Simple Cures for the Breakout Blues (An Anti-Acne Guide)

This is the last in the recent series of blogs about natural skin care, with the intention of empowering the reader to take charge of his or her own beauty regimen by learning a little bit more about what you can do to create a beautiful, healthy countenance, both inside and out – naturally.
”You are what you eat” was never more true than in looking at the causes/cures for teenage acne (and adult acne as well). Sometimes all it takes to get rid of acne and re-balance the skin are simple changes in diet, a clearer understanding of what is being used to clean and condition the skin, and to include basic food supplements in your daily routine.

Chemical reactions caused by sugar are the number one cause of acne, and the worse the acne, the more likely sugar is involved. Too much sugar in the diet stresses the body, especially the liver, and leads to insulin over-production, and consequently, over-production of sebum (fatty lubricant secreted by glands in the skin).

There is another scientifically proven link between food and acne: women who regularly eat meat are more likely to suffer from acne. The mail hormone, testosterone, causes the sebaceous glands (which secret sebum), to work overtime in times of stress. Conventionally raised meat contains hormones and steroids.

Anti Acne Diet:
If you want to have clear skin, base your diet around lots of vegetables, fruits, and good proteins rich in essential fatty acids (fish). Focus on intensely colored vegetables (such as artichokes, asparagus, carrots, kale, radishes, and spinach), that will have the lowest impact on your blood sugar. Apples, berries, apricots, peaches, cherries, nectarines are also a great addition to a low blood sugar/anti-acne diet. Plant proteins such as soy (tofu), quinoa, peanut butter, black beans, lentils, roasted almonds are essential, and will keep you energized.

Basic Supplements for Fighting Acne:
Some basic food supplements that your skin will love, and that will help combat acne are:

Vitamins:
Vitamin A, which helps rebalance hormone production. Naturally occurring sources are in eggs, cod, halibut, spinach, carrots, red bell peppers, cantaloupe, and other orange, red, and green veggies.

Vitamin E an antioxidant that promotes healing and tissue repair; topically it enhances wound repair, so it is good for dabbing on acne scar tissue. It also helps with headaches, fatigue, depression, and insomnia.

Zinc reduces inflammation, helps immune function, and keeps hormone levels in check – all critical for fighting acne breakouts. Found naturally in whole grains, Brazil nuts, and pumpkin seeds.

Magnesium is helpful in relieving stress, and for lowering blood pressure while increasing blood circulation. Stress is a major enemy of healthy skin. Found naturally in seafood, green veggies, nuts, bananas, and potatoes.

Herbs (found at natural grocers and health food stores):
Burdock root is the most important herb for treating all forms of chronic skin problems. It is a serious blood purifier which detoxifies the blood and is a mild laxative. It contains polyacetylenes that have both antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. The easiest way to use it is in a tea, or tea blend, easily found on the shelves of any health food store. You can drink the tea, then gently press the tea bags, now a “poultice”, on your acne outbreaks. Leave on for 5 or 10 minutes.

Yellow dock is extremely powerful against acne. It improves liver function by stimulating bile and digestive enzymes. It reduces bowel inflammation and toxicity, which contributes to skin eruptions. Take in a tea.

Milk Thistle is a liver and kidney tonic, and digestive aid. It cleanses, detoxifies, rebuilds, and restores healthy liver function. Poor liver function (from too much sugar in the diet), results in improper waste elimination, which leads to skin eruptions and acne. Take in a tea.

Makeup and Skin Care Products:
Finally, examine what you are using on a daily basis for makeup, skin care, and in fact ALL your personal care products. Many ingredients are toxic, and could be causing outbreaks, or worse, not doing anything to help dry up oil production and keep skin clean, but in fact, making it “dirtier”, thus becoming the direct cause of your acne.

See previous Eco Living blogs about how to read labels for safe, non-toxic ingredients, and how to shop for the best products.

Here are a few Acne Cure Recipes to make in your own kitchen that will be amazing for helping to clear up your acne:

Apple Cider and Aspirin Toner:
Apple cider vinegar lightens acne cars, while aspirin provides a generous concentration of salicylic acid. The combination of alpha-hydroxy from the vinegar, and salicylic acids will do wonders, without any chemicals. Dilute the vinegar with mineral water eight parts water to one part vinegar. Crush 6 aspirins (uncoated) and add them to the liquid, Shake the bottle vigorously. Apply directly to skin with a cotton ball. Let dry. Best applied before bedtime so the toner can really seep into the skin uninterrupted.

