WHY ME!

[Kate]

my sister eats pufas all day and has the clearest skin ever!!
so jealous X...D glad she doesn't have to deal with it though.

I on the other have black heads (everywhere!!! face, back and chest and a bit of acne around my check bones ( that has gotten a bit better since ray peating...a little) My skin looks great if you take a few steps back, but any closer and it looks like a garbage dump!

my mom gave me acne soap when i had only one pimple, and I think that is what started it, but I haven't used chemicals on my face in forever, I am also thinking hormones and stuff, but I have been eating carrot salads, so maybe that will help a bit, after a while... ( eh and i get trump's orange face with the carrots too_)

I will admit that it is getting better very slowly (there are ups and downs) but, I wish that I didn't have to struggle with such sensitive, bumpy skin, that has a bunch of small black heads on it.....


Black head & smooth skin advice?

 

[shepherdgirl]

Hi Kate,
Welcome to the forum! Sorry but I can't offer you clear skin advice - I am struggling with that myself. I think skim milk is possibly breaking me out, so if you are eating lots of dairy that could be something to explore. I also heard in a different thread that it could be related to insulin spikes and skim or lowfat milk - see Why Do I Have Acne After Introducing Butter, Milk And Cheese?
I also wanted to tell you that if your skin is turning orange from the carrot it could be the carotene. You could try washing off the carrot peels before you eat them and see if it helps. Also there are other things Ray recommends for keeping the intestine clean - for example bamboo shoots or well-cooked mushrooms, neither of which have carotene. It is best to avoid carotene buildup - not only does it turn skin orange but i think Ray says it can block thyroid. There is a relationship between carotene and Vitamin A - IIRC carotene (a precursor to vitamin A) is not easily converted to vitamin A in some people and can block Vitamin A. Some people on the forum have said that Vitamin A has cleared up their skin. So if you have carotenemia maybe it could mean that you don't have enough vitamin A?
Not sure if acne and blackheads would stem from the same issues or if they are completely different problems.
I will be interested to see if anyone posts some helpful suggestions for clear skin on this thread.

 

[Kate]

Hi Kate,
Welcome to the forum! Sorry but I can't offer you clear skin advice - I am struggling with that myself. I think skim milk is possibly breaking me out, so if you are eating lots of dairy that could be something to explore. I also heard in a different thread that it could be related to insulin spikes and skim or lowfat milk - see Why Do I Have Acne After Introducing Butter, Milk And Cheese?
I also wanted to tell you that if your skin is turning orange from the carrot it could be the carotene. You could try washing off the carrot peels before you eat them and see if it helps. Also there are other things Ray recommends for keeping the intestine clean - for example bamboo shoots or well-cooked mushrooms, neither of which have carotene. It is best to avoid carotene buildup - not only does it turn skin orange but i think Ray says it can block thyroid. There is a relationship between carotene and Vitamin A - IIRC carotene (a precursor to vitamin A) is not easily converted to vitamin A in some people and can block Vitamin A. Some people on the forum have said that Vitamin A has cleared up their skin. So if you have carotenemia maybe it could mean that you don't have enough vitamin A?
Not sure if acne and blackheads would stem from the same issues or if they are completely different problems.
I will be interested to see if anyone posts some helpful suggestions for clear skin on this thread.

Thank you! ^.^ glad to be here! I think if the skim milk has added vitamins that might make you react? I started drinking whole milk, and it hasn't made me feel weird (even if I have been drink soy milk my whole life (unfortunately). My acne was at it's worst when I introduced coconut oil (both topically and internally) but I hadn't been drinking a lot of milk at that time. Maybe it has to do with my metabolism (from coconut oil and dairy vs amount of vitamins I get.

Interesting!! Thanks, tomorrow I will rinse the carrots & (hopefully that helps ^.^, i can usually see the orange morning after eating a carrot)
and it will try to look for the bamboo shoots too, i have never seen them in the grocery store// but maybe that is because I wasn't looking XD

I didn't know that carotene blocked thyroid!!! (I just read something that said low thyroid is linked to acne.)

Awesome
So i will up my vitamin A (and maybe zinc/minerals, alternate the bamboo shoots and rinse the carrots) and see how it goes ^.^

 

[mujuro]

Do you get much sun?

 

[passivity]

Salt without additives or even aspirin topically would help a lot!, also consider taking doxycycline for maybe a month.

 

[meatbag]

Solban(Niacinamide, Caffeine, and Aspirin) is the best topical I've ever used.

 

[Kate]

Do you get much sun?

My location is mostly cloudy in the winter, I have just recently got a lot of sun (when I was on vacation)
oh & my classes at school are all in dark film rooms :..(

 

[Kate]

Salt without additives or even aspirin topically would help a lot!, also consider taking doxycycline for maybe a month.

I recently got some Epsom salt, ^.^ i can't wait to use it (but regular salt would be good too?)
yeah I tried aspirin, but it made my skin bumpy// maybe the starch? do you dissolve the aspirin into water, or make a paste of some sort?

 

[Kate]

What was in the soap??

