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December 20, 2018
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How I healed my acne
Hi babe! If you’re reading this you’re most likely suffering from skin issues, particularly acne.. and if that’s the case I first want to tell you that you are not alone. If you’ve been following my journey on Instagram and on this blog then you may already know that I too have been suffering from acne for the last 9 (miserable) months. While it’s not the end of the world, dealing with acne can be very depressing and isolating.. trust me I know 🙁 I think in the beginning of my skin journey I was optimistic that it would pass, but with each passing month things just got worse and worse. I have tried EVERYTHING under the sun, and NOTHNG worked… until now! I promised myself that if I ever figured out how to heal my acne that I would 100% absolutely share how I healed my acne. My skin is by no means perfect right now but I know that I am finally on the path to clear skin and I know how to get there! Before I get into this post I want to remind ya that I am not a doctor, or a dermatologist, and that everyone’s skin is different.. so while I would love to promise that all of these things will work for you.. they may not; BUT if you’ve been struggling for a while and the things I share here are new ideas/things you haven’t tried before, it’s worth a try!
If you read Healing My Skin Part 1 then you know my skin journey has been an interesting one which you can read all about by clicking here. For the purposes of this post I’ll give you a quick rundown: I’ve always had sensitive skin but didn’t experience any type of acne until I was 23, I was on the pill for many years and decided to get off of it after 10 years straights when my acne started to get really bad. At that point I was convinced my acne was hormonal, so I became obsessed with balancing my hormones (which is not a bad thing to want to do, but it didn’t cure my acne) I’ve tried every single skincare line you can think of, I’ve gotten hundreds of facials, tried countless laser treatments, seen numerous dermatologists, taken lots and lots of antibiotics, put medicated creams all over my face, I even tried doing nothing at all, I’ve taken Chinese herbs, gotten acupuncture, stopped drinking alcohol, cut out fruit, changed all of my makeup out for non-toxic makeup, tried special pillow cases, changed laundry detergent… you name it.. I tried. I have literally tried it all just short of Acutane which I actually had a dermatologist recommend to me.. I said no because at that point I had finally started getting my periods back after getting off the pill and Acutane would require me to get back on the pill and there was no way in hell I was getting back on the pill after what I went through getting off of it. Just to give you an idea of a timeline: all of the things I shared above that I tried were over a span of a few years. Some of the things I tried worked for a short amount of time, some of them didn’t work at all…but either way the outcome was always the same: I would have streaks of clear skin but just as quickly as it cleared it would come back again, RAGING and inflamed. This has been one of the most frustrating things ever because no one has been able to give me a clear answer of WHY and without knowing why I haven’t been able to fix it.
But something shifted a couple of months ago… and my protocol changed. I had been on Chinese herbs for about 6 months at this point and decided to do a full blood work up to check in and see how my hormones were doing.. I still had raging acne at this point so I felt like what I was doing was obviously not working, and I was curious to see on paper what my body was doing.. I got my results back and low and behold: my hormones were perfectly balanced, vitamin levels perfect, protein levels perfect… on paper I was in perfect health… so why am I experiencing this acne? I had so many people say “well some people just get acne, ya know?” and I’m over here like NO.. no I will not accept that… it’s not normal..I will not just deal with it…to me the acne was a sign that SOMETHING was happening inside my body and it needed to be addressed.
Around this time I had discovered the Medial Medium and was hearing everyone talking about CELERY JUICE. At first I thought it was some random health trend, and totally wrote it off as bogus.. but after continuously hearing about it I decided to do my own research. Celery juice is anti-inflammatory and also helps strengthen the hydrochloric acid (or HCL) in your gut, which is a naturally occurring acid that helps with digestion.. and interestingly enough upon going over my blood work results my herbalist she had suggested I start taking HCL supplements to help reduce inflammation in my gut… but after my celery juice research I thought why take supplements when I can just drink celery juice every morning? (PS: if you want to read more about the amazing benefits of celery juice check out this blog post from the Medical Medium!) It was finding this common thread that I decided to take a different route. I took bits and pieces of things I had learned through researching and created my own little protocol to strengthen my immune system, kill off any bad bacteria that was living in my gut, and strengthen the good bacteria.
HOW I HEALED MY ACNE
Internal protocol:
I’m about to get verrrrrrry specific with ya: I start every morning with 8 ounces of water and a cup of hot water with lemon juice, followed by (at least) 12 ounces of fresh celery juice on an empty stomach. Let me repeat this.. other than the hot water with lemon the celery juice is the first thing in my tummy.
