Oily/Combination Skin Care Tips and Nutrition

ADDITIONAL TIPS

1. Do not touch your face or let others do it. It is adorable if your husband or boyfriend touches your face to show affection, but be ware: those hands carry bacteria and you will soon notice new breakouts precisely where he touches you on the regular basis. Your own hands have bacteria, so try to avoid mindlessly touching your face, while thinking, reading or driving.

2. Do not let your cell phone touch your face because it carries large amounts of bacteria. Handsfree and blue tooth devices are your friends for more reasons than one.

3. Change your pillowcases often and turn your pillow over every night in between, again, to keep bacteria away from your skin.

4. Wear sunglasses religiously and make sure to get good quality lenses that actually protect you from the sun rather than just have darkened surface.

NUTRITION

This section is for the brave and open-minded and everything I present here is gathered from extensive experimentation with my own body and skin. This is not medical advice by any means. Most of this information applies to adult acne and breakouts because unfortunately, I passed puberty before I came across much of this information. However, I think teens can try to implement some of the tips here as well.

Traditional Western medicine sees no connection between food and health and internal organs and skin. For years, I would ask every dermatologist I saw whether I should pay attention to my diet or take supplements and they all shrugged their shoulders and proposed antibiotics or birth control as acne. Eastern and European medicine see direct connection between everything that is going on inside your body and your skin. Here are some of the recommendations based on these schools of medicine:

1. Observe how your body reacts to certain foods and drinks. Food diaries have become popular for weight loss and you can just add a line for skin condition. For example, over the years, I noticed that I break out the next day after having beer or champagne. I excluded both from any social activities, and the skin symptoms related to these drinks stopped. I have read many times that people observe skin reactions from dairy.

2. In Europe, doctors believe that acne location on your face directly relates to the health or function of certain organs. Acne on your forehead is linked to liver, your cheeks to intestinal health and your chin to reproductive organs.

For acne on your forehead, your liver can be cleaned by supplements of Milk Thistle. They should be taken 3 times a day for at least 2-3 months for the first time and supplementation should be repeated several times a year. I found that brewing Burdock Root tea or dried Burdock Root in bulk is even more effective. Burdock Root liquid should be taken warm, three times a day, about 30 minutes before meals. I brew it in batches and store in the refridgerator and then warm half a cup at a time for individual doses.

For acne on your cheeks, the health of your intestines requires attention. While antibiotics may be effective in treating certain health problems, they take a toll on our intestinal flora. Problems such as constipation, poor nutrient absorption and, yes, acne relate to intestinal health. What should you do? Intestinal cleansing sets are very common now and can be found in many health food stores. As long as the set contains bentonite clay as one of its ingredients and includes a course of probiotics, you can pick whatever is available and affordable. If you are on a tight budget, simply look for food grade bentonite clay and complete a treatment course of two weeks long. Here is the Great Plains product I have used successfully. This specific product is taken two hours before/after meals with a dosage of one tablespoon for two weeks. You should also increase your water intake, as bentonite absorbs water in your body. The purpose of this clay is to collect negative bacteria, medicine remnants and other toxic items from your intestines. After that, supplement your diet with probiotics. Make sure your supplement is from the refrigerated section of the store and it includes bifidus, which is a probiotic that kills bad bacteria. Here is a good combination of multiple strains of the good bacteria: Natural Factors - Acidophilus and Bifidus. Probiotics should be taken 3 times a day. I take them in one-month cycles and repeat throughout the year, as necessary. Repeat every time you take antibiotics. Additionally, almost every culture has foods, which contain probiotics and I recommend their consumption. Yogurts, buttermilk, kefir, kim chi, miso, tempeh soured cabbage and pickles (marinated in salt water) are all on the list. You want to help the beneficial bacteria multiply in your body.

Persistent acne on your chin, relates to your reproductive organs for females and could be caused by inflammation related to polycystic syndrome or other conditions. A visit to your doctor and a discussion about your gynecological health is a must in this case.

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