Solban(Niacinamide, Caffeine, and Aspirin) is the best topical I've ever used. Just Aspirin Topically is helpful, there's a bunch of stuff online how to make a mask or whatever out of the pills. Carbamide (Urea) topically is helpful too in my experience but I would try the solban first. Thyroid, taken orally, and Veal liver, makes skin look good imo and reduces redness and blackheads in my experience as well.

...it was some salicylic garbage (or something like that)
Does Niacinamide also help when taken internally? (Thank you, I will look into the solban)
recently, I asked my mom to buy some more liver, so hopefully that will help XD !!! I will swallow it for the good of my face XD!!!!
and I know my thyroid is a bit low so I will look into that as well, is it worth buying a supplement? or should i wait and keep peating to improve it?

 

[passivity]

I recently got some Epsom salt, ^.^ i can't wait to use it (but regular salt would be good too?)
yeah I tried aspirin, but it made my skin bumpy// maybe the starch? do you dissolve the aspirin into water, or make a paste of some sort?

I don't know how helpful the epsom salt would be for acne, but yeah try both (try to use sea salt btw)

Now about the aspirin, yes I used to make some kind of paste, but if it makes your skin react badly then maybe try something else

 

[Kate]

I don't know how helpful the epsom salt would be for acne, but yeah try both (try to use sea salt btw)

Now about the aspirin, yes I used to make some kind of paste, but if it makes your skin react badly then maybe try something else

Awesome ^.^
Thank you so much!

 

[meatbag]

...it was some salicylic garbage (or something like that)
Does Niacinamide also help when taken internally? (Thank you, I will look into the solban)
recently, I asked my mom to buy some more liver, so hopefully that will help XD !!! I will swallow it for the good of my face XD!!!!
and I know my thyroid is a bit low so I will look into that as well, is it worth buying a supplement? or should i wait and keep peating to improve it?

Well aspirin is Acetylsalicylic acid, I think the salicylic acid does basically the same thing.

 

[Kate]

Well aspirin is Acetylsalicylic acid, I think the salicylic acid does basically the same thing. It sounds like your skin is really sensitive though. When I was younger and my skin was really bad it was super sensitive as well. It has definitely gotten better in the past two years though. Did you notice your skin improve while on vacation and then get worse when you got back? That used to happen to me haha

For thyroid I personally have benefited from it but I know other people on the forum who say they have not, I'm glad I tried it as it's been helpful for me. I've been using Tyronene and Tyromax by Idea labs. If you get blood work it might be good to check the TSH, Prolactin, and Vitamin D. PTH and DHEA-S might be good too.

Also the raw carrot, rinsed with water to remove the carotene, might be good; it's been helpful for me.

Are your nose, hands, and feet cold a lot? Are you sleeping very well? When I've been pulling all nighters or getting poor sleep lately for school I notice my nose has more blackheads and is oilier.

I was expecting to have a breakout after the flight (cause stuff like that wears me down) but, my skin was pretty great for the whole vacation ^.^

My hands and feet have been up and down recently, but in general I see a great improvement ( I didn't actually know that my feet were that cold until one night they were so warm, and i was like, "wow, the is an experience XD". When I was little i never slept well, but now I sleep right through the night and wake up really warm ^.^
Yeah I noticed that too, my skin get's dramatically different if I am off school, or if i am stress, or staying up late.

 

[HLP]

I would look at fixing this from the inside out. I had cystic acne as a teenager myself. Cleaning up your diet from PUFA's would be the first order. Be careful to be delicate with your skin, the "mantle" should not be striped bare so less is more. Acne IMO is not a cleanliness issue. With hypothyroidism the liver function could be contributing to acne. You are definitely in the right place for good advice.

 

[shepherdgirl]

Here are some quotes on carotenemia from Dr. Peat (courtesy of Functional Performance Systems):
Carotenemia & Hypothyroidism

 

[tara]

Hi Kate,

Just wondering, if you want to tell, roughly how old are you? I might be off base, but if your Mom is buy you soap and food ... Just remembering I had black heads for a while as a teenager - face and back and legs - and they disappeared with no special treatment after a bit. Hormones go through a bit of temporary disruption in there.

Still important to get good nutrition through those years for lots of reasons, though. I was amazed when I read about how much normal growing young women eat/need - a lot more than I thought at the time, and a lot more than common public calorie advice suggests. Liver's a great idea (eg weekly). See if you can find recipes for it that you like, then you'll be able to enjoy it as a lifelong habit. There are some recipes here and lots more on the net. If you can afford oysters once in a while, they are a good source of zinc, which can also be useful for healthy skin. I guess you got the bit about keeping PUFAs low.

I don't have much trouble with pimples or blackheads now, but I sometimes use a spray with niacinamide and aspirin and caffeine on my face and neck (or other bits of skin if I'm out in too much sun). You can either mix it up yourself or buy something like the idealabs solban (there's a thread) to try. Much more dilute than any paste, might give the skin a boost without being irritating?

