The Caveman Face Regimen: Treating Acne Naturally

Have you ever got so tired of trying so many failed acne treatments that you considered simply not washing your face at all? Well, believe it or not, not washing your face may be the best acne treatment! Not washing your face is often called a “caveman regimen,” and many acne sufferers have had great success with it.

How is it possible that washing the face does not lighten the skin? For many people, even the mildest skin care products only make acne worse by upsetting the skin’s natural PH balance and removing its protective acid mantle. When we leave our skin alone (no makeup, no soaps or moisturizers, and even little or no water), our skin naturally reverts to a slightly acidic PH. This acidity is protective as bacteria have a harder time growing in an acidic environment. However, most cleaners tend to be mildly or even highly alkaline. To try to restore your acidity, your skin produces sebum (oil), which eventually causes acne if overproduced. Therefore, it is better that you just don’t wash your face and let it do what it naturally wants to do.

If you want to give the caveman regimen a try, there are several guidelines you’ll want to follow:

• Do not use any product. This means there are no cleaners, moisturizers, oils, or any other products.
• Don’t wear makeup. Apart from the fact that it contains chemicals, you will have to wash it in some way, which of course you cannot do. If you must wear some makeup, use only eye or lip makeup, which you can safely remove without affecting the surrounding skin.
• Don’t even let the water touch your face. Even water will alter the PH balance of the skin and the acid mantle. This can be a bit challenging, especially in the shower. Just do your best. A little water won’t hurt, just try not to soak your skin.
• Be patient. When you first start the caveman regimen, you are likely to experience a breakout. When you start the caveman regimen, it’s like your skin comes off a treadmill. It has become used to producing additional oil to replace all the oils that cleaners remove. So even when you’ve stopped using cleansers, your skin will still be producing excess oil and things can be a bit greasy for a while. But take heart, your skin will eventually learn that it doesn’t need to produce as much oil. Give your skin 3 to 6 months to rebalance its oil production.