it off, and repeat every two weeks or so… eventually it just won’t come back (how long it takes for it to not come back seems to vary between people). I don’t know what would happen if you just left it forever and never rubbed it off… I imagine it would eventually slough itself off (as your skin is always exfoliating itself). Not sure if we’ve had anyone here try that yet, so I don’t know!
Okay thanks. One thing is really bugging me though, what would you do about sun protection in the spring/summer?
Ah good question. I don’t know. I never wear sunscreen on my face… I don’t mind getting 15 to 20 minutes of sun on my face per day, as I believe this is healthy. Beyond that, I just make sure I’m wearing a hat or have some shade. This seems to work for me unless the sun is ridiculously hot… the first week I did the caveman, I happened to be visiting northern Australia, and the sun was scorching hot… my usual precautions failed and I ended up with a burnt lower half of my face :/ However, in southern Australia, and summer here in Canada, the whole hat thing did just fine.
Basically – I don’t have sunscreen for the face figured out yet and how it works with this regimen. I do know though that if you follow a healthy lifestyle, and especially get enough Omega 3 and other good stable fats in, and reduce any bad or damaged fats, you won’t burn nearly as easily. I have found this to be true big time.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking too, about the diet. Also I don’t know if you’ve heard of astaxanthin but it’s apparently the most powerful antioxidant and taking it every day for a couple of months will supposedly give you incredible sun resistance
No, I haven’t heard of it.. I’ll have to research it, thanks!
Just wondering how the rest of you feel about telling other people about the regimen.close friends and curious acquaintances,I mean
Day 51:
I have two white heads right above my lip on my cleft. I have about 8 that are red / pustules. Four that hurts on contact. Two around the forehead and corner forehead. Two on the lower jaw line on the right side. Three underneath my right eye. I’m pretty certain that these will turn into white heads later in the week. Again, my routine has been just dumping my face in water everyday or other day. I’m not sure what I need to do. It was pretty clear yesterday, but it flared up pretty hard today. I think its the diet. Eggs maybe.
Hello all 🙂
I did the caveman for about a month but realized it left my skin really flaky but it still did wonders to my skin in the sense that pimples were healing faster. After that I started washing my face with milk and then rinsing it off with water. So far my redness has reduced significantly and my acne too. Just thought I”d share some thing that works for me. (fingers crossed) (:
Good Luck
@hunter u really just need to stop putting anything on ur face.even the natrual things broke me out. Aloe vera actually made my skin blotchy and rashy looking. Try taking probiotics and washing face with milk. U can even wash with milk and cinnamon. Only once a week!! And then finish by rinsing ut off with water but be gentle 🙂 always
Good luck!!
From my exp, and in a more advanced stage of doing caverman, you will can remove dead skin mask (no need to do it all in the same day). It will come back but slightly (the more time you have been doing caverman regimen properly, the less dead skin mask that you will create again). However, its dangerous to remove the dead skin mask too soon, since you will create again lots of whiteheads in the following days, and in 10 weeks of doing nothing, a new mask will be created. So wait, if you remove the thing in a due time, the dead skin mask wont create again, only a few flakes each few days, that can easily beremoved. Curiously, in the morning those few flakes are more noticiable, while in a few hours it wont.
In my previous post, it is not 10 weeks but 2 weeks.
I’ve been doing caveman for 7 days and I do have a decent amount of dead skin but not nearly as much as I think I should have, especially because I don’t have that much in the really bad areas of my face yet. Should I worry that I haven’t built it all up yet or does it take longer than 7 days?
It takes longer than 7 days, at least it did for me. I didn’t really have much of a mask at all at 7 days
Hi Tracy, I just wanted to ask something, I have a friend who suffered from acne before but now it’s gone he is totally acne free now.. and i ask him what did he do to have a clear skin? he said he’s using only water on his face.. no soap no moisturizer no toner.. just water only.. but he has a poor diet, he still eating junk foods,breads,rice,dairy.. etc do you think its possible to clear skin using water regimen ?
Hi Monica,
Yes, it’s certainly possible to get clear this way (your friend did it!), howeverr… HOW clear you will get all depends on how much your acne was aggravated/made worse by your current skin care regimen. Most acne comes from an internal imbalance. I guess if your friend’s acne completely cleared up with no diet or lifestyle changes, that means his acne was completely caused by his skin care regimen. So, yeah. I don’t think everyone is as lucky to say that without any lifestyle improvements that the caveman regimen or water only regimen is going to be the thing that completely clears their acne. Hopefully it would create a lot of improvements for you though!
Day 58:
First off, I have never had this clear skin before. A lot of the marks and white heads have healed. There are approximately 3 white heads. One on the right corner forehead and two tiny ones that are about to heal off on my chin / bottom lip. My upper lip hasn’t been this good for awhile. I have been doing the water only regimen as in dunking my face for about 30 seconds in a bowl of lukewarm water. As for the dryness, there is a little flakiness on the side of my nose but as the day progresses, it fades. This is pretty amazing. I think my face has slowly started finished up the purging stages. I’m now confident to go resume my gym regimen. Like Tracy and many others, it will take time to get your face to come back to its original status. The water only regimen might confuse some of you, but I didn’t see a lot of improvement when I did straight up no wash / water. Well good luck to the rest of you and i’ll keep updating weekly.
Is it a good idea to just try and sweat and produce as much sebum as possible while you’re doing this? Like would that, theoretically, help the acid mantle rebuild faster? I started exercising hard everyday and I ordered a supplement (biotin) which boosts sebum production
Oh that’s okay, I’m really intense about the way I research these things so I was basically just commenting to get my thoughts out. I did do more research on this and I think I’m correct, that producing more sebum does help with this, since the more internal moisture your skin has, the more it can heal/rebuild (which is why external moisturizers never healed my problem, since they only moisturize the surface while the barriers are continually being stripped)
Okay, very interesting then!! So you think this regimen would work better for people who have naturally oily skin?
Yeah, I’ve done some reading on how some people who use lots of acne products like harsh creams or Accutane can have lowered sebum production as a result. It’s unfortunate cause it seems like a lot of people go through the same cycle of getting acne when they’re a kid, using harsh products on it for years to no avail, and only THEN finding out that they need to give their skin a break, but by then it may be too late since some people seem to get permanently dry skin, which means their skin won’t have enough natural moisture/sebum to really properly carry out the healing process (although I believe you can always recover from a lack of moisture if you make the right lifestyle choices, over time).
Anyway, I’m sure that won’t apply to a lot of people on this sight but it’s still interesting, and I’ve seen a lot of people on acne.org who seem to be in that boat
Would love to try this -but I run for long periods in high altitude…is there anyway to follow this regimen and still use sunscreen…don’t want to fry my face?
Bruce
Day 78: almost month 4
This has been a journey filled with ups and downs for sure. I just got a new job that requires me to go from a colder climate to a hotter climate, so I have no idea how that will going affect my skin. I’m hoping for the better !!! I will definitely update soon.
Currently, I have three next to the left side of my lip / chin area. I have in my nostril that hurts when I touch or expand my left nostril; however, there is no evidence of redness which is weird. There are two random red bumps on my forehead. Necks been doing fine. My current regimen is dunking my head in water for 20-30 seconds in a bowl. Every morning and night. I might start taking fish oil pills today.
Id like to say Thank you Tracy for publishing about the caveman regimen. I am about 2.5 months into the regimen and have seen more positive results than any other attempts I have made to clear my slight acne in the past.
Woohoo! 🙂
I’ve struggled with acne for 15 years now and this entire time I thought that washing my face religiously twice a day was the way to go. It obviously did not help my skin since I continued to have acne for so long. This past year I’ve been taking omega 3 supplements to control the excessive oil, I’ve cut out dairy completely, taken Genuine Health’s Perfect Skin supplements, cleaned up my diet a bit, and I try to have a normal sleep schedule. All of these have contributed greatly to help clear my acne, but one thing I never expected to help- NOT washing my face!! When I first read about Tracy’s caveman regimen, I thought she was crazy and I would never try it (sorry Tracy). Afterall, I’ve been washing my face twice a day every day for the past 15 years! But now I definitely notice a difference in my skin by not washing it. I occasionaly rub in some jojoba oil or some msm cream, but I never wash it off. Try it, at least every other day to start. For me, this was easier once my skin was relatively clear. I had horrible, painful cystic acne last year and I didn’t know what to do, so I gave up washing it for a while. But my skin was so irritated and oily, that I didn’t find that it helped at all. Now, though- WHOOHOOO!! Thanks for all the work you do Tracy! You have helped me live a much healthier lifestyle, in addition to clearing my acne- and that’s what it’s all about!!
