Naturalish Skin Care For Acne

The Natural(ish) approach to treating acne is based on years of experience treating patients with difficult skin conditions.  I prefer natural products, but after 20 years of provider knowledge about what works and what doesn’t, I am not 100% natural.  Everyone with acne has tried salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, and usually some kind of sulfur based product.  If you have inflammatory acne or sensitive skin, you might find that the standard treatments just don’t work for you.

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QuicK History

for most of my life I had more acne prone skin than anyone I have ever seen as a patient.  Over 90% of people with visible skin problems experience depression or anxiety when they can’t fix it.  I was no different.  I compulsively tried every product, and as I got older (and increased my education about health care) I tried even more.  I spent SO much money over the years, and unfortunately since I still had acne into my 30’s, I began to scar much more easily.  Based on this experience, I am very careful with people with acne and try to make sure I only recommend things that are inexpensive, effective, and gentle.  You may need to adjust a bit until you find the right program for your skin.  First, while we need to keep the skin clean, we also need to make sure we don’t strip our protective barrier or destroy our microbiome.  I like to be as gentle as possible with washing and cleansing.  I don’t use harsh cleansers with acid.  If your acne comes from bacteria, there are a few ways to kill bacteria.  Acid, salt, and heat are common.  If you’re reading this, you’ve tried the common acids.   If you have ever been to the beach and noticed that your skin cleared up right away, you know that salt can be a powerful way to extract and clarify the skin without irritating it.  If you wear make-up, you do need to wash it off

Favorite Gentle ways to Wash

1. I like to use Baby Soap for my face, body, and hands. Because of this, I keep it in a foaming dispenser in my bathroom and just use it to gently wash my face as needed.
2. My favorite clean acne product that has a nice anti-inflammatory effect is Zen Med Gentle Cleanser.  I don’t currently use this because I don’t have active acne.  If you do, it’s my favorite solution for inflamed skin.

What You Will Need To Make this

1. Get this dispenser to make your own facial toner
2. Add 1 tablespoon of Salt Scrub and fill the rest with clean water.
3. If you’re worried about the added ingredients in this scrub, just get plain Epsom Salt.
4. Mix in warm water so it dissolves.
5. Shake before using.
6. Gently swab the face with Cotton. 
7. Do not scrub

Additional Tips

•   If you don’t like the salt on our face in the morning, just do this at night.  
• My favorite aspect of the salt is that it gives you FULL permission to mess with your skin as much as you’d like.  You have the urge to try to fix, pick, pop, or apply more products.  
• You can apply salt over and over to affected areas.  
• Worst case scenario, you see some white film from the salt.  But the next day, you should notice reduced inflammation, natural extraction, and reduction in severity.  
• Epsom salt and sea salt are not as drying as regular salt, and generally leave your skin soft and supple.  
• Nonetheless, the most important thing I learned about my extremely acne prone skin is that I stopped breaking out when I started ALWAYS applying some kind of protective ceramide or soothing barrier.

My favorite natural option 

• My favorite natural option for inflammatory acne is Zen Med Gentle Moisturizer. 
• I also like these 2 products that are less natural but they are gentle and well formulated.  I like to use Oil of Olay Regenerist  in the morning because it is versatile and can be worn with makeup or without.
• At night, I like to use a heavy application of Cerave Moisturizer because it is a large tube, lasts a long time, and is extremely cost effective when you consider the expense of the active ingredients.
  • This allows me to use a frequent heavy protective treatment without spending much.  Bonus, it has HA, which is a skin plumper.  If you have any pitting, HA products will reduce or eliminate the appearance of pitting.  This isn’t my number one favorite HA product (use those during the day) but I love that it is so inexpensive I don’t feel bad about using a large quantity of it.   
• Next, we need a spot treating option.  I learned this from the body builders who overdose on testosterone and are trying to prevent hormonal acne.  They use Nizoral either as a body wash, spot treatment, or face wash.  It isn’t interchangeable with any other shampoo.  For some, it is very tolerable.  For others, it can be drying.  Everyone is different.  I recommend starting with a tiny little dab on a pimple, especially the big ones under the surface.  You might wake up and find that it’s completely gone before it surfaces.  Depending on your skin, you could get some flaking.  By now, you probably know how easy it is to dry your skin.  It’s never caused any redness or flaking for me, just rapid resolution of hormone sensitive cysts that are starting to surface.  It’s worth a try, considering the complete lack of topicals for hormonal acne.  I do sometimes have the active ingredient in this shampoo compounded in custom skin formulas, but that is quite a bit more expensive and not practical for body acne.Still want the option to hit the fast forward button?  Facial light therapy devices  for acne  have become affordable and can be a great way to help you wake up while you hit the snooze button in the morning.  They can also double as light therapy if you get a little down in the darker months.  Also, because our sleep / wake cycle is highly controlled by light exposure in the morning (and darkness at night), bright light in the morning means easier waking and easier falling asleep

