Caveman Skin Care Approach- Plain Water Cleansing For The Face: My 3-week journey


Photo Credits: osawaterworks.com

I'm sure you've all heard of Plain Water Cleansing, but have you actually tried it? I did for three weeks because a lot of source say that it's good for acne- prone peeps. But how is it beneficial to our skin and at the most basic level, how do you do it?


Photo Credits: alliancegym.com

Plain Water Cleansing is part of what beauty experts call the Caveman Approach to skin care. Simply put, do what a caveman does to his/her skin: Nothing. No makeup, no skin care, just water or for the hardcore Caveman approach, don't use anything not even water FOREVER. We're not in the stone age anymore, we put on makeup, and pollution and dirt are the things that touch our skin everyday so I guess the hardcore approach wouldn't work for us right now so I opted for just plain water.

The benefits of Plain Water Cleansing are: 1.) Water, in itself, is charged with a lot of minerals (just as long as it's clean!) and they're enough to help your skin heal. 2.) Our skin has an acid mantle which is at PH 5.5 (slightly acidic) that naturally wards off bacteria. With the interference of commercial cleansers,  toners, treatments, and even moisturizers the acid mantle is disrupted and that's when bacteria start penetrating the skin. Also, cleansers leave microscopic residues that could be the culprit behind blocked pores and zits in the morning. Even water could be a lil' damaging to the acid mantle as it's alkaline, but since it's something that's natural to our body, the effect isn't that bad.

For my journey, I overhauled my skin care routine: no facial scrubs, no facial cleansers, no masks, no toners, no spot and brightening treatments, no derma procedures, no moisturizers, and no sunscreen- just makeup (light makeup to be exact) during the day and serum during the night. I only used Not.A.Sponge Konjac Sponge with water to effectively remove grime and makeup, and for the serums, I minimized the products I used to one and opted for the one with a gel consistency and less and natural ingredients. In short, my skin care routine became very, very simple and the products I've used were primarily made up of water.

Click READ MORE and read about my Plain Water Cleansing journey!

FIRST WEEK

- Not much difference observed in the first week. My skin started to feel very light and very clean. I was the one adjusting to the zero presence of my usual skin care products. When I embarked on this journey, I had zits on my cheeks and on my chin due to Adult Acne.

SECOND WEEK

- Surprisingly, the oiliness on my T-Zone was reduced and my zits started fading one by one-they didn't disappear quickly, but they were saying goodbye slowly but surely. I also sleep very late, but to my amazement, I didn't get new zits within this week! As you all know, I have oily skin, but my skin felt naturally moisturized and it didn't overproduce or underproduce oil.

THIRD WEEK

- My skin around this time looked super healthy and all the zits have healed completely (finally!). I'd get bumps every now and then, but they'll just disappear in a day or two and they don't develop into pimples. My skin has never felt this strong, regenerated, and resilient!

Our body as well as our skin are brilliant forces that nature has ever designed, and they have their own ways of dealing with problems- society has just imposed so much standards on us, (apply this, apply that) that's why I'd always remind everyone at the end of all my skin care- related blog posts to only use what you need in any situation. Plain Water Cleansing just reminded me of Occam's Razor's principle: "The best answer to any problem is always the simplest solution." In short, when skin problems get complicated, go back to the basics. A complicated solution more or less complicates the problem!

As I said in the beginning, this type of cleansing routine is good for acne- prone people and I could attest to that, albeit I can't say that it's the miracle routine for everyone because acne (as well as other skin problems) are caused by so many factors including genetics, diet, stress, disease, and other external elements. For those with zero skin problems (or the blessed ones), I'd recommend this way of cleansing--as the old adage goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

With the bevy of commercial products we use everyday, our skin could get pretty dependent on them, thus we're sabotaging its own healing process and internal strength. However, I'm not saying that you ditch all your skin care products the next day (heck, I can't even do that!)- all I'm saying is Plain Water Cleansing is a nice breather to any skin care routine to help support your skin's own immunity. Try it for yourself and your skin thank you for that. :)

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11 Comments

  1. Hmmm very informative Ms.M and eye opener Ms.M
    Matry nga ito sa December since mauubos na rin ang aking mga cleanser by that month. :)

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  2. I never thought that my skin could survive on water cleansing alone, even when I was in high school I'm always on that search for "anti-oil" products. But coming from someone who has oily skin, I might give this a try. The only hesitation I think I have is, can water thoroughly cleanse my face?
    what does your skin feel like after cleaning your face, M? Does it feel oily?

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  3. I'm doing this caveman approach for months now. And yes, my skin is very prone to acne! I've tried various types of cleansers--from foam wash to astringents. But nothing seemed to work for my face. My acne became worse. That's when I got tired of trying too many products and just go back to pure water cleansing. So far my pimple lessen. What's left are some traces of acne scars.

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  4. come to think of it, this metohd was what i was using when I was younger and it was ok back then. i got no problems with my skin that much...

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  5. I did almost the same thing, except that I used only a cleansing balm (Lush's Ultrabland) and VMV's Red Better Spot Corrector. After about 3 weeks or so, my skin's balanced out. It didn't get rid of scars, nor did it prevent hormonal breakouts when I get my period, but I don't oil up as much, and the redness definitely subsided. :) I initially did it to figure out what's causing the allergic reactions. My main dilemma now is deciding if I should go back to using toners, or treatments at all, since I'm pretty sure I'll be needing them sooner or later (especially anti-acne and anti-aging treatments XD)

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  6. It takes a lot of courage to not put anything on your skin! I personally can live without skincare but I find the whole ritual very therapeutic and can't let it go :P

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  7. ..c hubby pag naghihilamos s cr ng company nagppimples sya sbi q bka mdumi tubig kya wag n maghilamos sa work.

    I know how to apply makeup pero lately q lng nlaman how important skincare was.. before plain water lng aq sa paghhilamos pkiramdam ko kasi mangangati aq sa sabon at mga panghilamos.. tpos nagpopolbo aq ng muka bgo mtulog as in mkpal n polbo sa muka paggising ko kasi sa umaga feeling ko knis knis ng muka q hehe

    Hindi lng tlaga aq masyado nagpipimple un nga lng kpag nagpimple aq pansinin tlga kc prang hirap lumbas sa muka q kaya lng namumula at nmmaga at dun pa tutubo sa pansinin tlaga sa ilo ilong

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  8. love the results! Skincare is indeed very important! it's like taking care of the canvas for your makeup ♥


    "The best answer to any problem is always the simplest solution" --Super agree!

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  9. I am doing this! Although i wash my face with human nature balancing facial wash every night and apply human nature mint lipbalm throughout the day. That was and is my daily routine for as long as i can remember. Ya, call me geek but i only started to have interest in makeups just last last month and i regret not having makeups with me. But even if im interested, my wallet doesnt have time for those :( haha. But it has some good results too! Maybe that's the reason why all the people says i have suc a baby face. Ahha. But i think im ready to let my daily routine go and start putting makeup. Haha. (that is if i have the financial resources and skills to do so) hahaha. :)

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  10. I'm one of those people to whom this won't work.

    I tried this for a week sometime in the past. My oiliness was managed but grew a lot of zits. Probably because my skin has cell turnover problems, and I have to use acne medication.

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  11. An officemate told me she tried this before and it works for her. I wanna try this. Hope it'll work! :)

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