Yay! Way to go Dee. Glad it worked out for you!! 😀
Hi Tracy,
Recently I got acne over the areas where I put on a lot of sun screen. I think my pores were clogged and not I got pimples over my nose and over my pores and forehead. I’m going to start doing this caveman regimen from today but will it take less time for my skin to clear as it could have been a reaction to the sun screen?
Joy
Hi Joy – I don’t know how fast it will clear but it does sound like a reaction to the sunscreen… at least you know what was causing it!
Hi, been doing this for about a month and two weeks, definitely not had trouble in any meaning of the word, seen good improvements, apart from the passed few days or so, which have been a bit off (probably after new year’s eve and a naughty substance). Interestingly enough, I don’t think I really got the ‘dead skin mask’ since starting the regimen. Slightly, but not what I expected. Anyway, there’s no reason for me to stop, so it’s onwards as a caveman in modern times! Thanks for sharing, Tracy!
p.s. I’m around, I bookmarked the website, it’s totes valuable… BUT, have you thought of creating a feature to allow people to sign up with a proper login and all? It would be neat…
Hi Tracey! i was curious, I have just started this process, it will be my third day tonight. my skin tone seems to be clearing but my face is more oily than ever! i also am Not suffering from cysts at the moment besides one on my chin that just popped up probably because lady time is coming , but i am getting a ton of actual “pimples” that actually have a head witch like i said isnt common for me, i mean i get them occationaly but its more cystic. Is this somthing you have experienced with this method ? Like its bringing up pimples to the surface or somthing. Also, I workout for an hour every day ,what to do about the sweating ? should i barely rinse ? or do you think leaving the sweat on would matter ? And the past few days since ive started this my face has seemed to be getting more oily instead of drying out …. my face does feel itchy tho, that might just be the excess in oil. any input ?
Hi Stephani,
It’s normal that your skin is going to be oilier for a little while until it learns to stop overproducing oil… and lots of little pimples seems to be a pretty normal detox reaction. I got lots of little ones and clogged pores that then passed. And yeah… sweating shouldn’t matter on this regimen. I just left the sweat on
Thanks Tracey ! I think im expecting too much to soon :(I’ve officially been doing this for two weeks now , I honestly saw progress within the first week and haven’t washed my face at all accept a couple times after the gym slightly with water, I noticed I had stopped getting cysts and it was just pimples. Now two weeks later I have cysts on my chin jaw line temples and forehead, witch has never happened to me before . It’s normally localized on the side of my mouth / jaw cheek area. I don’t know if this is because of my “time of month” or if this is the method , I decided to do this until the next ” time to say for sure of its hormones ! I have a feeling it is -_- other than that I have had no new “pimples ” in a week , and my cheeks are much less oily, can’t say that about my forehead and under my eyes though, I eat great so that couldn’t be it, I might try the cod liver oil and see if that helps any . Thanks for the input !!! 🙂
Hi Tracy, just wanted to follow up after doing this for 8 weeks. I’m feeling kinda freaked out right now. To summarize: My cheeks were super raw and sensitive before starting this (from harsh medications) and I had acne around my jaw and forehead. Anyway after 1-2 weeks my cheeks immediately started building dead skin, and my acne started detoxing. After 4-5 weeks my cheeks had built a massive dead skin mask, like a very thick very noticeable dead skin mask. I’ve gotten lots of questions about it but that didn’t bother me cause I’ve been very confident that the healing is working, since the rest of my face that isn’t covered in dead skin has been healing like mad. My acne has gone way down, and all the detox breakouts I’m getting are very mild whiteheads (which I never used to get before).
What’s got my freaked out right now is that tonight I impulsively picked off a couple of loose looking dead skin pieces, and I basically have massive holes underneath… It looks my pores on my cheeks expanded so much from the dead skin clogging them that they are just massive now. One of my pores is so big you could probably fit a pin or two in there.
Have you ever heard of this happening before? This is really scary cause I have no idea if my pores are gonna go back to normal or what. I just picked the skin off like an hour ago so maybe I should go to bed and see in the morning… But now I’m wondering if this is all wrong. It’s so confusing cause everything has seemed so good on this regimen, but now I don’t know if I should continue but it might not even matter cause my pores might already be wrecked, blah anyway sorry to vent on here but I always end up venting online whenever I’m scared about my skin. If you don’t have any advice for me don’t sweat it I just wanted to post this on here, I guess it’s a lesson that dead skin can mess with pores…
Hi Hunter – hmm wow… I’m not sure what to say. I haven’t had anyone else say that has happened, and unfortunately since this is all an experiment on my part, I really don’t know what would happen with that – like if they’d go back to regular size or not. I’m really sorry if they don’t 🙁
All the pores I’ve exposed have healed fine except for one that got re-clogged, but it should be okay down the line. Anyway this has been a huge success on my jaw and forehead, they’re literally spotless now and the skin looks healthy, which is something I haven’t been able to say in probably 3 years. I think even more moisture will return when the cold Canada weather ends so that’s exciting.
I still have a massive dead skin mask on my cheeks, except for one area where I peeled it off. The mask is really massive, like my cheeks look golden even from a mile away. I honestly can’t figure out if this is actually good for healing, or if this dead skin is just a skin defect from how messed up my cheeks have gotten, and if I should flake it off.
The one big area where I did scrape it off actually looked pretty disgusting when I first exposed it 2 days ago. The skin really shiny, and it felt really cold and slimy to the touch, and it looked pink and raw. After 2 days it’s looking a lot healthier, so I think it’s going to be good, but I’m not sure if I should keep the dead skin on any more cause I’m not sure if it’s really encouraging healing under there or if it’s just causing irritation.
Have you learned anything about the dead skin mask from anyone else who’s tried this? I’ve skimmed through some of the comments here and it seems like a lot of people saw it flake off on it’s own, whereas I’ve had this incredibly thick mask that’s stayed firmly on my cheeks for 2.5 months now
Hey Tracy!
I’ve been using a manuka honey/jojoba oil face wash in the morning and right before I go to bed. I’m aiming for washing my face once a day, but because of the mask, I can’t seem to figure out when would be the best time; in the morning or at the end of the day? The only reason I wash in the morning is because I sleep with a manuka honey spot treatment. Should I forgo the overnight spot treatment and just use the concoction at the end of the day?
Hmmm… I don’t think it really matters! If you want to use the overnight spot treatment, you may as well do it in the morning. Well unless you want to wash makeup off or something, then I would say do it at night and forego the spot treatment.
Thank you for your insight and thank you for responding!
Hi Tracy,
Ive been suffering from severe acne cysts noduals whiteheads the whole bit . Had used all the chemical stuff for ages and was on antibiotics until about a month ago. Things were getting a bit better infact when i look back a lot betterno cysts and all, but suddnely in nov my skin got so dry it all started to come back despite the antibiotics. Im trying some natural medicine but with no luck. I got a script for accutane yesterday but I dont want to take it!! Ive been caveman for only 24hrs. I did this as I noticed my skin was itchy and was breaking out. My chin is gross full of cysts and stuff. Today I didnt wash it and sooo many whiteheads have come up esp on my chin and has been tingly and itchy is this normal??? My acne is severe and I would hate it to get even worse!!! Thanks for your advice
Hi Tracy,
Yeah I have been seeing both a naturopath for around 2 months and a homeopath for 2 weeks. My naturopath believes I may have a copper zinc imbalance so they are trying t chilate the copper out of my system with molybdenum and zinc supplements. I have been on a dairy free diet (for around 6-7months), and gluten free for around 5 weeks, cant say I’ve noticed any seen any improvement. And due to the discomfort is causing jst don’t think I can take it much longer really. My skin did have more whitehead after 48hrs of no washing a little less tingly but it gets painful in the evening.
hey tracy…
i removed d dead skin after 7 days as it was my sis engagement.. just washed with water nothing else… was really diff to remove.. my skin was too dry, now after removing its too oily n its all red. is it a sign of healing or i shouldnt have removed it… is it fine if i wash it once a week??? n my acne reduced but its still there,, most of them whiteheads,, hope it goes off soon,… thank you….. 🙂
I am coming close to 3 months of the caveman and I have had improvements. I still expect more to come. My hypothesis is depending on how far off facial skin is from its normal state may determine how long the caveman will take to work.
Supposedly the skin renews itself every 28 days and obviously it repairs itself within that time frame. But, The skin might not change too much in terms of structure, texture, and balance. As less and less irritation occurs the skin re learns how to take care of itself. When the skin starts a new cycle it will be closer to its original functioning state.
