Kickin it cavewoman style
Hey Love Vitamins, we’re continuing our series of interviews with peeps who have cleared their skin naturally & holistically.
Today’s is from L Vitamin reader Helle who found that the caveman regimen happened to be her personal acne saviour.
These are posted every other week, and if you have cleared your skin naturally and want to fill out your own interview to be featured on The Love Vitamin, then just click here!
What was your experience with acne? How many years did you have it and how did it make you feel?
I started getting hormonal spots during my teen years, like most of my friends did at the time. But mine didn’t disappear. I had acne until I was 26 and until only 7 months ago, I felt like a spotty teenager in a world of perfection.
What hurt the most, though, was when my former boss scooted up to me and casually told me that my acne was getting more noticeable. So I started noticing them more.
My cheeks, forehead and chin was literally covered in painful, red spots.
And as I started caking on more makeup to cover them up and scrubbing my face to get off the makeup in the evening, they turned angry. I was left with cystic acne.
It wasn’t just physically painful, but emotionally scarring as well. I couldn’t go anywhere in public without having to hide my face. I even started to cake on makeup when I went to visit my parents during holidays and weekends.
Long story short: I felt like crap.
What kinds of things did you try prior to holistic healing that didn’t work?
Started using Vichy products during my teen years, but the products just weren’t cutting it, so I stopped and immediately started using generic face washes, toners and moisturizers.
I did that every day for the first 10 years or so. I didn’t realize that I had developed greasy skin until I tried to stop using them.
As my face got angrier, I tried everything from raw honey washes (found out I was allergic = more acne) to tea tree oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, sulphur based products, and stuff with unknown active ingredients.
If it says “stops acne”, I have tried it.
How did you discover that acne could be treated holistically?
I stumbled across a post from acne.org by accident. The girl wrote about the Caveman Regimen.
I had tried everything on the face of the earth, and she battled acne by doing absolutely nothing. After reading several articles about this new thing, I gained the confidence to try it out.
What were the specific things that made the biggest difference to your skin? What worked for you?
First of all, I had quit my job (I was very stressed – and my boss really was a jerk), which gave me some time to adjust to my new regimen.
My skin stopped developing new spots on day one of the no wash regimen. I figured, that if I had to go through with this, I might as well do it right – meaning NO water or moisturizers for as long as it takes to clear my acne.
And it worked. My face started healing itself. It took me 3 months to clear my acne, and when I started my new job, I started as an adult – and not a teenager!
Were there any obstacles? Things you found difficult about the whole process?
Well.. It wasn’t pretty at first. Only a few hours after my last wash, my skin was dripping with sebum. And I mean dripping.
It felt like I had dipped my face in cooking oil, and I knew I had to leave it on my face.
Luckily, it only took my skin 4 days to adjust the levels of sebum.
But then there was the dead skin mask. Oh god, the skin mask. It’s called the caveman regimen for a reason..
Although, the biggest obstacle was the fact that I couldn’t wear makeup while my skin was healing. I had to show the world what I really looked like.
But I knew I was doing the right thing, and it would help me in the long run if I went cold turkey.
How did you feel once your skin cleared up?
I feel like an adult, for the first time in my life. I still get the occasional spot now and then, but after months of not wearing makeup to cover every single inch of my face, I now have the confidence to leave it uncovered. Not everyone is perfect.
But really, my goal in life is to stay positive, even in tough situations. Might as well make the best of what I’ve got!
The post The Caveman Regimen Did the Trick for Helle appeared first on The Love Vitamin.
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