Lemon Egg White Mask:
Lemon juice is an excellent bleaching agent for lightening those brown, post-acne marks. Egg whites are rich in protein and help heal damaged skin, in addition to absorbing excess oil from the skin. Crack an egg, removing the yolk so that just the whites are left in the shell halves. Beat the whites, then cut a fresh lemon (organic if you have it), and squeeze the juice into the bowl of beaten egg whites. Whisk to form a dense paste. Apply to face by spreading on with fingers. Let dry (15 minutes), and rinse off. Gently pat dry.

Baking Soda & Honey Scrub:
This is a great scrub for exfoliating dead skin cells and really refreshing the tone and color of the skin. Baking soda’s fine particles are gentle and will dissolve on the skin. Honey has antimicrobial properties to fight bacteria and fungi, as well as being very soothing to the skin. It also helps to dry up acne. Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda with an equal amount of honey to make a paste. Rub over the face gently with fingers and then rinse with cool water. Pat dry.

Mind Stress = Acne

Now that we’ve explored ways to take care of your skin with certain “physical” methods, a word about the mental/emotional method: peace of mind, less stress.

Use this summer to get in some serious R & R – stress is big on the list of things which contribute to acne and skin fatigue. Unplug from electronic stimulus – reduce time with the television, computer, and telephone. Try yoga and meditation, long walks and leisurely bike rides, and time spent in nature – camping, picnics in the park, swimming in the ocean. Activities that still the mind, and bring a sense of calmness and serenity will go a long way toward easing the turbulence of stress in the mind.

Here’s to “real” beauty, inside and out!

MAKE IT YOURSELF!!

FACE:
· Cleanse: Soak a cotton ball with cold milk. Milk removes dirt from pores and brightens the skin. · Exfoliate: oatmeal or oats mixed with milk/water and orange peel.
· Blemishes: drop pure essential lavender oil or dab honey on blemishes to dry them up. Honey also lightens blemishes.
· Face mask: yogurt, and mashed strawberries, or banana, or papaya, and honey

HAIR:
· Condition: Mayonnaise or egg yolks, mixed with mashed avocado
· To promote growth & shine: rosemary essential oil mixed with warm olive oil
· Tame your frizzy hair by rubbing coconut oil into your hands and applying sparingly onto your hair. You don't want to overdo it - too much will make your hair look greasy
. Shampooing your hair less frequently also helps with the frizzies. Excess shampooing strips natural oils from the hair.
· Rinse your hair with baking soda to get rid of shampoo build-up and styling residues. Rinsing your hair with lemon juice is said to bring life and shine back to dull hair; it will also streak it and lighten it naturally when exposed to sunlight.
· Apple cider vinegar mixed with water will give your hair shine and bounce.

More Ways to be Smart, Beautiful & Green

Read the label on everything! Then go to http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ to enter any ingredient or product to find out more about it. Use Wikipedia to look up definitions of chemical compounds. Use google to further investigate ingredients, definitions, uses.


Remember: you get what you pay for when buying personal care products. Spend a little more for products that have no synthetic fillers or extenders (esp. in makeup, the most common being talc) and the amount needed for each use is considerably smaller, thus extending the total overall numbers of use.Only a fraction of pure products and ingredients are needed for each use compared to those that are not.


Mineral makeup is superior to traditional makeup, in that it is longer lasting, sits on top of the skin rather than soaking into the skin and being absorbed, like liquid makeup. Liquids contain preservatives. Minerals are more pigmented so less is needed to cover. Longer lasting, since pores have room to breathe – you won’t sweat it off. Beware of BISMUTH OXYCHLORIDE, a common ingredient in some mineral lines for an opalescent sheen that is a product of lead refinement. It usually turns up in the more expensive lines (Trish McEvoy, True), rather than the cheaper ones (Afterglow, Alima)


Just because something is labeled as a baby product (baby oil, baby lotion, baby shampoo, etc) doesn’t mean it’s more safe and gentle. Baby oil is mostly mineral oil, which is a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum. Baby products, unless specifically formulated from organic ingredients without toxic preservatives, are still going to contain the same things as adult products – parabens, etc.