I rinsed my grated carrot in clean water till the water ran clear before eating it, else I got averse to it, and I think my skin got less orange with that change.

If you can't get regular sunshine, several people are reporting benefits from supplemental red light. There's a section in the forum to read about it.

Personally, I wouldn't try supplementing thyroid till you've checked other signs to see if you really are low, and tried basic food and lifestyle tactics to stoke it first if needed. There are some potential risks as well as benefits with playing with hormones, and while there might well be good reasons to try it cautiously even in teenage years, I'd be inclined to try simpler things first, and if you do get to wanting to try it eventually, please read up on it well, get some relevant lab tests, monitor the signs and symptoms, feed yourself well and start with very small amounts (1/4 grain/ a few mcg), or you could find yourself with more trouble.

Let's hope the improvements you are already getting continue, and you won't need to do anything radical.

 

[A. squamosa]

Everyone seems to have the dietary/lifestyle aspects covered, so I'll just include a product recommendation: try COSRX Blackhead Power Liquid. Easy enough to buy and not expensive. Also make sure you are only using natural skincare products (if you're using them) e.g. no silicones and so on, and cleaning your face properly e.g. if you use a cloth don't use the same one on separate occasions, use a fresh one, etc.

 

[tara]

Just wondering, if you want to tell, roughly how old are you?

I see on your other thread you already told this. :)

 

[Kate]

I would look at fixing this from the inside out. I had cystic acne as a teenager myself. Cleaning up your diet from PUFA's would be the first order. Be careful to be delicate with your skin, the "mantle" should not be striped bare so less is more. Acne IMO is not a cleanliness issue. With hypothyroidism the liver function could be contributing to acne. You are definitely in the right place for good advice.

Thank you! So glad to be here
I have already seen a great improvement, so far
before cutting out Pufas (and other toxins) I had really bad bumps starting to come up on my face (under the skin)
and i was one of those people who thought the only way out was.... out....
fortunately after changing my diet, they almost completely vanished. I woke up one morning and said, "where in the world did they go!!"
it's just the stubborn blackheads that are really bothering me the most now

 

[Kate]

Hi Kate,

Just wondering, if you want to tell, roughly how old are you? I might be off base, but if your Mom is buy you soap and food ... Just remembering I had black heads for a while as a teenager - face and back and legs - and they disappeared with no special treatment after a bit. Hormones go through a bit of temporary disruption in there.

Still important to get good nutrition through those years for lots of reasons, though. I was amazed when I read about how much normal growing young women eat/need - a lot more than I thought at the time, and a lot more than common public calorie advice suggests. Liver's a great idea (eg weekly). See if you can find recipes for it that you like, then you'll be able to enjoy it as a lifelong habit. There are some recipes here and lots more on the net. If you can afford oysters once in a while, they are a good source of zinc, which can also be useful for healthy skin. I guess you got the bit about keeping PUFAs low.

I don't have much trouble with pimples or blackheads now, but I sometimes use a spray with niacinamide and aspirin and caffeine on my face and neck (or other bits of skin if I'm out in too much sun). You can either mix it up yourself or buy something like the idealabs solban (there's a thread) to try. Much more dilute than any paste, might give the skin a boost without being irritating?

I rinsed my grated carrot in clean water till the water ran clear before eating it, else I got averse to it, and I think my skin got less orange with that change.

If you can't get regular sunshine, several people are reporting benefits from supplemental red light. There's a section in the forum to read about it.

Personally, I wouldn't try supplementing thyroid till you've checked other signs to see if you really are low, and tried basic food and lifestyle tactics to stoke it first if needed. There are some potential risks as well as benefits with playing with hormones, and while there might well be good reasons to try it cautiously even in teenage years, I'd be inclined to try simpler things first, and if you do get to wanting to try it eventually, please read up on it well, get some relevant lab tests, monitor the signs and symptoms, feed yourself well and start with very small amounts (1/4 grain/ a few mcg), or you could find yourself with more trouble.

Let's hope the improvements you are already getting continue, and you won't need to do anything radical.

Hello!

I know that hormones definitely had a big hand in my acne, ray peating so far has really helped with my skin and other hormonal issues ^.^
and maybe if i never had these issues I would have never looked into a better diet so i am happy about that.

(at around 15) I found it hard to eat anything. (especially for breakfast, because it reminded my of anxiety before cross country and how i could never swallow anything) So I definitely wasn't eating enough at that time. (recently though I have felt the most carefree & happy that i have been in a long time and i actually love breakfast now!)

Thank you! I will be trying the niacinamide/aspirin paste again,
(there have been a lot of things that made my face react before the diet that I have retried with way more success the second time)
Do you know if a salt candle counts as 'red light'? or does in need to be a certain type of bulb. (oh and I will also be getting an app on my computer that turns it orange after a certain time... i don't know if that is relevant/but it could help with sleep quality)

Yes, I plan of just sticking to the simple diet before trying anything to drastic. I am already seeing huge improvements and I am still young (so i haven't been eating in my woeful ways for too long XD).

Thank you so much for your time! Have a great day ^.^