Let's face it: Washing your face twice a day is a tedious (and sometimes forgotten) task. But as annoying as it may be to scrub down on the daily, sudsing up has its perks, like removing the day's dirt, oil, and makeup, along with sloughing off dead skin cells. But apparently for one woman lathering up did more harm than good, so she quit standard cleansing cold turkey. The result? Shocking, actually.

After following the advice of fellow users, one Redditor, who goes by the name mollsballsss, decided to skip the step altogether in hopes of clearing up her skin once and for all. According to her, doing so surprisingly resulted in clear, radiant skin.

"In the past year, I found this subreddit and have tried to follow some of the recommendations. In one post, someone mentioned not washing his/her face, and for some reason, that jumped out at me to try," mollsballsss wrote in the SkincareAddiction subreddit forum. "I've been on Accutane TWICE and have had serious dry skin problems in the 5 years since I stopped my second round of treatment. I haven't put facial soap on my face for six months and it has made a HUGE difference. I still get breakouts but I'm really happy with this progress!"

While mollsballsss doesn't completely skip cleansing — she uses micellar water (perhaps one of these top picks?) to remove her makeup and rinses her face with a splash of water — it's the lack of traditional cleansers that has made the most difference for her complexion.

But can skimping on face wash actually be the secret to clearer skin? Intrigued, we reached out to New York City–based dermatologist Debra Jaliman to find out. As it turns out, face washes formulated with a certain ingredient could be the reason behind breakout-prone skin, she says. "Traditional cleansers can be very drying for some people, especially if are formulated with sodium laureth sulfate, which can cause redness and irritation," Jaliman tells Allure.

The fix? Well, surprisingly, switching to micellar water, just as the Redditor did. "Micellar water is in a sense a cleanser since it consists of cleansing molecules, which are tiny round balls suspended in water," Jaliman explains. "Micelles are attracted to dirt and makeup — they cling to dirt and dissolve it." And because most formulas aren't made with alcohol, micellar water won't dry out your skin and is safe enough for sensitive skin types.

The bottom line here? Streamlining your skin-care routine won't clear up your complexion overnight, but making small tweaks — like switching out your go-to cleanser for micellar water — might stop early onset irritation and cut down on cleansing time. Hey, sounds like a win in our book.

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