Skin Health Suggestions? page 3

[Maravilla]

I too have had acne for my entire adult life, with ZERO improvement after going primal. I just cut out dairy a couple months ago except for cheats), thinking that was the culprit, but there has been zero change.


Getting small, regular doses of sun helps my husband a lot, but I'm too pale to do much of that.


I'm pretty much resigned to it at this point. If you find something out, please share!!!

[teamommy]

My dermatologist told me to watch not only dairy (dairy gives me cysts, even in the smallest amounts) but nuts as well. Apparently some people have a hard time with nuts and their skin. Strangely enough my acupuncturist said the same thing about both. Just a little food for thought.

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

Mike, I befriended you on Acne.org. My username is Ellem.


Jess and Maravilla, do you guys eat super clean? Like organic, grass finished beef, organic produce etc.? Do you eat dairy? Do you 'cheat'?


The only time my face ever got PERFECT, in as little as 2 months (from moderate acne) was when I went to visit my grandparents in Ukraine. I was on antibiotics and used Murad at the time but my grandma doesn't believe in that stuff so she threw away all of my makeup, topical and oral meds and made me wash my face with baking soda (which I didn't really do that much either).

I was usually busy playing outside or helping with my grandparent's garden or sunbathing, swimming in the river, catching hedgehogs in the forest... whatever it was I was doing, I was too busy to look in the mirror and see how I looked until I was passing by a mirror one day and I stared at myself in disbelief.

When I came back home all my friends were shocked and kept asking me what drugs I've been taking and what was my secret.

And until this day I couldn't figure it out!

Now that I think about it, I realize that 100% of the produce we ate was from our garden or the gardens of other farmers (it's very common for people to make a living selling their farm's produce, and everyone has a plot of land! EVERYONE!), I drank raw milk (it was fat, unfiltered and straight from the cow, which is why I CANNOT find Canadian milk appealing, because I've had the real thing and this watered down version disgusts me) and yes, I even had freshly baked cooking, potatoes, cakes, pies and candy - though it had less preservatives than the ones here - and my skin was flawless.

I'm talkin' Nutregena commercial flawless, no scars, redness, perfectly moisturized, never oily. But then again I got really chubby that summer so don't think the candy and bread didn't do its magic :P


Basically I'm answering my own question in saying: it is possible. But we don't have the kind of resources to eat perfectly, not in the US and not in Canada. And that is unfortunate...


Needless to say, when I got back I lost all the weight I've gained (this was a while back) and my acne came back. Now, I'm trying hard to recreate what I did there, but as a student I can't... I'm still trying, and so should you :]

And believe me it isn't saturated fat because I ate salted pork lard with every single meal (Ukranian folks would understand).

[flash]

I also believe that dairy has a lot to do with acne - possibly the hormones in it??

I woke up this past Monday with 4 cysts - 3 on my chin and one in my ear. This after a weekend of dairy indulgence. I haven't touched a piece of cheese or spoonful of yogurt since and my flare up is subsiding.

As for product suggestions; coconut oil (for me) brings everything to the surface super fast, ACV is supposed to be a good toner and has oodles of health benefits if taken orally (thinking of using it more often) I was given 3 samples of soap from LUSH (enough for months) - I've been rotating them since Monday and something is shrinking the inflamation but not sure which... I'm waiting on a bottle of argan oil in the mail - I have high hopes for it & finally SUN has been awesome for drying out spots and evening out my complexion in the past - too bad I don't see any daytime sun here in Alberta in the winter... Best of Luck!!

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

I prefer red wine vinegar as a toner, or better yet CHAMPAGNE with a tad of raw honey, it's amazing for minimizing pores but without drying! Too bad I have no champagne now :/

I've had mixed results with coconut oil, sometimes it helps sometimes all hell breaks lose... freaky stuff.


Right now I have no new acne, but my face still sports old battle scars

[primal_jessjane]

When you guys refer to dairy... Do you also eliminate butter completely? I've been using organic dairy quite a bit, but now I'm wondering if I should cut that out entirely. And no more cream in my tea, very upsetting...


@Nosalad, I wish! I eat grain-fed beef without hormones or anti-biotics, I eat regular produce, and the only dairy I consume is about a tablespoon once a day in my tea/coffee or a tablespoon or two of butter cooked with my food. My "cheating" goes as far as a piece of dark chocolate about once a day, and if I'm REALLY bad, maybe a spoonful of icecream or a single piece of candy. . . . Do you think your experience in Ukraine has to do with cleansing with just baking soda?


@Flash, when you say AVC, do you mean the organic stuff? I have some frome the grocery store, but I heard it doesn't have the same benefits as the "raw"er stuff, with the webs on the bottom. I use Thayer's rose petal witch hazel and love that.


I am REALLY considering just STOP washing with cleansers all together. I just bought a 50$ kit from Sephora, and it's nice, but not hugely effective.

[hazyjane]

I think dairy can be a factor for many and possibly nuts/seeds. Personally, my skin breaks out from grains and sugars (even too much fruit) and has cleared up quite a bit on Primal.

If it's hormonally related, (like from adrenal fatigue), it can take awhile because the adrenal hormones don't normalize over night. You might want to have some saliva hormone testing done.


I also think grain-fed meat/dairy is a big issue. I have a friend who had awful acne that cleared up on a grass-fed raw meat diet but would flare up if he ate any grain-fed meat. Fruit and nuts also broke him out.


I found a good website outlining a basic (and very primally-based) vitamin/mineral checklist for skin health:

http://acnevitamin.org/content/view/15/29/

[PrimalMike]

@ Hazyjane, that link doesn't seem to work.


@ Jess, yes sometimes Less is More when it comes to topical skincare! i've experimented with really no such luck through a variety of cleansers (both "natural" and chemical) and I finally realized my diet was going to be the biggest factor. Now I just use Cetaphil Daily Cleanser and water, when needed. I know it's not "Primal" but it's gentle enough on the skin (and wallet) to work for now.

[BayouPrimal]

After I read Richard Nikoley's article on not using soap, I tried going soapless on my face. I had acne as a teenager and it never really cleared up as I got older. Washing with water only has helped with both the acne and ingrown hairs.

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

Jess, no Ukraine doesn't have a special baking soda or anything :P I've tried to wash it with baking soda here and it didn't do much (though I still do it). There's no such thing as a miracle in a jar... Nothing topical can heal the imbalance that's causing your acne... Believe me there isn't a topical acne product I haven't tried, and I'm a big Sephora junky :P

I used to buy high-end makeup and products and they've made no difference whatsoever (I think it's an addiction... I still can't pass by a pretty new product, M.A.C, Holt Renfrew without drooling or a shred of hope that 'this might be it!&#39.

What worked was the food that was grown with love and no disgusting chemicals. Period. End of story.


Basically Jess, you and I need to find a rich Primal hottie like Mark who'll feed us the good stuff :P


In the meantime, stop washing your face! The more you touch it the worse it'll be. Wash it with the mildest thing you can find! If you manage to find pure rosewater just use that morning and night instead of washing. I promise you, your skin just needs a break.............. Some people treat skin like leather, scrubbing it, lathering it with creams that interfere with its natural oils... but it's so delicate! every little touch, every change in temperature 'shocks' it, the kinder you are to it the better it can deal with stressful things like that!