People who are far off due to years of cleansers and topical abuse might experience longer periods of dryness and other commonly experienced effects of switching to the caveman in the beginning.
I have faith in the body and its abilities to recover, but sometimes it needs time in some cases. I have read that natural healing can take about 1 month for every year a symptom is experienced. Everyone is different and obviously results will vary person to person. I think the best route is to clean up diet, lifestyle and mentality. Live as clean as you hope to see your skin. Good luck
My regimen is nothing all week and on or close to the seventh day rinse off dry skin with luke to cold water and my finger tips. I then rinse my face with cool water and air dry. My face becomes more red, irritated and dry for the next 24 hours or less.
I wish I could go 2 weeks but it just becomes there is just too much dry skin for me to feel confident in my appearance. I have noticed that as time goes on my skin becomes less and less dry and flakey towards the end of the week. I hope to prolong the rinse as time goes on.
Hey all,
Today is my 28th day on the regimen, and I’m not sure where to go from here. I’m splashing with water once every other day. Before the regimen, my skin was clear but oily and slightly red. I was using Cetaphil wash and gentle moisturizer twice a day prior to the regimen. Years of bp/Retin-A/Accutane before that.
Anyway, my skin has not really improved on the caveman yet. It’s as red and oily as ever. My cheeks and forehead are covered in dead skin and brown patches, but it’s not really visible except after a shower. My face is mostly clear, but I do have a lot of little red bumps on my forehead, which is new for me.
Any opinions? Not sure if I should exfoliate, give it another couple weeks, or just go back to my old method.
Thanks!
Just took another look tonight. My skin is much more irritated on this method. Looks like I have a red rash up the middle of my forehead. I dont see this working out unless the irritation decreases… Could really use some advice.
Hey Sambo!
I’ve been following Tracy’s blog for about two months now and although my skin isn’t perfect, I have seen drastic changes in such a short amount of time.
From the advice I’ve seen Tracy give, I know that she would say that the Caveman regimen alone won’t improve your skin. Incorporating organic, whole, anti-inflammatory foods helps immensely; as well as getting at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. Deep breathing/meditating also helps calm any anxieties you may have and deep breathing helps release toxins in your body.
I’ve been doing the Caveman for about a month now. I don’t let water touch my face, however, I do use jojoba oil to moisturize. At times I use a manuka honey/jojoba oil concoction as a spot treatment overnight, which I would gently wipe off using a cotton ball moistened with witch hazel. I would say, stick to the caveman regimen. I’m not sure if you should exfoliate, but definitely don’t go back to using Cetaphil or any commercial products—those companies don’t have your best interest at heart, if they did their products wouldn’t contain carcinogens and other terrible ingredients that briefly get rid of the symptoms (i.e. acne, rashes, inflammation, etc.) instead of helping you reach your ultimate goal of clear skin.
I’m definitely with you when it comes to feeling frustrated about our skin. But try to think of your long term goal; the caveman regimen, all-natural products (like manuka honey or jojoba oil), a balanced wholesome diet, along with exercise and deep breathing will help you in the long run.
As for the irritation, it wouldn’t hurt to try using manuka honey or jojoba oil since both have anti-inflammatory properties. But, Tracy has an article about different oils that work for different skin types. You should also check out her articles about manuka honey and what to look for when buying jojoba oil.
Hang in there 🙂
Hi Tracy,
About a month ago I stopped using benzoyl peroxide (proactive)
and kidding myself that it was working. I have had cystic acne for a few years, but acne almost all my life it seems.
So, I wanted to try only using natural substances on my face and for the past month I’ve been washing with honey and also using a bit of coconut oil as a moisturizer. I am experiencing what I have been hoping is a healing crisis as I have been breaking out quite badly, but not in a usual way. I have been using the coconut oil for just over three weeks.
So, in reading these posts about doing the caveman I think it really makes sense for me. My skin looks the best when I first wake up, and gets quite dry after showering, even when it is just to rinse the honey off.
I am conflicted about jumping into another strategy without giving the VCO enough time. Maybe my skin is still rebounding from the benzoyl peroxide? I wish I had decided to do nothing instead of start using the coconut oil, just to get a baseline for my skin’s condition, and I have fear and doubt as to whether it will make my skin better in the end.
I have also been exercising regularly, doing yoga, cut out dairy and gluten and all sugar and generally eating healthy, as well as taking an herbal supplement to tone the lymphatic system as I think this is a contributing factor to my acne (I have no tonsils!). I have been eating coconut oil as well (yummy).
Anyway, I know that every person’s skin and all contributing factors are different, but just on the one point of going caveman and cold turkey on the coconut oil….any thoughts?
This WILL work for everyone!! I can’t stress this enough.
BUT you have to get rid of EVERYTHING… guess what? If you’re still using shampoo and conditioners on your head, that affects your face. It does. Oil production starts at your scalp.
The Opportunist pharmicuedical (sp?) industry wants to make more money by causing your acne. Your body doesn’t need chemicals to be clean!
Get rid of everything… soap, shampoo, conditioners, make-up. EVERYTHING.
If you have long hair, buy a boar bristle brush and learn to use it. It will remove dirt and other particles from your hair, as well as distribute the oil from your scalp down the shaft of the hair.
Bottom line, don’t expect immediate results. You’ve been polluting your bodies with the man-made chemicals (designed to hurt you, by the way). The “dead skin mask” is indeed your body re-adjusting itself. Same with any dandruff on your head.
Get rid of the filthy chemicals. Water cleans everything!
People need to spread this message as much as possible… the medical and pharmacuedical industries are not your friend!!!! They want to make money off of your misery!
You are naturally beautiful. Give it time.
I totally agree and think that these industries are actually harming us in the long run. When I decided to start the caveman face regimen last week, I also decided to go completely cold turkey and stop using shampoo, conditioner, and soap. My question for you, Namedoesn’tmatter, is do you use anything to wash your body or to keep your body odor at a minimum? I’m not a smelly person to begin with, but sometimes I notice that during times of high stress, my smell is a bit stronger and not very pleasant. I’ve heard that using apple cider vinegar under you arms ten minutes prior to showering, and then patting some baking powder on afterwards can help reduce b.o. I’ve tried it a couple of times, and it works pretty well with me, but I’m curious to hear about any other methods you may know of. Ideally, yes, I would like to completely stop using ANY kind of product on my body, even the food items.
Day 134
It’s been about 4 months. I currently have been getting good results. There hasn’t been crazy flares and I usually wash my face with water after a workout in the shower. So once a day pretty much. I dump my face in a bowl of water and let it soak for 15 seconds and just dump water on my head. I let my face air dry. Currently I have a two by my right eye, but it’s not a big deal. I still have an issue of whiteheads between my nose and lip but those are pretty easy to pop. I have realized popping is much faster. A lot of the popped ones heal around 1-2 days. What I also realized is that working out helps a lot. My face has significantly gotten better after 2 weeks into crossfit. I stopped taking the cod liver oil also and my face has gotten better as well. Personally i don’t think my body can handle fish oil or cod liver oil. I hope everyone is doing well. It’ll take time and its been over 4 months and its not perfect. I have been eating well and staying away from artificial sugar such as desserts. Salad and fruits such as apples and bananas are great substitutes. Good luck!
hi sis tracy! 🙂 wow yeah stress kills me everytime i dont wash my face as if like oh no pimples will come..i was scared when i saw a new painful pimple..what if my face is oily?im in tropical country,,i cooked and done a lot of things..everytime i done do those things,i feel dirt on my face..but anyhow i’ll try it..thank you for ur inspiring helpful tips and true stories!
~thanks tracy xox
Very interested in this but I have a few questions. What about sunscreen? I live in Florida and spend a lot of time in the sun. Are there natural alternatives? Also, what about sweat? I find I break out more if I don’t wash my face after I workout.
I use to live and work in Florida 10-12 hrs a day. Clothing is around 20 spf, so if you are outside wear a hat, polarized sunglasses, and get shade when you can. Chemicals shouldn’t be used.
my serve acne stared last year from using sudocream.(before that i had 2/3 pimples a month) i was so frustrated i kept using everything and anything(WHAT MOST ACNE SUFFERS DO)this just got me even more angry and i would give up in 1 week and skip to another product plus my skin is quite sensitive so this just made it worse plus i was going through such a horrible breakout i gave in to using BPeroxide which made my skin SOOO oily!!! now my acnes back and IM TIERD OF USING ALL THESE PRODUCTS THAT LIE AND MAKE MY WORSE!!!!