Traditional lipsticks and lipgosses contain mostly mineral oil or vaseline type ingredients. The average woman will ingest 10 pounds of petroleum by-product during her lifetime from simply licking her lips while wearing lipstick. Good alternatives are shea butter, candellila or canuaba wax.


Cochineal, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470 or E120, is a pigment of a bright red color obtained from by boiling dried insects in water to extract the carminic acid and then treating the clear solution with alum, cream of tartar, stannous chloride, or potassium hydrogen oxalate. Carmine is used as a food dye in many different products such as juice, ice cream, yogurt, and candies, eyeshadow, lipstick, etc. Although principally a red dye, it is found in many foods that are shades of red, pink, and purple. As a food dye it has been known to cause severe allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock in some people.


Search for nail polishes that do not contain formaldehyde, toluene, or DBP (pthalates) which are incredibly toxic ingredients – both for our bodies and for the earth. (toluene is a key ingredient in gasoline, and all gasoline pumps in the state of California are required to post health warnings about toluene!)Look for non-toxic polishes at Whole Foods: Honeybee Gardens, Causemetics, Online: Zoya, Priti (coming soon)
Buy homemade/handcrafted soaps with herbs and flowers in them at farmer’s markets – support local business and avoid chemical additives. Beware of Greenwashing – just because something is labeled ‘organic’ or ‘all-natural’ doesn’t mean it’s free of toxic ingredients. Consider packaging – the less, the better.

April Fool's...

This is no joke: Women do not like to be made fool’s of. In the spirit of education and enlightenment, it’s critical that we all begin to read the labels of our personal care products.
What you will find, if you investigate, are an outrageous array of highly toxic ingredients that also show up in car wash detergents, oven cleaners, embalming fluid, gasoline, and engine degreasers. To me, this is a feminist issue of the highest concern: women overall use many more personal care products on a daily basis than men. We are the ones to whom the vast multi-billion dollar cosmetics and beauty industry is created, marketed, and sold.
And we are the ones who are showing the ill effects of it in the deadly rise of the breast cancer epidemic, to the pre-mature onset of menses in girls as young as 6, 7 and 8 years old, to the multitude of “inexplicable” everyday cases of contact dermatitis – rashes that are treated by mainstream dermatologists with even more chemicals (medicine)!

The lotions, potions, balms, and softeners that we put on our face and body are at their very heart, meant to soothe and comfort us through their textures, their aromas, their good intentions. The act of body care is a sacred ritual, and the ingredients we use in that ritual should be just as sacred, as special, and as SAFE as we can possibly make them. That no one (ie: government) is regulating these ingredients, that toxic chemicals are even considered to be acceptable for use on our skin, is beyond comprehension, and a boondoggle of the highest order. The worst offense is for a company to label their products “green” or “organic” or “all natural” while still continuing to include known carcinogens is beyond the pale.

Herewith, in the spirit of wising you up: Take this list shopping with you.

10 Ingredients to Avoid In Personal Care Products:

1) DEA (diethanolamine), MEA (momoethanolamine), TEA (triethanolamine): often appear on labels as Cocamide DEA and are commonly found in cleansers, shampoos and body washes as emulsifiers and foaming agents. According to a 1998 research study by the National Toxicology Program, these chemicals affect hormone function and are known to produce cancer-causing nitrates and nitrosamines in laboratory animals. The FDA is currently in the process of evaluating the link between DEA and cancer in humans.

2) FD&C Color Pigments: often made from coal tar, these artificial colorings can cause skin sensitivity and may be carcinogenic.

3) Added Fragrance: can be very sensitizing to the skin. Many of the compounds in fragrance are toxic and can cause headaches, dizziness or nausea.

4) Imidazolidinyl Urea & DM Hydantoin: these are the most commonly used preservatives after parabens. They are the second most identified cosmetic preservatives causing contact dermatitis according to the American Academy of Dermatology. These preservatives also release fomaldehyde, a chemical that can cause skin irritations as well as health problems such as migraines, allergies and asthma.

5) Isopropyl Alcohol: a petroleum-derived solvent found in hair rinses, hand lotions and shaving products. Also used as antifreeze at industrial strengths.

