I Stopped Washing My Face With Water And Here’s What Happened…

There’s nothing quite like splashing cold water on your face in the morning. Morning cleansing has always been one of my favorite skincare rituals as it wakes up my skin and gets me going for the day.

Until recently.

Enter two not so glamorous words. Adult Acne. What the heck?! I’ve been blessed with beautiful skin my entire life and now, all of a sudden, I look like a pre pubescent teenager! Not cute. So, I did what any skincare afficiandao would do. I tried every product on the market in attempts to “fix” my skin. Months passed and my skin was going from bad to worse. Redness, rosacea, bumps, breakouts, inflammation, pain. You name it, I was dealing with it. I decided, like I do with many issues in my life, to throw out everything I was trying (metaphorically, not literally. That ish is expensive!) and go back to basics. And I mean BASICS. What I noticed in the next few weeks was mind boggling.

Remember the Clinique 3 Step Skincare System that you started using when you were 12? Cleanse, tone, moisturize? That became my motto. But I put my own little modern twist on things. I had read so many articles about tap water causing inflammation and acne. My skin issues didn’t surface until I moved to Australia. I have been stressed beyond belief and gone through some rough patches in life prior to moving to Australia yet I still had beautiful skin. I had tried almost everything else to help my skin so what did I have to lose?

I said goodbye to that early morning cold splash of water and grabbed my most gentle cleanser and a bottle of Avene Spring Water and got to work. My morning cleanse now consists of rubbing Avene Antirougeurs Cleansing Milk onto my dry skin, giving myself a nice little facial massage, spraying the Avene water all over my face and removing with a washcloth. My skin is left hydrated and soothed with no redness in sight. I continue my skincare regimen as usual (which I have completely scaled down in attempts to calm my face.) My makeup applies better, I am not dry throughout the day and I’m actually noticing less puffiness in the morining (even without the cold water.)

I was using this method for a few weeks at nighttime but was quickly noticing that I was not completely removing my makeup. I’m still using tap water at night to cleanse but focusing on super soothing ingredients to hydrate and calm the skin afterwards. I cannot believe how bouncy and hydrated my skin is becoming. I’m also seeing a major reduction in redness and irritation.

I think when most of us hear the word “acne” we immediately think of the harshest, most intense treatments to try and “fix” our faces. I am still on a journey to regain my spotless skin but I can’t even begin to explain what a difference I have seen in the last month. Maybe it is a combination of scaling down my regimen and my new method of morning cleansing, but I’m convinced that my approach is helping.

Are you brave enough to try the “no water” cleanse? Let me know in the comments below!

Carrie xo

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