I started on monday washing only 4 times a day (Muslim i pray) so far so good hopefully the months to come are not bad and works for me!
i actually remember when i was going through my severe acne breakout my Dad told me stop using all these products and just wash my face with water, and as me a teenager i didnt listen to him and kept buying neutrogena ect.
haha yeah… it’s definitely difficult to listen to your parents when you’re a teenager. Turns out they can actually be right about some things lol! Good luck embarking on the caveman 🙂 I think you’re doing the right thing to repair your skin
for 3 weeks my face was so nice it was clear but had dead skin cells i didnt care i was just so happy. now my skin is starting to breakout so much i dont know wheather its stress coz of my exams or the caveman phase or because i used sunscreen???
enlighten me please my face is breaking out and i dont want more scars. i washed my face with extra virgin olive oil this morning coz i felt so depressed and inflammed.
btw does hot flashes cause acne? because sometimes i feel like my body is burning up and i can feel little sensations on my face like i can feel the acne forming weird but yes and i can feel my face burning? help 🙂
sorry for the depressing mood.
it was the sunscreen, sunscreen clog pores. use clothing to cover up with rather than sunscreen. if you want to exfoliate, use cold water or just a smooth cloth to gently remove the dead skin. keep it simple
Thank you I kinda think it was the sunscreen as I put it on and saw if I got some spots the next day. But I wore it coz I someone said you scares will get worse if you don’t protect your skin. Can you give me any brand that doesn’t clog pores as I spend some time in the sun and don’t want my hyper pigmentation to get worse.
Does the sun cause acne break outs coz I remember once I was out in the blazing sun midday and when I got back I looked in the mirror and my forehead was filled with 8 whiteheads 🙁
I’m starting my caveman routine again starting today I think I messed it up coz I used the sunscreen then used lemon and Tumeric.
Never use any chemicals on your skin, ever. I use to work in the Florida sun for 10-12 hrs on a daily basis (5-6 days a week) and never wore any chemicals. Clothing is 20 spf, so like I said before, wear a hat and sunglasses and get some shade when you can. Sun does not cause acne, I find the sun to help acne. If I put any chemicals on my skin I get acne, so I never do. Good luck.
Its been exactly 3 monthsthe only improvement i have got is not mor oily skin which to be honest i am really happy and grateful for but my acne just continues to have flares i get some dys with a full face of whteheds and some with 2.
I dont know what else do do im carrying on with this as i like the whole no chemicals on face and my oil has resuced BUT ineed to find my CURE ? Its out there somewhere just need to find it
Any suggestions to what i can do? Please!!!!
Hi Aisha,
Your acne may not be completely due to external things, in which case it’s an internal issue (and the caveman alone won’t cure you)… have you been doing anything to improve your lifestyle alongside the caveman regimen – diet/exercise/better sleep/stress reduction, etc?
Hey Tracy!
How does the caveman routine work with sunscreen? I am very active and go on runs outside, and I am worried that if I don’t put facial sunscreen on before this I am going to burn really badly (plus, in CO, there’s a ton of sun!).I’m fairly pale and I don’t want skin damage!
What are your thoughts on this? I know you don’t put anything on your face, but would there be a way to incorporate facial sunscreen without washing it off??
im not tracy, but sunscreen clogs pores, period. a good defense against sun is clothing, wear hats, sit in shade.
Hey Tracy I was wondering, what is your opinion on silicones in skin care products? There’s a mixed opinions on those two on the internet. I got the Ole Henriksen’s three wonders and one of them contains an awful lot of silicones which makes me kinda wary if I should use it or not. I love his Truth Serum that contains lots of Vitamin C though, from what I can see it doesn’t contain too many chemicals. ;P
Hi Alex,
If there’s mixed opinion, then I can’t say I know who’s right! I think it is case by case on whether or not they will irritate your skin
i normally have good skin but recently have been breaking out a lot round my chin. I’ve tried the caveman by stop washing my face but i keep getting spots round my chin that are red and inflamed then get a head!! i tend to squeeze them when they’re white- could this be causing more spots? and do you think that being a teenage girl would have any impact on the success? (I’m a teenage girl) thanks!!xoxo
Hi Emily,
It’s probably likely that it’s an internal thing – yeah, hormones. So if that is the case, then external things can only do so much! Check out the rest of my site/resources for information on improving your lifestyle/hormones etc, which is more likely to help 🙂
i recently started the washing with water only (not hard water) and my skin has definitely been looking better as in its the same colour as the rest of my body now! but!!! my usually clear skin has had a major breakout of inflamed red spots turned whiteheads on my chin. it started before i even tried the caveman but it hasn’t really helped or anything! i have a tendency to squeeze the whiteheads once they’re ready because they bug me like hell (tmi i know) should i wait it out longer? i am a teenage girl so would it be anything to do with hormones?!! i don’t want to go back to chemical face wash!! thanks so much! xoxoxo
I find this whole approach really interesting. When I was a child my mother used to tell me not to wash my face unless it was obviously dirty and that my natural oils would keep my skin clean and moisturised. Consequently I only started washing my face when I left home to go to university at age 18. I shared a room with a girl who was obsessive about cleansing and moisturising and she persuaded me that I was a little odd for not doing the same. Up until then I had perfect skin – my friends all had acne and used to ask me what my secret was. Although I never made the connection, as soon as I started washing my face, I started getting acne and I have had it ever since. Maybe it was coincidence but looking back I think there was almost certainly a link.
Sounds like a certain link to me…
How come I have dead skin build up only on the face and nowhere else?
Hi Dan,
Tracy had to backup her site and lost a few comments.
Just in case you’re wondering what happened…
Okay, here’s my answer once again for everyone else (I know that you have read it!!!):
Maybe it’s because many of us have become pretty obsessive with our face washing routines over the years. That‘s why during the caveman regimen a dead skin cell mask builds up: your face is used to be cleansed regularly and has to relearn to do its own job. It‘ll pass.
Just updating, it’ll be my last.
My skin has drastically improved – I will no longer use creams. Doing nothing has been much more effective than anything I’ve used.
After 1 week, I decided to remove the huge amounts of dead skin using diluted ACV (1:5 ratio). No new pimples from this procedure, and the dead skin did not reappear. My skin wasn’t red afterwards; it was a very gentle procedure.
The only pimples that show up now are self created (i.e. I rubbed them, or rubbed my face on my pillow). However these pimples are tiny and come to a head very quickly.
My skin will still take long time to heal. The OCM method destroyed it so bad and it’s very rough. However it’s no longer red, and I’ve very happy. I’m trying to get rid of the little bumps, and it appears doing nothing is the trick.
Hey Dan, that’s great news ! 🙂
Hi Dan, can you say more about what OCM did to your skin?
I did the caveman regimen for a month. My skin became incredibly dry, but I had less inflammation and much less acne (although I never really had bad acne before OCM, just wanted to stop buying expensive products from Whole Foods and to go back to basics). Then I decided it had its time to heal and regenerate and now it was time for OCM. I used jojoba oil, every 3-4 days. My skin was good for about the first two weeks, but then it started to get redder and redder and I started to get acne where I never had it before: below temples, near ears and on the lower jaw. And it’s still there, keeps reappearing in the same area, does not ever really go away, and I have some small dark spots. So I finally had the sense to stop using jojoba. I’m afraid that when people say that it’s ok to experience a breakout because it supposedly means that your skin is detoxing, they don’t know what they’re talking about, first, and second, maybe their skin can just take the abuse from the oil and scrubbing. I don’t know. But now my cheeks are permanently sandpaper-dry, and all covered in red spots. It is at its worst in my 32 years, and I never had bad skin to begin with.
I am so glad to hear that the no-washing is doing away with some redness. I am excited about that, but shudder at the thought of reexperiencing the dead cell mask again. To do nothing to you skin seems like the safest approach of all those you read about on the internet. I did also buy argan oil recently to replace jojoba. Used it twice by putting a few drops on my face and washing it off with water (which it doesn’t, lots of oil remains, so I don’t even know if it’s cleansing the skin). Don’t know if should continue with that or go no-wash.
Hi Tracy, I did the cavemen regimen in hope that it would heal my forehead’s mild acne, but it didn’t 🙁 after 1 month, I exfoliated my face with sugar and honey, and it just looked so red and angry. Then I woke up the next day with plenty of red spots not only on my forehead but also my cheeks – which had never been acne-prone before 🙁 I went to a dermatologist and he prescribed me some pills and some type of gel to apply on my acne 🙁 I am very sad and insecure right now, people keep asking me what happened and I’m afraid to tell them that it’s because I didn’t wash my face 🙁 Tell me what to do, please Tracy, I’m 18 and I want to enjoy my youth without worrying about people’s judgement 🙁 I get sad everytime I think about my flawless cheeks I once had 🙁 I cry myself to sleep every night. Please help me, Tracy.