After my celery juice I eat 1 clove of fermented garlic… yes you read that right.. I legit eat straight garlic. Garlic has antibacterial, antiviral and antiparasitic properties! I get my fermented garlic from my local farmer’s market, but you could also make your own I’m sure! Next up I take my Bio-k probiotic, I get the vegan one and I drink 1/4 of the little bottle.. you can get this in the refrigerated section at Whole Foods. After that I usually eat some fruit, specifically I’ll eat some papaya either on it’s own or with some probiotic coconut yogurt and pomegranate seeds, or sometimes I like to do chia seed pudding (but I make mine with coconut milk or hemp milk!) If I am not feeling super hungry in the morning then I might just do a glass of fresh squeezed OJ. Either way once I have a little something in my stomach I take my morning vitamins which consist of: 2 ritual vitamins, 1 vitamin C, 1 selenium, 1 lemon balm capsule, 1 lysine capsule.
I try to avoid regular coffee (coffee is highly inflammatory) and go for decaf, tea or my beloved Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee instead.. I usually do this mid to late-morning instead of first thing in the morning. Throughout the day I focus on drinking lots of water (I drink at least 2.5 liters a day) I avoid processed sugar (fruit is good but I usually do it in the morning on an empty stomach after my morning drinks!) and I aim to incorporate probiotic rich foods like kimchi! I have a jar of Mother in Law’s Kimchi in the fridge at ALL TIMES and I usually will have 2 pieces in the afternoon.. the idea is to incorporate probiotics thought the day! Another thing I have radically changed is the amount of nuts I consume. Nuts can be highly inflammatory and while they are a good source of protein for a plant-based eater like me there is such a thing as too much of a good thing!! When you lower the fats in your diet you give your liver a break, and when your liver spends less time breaking down copious amounts of fats it has more energy to focus on detoxing the rest of your body. Fats ARE good, but in moderation, especially if you are experiencing acne!
In the evenings I do some lemon balm tea and my magnesium drink after dinner and before bed I take a few more supplements: 1 zinc, 1 Silverfern Probiotic, 1 oil of oregano, 1 garlic capsule, 1 nettle leaf capsule and 1 lysine capsule followed by a Lypospheric C packet.
External protocol:
Another thing that has been a major game changer for me: I started using January Labs. I started using this skincare line after my gal pal Celeste experienced wonderful results with it. I got to speak with January herself and she gave me the complete rundown on the line which was so so amazing of her (thank you January!). She didn’t promise me any results but simply asked me to give it an honest try, and commit to using her skincare line solely for a month to experiment. While my skin did not clear up overnight (it took about 4-5 weeks) I will say that I honestly felt a HUGE difference in my skin after the first day!! I really truly love this line and love that it is affordable AND EFFECTIVE!!
Here are the products I am using from January Labs:
In addition to using January Labs I still use Suntegrity Face Primer + Sunscreen for when I am going outside! For active breakouts I use my Lightstim for acne to reduce breakouts and zap bacteria! The Lightstim for acne is a great investment, but if it’s not in your budget you could also do the Neutragena LED Light Mask! On the topic of masking I still use the Odacité Synergy 4 Mask about 1-2 times a week as well as the CocoKind Chlorophyl Mask 🙂 and for my under eyes I still love CocoKind Matcha Stick !
Click here if you want watch a full rundown of my how I healed my acne protocol that I just posted on my YouTube channel!
Easy to reference list of my how I healed my acne protocol:
Hot water with lemon
Celery Juice
Increase water intake
Decrease sugar consumption
Decrease nut consumption
Incorporate more probiotic rich foods
Fermented garlic
Bio-k probiotic
Coconut probiotic yogurt
Papaya
Kimchi
Suntegrity Face Primer + Sunscreen
Alright babes, that’s every single little thing I have been doing to heal my acne. I hope that this helps in some way…. and know that if you are dealing with problematic skin I feel for you, I really do. But know that you are not alone.. I hope that some of these products and tips help and please feel free to leave me a comment below if you have any questions! I am happy to help in any way that I can! As for me, now that I have figured out a protocol that works I am going to continue sticking with the above mentioned.. and once my skin is balanced and clear for another month or so I will start to shift my focus to healing the acne scars! Also worth noting: NONE of this is sponsored.. this is all stuff that I truly love and use and I am sharing it all because IT WORKS!! 🙂 Sending you all of my love!!
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