Skin Still A Problem

[Nstocks]

Just curiou, how does your skin behaves if you drop everything that you are using topically (including soaps)?

I don't use any soaps or washes - exfoliation with a cloth and water is how I clear off dead cells and then use an oil to moisturise. I tried 2 months(!) without letting water or anything else touch my face and apart from being a pain to do, there wasn't really much difference. Very little showed in the first week, but over time the dead skin mask looked disgusting and a simple touch would detach some of the dead skin. I think due to this my skin wasn't dry but it looks worse because of the thick layer of dead cells whereas now it's just a thin surface layer of dead/dry skin. For some it clears mild acne but didn't do anything for mine.

 

[squanch]

Going to recommend the same thing I always recommend if someone has skin issues:
Oysters and liver.

1 oyster per day. More in the beginning if you can afford it (buy them in bulk, then freeze them alive in the shell)
Around 100g of liver per week (small 10g piece every day works best for me personally)
Turkey liver works better for skin problems than beef because of the much lower copper content. Eating beef liver while being zinc deficient made things worse for me.(copper and zinc compete during absorption and are antagonists in the body)

Did everything you did for years.
Tons of different creams, oils, the whole caveman no washing thing. Besides accutane, oyster+liver is the only thing that actually cleared my skin (had cystic acne + red irritated face constantly)
I only wash my skin once a day with only water while in the shower at night now. Nothing else topically.

You didn't go into detail about your diet.
Things like chocolate, alcohol, citrus fruit, cow dairy etc.. can all worsen skin problems for a lot of people when metabolism is still impaired.

Edit: Oh yeah, almost forgot: If you're a guy, stop masturbating/ejaculating until your skin is clear!
Find an ejaculation frequency that works best for you after that.

 

[jimmyquick]

Tried tallow yet? My skin was flaky, irritated and dry just a couple of months back. Now it's movie star status.

Topical application correct? I cannot for the life of my get rid of my dry skin. Coconut oil helps a bit, but it's so messy.

 

[Attakai]

^ Correct. I apply a small amount in the morning since it can make you look a bit shiny if you put too much on. Then at night I put on a decent amount before I go to sleep. Coconut never did much for me.

 

[Nstocks]

Going to recommend the same thing I always recommend if someone has skin issues:
Oysters and liver.

1 oyster per day. More in the beginning if you can afford it (buy them in bulk, then freeze them alive in the shell)
Around 100g of liver per week (small 10g piece every day works best for me personally)
Turkey liver works better for skin problems than beef because of the much lower copper content. Eating beef liver while being zinc deficient made things worse for me.(copper and zinc compete during absorption and are antagonists in the body)

Did everything you did for years.
Tons of different creams, oils, the whole caveman no washing thing. Besides accutane, oyster+liver is the only thing that actually cleared my skin (had cystic acne + red irritated face constantly)
I only wash my skin once a day with only water while in the shower at night now. Nothing else topically.

You didn't go into detail about your diet.
Things like chocolate, alcohol, citrus fruit, cow dairy etc.. can all worsen skin problems for a lot of people when metabolism is still impaired.

Edit: Oh yeah, almost forgot: If you're a guy, stop masturbating/ejaculating until your skin is clear!
Find an ejaculation frequency that works best for you after that.

When I first discovered Peat (and partly from Paleo), I ate liver almost weekly (frozen, raw with hot water) and began eating canned oysters - results were varied as they have ever been. I gave up liver after running out and gave up oysters because of the quality. When I do find fresh oysters I eat them occasionally but some of them have turned out rotten! (I didn't personally shop for them)

Diet wise I generally need to eat more (still above 2,500 every day) but I sometime struggle with a lot of liquids. Cutting them down isn't even an option because there's not much of an alternative! I tend to make 2 large shakes with milk powder, vanilla, banana and honey in varying amounts (skimmed cow milk or goat milk. Oranges don't have a negative effect one me, in fact I remember when I was in school, if I ate satsumas at lunch my skin would improve as long as I kept eating them. I avoided cow daily like the plague for over 8 years, only just reintroduced it after consuming goat milk for two years.

Masturbation isn't frequent (not much energy to do it!). I'd say when I'm in the mood I don't ejaculate more than 2-3 times per week but often I can still go over 2 weeks with abstaining (I went several months on VLS Paleo)

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

Like I said above, I don't see you being able to clear your skin problems (symptoms) independently from (prior to) fixing your gut problems.

 

[jimmyquick]

^ Correct. I apply a small amount in the morning since it can make you look a bit shiny if you put too much on. Then at night I put on a decent amount before I go to sleep. Coconut never did much for me.

Thank you, I'll give this a go.

 

[jyb]

^ Correct. I apply a small amount in the morning since it can make you look a bit shiny if you put too much on. Then at night I put on a decent amount before I go to sleep. Coconut never did much for me.

Interesting, it's not the first time I read a very positive feedback on tallow. For these kind of skin problems, I get the impression people have more success with tallow than with coconut oil.

 

[tara]

^ Correct. I apply a small amount in the morning since it can make you look a bit shiny if you put too much on. Then at night I put on a decent amount before I go to sleep. Coconut never did much for me.

Interesting, it's not the first time I read a very positive feedback on tallow. For these kind of skin problems, I get the impression people have more success with tallow than with coconut oil.

I'm not surprised either. Coconut oil seems to be a bit drying for many people. Tallow seems good if you can be bothered to prepare it, or can get good ones. There's some discussion here:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1621&hilit=tallow&start=30#p19486

Cocoa butter is another good alternative, less drying than coconut oil, but harder to apply because it's harder. That's why I mix.