Oh wow, I’m so sorry to hear this really didn’t work out for you. It probably just got a little aggravated after getting used to having no irritation. It will pass.. sending you love xox
I have not washed my face except for water running into it from the shower for over 20 years – yes 20 YEARS! In my teens i bought into the whole routine of cleanse, tone and moisturise just because I thought that it was what u were suppose to do but by my mid 20′s I was fed up with how time consuming this twice daily routine was and just stopped. I just wiped my face with a damp facecloth morning and night and then eventually dropped this to once a day to only when I shower. I still had to moisturise as I get a tight feeling after washing but noticed that water did the same job as my previous routine. For the last 6 weeks I have switched from store bought moisturiser to extra virgin olive oil just to see if it makes a difference to my skin (norm for me is oily in summer to dry and flaky in winter and the odd spot every now and again). For the 1st few days my skin felt a bit dry with the evoo (that could have been caused by me constantly touching it to see if the oil had a made a difference!) but then went back to normal. My skin is now looking really good – skin tone is even and it feels like the oil is “washing out” little black/white heads before they clog my pores and become a bigger problem. I know this blog is about the caveman regimen but I hope my comments gives hope to all those starting out on their journey of not washing their faces or just washing with water – it’s still working for me after over 20 years
I have been doing this for about two months, and it has helped a lot acne-wise. In the last month, though, I have also developed some rather intense red dry patches; first on my forehead, then all over my t-zone, and now spreading lower onto my cheeks. I have used jojoba oil on them in order to go out in public sometimes, as they are very flaky and itchy. But they don’t seem to be showing any sign of fading. I would like to try to ride it out to see if doing nothing will help it heal, as the point was to actually try the caveman longterm, but I don’t know how much worse they might get…they are pretty angry looking.
I’ve read your previous comments on dry patches; how long did it take for yours to go away?
Hi Shasta,
how do the skin flakes look like? White or yellow? If you google “seborrheic dermatitis”, do the images look a bit like your skin? This skin condition is caused by a fungus and one of the things that help in this case, is washing your face regularly.
Anyway, long distance diagnostics are difficult to make (if not impossible), and maybe it‘s simply dry skin…
Hmmm…I suppose it’s possible that it could be a mild case of that, though it’s definitely not as extreme as the pictures that come up under that search. I have never had this until I tried not washing. I will try washing with water and probably look into getting an allergy test done. Thanks Svea.
Hi Shasta,
I have seb derm, and cleansing with oatmeal helps a lot. Others seem to have success with raw honey masks and coconut or borage seed oil. Diluted apple cider vinegar seems to work well for many people too.
Awesome, thanks for the tips, I will experiment with them!
Hi Tracy. I’ve been doing the caveman for 13 weeks now after 20yrs of acne (im 33). The last 10yrs BHA has helped alot but I wanted to not have to use it forever! Ur website and ebook have helped me so much.
The first 8 weeks of the caveman was OK, my t zone has always been clear, my acne was at the sides of my face. However these last 5 weeks its really bad and I have lots of whiteheads and blackheads all over my cheeks also. I eat healthy, im vegetarian but eat vegan approx 90% of the time. Im going next week to get food allergy tested to see if it’s something im eating too. But do you think it could be hormonal and that estroblock could help? Thanks
My suggestion would be to try Estroblock, and also maybe using a little bit of jojoba oil just gently rubbed into the areas where you’re having congestion, which will help to mechanically unclog them (still without washing your face)
Hey Tracy! I just have a quick question for you regarding this caveman business… I’m in about week 3 (skin is blotchy, flaky, etc), and I’ve followed your progress with it, but here’s my question – after the first 30 days, should I continue doing nothing or should I do the exfoliating with a bit of cold water? I know that at your three month mark you had washed with water a few times, but you also said that the flakiness kind of eventually goes away on its own, so I’m just wondering what you would suggest to be the best regimen going forward. Thank so much for your wonderful posts, I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Tracy! I’m curious if you’re still doing the caveman thing and if so how long has it been since you’ve washed your face? I complimented my aunt on her skin at a party recently and asked what she did/used and she said she never washes or moisturizes it. Just leaves it be and it’s beautiful. Ive tried it before but had a bad picking problem so it looked more and more awful.
Hi Pamela, yes, I’m still doing it, haven’t washed my face in probably over a year. I don’t remember the last time. Yeah, the whole picking thing definitely needs to be conquered!! Have you checked out my skin picking ebook? As well as the Stop Picking On Me website? And Skin Deep?
https://thelovevitamin.com/cure-your-skin-compulsions/
http://www.stoppickingonme.com
http://www.grossbart.com
Tracy, wow, I was wondering too if you’re still doing it. Gives me hope. In my one month of caveman regimen, in addition to less pimples but lots of crazy dry skin, I got blackheads on my chin, between brows and on my cheeks. Thinking of going back to no-wash after OCM inflamed my face badly. I now have red spots on my cheeks and broken capillaries. Thank you for all the information that you share with people and providing the forum for us to share with each other!
Hi Tracy,
The caveman has worked great! I’m at 2 and a half months now. I watch the videos when I need support to keep going and not put makeup on.
I had the same sort of things as you, flakey skin, pimples coming and going fast, strange dark areas, and congestion. But- I also had a lot of redness and tingling/itching (like rosacea), that has been getting better.
I have also used a dry shampoo to avoid getting my face wet.
I cut out alcohol, sugar, and have been eating as healthy as I can. Taking lots of vitamins too.
Thanks for being supportive!
Woohoo that’s great Nicole! 😀
Hey Tracy 🙂
I have nearly two months left of my accutane course, and I hardly get any acne at this point (my skin is pretty smooth now)..however i still have a million of red marks left, and they are killing me!
I just tried the caveman regimen for 14 days, because i got fed up with using products (still allowing to get my face wet) – and in that period i didn’t have any breakouts – the skin was a bit flaky at first, but became normal pretty quick. the red marks seemed to be fading. but..since accutane dries the skin i started moisturizing again with my old products (I think i got scared, that if I didn’t moisturize my skin wouldn’t heal well, or maybe start aging faster..don’t know if that sounds ridiculous?) and guess what..my red marks seem more red now, and i even got some new pimples (still not using a cleanser though).
my questions are;
1) Can the caveman regimen help my red marks fade and should i take any considerations because i’m on accutane?
2) are there any other good ways to fade red marks fast that you know of (something that won’t cause me to break out)
3) If I do need to moisturize what would be beneficial for me while on accutane – I see a lot of talk about honey/oil.. but it sounds scary to me (acne prone skin + oil/honey – won’t it cause me to break out?)
wow…that was a wall of text, sorry about that!
Hugs all the way from Denmark 🙂
Hi Jeppe,
I wouldn’t say it would necessarily help red marks fade faster. Using an oil or something probably would be better to take care of your dry skin and might speed up the red mark healing (you can do this without washing your face if you want). Maybe add a tiny touch of Vitamin E oil to it to really help them along. Check out these articles for more on oils: https://thelovevitamin.com/3103/that-oil-is-ours-basic-skincare-with-oils/
https://thelovevitamin.com/7917/oil-blends-for-acne/ – make sure to apply them properly. Just a little bit to damp skin, so that it’s all absorbed into your skin (none sitting on top)
And raw honey – no it won’t feed bacteria or anything – it’s antibacterial and antioxidant, and full of skin nutrients
I started taking fermented cod liver oil about 3 weeks ago when the fall weather really kicked in and my skin was starting to feel really, really dry. I broke out terribly for the first 10 days which I think was detox. I was trying not to freak out, but you know I was! Acne has been such a battle for about 20 years now. 3 rounds of accurane, which worked wonders and I wish my body could handle the meds for long periods of time. I found this website. I have mild seb. Derm. Mostly around my nose the past few years only and my hands and nails are problem areas too. I wish I could do the caveman with my hands!
So to deal with the big breakout from the detox I decided to try this no washing thing. I have been washing my face less and less over the past few years since I am drying out as I push 40. But blackheads are the biggest irritant for me on my nose. I just could not stand to see that! And the way my skin would peel off after getting out of the shower it just didn’t seem normal.
Now without washing I have this “mask” as you call it, but I call it a “CAST” because it’s covering my skin. I can see through it and the little blackheads under on my nose, but I’d literally have to break the cast to get to them. But they aren’t growing and it’s like all oil has stopped. I feel dry and tight and my coloring is starting to turn a little yellowish/olive color and dull.