6) Mineral Oil: a petroleum-derived oil that is sensitizing to the skin and can inhibit the ability of the skin to breathe. Baby oil is 100% mineral oil.

7) Paraben Preservatives: Developed in the 1930’s, synthetic Methyl, Ethyl and Propyl Parabens were derived from benzoic acid and were considered effective and economical since they were inexpensive to use as both a cosmetics and food grade preservative. However, recently this preservative system has come into question as these substances have been found in cancerous tissues, especially breast tissue. The greatest concern of these preservatives focuses on their estrogen-mimicking factor in laboratory animals (i.e., their ability to mimic estrogen in the body). More research needs to be done to see if similar exposures to humans produces similar findings.

A study performed by the British Industrial Biological Research Assoc. that recorded the effects of parabens
in decreasing testosterone levels and sperm counts on the male reproductive system.
(British Industrial Biological Research Assoc. PG: 8 p YR: 1989 IP: VI)


It is estimated that 99% of all cosmetic and body care products contain some form of paraben preservatives.

8) PEG: is an abbreviation for polyethylene glycol and is used to break down oil or help thicken products. PEGs are often used in oven cleansers and are irritating to the skin.

9) Propylene Glycol (PG): an alcohol that can be manufactured synthetically, usually from petroleum or naturally, from corn. Synthetically derived, it is used as a surfactant or wetting agent and is an active ingredient in industrial antifreeze. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) on propylene glycol warn users to
avoid skin contact as it is systemic and can cause kidney and liver abnormalities. Propylene glycol may damage cell membranes causing rashes, dry skin and surface damage to the skin.

10) Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) & Sodium Laureth Sulfate: are used as detergent surfactants to remove dirt from the skin. These compounds are also found in car wash soaps and engine degreasers and yet are commonly found in many shampoos and shower gels. SLS is very irritating to skin and can be toxic to eyes.

Not only are these “immortal ingredients” toxic to our bodies, but they also, if petroleum-based, deplete the earth’s resources and can be toxic to the environment. Several studies have shown high levels of benzene and naphthalene in the brain tissue of rainbow trout and Coho salmon.

I’m Not A Cockeyed Optimist, Though I Aspire To Be One

I wish I could be an unflappably, buoyant optimist, one who stood strong against the daily bafflements of the world around me. But I have a lot of hours, a lot of days of complete and total “chicken little” worry. Which, considering the state of our current world affairs, is kind of normal; not constructive, but entirely normal. What helps is hearing an “everything will be alright” kind of message from someone, somewhere.

Recently, I ran across The Message in a couple of different places – one, a book review from last spring that I saved, and only found recently. The other from an email list I’m on. They both popped out in front of me as these things are wont to do, with perfect timing Herewith:

Paul Hawken’s most recent book is, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming. Hawken is an environmentalist, educator, lecturer, entrepreneur, journalist, and best-selling author. Fundamentally, Blessed Unrest is a description of humanity's collective genius, and the unstoppable movement to reimagine our relationship to the environment and one another.

Hawkin explains: “The whole book, really, is about a rise of a movement that is a shift between a world created by, and for, privilege to a world created by community, and it details the rise of over one million organizations in the world who address civil liberties, social justice and the environment. And even though they’re atomized and there’s many of them and they don’t seem connected, due to modern technology—cell, texting, internet—they’re starting to intertwine, morph and come together in ways that is making it much more powerful than it has been before.”

And this from San Francisco Gate and San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Mark Morford:

"Stop thinking this is all there is. Realize that for every ongoing war and religious outrage and environmental devastation and bogus Iraqi attack plan, there are a thousand counter-balancing acts of staggering generosity and humanity and art and beauty happening all over the world, right now, on a breathtaking scale, from flower box to cathedral......Resist the temptation to drown in fatalism, to shake your head and sigh and just throw in the karmic towel.
Realize that this is the perfect moment to change the energy of the world, to step right up and crank your personal volume; right when it all seems dark and bitter and offensive and acrimonious and conflicted and bilious... there's your opening.
Remember magic! And, finally, believe you are part of a groundswell, a resistance, a seemingly small but actually very, very large impending karmic overhaul, a great shift, the beginning of something important and potent and unstoppable."