Quitting Face Products. Now! – My Acne Journey

As I sat moaning to my partner about my acne for the 1000th time, (he never gets bored of it), he replies in a similar manor every time; “Why don’t you stop using them chemical filled face washes and let you skin breathe”. I usually ALWAYS dismiss him. He just didn’t understand!

The popular video of A man washing his face with anything he can find and having clearer skin then his wife always comes to mind.

His face is lovely smooth and spot free and he uses nothing but soap and water! 

My usual thinking would be: If I stop washing my face ‘properly’ I will be filled with oil and oil = spots! But something was different this time back in August 2021. As he spoke it registered differently! Let me explain 

If you have read ‘My Acne Journey’ Then you will know I have never gone a day without a few spots on my face.  

Ever since my first spot, when I was introduced to Clearasil I had never gone a day without washing my face with a product.  

You can read all the different products I have used in My Acne Journey, but my final face wash was ‘Nip and Fab Fix it’ face wash. Out of all the face washes I had used it was honestly a worthy face wash. It made my skin look brighter and more awake in its first uses. We could argue that they all do this! (Why do products always work the best the first times we use them?) But Nip‘n’Fab seemed to keep to its word that bit longer. Although my face looked brighter, it was still very covered in Acne. 

It Dawned on me! 

Religiously I have been applying ‘something’ to my face every day, without fail, for years!

Like my skin wasn’t fighting enough as it is, it had never had a break. The skin on the rest of my body was smooth and spot free and all that recieved was soap, water and moisturiser.

If I ever get a rash, the last thing I would do is exfoliate it with a chemical-based product with beads. So why was I doing this to my face?! 

It was time to let my skin breath and repair, how did we know if these chemicals would over time be bad for my skin. 

The 4 steps I took to go natural

Quitting Face Products

STEP 1 – Just use Water 

I asked my partner what he suggested. “Just use water” was his reply!

Sadly he wasn’t the first person to have said this to me! In my late teens, an auntie had suggested that I just splash my face with water. I heard it again, a few years ago a Colleague had said something similar. They both suggested splashing with warm a few times and then with cold a few times. I believed this would never work for me, so naively dismissed it.

As I sat in the present and thought about the number of products I had daily applied to my skin, over the past 20 Years, I felt overwhelmed! 

Step 2 – Throw away all face products  

I had everyday face washes, once a week face washes, tried and tested face washes, back up face washes, calmer face washes for breakout days, face toners, face moisturiser, face cleansers and so many other random things I had found along the way.

My bathroom cupboard was happy to breathe! As I filled a shopping bag to the top with face products.

If I was going to do this, I needed them away from me. It was time to see how my face reacts to nothing. I prepared myself for “it will get worse before it gets better” a saying people with acne may have heard a lot. I have to ride it out. 

Step 3 – Make a new face routine  

The plan is for it to be as simple and minimalistic as possible.

Taking the advice that had been given to me I would splash my face several times with warm water and then with cold water, whilst using my hands to wash off any day grime. That was it! I wanted to avoid using anything for a while to see how my face would react.

But how do I tackle make-up days with just water?  

Step 4 – Work out how to wash off make up! 

My biggest fear when throwing out the products was removing make-up properly. I previously had switched to a water-based foundation which was easier to wash off then oil based. However, I still didn’t think water was enough. My aim was to avoid wearing make-up, but for the days I couldn’t avoid it I compiled together a few options that I could test out. 

My Make Up Removal Options

1 – Use a Clean flannel to scrub off the make-up,  

2 – Use rose water on a pad to remove makeup before or after washing with water  

3 – Gently scrub with a bit of bicarb (I wanted to avoid this one. It would be the break I need, but to help, I would be wearing make-up to a minimal and I knew this option would take the make-up off successfully if needed.   

Results after 2 weeks 

The Change took about 2 weeks. My skin looked calmer not spot free but definitely and noticeably calmer.  

One of the biggest changes I noticed, my skin looked more youthful. I have quite a young-looking face, but for the past few years prior I felt like my skin started to look really aged and feel really thin on my face. Since going natural I can genuinely say my face has more life in it! 

Conclusion 

Pretty quickly I realised that I had wasted a lot of money on face products. I can honestly say I will not be going back to using over-the-counter cosmetics for the face.  

After 3 Months of going natural the results remained the same. I did however find that from time to time this wasn’t enough and I needed a moisturiser, but I really wanted to give my face a well-deserved break. And that I did! I now will only use natural products on my face! The start of a new acne journey begins!

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