I had a vi peel a few years ago that worked like magic on my skin. It took off freckles, scars, acne, and my skin was glowing for about a month or two after. But at $300 a pop it has been out of my price range. The vi peel from what I remember basically causes your skin to do in 3-5 days what takes 30+ days to achieve on the caveman reg. It causes a cast to form and then it just peels off like when you peel from a sunburn. I have been considering having a vi peel done again and then just let my skin be and see how just the occasional splash of water works. I am not sure how long I can take this dry, dull, cast looking skin, but I know I also can’t bring myself to wash either because I have this feeling that my skin just needs time to heal.
Oh! This probably makes this non-washing the face method not really caveman, but I have been using a drop or two of oil of oregano on a a-tip and rubbing it on my nose and forehead where the most inflamation was and I noticed that it actually sort of helped smooth or gently exfoliate some of the flakes I started having. Btw, the a-tip is grey in color after I do a wipe-down so there definitely is dirt on the surface of my skin but I have had very few spot in the last 7 days and nothing new in the last 24 hours. I hope I’m passing a mark here….
Tracy, I have been meaning to write and thank you for your excellent blog and videos. You have been such an encouragement! I started water-only caveman 2 months ago with great results on my hormonal cystic chin acne, but still had the congestion of black/whiteheads on my chin and a few other spots. Almost 2 weeks ago I started no water and added jojoba oil in am/pm (one squirt like you) and put all over face. I also have added fermented cod liver oil. My face is looking amazing! I even think the jojoba is clearing up scars too! I’m beyond excited! Thank you thank you thank you, from the very bottom of my heart!
Hey Mary, that’s awesome!! I’m so happy for you that everything has worked out so well and your skin is on the up and up!!! Yay! Love reading comments like this 🙂
Hey Tracy, I was wondering how the caveman treated blackheads. I get them around my nose quite often, how do you think the caveman would handle them? Thanks 🙂
can I wipe my face with clean towel gently and can I pop my pimples while doing it
hi, it’s been a long time since anybody commented here… so I just wanted to see if you’re still around tracy. I’m starting to apply big changes since january so I wanted to know if you could guide me through this process. Thank you and you have a gorgeous skin, complexion and you’re really pretty
Hi Alexey,
Tracy’s still around, she’s just travelling India right now, but she’s still writing and commenting 😉
Okay, thanks a lot for letting me know.
The changes I’ve made since the start of january were related to diet and hygiene, because I’m no longer eating dairy, gluten, fast foods, bread, white rice and the list goes on… I’m eating corn cakes though(I don’t know if it’s bad) and for the other thing is that I’ve started the caveman regimen since last monday but I have several doubts about the things I can’t or can do…
thank you to anyone that helps me
Hi tracy. I would ask u, im doing caveman regimen about 6 days, i manipulate it, so after 2 days i wash my face off with honey and oat. I dont use any skin care again, my face become super oily, and the horrible pimple come over my face.. Small and big with white thing.. Is this purging effect or caveman dont work with me? Im breakout worse than ever i get.. So this day i pinch the pimple and my face looks horrible now. Im super depressed. What should i do? I need your advice, thanks
Tracy,
You mentioned that you havent even been using sunscreen on the caveman regimen. Im dying to try this method and hopefully reap the benefits,but i have very fair skin(thank you Irish,English,and Scottish bloodline!)and am afraid to go completely without an SPF on my face. What would you suggest I do?
I’m sure that the method works for some, but not for others – especially hormonal acne. Maybe this technique could speed up the process of scar fading, but for active acne it worsens my condition so badly. It’s like catching a cold – your body is capable of fighting the infection. But if you have high blood pressure or HIV, doing nothing isn’t going to help. They invent tazorac/minocycline/accutane for a reason. I know that Tracy means well, but please, only try the method if you’re out of the heavy breakout phase. After abandoning benzoyl peroxide, I went from having 5-6 bumps to around 40 after 2 months; then I went to see a derm for tazorac and it purged me to around 70 bumps with 5 new ones a day; now I literally have 0 on my face, so I guess it’s a blessing in disguise since I’m not a type of person to see a derm.
Hi Tracy! First, it was weird for me, but as i read through all the information. WOW It makes sense about our skin healing itself. Im thinkin of give it a try, because even 1% is better for me as acne suffer. i’ve been tried ton of products already and it doesn’t seem to work, well yeah just for short times only. After reading your 3months update and most comments in here, i decided that im gonna give it a try, i guess it’s gonna be hard on the 1st month, right?? Some advise please for newbie ^^
Thanx Yu Tracy !! 😀
Good luck Mary! Yes it will be tough at first but hopefully totally worth it! 🙂
Yeahh Im hopefully with this regimen, anyway today is my second day of this cavemen stuff, my face it kinda oily and itchy a lot but i tried not to touch my face at all but try to focus on watching some movies on the internet .. hahah it worked for me and until night it doesnt itchy anymore. but i wanna ask something about your experience when yu just started it, how will it like for the first week? i mean how’s your face gonna look, i just wanna know so i can make sure i wont freak out later. Sorry about my English ^^”
Thanx Again 🙂
Hey Mary, read the other articles in the caveman series (links at the bottom of this blog post).. it gives you descriptions of what my skin went through. Just know it’s going to feel and look a little weird for a while. Don’t freak out 😉
So for the first week of this regimen, itching is normal thing right?? and thanx again 🙂
Yes, your skin may be itchy in the first few weeks!
Yeah, this itchy drive me crazy. it’s my day 4th, it keeps itchy alot during day time but not at night, the redness seem gone a bit but my face kinda gross looking and everybody start to asking did i even shower today, i said NO not just today but 4days already.. everybody like WTF xD
Yikes, yep.. it can get awkward :/
Yeahh.. but it’s okay to let those dirt on your face during this regimen by DO NOTHING to your face, right?
Yes 🙂 It’s okay. I know it’s crazy because it’s different than everything you’ve ever been told, but you’re letting your skin build up it’s own natural defences against dirt and bacteria
I have decided to begin the caveman regime today. Thank you for sharing your experiences! Cheers
It’s day 6th, and i notice that something is covering my face, and those acne area like turn abit black, it’s strange. Now my face doesnt feel more oily but if i look at it in the mirror i can see the oil. One more thing i notice is that i havent yet got any breakout since i started this regimen. 🙂
Hello,
I’ve been doing the cavemen regimen with very little water washing (some gets on my face in the shower) for about 10 days. Before I started the caveman regimen I washed my face once daily with plain tap water. Sometimes (I’d say monthly) I would use a skinmask or storebought exfoliater.
When just starting the no wash method my skin got very oily but my pores seemed smaller somehow.
Since a few days white heads have been popping up out of nowhere on my chin, upper lip and forehead. My upper lip and forehead have always been pimplefree until now.
I’ve never been very acne prone, I had a pimple every once in a while, but no more than that.
I quit taking birth control pills a year ago, and since then my chin has been very zitty, mostly big blackheads. This has become a little worse on the caveman regimen.
Do you think the oilyness and the whiteheads will subside, or do you think this regimen not cut out for me.
I can’t decide to keep doing it, or ‘save’ my skin by washing it before it’s too late.
By the by, I love your blog ! Reading it makes me excited to live as natural as possible:)
Love,
Emma
It has already gotten much better. I find it also helps a lot to steam my face in a bowl with just plain hot water, and then dab my face with a towel.
I also quit keeping the days I’ve been doing this regimen. I figured, if I’m in it for the long haul, I might as well stop counting;)
Thanks for the reply!
I am starting today and wonder about two things. Is it ok to blot the excess oily parts of my face in the beginning? Do you use any eye cream? I have very puffy eyes and use specific eye cream to keep down the puff.
Hi Tracy,
I’m on the caveman for about a month and 3 weeks. The first month was really pretty good and i only got a pimple like every other day instead of 2 or o a day. The skin was flakey, but it did not really look like a mask. After 30 days i exfoliated with water and a washcloth. After that my skin became crazy oily and the flakes came back after just two days. It took about 8 days for the oiliness to normalize. 15 days after the first exfoliation i exfoliated with salt and oil and after that it did not get as oily as the first time. But all in all my skin got a lot worse during the last days, especially on my cheeks, which are my most problematic area. Its very congested and i get more and more pimples. I used a water about 3 times the last month to splash my face. I really don’t know what i should do right now. I’m thankful for any advice.
