:Clear Skin Blog

With most acne treatments on the market causing dry skin (and often not much else), it’s not surprising that many acne sufferers turn to moisturizers. In fact, a dedicated moisturizer is already included in many multi-step systems. Especially at this time of the year, when cold, wintry air threatens to dry out your skin all on its own, keeping your skin cells properly hydrated is more important than ever.

Unfortunately, moisturizers are one of the most troublesome products when it comes to preventing acne, as they often do just the opposite. Poor quality moisturizers are a common cause of clogged pores, and even those that are specifically labeled as “noncomedogenic” can still cause blockage if they are applied too liberally.

So what is an acne sufferer to do? You can still protect your skin against dryness with a few smart practices and natural solutions. The first step is something I’ve written about a lot: drink enough water. Drinking a lot of water isn’t only important when you’re sweating in the summer heat. Doing so will keep your cells supple and protected against the brisk, dry air of winter.

While drinking water is great, washing too frequently - especially with hot water - isn’t. Every time you wash, you sap your skin of its protective layer of oil. This is even worse with hot water, as the heat drains moisture from your skin cells, leaving you more vulnerable to the elements. Keep your skin safe by washing less frequently and avoiding the temptation to use overly hot water before going out.

Another solution to consider is using natural moisturizers instead of the usual products. Rather than relying on chemicals that may clog your pores, try moisturizing with pure aloe gel. The sap from aloe vera leaves provides a safe coat of protection that also disinfects and reduces inflammation. Another great natural moisturizer is jojoba oil. This slightly waxy extract blends so naturally with your skin that your glands may be fooled into thinking that it’s sebum, tapering off producing more skin oil as a result. That means it can potentially prevent both dry skin and oily skin!

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As anyone who has used the typical acne treatment systems knows, it’s not easy staying clear. These multi-step kits can be expensive, they seldom work right away, and many of them require additional products on top of the core steps if you want to see “best results”. Even when they do work, maintaining clear skin can prove to be quite a hassle.

Most systems today copy the Proactiv 3-step model, including a cleanser, lotion and toner or spot treatment. However, some don’t stop there, with several kits going as far as 7 steps to try and cover all the bases. When considering these products, most people just look at the price tag, ignoring the time and hassle that using these treatments can cost you.

Almost all topical acne treatments need to be applied 2-3 times per day. That means slathering on 3+ different products up to 3 times every day. You can easily end up spending an extra hour (or more!) in the bathroom just treating your face. For some people that may not be a big deal, but for many (especially us guys) it’s simply more trouble that the often underwhelming results are worth.

The time issue also directly impacts how many users see improvement, as the more trouble a treatment is to apply, the more likely users are to quit before the ingredients really kick in. And can you really blame them? Using an acne treatment shouldn’t have to be something that you plan your day around.

Even single-step products can be deceptive. Consider thermal devices such as Zeno. Not having to use a plethora of different products is great, but when you have to apply the device to each individual pimple for several minutes, multiple times per day, the cost in time can add up fast.

So what is the answer? In terms of convenience, oral acne vitamins definitely score some points. Many users will still need to take them multiple times per day, but the simple fact is that gulping a pill or drinking mix takes less time than applying creams, and you don’t have to visit the bathroom to do it. Just gulp it and forget it. The downside is that internal treatments can sometimes take longer initially to see results, but since those results are longer lasting, it’s a tradeoff worth taking.

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With the fall semester already in full swing, keeping your skin clear can feel more important than ever, but it can also be trickier than ever. You’ve got less time to worry about acne, more stress to deal with, and a whole school full of new germs to worry about exposing your skin to.

Watch your back if you’re sitting down all day.

One thing you’ll be doing a lot of at school is spending time in a chair. If you’ve got back acne, this can potentially make your life harder. With your back glued to the back of a chair, sweat can build up and get trapped beneath your shirt, clogging your pores and inviting bacteria to fester. To avoid this, make sure to wear fabrics that let your skin breathe, and when you can get out of that seat (or at least lean forward and let the fabric air out now and then). Of course, this also makes a daily shower extra important.

Don’t stress out over schoolwork.

Stress can contribute to acne, and we all know that the pressures of school can be stressful. It’s easy to say “just relax”, but the reality is that it takes some effort. If your studies (or social stress) are getting you, learn to take a step back and put things in perspective. Getting agitated will only make your situation (and your skin!) worse. Don’t forget to get to sleep at a decent hour, as lack of rest is a big contributor to stress.