Breakouts

It is important to remember, of course, that breakouts are heavily influenced by what is going on in the digestive tract and hormone balance.  Hormone balancing is a delicate endeavor, and while I am reluctant to give any advice online for fear of making your hormone problems worse, I will say that MANY people with hormonal imbalances also have digestive problems that make the hormones dramatically  worse.  For some, acne is entirely digestive.  Some  digestive cases are relatively simple to address, some are not.  I think it is always helpful to try a simple microbiome reset if you have a skin problem.  That means 10 weeks of no sugar, no alcohol, no flour, and taking 3 Biocidin in the morning followed by one packet of High dose probiotics once per week at night.  You can also detox your skin and digestive system with a tablespoon of Chlorofresh before you brush your teeth.  I like to swish and swallow to keep the microbiome in my mouth healthy, which can help with acne. (see my blog about dental health to learn more).  For many people, improving the microbiome  for 10 weeks is enough to see a significant change in skin, energy, mood, digestive health, sinus health, joint pain, concentration, and more.  Again, digestive and hormone problems can be complex and you may need more help treating the internal causes of acne.  Modifying the hormone and digestive systems accurately is a full time job.  That said, it is important that you use the right skin care program externally while you figure out what is going on inside.  

Once your skin is clear, I love Pracasil Plus.  It is a scar serum that is absolute magic.  Check out google images to see results.  That product comes from a compounding pharmacy and isn’t always easy to find. One package is usually enough for post acne redness.  The active ingredient, Pracaxi Oil, has not really caught on as a cosmetic product in the US.  It is regenerative, antimicrobial, and is the best therapy I have ever seen for reducing redness and scarring.  It can be a rare find online, but it saves a little if you don’t want to spring for he Pracasil Plus.

If you wear Makeup

As an acne prone person, I highly recommend that you don’t use anything but Bare Minerals.  I have never found any product that hides redness, scarring, and acne without causing more breakouts.  Theoretically, you can sleep in this without it causing breakouts (which I tested many times in college).  I would have been a loyal Bare Minerals user for life, but at some point when you start to get little fine lines, powder make-up can settle in and enhance the lines.  I am told that primer helps with this, but as an acne free adult, I don’t wear foundation unless there is a special occasion.  I use an inexpensive Tinted Sunscreen / BB Cream every day.  If I want to wear foundation, I use Mineral Air which is equally gentle.  It is a little bit expensive, BUT I love that it is buildable, doesn’t settle into lines, and doesn’t look like I am wearing anything.  Almost all foundations make my skin break out from even one use, so having something that I can wear occasionally with no consequence means that I spend no time, energy, or money on makeup breakouts.  Totally worth the price to occasionally wear makeup, especially after getting to where I had no redness, spots, or acne to hide.  

If you are moving past your acne prone phase, check out my blog on anti-aging skin care and light makeup.  My daily routine allows me to go foundation and concealer free without feeling self conscious for the first time since I was 10.

My current daily skin routine

My current daily skin routine also helps to smooth the appearance of pitting and fine lines after a lifetime of using the wrong things on my skin.  Again, I am not a beauty or makeup expert.  I am a busy professional with years of experience with the effectiveness of active ingredients, feedback from patients, and personal experience with difficult skin.  If you want the best makeup tutorials and cosmetics, there are SO many people who know more than me.  If you want mostly holistic solutions that you probably haven’t tried yet, this is my area of expertise.

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Thanks for stopping by!

xx, Naturalish

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