 

[jyb]

I wonder if the benefits of some topically applied fats such as tallow could be due to trapping CO2 between the layer of fat and the skin? Same reasoning as for enclosing a wound to keep moisture and CO2 instead of exposure to air and drying up. Tallow for example forms a layer that stays for a long while unless you wipe it off. Your thoughts?

 

[Nstocks]

Update

My skin has improved over the past few weeks and I wanted to share the changed I've made that have likely had a good effect:

1) ALWAYS eat 3,000 calories. Even if it's junk food, I need to get the calories in since, especially with taking 1 grain Cynoplus.

2) Exfoliate with a Foreo Luna device. It's a silicone exfoliator with pulsations. Don't buy the original, I paid £12 from eBay. I think knocking off dead skin cells every third day really helps with cystic acne.

3) Moisturise! I went back to Bioskincare - a snail serum based moisturise. A small amount ONLY on dry patches (everywhere except jawline where I breakout mostly). My skin looks soft, less red and actually fairly healthy. Family have even commented about it.

4) Niacinamide. 500mg twice per day.

Of course, since I implemented all of these at the same time, I don't know for sure which helped but I have no issue with keeping it all up, other than perhaps changing to a less expensive snail cream.

Also, I've learnt to accept my life how it is (mostly career related) and not to worry about missing out on the "rat race". I do still get upset most days about not living much of a life at such a young age, but I'm incredibly lucky with my current situation. So f****** lucky really. A job is mostly just that. It will come. In fact, I was invited to an interview but the pay was not sustainable for living in London.

Have a great day everyone

 

[Nstocks]

Perhaps not, large cyst near nose, and congestion on forehead.

I give up.

 

[EIRE24]

I feel your pain man. I have the same thing at the moment. What is your digestion like? I find when my stomach gives me trouble then my face breaks out! Have you tried an anti biotic?

 

[Nstocks]

This week I had 3 bowel movements, aided with coffee...

Depression has played a part too I think, but also the dumb mistake of applying yogurt and honey to my face caused a breakout, in area I almost never usually breakout.

I had a course of Amoxicyllin last year and didn't feel or look any better. I kind of expected to have really bad "die off". Also bought cyproheptadine but felt like a Zombie on half a tablet.

IDK, I sometime just think to myself "man up", forget it, leave it alone, it doesn't t exist and just hope that it goes away. I find that if I get too worked up about it, I end up not eating anything because I over-analyze every single food.

I considred raw goat kefir but perhaps anti biotics would be better. I've read Ray takes a small dose daily for a "sterile gut". Someone on here said cooked mushrooms have a similar effect to raw carrot. Perhaps that and eggs can become my breakfast!

 

[tara]

Also bought cyproheptadine but felt like a Zombie on half a tablet.

....

I considred raw goat kefir but perhaps anti biotics would be better. I've read Ray takes a small dose daily for a "sterile gut".

You could try 1/8 tablet cyproheptadine. Even small amounts can make a difference, and less zombifying. (I got dozy on 1/2 tablet, but only when I was sleep-deprived already. Otherwise fine.)

I thought Peat said he used antibiotics intermittently, for a few days when needed, not all the time?

 

[Nstocks]

I'll give that a go. I couldn't believe how powerful they are! I've read a lot of wonderful things about it and want to experiment with it.

Hmmm, maybe, i remember somewhere he said that it's good to keep the gut as sterile as possible and frequent antibiotics or carrot help with that.

Have you heard about cooked mushroom having similar effects of raw carrot salad?

 

[Giraffe]

I wonder if the benefits of some topically applied fats such as tallow could be due to trapping CO2 between the layer of fat and the skin? Same reasoning as for enclosing a wound to keep moisture and CO2 instead of exposure to air and drying up. Tallow for example forms a layer that stays for a long while unless you wipe it off. Your thoughts?

I had a similar thought recently regarding Penaten creme.

 

[Nstocks]

How about oil of oregano for gut health / candida / parasite? Raw garlic is an alternative but last time I tried that I got sever bloating.

 

[Nstocks]

I came across this video on Youtube regarding digestion / liver and acne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZPWdE-GuyY

The guy seems very knowledgeable, though sometime contradictory with topicals and after listening to similar videos, digestion is once again at the cornerstone of my issues.

I've ordered raw goat milk and I'm going to start with Kefir to see if adding "good bacteria" to my gut will help.

I'm skeptical because last time I had kefir I was just bloated and gave up. I don't think antibiotics are really the solution here and would probably be more of a burden on my liver. Glutamine was suggested in that video to heal the gut, but a lot of forums report it worsens acne.

 

[jyb]

I've ordered raw goat milk and I'm going to start with Kefir to see if adding "good bacteria" to my gut will help.

I'm skeptical because last time I had kefir I was just bloated and gave up. I don't think antibiotics are really the solution here and would probably be more of a burden on my liver. Glutamine was suggested in that video to heal the gut, but a lot of forums report it worsens acne.

Maybe the potential benefit of kefir for acne, if any, is more about the pre-digestion. For example a protein like casein. Undigested protein like casein has the potential to open gut tight junctions like gluten. It shouldn't happen if you have a well functioning stomach and normal acid, but what if you're hypothyroid? It may explain anecdotes by leaky gut sufferers about intolerance to casein (not just gluten). Not all fermentation degrades it, but kefir definitely does according to Pubmed. IGF growth factor in milk is also degraded by it. Compared to milk there are other differences like lower pH, more of some B-vitamins, pro-biotics that are more likely to survive acid due to the biofilm and different blood glucose and insulin response, but in my opinion the digestion helper effect seems like a more convincing explanation.

Problems with food proteins and in layman's term, see Casein vs Gluten

I'm acne free drinking kefir nowadays, without the need for any retinol supplementation nor beef liver. So maybe it is useful.