Schools are dirty. Hands off the face.

No matter how hard the janitor works, your school is anything but clean. Think of all the surfaces you may touch during the day – your locker, door knobs, desks, other people – there are no shortage of bacteria-ridden objects that your hands may come in contact with. Now imagine your hands transferring all that bacteria to your face. Yeah, not a pretty picture. So the lesson here is simple: don’t touch your face while at school. This is good advice in general, but is especially important while at a public environment like school. And wash those hands when you get home!

Keep your school lunch healthy.

Whether you make lunch at home or purchase it at the cafeteria, it’s easy to go the processed, junk food route, but that’s definitely not the best thing for your skin. Watch out for high-carb, fatty foods and high-sugar snacks. Try to work some fruit and vegetables into your lunch, and remember to drink enough water or low-sugar juice. Even if all your friends are drinking cola, buck the trend and skip the carbonated sugar water. Grab another glass of water after school as well. Your skin can’t get enough proper hydration.

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If you’ve had acne for any length of time, you’ve probably tried a wide range of products with underwhelming results. You may have even given some thought to your diet and other factors such as sleep and exercise. Unfortunately, most people fail when it comes to lifestyle changes simply due to lack of planning and commitment. So lets break down the main factors you need to keep track of.

There are 3 main factors that play a role in acne control: hygiene, diet & lifestyle.

First is hygiene - effectively washing your skin. For most acne sufferers, less is more when it comes to cleansing. That’s right, most people over-wash. I recommend using only a single gentle cleanser, twice per day (morning and night) at most, unless you did something during the day to work up a sweat or get yourself dirty. If you’re blasting your skin with a dozen different products and multi-step treatments, toss that stuff out. You’re probably doing more harm than good.

Next is your diet. Try writing down what you eat for a few days. Include both meals and snacks, and try to cut back on the latter. If you absolutely need to snack, consider skin-healthy fruits or vegetables. Take count of how many glasses of water you’re drinking (it should be at least 4 big, tall glasses every day!). Lower the carbs, fat and trouble food groups like dairy. Your diet also includes vitamin supplements, so if you’re using a vitamin B5 acne treatment like Clear5, write down when you take it and how much.

Lifestyle can seem like a broad topic, but basically take note of the day’s physical activity. Do you spend all day with your back glued to a chair? That might have something to do with your back acne. Do you exercise regularly? How is your metabolism? Are you getting enough sleep? All these factors impact the health of your skin. Allow your body to build a natural rhythm, sleeping and eating at the same times each day, and try to do at least some form of strenuous exercise (just rinse off that sweat afterwards!).

Writing things down is key. Give yourself a checklist of things to do during the morning, afternoon and evening, so you’ll know if you skipped drinking that glass of water before leaving for school, etc. Once you start getting organized with your skin care routine, you’ll naturally form good habits, and the combined effect can help in the fight against acne more so than any quick-fix product.

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The fact is, most vegetables are good for your skin, but some are better than others. Cucumbers have been used since ancient times to promote healthy, younger-looking skin thanks to their unique blend of nutrients, and it turns out they can also help in the fight against acne.

Among cucumber’s benefits are its high content of vitamin C, calcium and amino acids. These nutrients help strengthen and rejuvenate skin tissue and play a role in soothing irritation, reducing the swelling from acne blemishes. The skin of the cucumber is also rich in key minerals, such as silica and magnesium, that can improve your complexion and promote skin elasticity.

Cucumbers have natural cleansing and moisturizing properties. Their high water content, along with acids that aid in water retention, make for a powerful combination. As an acne home remedy, try mixing cucumber juice with a tablespoon of milk for gentle all-natural cleanser, or mashing one up and mixing it with some lemon juice for a facial mask that will leave your skin feeling smooth and supple, as well as helping to balance your skin’s pH level.

Since cucumbers are mostly water, they function as a natural diuretic, purifying the inside of your body as well as your skin if you eat them frequently. They’re high in fiber and great for eliminating bacterial waste that may have been building up in your bowels.

Besides acne, cucumbers are also a useful remedy for sunburns and other sources of skin inflammation. And if you’ve ever seen pictures for beauty products that feature cucumber slices resting over someone’s eyes, that’s thanks to their use in reducing under-eye puffiness and dark circles. Whether applied topically or just added to your diet, this is one vegetable that is worth looking into.