Btw i really love your page! 🙂
Marisol
Hi Marisol, sorry to hear it sounds like full caveman isn’t working so well for you.. you might do a lot better on a modified caveman, perhaps try exfoliating every other day with water and a gentle microfibre cloth. You could also use a bit of jojoba oil too if you want, it tends to help break up congestion!
Yeah, I’m on the caveman for over two month now and it’s still getting worse.. I will try the microfiber cloth. I actually have some jojoba oil here, so do you recommand using ist every day or just after the exfoliation? Thanks a lot for your help!
Yep you can use it every day. Just a little bit, don’t leave a thick layer on your face.
Hi tracy, i always read your blog, still you doing caveman regimen?
Im doing water only experiment, first i used tap water, my face feel great. Acne reduced, then i try mineral water.. But it worse my skin, acne came back and then i switch to distilled water. Slowly but clearing my skin, but then my face super dry, flaky, scalp and red weird thing like hyperpigmen? I dont know sure, but it not acne. Like allergy or inflammation. So now im not wash my face, and use jojoba oil. But it doesnt help, skin still like this and sooooo itchy.. How should i do? if you are me, what are suppossed you do tracy? Need your advice..
Thanks
hi tracy, i’m almost 2 months, but super dry face came just 1 months.. itchy and i can’t sleep sometimes or wakeing up because pain of itch, exfoliate.. like want stracth all my face grr..
so im trying jojoba like yours. but my face turning red, and worsen
am i allergy with jojoba?
rashes came to my neck and shoulder to, itchy
so im stopped jojoba for a while for seeing the reaction.
Hey tracy, it would mean a lot if you would answer my question in the comment above 🙂
Hi Tracy,
How do you handle pustules doing the caveman method? What happens if one bursts?
Kinda gross, I know, but I am about five days in and a lot of stuff is coming to the surface and I don’t know what to do and stay aligned with the caveman method. WWCMD? (what would caveman do) 🙂
Thanks!
Hi i have been on the caveman regimen for two months and half and i can safely it is not for everyone. Iv only ever broke out due to products or have been since using skincare so i figured the caveman regimen wil be perfect, it turns out by not washing my face made it more dry and ended up geting more breakouts. My face has alot of fine lines which is due to lack of moisterizing, my face looks like i have aged by ten years in the past two months and im only 23. i So anyone who has mild acne or just breaking out from using products please only do it if its the last resort or youve tried everything and nothin works. I didnt even give much thought, so it wasnt the best decision. Best wishes x
Hi, I know this thread is older and the comments are endless and also you just published your new ebook about the caveman regimen. So please excuse me, if I overlooked that my question has already been discussed! I would really love to try the caveman, mainly because I find the water too drying for my super thin skin. BUT, I live in a big dirty city and on top of that I work with airbrush. Airbrush creates a fine dust that crawls into every little corner, which means it sits on my skin and in my large pores at the end of the day. So cavemen didn’t live in cities (it only takes one bike ride and I can wipe black dust off my skin) and they didn’t paint with airbrush. Any suggestions? Is it recommended to just leave all the dirt on my skin?
I decided to try this (slightly modified) after thinking about it and preparing for it for a long time. It terrified me, to be honest. But, since nothing I bought in a store was helping to clear up my face, I really had nothing to lose.
So, I started to used rye flour (which is also what I “wash” my hair with) once a day, sometimes less, on my face. I still wear makeup. And literally, three days after I gave up all of the chemical washes and potions, my face is completely clear. And now (on day nine) the older marks from blemishes past are QUICKLY fading! I am still dumbfounded!
I will NEVER use chemical washes or medications on my face again! EVER! Thank you so much for this!
Wow, awesome Jenn!! So happy to hear this 🙂
Hi Tracy!! I’ve had worsening acne for several months, with lots of pustules and some cysts around my chin and side of cheeks/upper neck region. It got to be pretty bad and nothing seemed to work. So I tried the caveman regimen at the beginning of july, tried to do the extreme version, letting water run down my face maybe twice during the whole time period. I have to say it was not a miracle cure, it had so many ups and downs, some days I felt like my face was improving so much and other days not at all and may even be worsening. The only thing constant was the nasty feeling of the dry skin and gunk everywhere. So on after 29 or 30 days, I couldn’t take it anymore, and mixed some sugar with honey and scrubbed everything off in the shower.
The result was horrific!! Redness everywhere, bumps in places where my skin used to be perfect, forehead, front cheeks, etc. So I was pretty depressed for a few days. I continued not using cleanser, but let water run down my face every two days and lightly washed with honey every 4. About a week and a half later, the worst parts of my face starting totally clearing up. I broke out in cysts then pustules shortly after the 30 day abrasive wash, but when those went away none came back like they usually do. Sure, I still have lots of hyperpigmentation, but there are hardly no new pimples and the few that are do not get inflamed. In retrospect, I credit this to the caveman regimen and the general do less, not more principle. I will continue only letting water run down my face and use honey occasionally.
My new concern is the parts of my face that have worsened. They are not bad, but it bothers me because those places of my face were perfect before. I have many whiteheads, not pimples, on my front cheeks (which used to not have ANY acne) and forehead, and blackheads all across my forehead. Just many small bumps in general. In addition, the skin on my entire face is really rough… before the places of my face without acne were incredibly smooth when i would run my finger across them. I’m pretty sure this is because of the caveman regimen… was it smooth before because I washed with cleanser everyday? If I continue only using water and honey will my skin ever feel smooth again or will it always stay rough? I’d appreciate any advice/tips. Thank you so much for all you do.
Hi David, it sounds to me like a detox / purge thing, when that happens it’s common to get acne in places where you don’t usually and it’s usually of a different quality (like whiteheads when you usually get inflamed pimples). Roughness is pretty normal when starting the caveman, it heals though. I suggest looking to Logan for inspiration: https://thelovevitamin.com/12380/success-story-proactiv-to-caveman-regimen/#.U_C1i4BdXYF
Holy cow, Tracy. I thought I would give this a go because my skin was just being so stubborn, it was a lot better with the Manuka honey but still breaking out around my chin. I was breaking out every second day. Since stopping washing, I haven’t had a pimple in 2 weeks! I know it sounds small, but this is huge for me. It’s early days, but I saw my skin in the car mirror a few days ago and I was astonished. It’s just working so well for me, I’m so happy. THANKYOU!
Woohoo! Awesome Michelle!
i have been doing the caveman with just letting water hit my face for 2 days when will i notice results?
I’ve been doing the water only regimen for 2 months now. My acne cleared up, redness less visible but dead skin mass all over my forehead cheeks n chin after 2 months of success I finally decided to exfoliate the dead skin. I used a warm washcloth n rubbed in gentle circular motion and it ruined everything my skin got red inflamed sooo oily acne came bak I’m so dishearten now back to sqaure one. Back to were I had started from. I’m totally clueless what to do next.
Hey Bee – you probably just freaked your skin out a little bit, it’ll settle … just keep on with the caveman, you’re not back at square one
I wonder if “caveman” will not cause more blackheads, because if you do not take out dead skin it can bloked the pores?
Hi Tracy, and about the sunscreen? I feel a little worried to go out in the sun without any protection…
Hi Tracy,
Just wondering, when you had the dead skin mask did you ever wash it off eventually or did it just come off by itself?
After a while, does the dead skin mask stop being produced so much?
Also, do you ever eventually return to washing your face? Is it just a 3 month thing?
Thanks a bunch!
Tracy, please help me, I am desperate!!! 🙁 I want to give the caveman regimen a real try. I tried before but was unable to give up make up. I think I am ready now. Here is my story, though. About 5.5 months ago, I stopped using a glycolic acid 10% lotion on my face, because I developed large pores, and a couple of atrophic scars out of nowhere. I was, and still am, horrified. However, the scarring is very shallow and my dermatologist thinks they will go away with time. Anyway, today my skin doesn’t look much better. Some days it looks worse. I have been trying to be gentle with my skin and use little to no products on it but my skin is still awful. I don’t have a lot of acne, but I get a lot of clogged pores. I was wondering, do you think this regimen would help to quicken the healing of my scarring and large pores? I don’t naturally have large pores and they are not in my genes, I just have them because of the evil glycolic lotion. I was washing with honey but I know honey has natural acids in it so maybe I was hurting my skin? I am thinking if I do absolutely no exfoliation whatsoever that would be the best thing for me. I would really appreciate any input! I have become very depressed over this as I never had scars on my face before other than a chicken pox scar that I had for almost forever. My skin went from great to awful in a short period of time and it has been hard on me. Thank you!
