Flaky Skin

superGrover

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Hi!

I have had flaky skin since I was 12. Especially on my face. Sometimes I scrub it off and it's good for a day, but it's very annoying. And scrubbing your skin all the time, views are contradicted about how good it is for you. I don't use soap on my face and sometimes aloe vera natusan baby oil and then rinse it off. I know it's probably not good to put that oil on it, but otherwise my skin will look really flaky.

Does anyone have any tips on what I could do? Or how this could be caused?

My diet then and now:

When I was twelve until 22 I had a standard european diet I guess :p. And then I went paleo for a short while, then high carb low fat vegan. Then just vegan with 2000 cals per day.

In the last two months that I got to know the work of dr. Peat I now have incorporated the following in my diet:
I drink 1l OJ + 1-1,5l milk per day. No/almost no PUFA. One egg per day + OJ. 2 cups coffee w/ sugar+milk. 1 carrot. 100mg aspirin. niacinamide. 2 drops K2. 2,500iu D3. 2000iu vit A palmitate. 200iu vit E. 30gram coconut oil.

Thanks and happy new year!
 
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Ray Peat has written that researchers and people believed that the "essential" polyunsaturated fatty acids were necessary to prevent skin problems (following studies in mice/rats, when minerals and vitamins were unknown back then), but then he mentioned studies later on found that zinc and vitamin b6 deficiencies were the factors causing the skin problems observed in mice, and now Ray Peat scientifically reasoned that the "essential" polyunsaturated fats only prevented those skin problems by lowering the metabolism, thus reducing the nutrients requirements; but low metabolism and those fats cause insomnia, oxidative stress, lack of energy or fatigue, edema, inflammation, osteoporosis, and brain diseases, among diabetes, obesity and many others.

So I recommend you to take zinc supplement or to consume more beef or other zinc-rich animals sources without drinking milk and coffee at the same time because calcium and caffeine/coffee possibly inhibit the absorption of zinc, and also supplement of vitamin b6.
 

800mRepeats

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I've been flaky forever (the last 35 years, since my teens).
At varying times (and for extended periods of time - months to years) I've been underfed, well fed, overfed, low fat, hight fat, moderate fat (fairly steady protein - 80-120 gm), well nourished, poorly nourished. My metabolism has been low and moderate (never high, per temp and pulse, no matter how much and how Peaty I ate]).
Nothing, not one thing, has changed the nature of the flakiness of my skin.

Most recently, over the past 8-10 months, I have upped the vitamin A (supplementing 10,000 iu). This has helped with dry eyes, but not dry skin.
To Mr. God's point, I consume seemingly adequate zinc and B6 (from foods, and I also get some from supplements). The zinc is almost in balance with copper per cronometer - running too high in zinc.

So, following this thread.
 
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Then I don't know. The last thing that comes to mind is to get more saturated fats, especially from coconut oil, and, maybe, increase your sleeping/recumbency time; also, vitamin D might be the answer.
 
OP
superGrover

superGrover

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Thanks Mr. God of Cars, I'll try those things and look into them! I feel like aspirin and vit A help my skin a bit, but not too much.
I could use some more sleep as well, I bet that will help a bit. Maybe I should up the coconut oil to about 45grams, that should also help with the weight gain I've been having the last weeks. Gained like 2 kg's. (holidays)

Interesting that also since your teens you had flaky skin, 800mRepeats.
My doctor prescribed hydrocortisone creme, when I went to him back then. It did nothing, maybe it was even worse when I put it on.
 
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I don't know if you have already tried, but, anyways, I suggest you to exposure yourself to red light. Ray Peat said saturated fatty acids are not beneficial for organisms or animals living in cold climates or regions, because their organs (possibly including the skin) would become very rigid (possibly meaning scaly or flaky skin). So, if you leave in a cold climate, either increase your body temperature by getting next to fire or by increasing your metabolism or both; eat more unsaturated fats (maybe lard or olive oil), or [something I doubt you would do if you live in a cold climate] move to a hot climate/region/country.

But my best guest is to get all minerals (perhaps not too much iron) and vitamins, and consume more protein, sucrose, salt, and (possibly saline) water (when thirsty).
 
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superGrover

superGrover

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Thank you! Do you know if the red light products work? I mean literally the red lights. My folks don't like a 250 watt bulb in my room. I put a 100 watt bulb in my regular lamp, but haven't seen improvement in skin as it is probably still too low of a wattage.

Also lately what bothers me is that my skin looks like it is aging too fast. My hands look like hands of a 40+ year old, but I'm only 28. My skin gets that shiny crocodile skin texture, whereas some colleagues the same age or older still have a very 'matte' and youthful looking skin. It is winter over here, which always makes it worse for me, but looking at my colleagues it could be way better. :/ So with this aging I don't mean flaky skin anymore but just old looking skin. And my skin has seen less sun than that of my colleagues.
 

theLaw

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You might consider adding high amounts of Gelatin (up to 100g/day) dissolved completely in hot apple juice, which is one of the best foods for healthy skin.

Also, based on your post, it sounds like you might need a significant re-feed to make up for your years of malnutrition/caloric restriction. If this is the case, then you probably won't see any significant improvements until you get enough macros.

Something in the range of 3000-4000 calories a day including 1/3 calories from healthy sat fat for a week would probably be a good test.

Finally, perfect can be the enemy of good, so creating appetizing calorie-dense foods would be better than ruthlessly following dietary dogma.