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Back acne can be a pain to deal with. It’s hard to reach with typical treatments, the thick skin on your back makes it difficult for most chemicals to penetrate, and the few sprays that exist on the market are only partially effective (usually only if salicylic acid works well for you). Luckily, there’s a natural way to get rid of back and body acne that’s both cheaper and more effective than typical products.

Mineral baths are commonly used to relieve stress, ease inflamed joints and soothe muscle aches and pains. Epsom salt, or magnesium sulfate, is one of the most popular ingredients, and it also happens to be great for treating your skin. Magnesium is a vital mineral for aiding your body in absorbing and utilizing of key vitamins and antioxidants, and also helps with insulin regulation – keeping excess skin oil in check. Sulfur promotes exfoliation and assists with reducing inflammation and discoloration in your skin.

Taking a mineral bath with Epsom salt delivers both of these nutrients in a way that allows them to easily penetrate directly into your skin cells. It doesn’t hurt that this natural skin remedy is also affordable and easy to use. Just draw a bath with warm water (avoid extremely hot water, as this will dry out your skin), then add 2 cups of Epsom salt (or a cup of Epsom salt and one of sea salt), then slip into the water once the salt has dissolved. Let your skin soak for at least 15-20 minutes before drying off.

This simple remedy has been shown to relieve back and body acne for many, often much better than typical over-the-counter products. An internal supplement like Clear5 is still recommended to prevent future blemishes from appearing, but for treating current body acne, it’s worth it to give salt baths a try.

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For most people, acne occurs as a result of excess skin oil produced by your sebaceous glands, which in turn is a result of hormonal shifts. The most dramatic of these shifts occur during puberty, which is why acne is typically seen first and foremost as a teenage problem. So why do as many as 25% of adult men and 50% of adult women still get acne? And will the same treatments still work?

On the surface, adult acne is caused by the same basic problem - overproduction of sebum by your oil glands. However, the reasons behind this problem can change with age. For one thing, your sebaceous glands become more sensitive, meaning that it takes less of a hormonal shift to stimulate them. Your body becomes less efficient at breaking down fats and sugars, and thus, the same way that it’s easier to gain weight, it becomes easier for a poor diet to lead to excess sebum production. Compounding the problem, you also grow less efficient at absorbing the good stuff - essential vitamins and nutrients from food, including the nutrients that your body uses to metabolize that skin oil.

So there are some differences in the root causes between acne that afflicts teenagers and adults, but does that mean that popular products based on benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid won’t work?

The fact is, most topical acne treatments will work just as well for adults as they do for teenagers, although that may not be saying much. These products combat the problem at the surface-level only, killing bacteria and exfoliating your skin cells, but doing nothing to prevent the underlying causes described above. The danger for adults is that your skin becomes more susceptible to damage (including sun damage and premature signs of aging) with age, and slower to repair itself. Teenagers have more resilient skin, better able to bounce back after a bad blemish in less time than it would take an adult to do so. As such, gentler products that include moisturizing agents are more important for adults seeking topical treatments, even if those products may lack the strength of harsher alternatives.

Of course, once one understands adult acne, it becomes clear that the same old skin-deep solutions aren’t the real answer. Factors such as improving your diet become more vital than ever. Taking a supplement like Clear5 can have a faster, more dramatic effect for many adults, as the introduction of that metabolic fuel gets right to source of what your body was missing. We see it in the large percent of our return customers who are adults.

So yes, most of the same chemicals used to treat teen acne will give similar results for adults, but finding the right treatment will make a bigger difference than ever before.

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It’s no secret that acne has many causes. Excess skin oil is the main offender, but one can’t discount bacteria, a buildup of dead skin cells, allergic reactions, sweat, stress, even lack of sleep can contribute to acne. However, most dermatologists will tell you that stubborn cases of acne are usually hormonal. What’s not always so clear is that hormonal acne and oil-caused are one in the same.

I ran across this very mistake when browsing a few of the usual treatment review and information sites. The site addressed the subject of vitamin B5 acne treatment, dismissing it because “most acne is caused by a hormonal imbalance, not excess skin oil”. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of biology.

Hormonal shifts are not bad things. Producing sex hormones is a natural function of a healthy body. The reason those shifts, such as during puberty, often lead to acne is precisely because they cause your sebaceous glands to pump out too much skin oil too fast.