Hi Tracy,
So i started the caveman regimen a few days ago after having given up chemical face washes for about 2 weeks and im not sure if i should continue or not. Since giving up chemical topical products, ive noticed that ive gotten more cysts, which i didnt used to get that often. Actually, my forehead has just been breaking out more in general. Do you know any possible reasons for why this might be happening? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!
Hello Tracy!
I have had problems with dry skin, since I moved to a very dry climate. I have never had problems with my skin since the move. I have tried so many things and nothing seems to be working. And on top of it, I have started braking out…If the caveman regime is about letting your skin repair itself without any harsh chemicals and water interruption, what about sunscreen? The sun is extremely strong here!
Thank you in advance for your reply!
Teja
Hi Tracy, I’ve read and re-read your posts on the caveman regimen and always find them great to come back to. They were what persuaded me to give it a go and although I now wash my face, I haven’t spend a penny on acne products for over a year! Never quite cleared my acne but the many other benefits make this worth a shot for everyone, I believe.
Chris P.
I have kinda been doing this for a long time and never knew it was a “thing”! I hate, hate, hate the feeling of oily skin and it seemed like every time I washed my face, no matter what type of cleanser, it just would be an oil factory! I stopped washing my face daily about a year ago and I don’t wear any makeup besides mascara, eyeliner and brows, so I just cleanse that area with a makeup remover wipe at the end of the day. I do wash once a week on Sundays when I wash my hair, and sure enough on Monday the dreaded oil slick is back. I will definitely stop now and go “full caveman”, well with the face anyway haha. Thanks for the article!
Hey Tracy, I have never written a msg on any type of website. I constancy was researching on how to improve my skin. Acne ,,.,old acne scars…. List just went in and was horrible. I used so many products that the stripped the healthiness from skin. It was just thin and oily and bad texture. I was so depressed I saw your site just browsing as I do and I thought what the hell I don’t care!
Month later after cave man…..?no water no moisturiser and my skin is the best it has been in years. It’s thickening and tightening and can not see scars as much. Best part is I don’t do anything to it and I just don’t worry now! This has changed my life and I am no longer so depressed about what my skin looks like. Just thought I owe it to you to thank you for helping and giving my life back to me. All the best from Australia!
Woohoo 🙂 that’s great news!
NEW UPDATE – unfortunately I got the dead skin mask 4 weeks in and it must have been building up! Not like people have been saying like flaky …its wasn’t flaky it was like layers of new skin in my face and if I didn’t touch it I was just matte dry always. Even sweat did not come out of it. Looked good until it turned into a brown colour and that I could not take. Tried moisturising and tried wash but still didn’t want to budge. I literally scrubbed all of it away! Layers of date dirty skin and too at least 1 hour. Was horrible! Skin underneath is very red and tender because of the scrubbing, it’s very smooth however redness and marks are back :(. It was hiding a lot if them. I’m not sure if I was suppose to remove it but 6 weeks and it’s wasn’t showing signs of leaving!. Ohh well I will take something out of it and they is do less but I still need moisturiser as I just have very dry skin, going to try wash every other day and moisturise 2 week to keep dryness at bay. I think I will have to mod the cave man.
Hey there FeelingGood!
How long have you been on the regimen? Could you share some with me? I have been on for 5 months and although my skin is much better I still experience way too many breakouts :-/
Hey Tracy!
Thank you for cheering me up and give me hope about this experience, I m 2 months in. Things have improved a lot, my overall tone, the thickness of me skin and the side effect of the dead skin.
However some days are still much better then others and I still have pimples coming :-/ + scars fading slowly… I currently have 4 new spots from this week and it seems it keeps coming although it s been 2 months ! The firstmonth was really tough and now it’s better but I am wondering, will it keeps improving ? Will I ever see the end of it? It s such a pain to see one new forming as another scar is goin, it s like a never ending thing!! Thanks for your reply.
Hey, So!
I am experiencing the same thing. I am currently on two and a half months of the full caveman. I agree with everything you said; how the thickness of my skin is better, my tone is more even. and the dead skin is not nearly as bad as it was this time 40 days ago.
I keep on getting acne too. Although it is not as red and inflamed as it used to be, it is still red, and I am still getting whiteheads. It is so annoying, isn’t it! I also had a tough first (and) second month. I know I am not tracy, and I can’t give the best advice, but just know that you are not alone. I read your message and thought that I typed it!
Right now it is June, so that means it has been a few months since your post. Let me know if any changes happen (good or bad), because it seems like we are going through a similar experience. Thanks!
Hello Rachel,
Yes it has been 5 months for me and I am half ot the time thinking I am healed and everything will get better but the rest I am worried as I still get breakouts way too often ..
My skin is much healthier, my tone is bright and both my cheeks and forehead are starting to look lile normal skin 🙂 However I currently have about 5 pimples all around my months chin area and some little on my forehead also..
With every new breakouts doubts are killing me.. Can someone help and tell me how it was for them? Could I still be healing at this point? I would really appreciate some support or help from people that have followed this regimen longer than just a couple of months..
Have you adjusted the food you consume by chance? For me diet has had a lot to do with my acne. Specifically gluten, dairy and sugar. Digestion is a big part of this. Also hormones can be an issue, if you are taking birth control or if you have in the past, it can make your hormone levels wacky. I would also ask if you have checked that your nutrient levels are good—B12, Iron and Vitamin D. It’s all related, I am finding. When my digestion started to heal, my acne started to heal. So if Caveman is not working perfectly, maybe there is something internal going on. There is also an emotional element—for me I was not feeling fully accepting of being seen by the world. Acne can act as a barrier or protection from people around us. I was also having difficulty with creating strong boundaries. So my acne was energetically acting as a “boundary” or protection. This maybe sounds a little wacky, but I am finding more and more that our bodies are trying to tell us something. Maybe asking the acne what it needs. Is there something not being expressed? Is there something being hidden? Is there an unexplored fear or trauma? Getting intimate with your emotional body can truly make the difference. It sounds wild but it worked for me!
Hello!
I want to try this. My skin has become a mess..over-processed, red, oddly textured, and SUPER sensitive. Everything seems to make it worse. I think my acid mantel is so impaired that perhaps doing nothing might be the perfect thing to do. I had perfect skin before using beauty products. What do you think?
Jeff
Hello there,
I have very hypersensitive skin, acne prone and oily. I started the modified caveman (splashed water once daily) a week ago. During that week, probably due to not washing face, there were some dry red patch on my forehead and cheeks area close to nose. (possibly seborrheic dermatitis) but not sure..
Then I decided to wash my face with papaya pulp, after doing that, my face got a little reddish probably due to the acid in papaya. I even tried fuller’s earth clay mask but that made my face hot and even red. I am not sure if I could switch to another homemade cleanser for my sensitized face.
Honey makes me breakout, lemon makes my face red. Even turmeric powder too kinda makes face red afterwards.
Previously 4 years ago, I was using benzyl peroxide for pimples on my cheeks, and i believe because of this my cheeks and face in general has become so sensitive to anything. When I was using cleansers, it would always make my face red. I really don’t want to go back to products again.
Please HELP!
Thank you! Your help is greatly appreciated.
Yush
I don’t know much, only my personal experience! I relate to skin being hyper sensitive and it gets a little panicky when everything irritates it! It sounds like your skin is being affected by everything you use. I have tried papaya masks in the past, and yes it acts as a chemical exfoliant, so it does make the face red. It sounds like it might be powerful to let your skin breathe and work itself out for a while. Maybe let it be and don’t use anything. Nothing homemade just let it heal itself. I have had acne forever, and in the past year I tried 1,000 concoctions and spent so much money on “the brand” of skincare that would “finally” save my face. Guess what? I was so anxious using all of the stuff, and have on my shelf a regimen that includes 4 serums (super expensive.) One day I said “fuck this. I don’t have time to wash my face and put serums on it for two hours a day.” I stopped. I just was lazy. I have not washed my face for about a month now. Maybe once a week I’ll do an oil cleanse. I sometimes put blush on and then wipe it off with a little jojoba oil. My face is clear of acne for the first time in 10 years. Totally clear. I think Tracy is correct in that what is hurting us most is stripping our face of its protective, healing layer. So the less you do, the more you allow your own body to do the healing it was meant to do. If we step aside, it will heal. What did people do before Neutrogena existed? They just lived. And maybe fell in the creek and got fresh water on their faces. Big Beauty is making us believe we have to use these products. I’m babbling! Good luck!! Trust your body! It knows! Also gluten, dairy and sugar usually can cause problems for some (though since I’ve stopped washing my face, I can eat sugar and no acne has come.)
Hi Tracy, i dont have dead skin on my face after one month caveman regimen. I didnt wash my face with water. Is that normal?