PS: you might test out vinegar on an area of skin each time you shower for a week, and see if it decreases the flaking. I saw this suggestion for dandruff, and didn't believe that it could be as simple as pufa on the skin, until I tried it, and it was very effective. Cheers!:D
 

ubiety

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I've had dry, flaky skin my whole life and it's much worse in the winter. I've found a few things that have reduced dryness/flakiness a lot - each helped noticeably on their own and combined my skin is the best it's been in winter:
Pregnenolone - as little as a few mg a day/2-3 days a week. I've recently been experimenting with a few mg of progesterone a day and seems like results may be similar with skin as taking preg. though not sure yet.
Drinking a lot more water lately - just sipping throughout the day, not gulping down large amounts at once. This also helped to reduce my bloating.
Urea body lotion - wouldn't be peat approved, but eliminated the really dry/scaly skin on my legs. Urea is awesome.
 
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superGrover

superGrover

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Thanks for the help guys! I love this community!

You might consider adding high amounts of Gelatin (up to 100g/day) dissolved completely in hot apple juice, which is one of the best foods for healthy skin.

Also, based on your post, it sounds like you might need a significant re-feed to make up for your years of malnutrition/caloric restriction. If this is the case, then you probably won't see any significant improvements until you get enough macros.

Something in the range of 3000-4000 calories a day including 1/3 calories from healthy sat fat for a week would probably be a good test.

Finally, perfect can be the enemy of good, so creating appetizing calorie-dense foods would be better than ruthlessly following dietary dogma.

PS: you might test out vinegar on an area of skin each time you shower for a week, and see if it decreases the flaking. I saw this suggestion for dandruff, and didn't believe that it could be as simple as pufa on the skin, until I tried it, and it was very effective. Cheers!:D

Law, before I went 2000cal vegan, I was doing 3000+cal vegan, but it was really hard to stomach so much food. Nowadays I eat 2200-2500 cals, I don't calorie restrict. I'll try getting in some more whenever I can. I didn't know about the hot apple juice thing, do you just boil it? Maybe I'll try the vinegar as well, should be good for a rinse some time, especially on the scalp.

I've had dry, flaky skin my whole life and it's much worse in the winter. I've found a few things that have reduced dryness/flakiness a lot - each helped noticeably on their own and combined my skin is the best it's been in winter:
Pregnenolone - as little as a few mg a day/2-3 days a week. I've recently been experimenting with a few mg of progesterone a day and seems like results may be similar with skin as taking preg. though not sure yet.
Drinking a lot more water lately - just sipping throughout the day, not gulping down large amounts at once. This also helped to reduce my bloating.
Urea body lotion - wouldn't be peat approved, but eliminated the really dry/scaly skin on my legs. Urea is awesome.

Ubiety, nowadays I rarely drink water and have no bloating anymore. I don't know if they are connected though, as I changed so much things as of late. I don't know about pregnenolone, are any preg supplements 'peat approved'? And shouldn't my thyroid work better before trying it? And how do you get so low of a dose? I've only seen 50mg tabs or something, which seems way too much. I know that with progesterone the thyroid should work really well, and that you have to take a certain pretty high dose at once as Peat says, but I can tell from my skin and my cold feet that the thyroid is not functioning optimally yet. I think I'll try that later when the low thyroid symptoms are better.
 

theLaw

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Thanks for the help guys! I love this community!

Law, before I went 2000cal vegan, I was doing 3000+cal vegan, but it was really hard to stomach so much food. Nowadays I eat 2200-2500 cals, I don't calorie restrict. I'll try getting in some more whenever I can. I didn't know about the hot apple juice thing, do you just boil it? Maybe I'll try the vinegar as well, should be good for a rinse some time, especially on the scalp.

The hot apple juice is just a way to make sure that the gelatin is completely dissolved, so you can just microwave it, then add gelatin.
 

ubiety

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Thanks for the help guys! I love this community!
Ubiety, nowadays I rarely drink water

That's likely a major contributor to your dry skin. Why don't you drink water?
I get a few mg of pregnenolone through Panasterone. Doesn't look like your calorie intake can support taking something like preg or Pan though so you may want to start with drinking a lot more water. You'll be able to tell in just a few days if it's helping or not.
 

theLaw

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That's likely a major contributor to your dry skin. Why don't you drink water?
I get a few mg of pregnenolone through Panasterone. Doesn't look like your calorie intake can support taking something like preg or Pan though so you may want to start with drinking a lot more water. You'll be able to tell in just a few days if it's helping or not.

Pardon the interjection, but I thought I would leave this here:
The amount of water a person needs is extremely variable, depending on things such as metabolic rate, activity, and the temperature and humidity of the air. Working hard in hot, dry weather, it's possible to drink more than two quarts per hour for more than eight hours, without forming any urine, because all of the water is lost by evaporation. But in very hot, humid weather, a person with a low metabolic rate can be endangered by the smallest amount of water (e.g., "Meteorological relations of eclampsia in Lagos, Nigeria," Agobe, et al., 1981).
-Ray Peat

Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging
 
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superGrover

superGrover

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That's likely a major contributor to your dry skin. Why don't you drink water?
I get a few mg of pregnenolone through Panasterone. Doesn't look like your calorie intake can support taking something like preg or Pan though so you may want to start with drinking a lot more water. You'll be able to tell in just a few days if it's helping or not.
Well, because I had dry skin from when I was 13. I have drank 3-4 liters per day for years, but it didn't help sadly. I was on the 30 banana's a day bandwagon for some time, so I know how to chug down a litre of water a few times a day. :(
 

ebs

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Topical niacinamide, shea butter and/or exfoiliants such as glycolic or salicylic acid will be the solution to your problems. Adequate fluid intake and healthy fats such as from chocolade and olive oil and nutrient rich foods such as blueberries and oranges could help on the diet side of things.

Btw, I see your from the Netherlands too. Decubal gezichtscreme vitaal could be very effective in solving your flaky skin. I know because I'm using it for the same reason. It contains niacinamide and other good ingredients to improve skin hydration. You can get it for only 10 euros.
 
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