A flush of certain sex hormones can stimulate your glands to go into overdrive, but that’s not all. Hormone production can also sap your body of the resources it normally uses to metabolize that skin oil, making the problem that much worse. One of those key resources is coenzyme-A, of which vitamin B5 is the biological precursor.

Thus, hormonal shifts directly contribute to excess skin oil, which vitamin B5 treatment directly combats by providing the fuel to metabolize that oil. It would be inaccurate to categorize “hormonal imbalance” as some vague alternative cause of acne that is unrelated to oily skin, or unaffected by B5 treatment. Rather, the two are practically two ways of saying the same thing. Hormonal acne is exactly the type of affliction that B5 is intended to treat.

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Especially after the holidays, we commonly to find ourselves facing the new year with new hopes, new gifts, new resolutions, and probably a few new extra pounds. If you’re reading this, getting rid of acne may just be one of those resolutions. Luckily, with the right approach, losing weight and attaining clear skin can go hand-in-hand.

If you’re looking to shed a few pounds, one of the best places to start is your diet. It’s convenient then that a healthy, low-fat diet is also great for your skin. Fresh fruits and vegetables are both low in saturated fats, sugars and carbs, and also packed with the essential vitamins and minerals that your skin needs to combat acne. Leafy green veggies and low-sugar fruits such as grapefruits and berries are among the ultimate clear skin foods. Likewise, foods that are a problem for weight control (such as fried food, junk food, etc.) are also not the greatest thing for staying acne-free, since they promote excess skin oil production, so you’ll be doing your skin a favor by avoiding them.

After your diet, exercise is the second pillar of weight loss, and here again it can help with clear skin. Don’t misunderstand, even very athletic people can still suffer from acne, but having a healthy metabolism almost always aids in recovery. Exercise enhances your metabolism, which in turn enhances your body’s ability to break down both skin oil and problem foods that might otherwise result in problems for your complexion. Exercise also promotes healthy blood circulation to reduce inflammation and make sure the nutrients from those foods you’re eating are able to efficiently get where they need to go.

Maybe you’re also taking supplements to help give you an edge in the battle against the bulge. Well, it turns out that many of the supplements designed to combat acne are also useful for weight loss (and visa-versa). Many users of vitamin B5 acne treatment report an increased appetite due to B5’s effect in enhancing your metabolism (which can impact the metabolism of more than just skin oil). Supplements intended to curb your appetite may be less effective, but those designed for increasing the rate that your body breaks down food can also have beneficial effects for your skin.

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It’s that time of the year again! During the cold winter months, dry skin becomes a problem for many, and that dry skin can lead to acne. When your skin cells are sapped of their normal moisture, they grow less supple and more vulnerable to irritation. Rashes, blotches, acne and peeling can result.

When the air is cold and dry, you have to adjust your lifestyle accordingly. You can’t just follow the same old routine and expect healthy skin. If the weather changes, change with it! You can avoid excessive dryness by following these natural moisturizing tips.

Water - This one is pretty obvious, but a lot of people forget about it. Drink more water! Throughout the day, make sure you’re drinking a tall glass of water whenever you get the chance. Don’t just wait until you’re thirsty. Give your body a water surplus to keep those cells hydrated.

Also, avoid washing with very hot water. It can seem tempting to bask in hot water when it’s cold outside, but never do so right before exposing your skin to cold temperatures. The hot water naturally saps your skin of moisture and causes your pores to dilate, making for a deadly combination if you don’t let your skin rejuvenate before facing the elements.

Aloe Vera - This natural herb is great for soothing and moisturizing your skin, plus it has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Aloe Vera is typically used to treat dry skin and sunburns, and makes for a great soothing balm if you need something to stop your skin from peeling or even reduce the appearance of acne at the same time.

Honey - Honey is another natural moisturizer that can have a powerful effect in protecting your skin. It’s rich in key vitamins and helps maintain the elasticity of your skin cells. Applying a honey mask at night (perhaps mixing honey with sugar to thicken the mixture and aid with exfoliation) can help rejuvenate your skin after a long day exposed to the weather.

Olive Oil - It’s not just for cooking! Olive oil can help repair dry skin and also reduce itchiness and irritation. It can even aid in combating psoriasis and acne. This may sound greasy, but olive oil actually dries clean and will not clog your pores. Try applying a thin layer before bed or adding some to a spray bottle and using it in the shower before rinsing off.

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