 |
I don’t wear makeup. Do you? Not that I have anything against makeup, at least natural ones. I just like the feel of my skin as it is. And you know what else? I love my skin! Something I’ve not always been able to say. In fact as a teenager and until just recently, I downright hated my skin. If you look closely at any of the pictures I’ve posted of myself, you’ll see scars. Yup, acne scares. I had acne sumfin’ fierce! I remember it first showed up around age 10 and I thought it would never go away. How did I turn that around finally? Maybe it’s with age but I find it quite coincidental that my skin improved incredibly once I made serious changes to my diet and washing habits. Here is what I did to clear up my skin. Best part, no expensive creams and cleansers. It’s all super cheap!
First off, get off grains! I read this article by Dr. Mercola and thought why not give it a try. I already knew I had a gluten sensitivity and saw a significant improvement after removing wheat from my diet but maybe removing all grains would truly fix it. Um yeah, it did and fast. It’s the first thing I tell people who ask about acne. Get rid of the grains! Here is the article I read that convinced me http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/03/28/Simple-Ways-to-Stop-Acne-Naturally.aspx While you’re at it, get off sugar too. I find when I have a break down and eat too much sugar and huge zit follows close behind.
Secondly, stop washing your face twice a day. Would you believe I wash my face every 2-3 days and I don’t use soap? Eeek! Did I admit that on the world wide web? Stripping your face of oils just makes your body scream, “Make more oil!” And that is what it does. It’s hard and it takes a good week or two for your face to adjust but it’s worth it. I went from super, sop-my-face-with-towels, oily skin to normal skin. Love it! While washing every 2-3 days isn’t for everyone, try limiting it to just at night to get the grime/make up off (if you wear it) and use a gentle natural cleanser.
Third, I wash my face with baking soda. That’s it. I was digging through my mom’s vast collection of face cleansing potions and ran across an expensive scrub that’s first ingredient was Sodium Bicarbonate, aka baking soda. Baking soda is abrasive making it an excellent scrub so you don’t want to use it more than a couple times a week. I already use it to wash may hair (may do a post about that some day) and thought why not my face too. Simply wet your face, scoop about 1/2 tsp worth of baking soda into your hand and gently rub your face. Rinse immediately, rinse well. If you let it set too long if may irritate your skin.
Fourth, I wash my face once or twice a week with oil. Yes, oil. Like this http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/ Depending on your skin type, mix your oil mixture as they recommend. I use a mixture of 1 part castor oil to 3 parts olive oil. In the shower seems the best time to do this. First I pour a generous amount in my hand and gently work the oil into my skin. I let the hot water run over my face and work the oil in. I’ll use a wash cloth to gently wipe off any excess oil.
Lastly, I moisturize with coconut oil. Though recently I found a wonderful lotion from Green Pastures that contains shea butter, coconut oil and ferment cod liver oil and I love it! Good stuff! No affiliation, I just love it. I try to use that daily or when my skin feels dry or tight.
Now I still don’t have the best skin ever (found a little zit this morning) but if you saw me at my worst, you’ll know I’ve come a loooong way. I do still get a pimple here and there but no more painful outbreaks and it’s just one not fifty and I have not had one cystic pimple since going gluten free. I truly hope that all I’ve learned about skin care will help my children. So far so good. My 11 yo has yet to have a zit and has a beautiful complexion!
Part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday
RSS
Newsletter
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
That so awesome Melanie! I am super curious about using baking soda to wash your hair. I hope you do a post about that soon!
Love your post…I'm going to try your cleansing suggestions. I'm still having a lot of trouble getting rid of grain entirely, but I know it's the right thing to do, and I'll feel better. (Sigh) Baby steps.
a cream with fermented cod liver oil? and it doesn't make you want to vomit? wow. I might just have to look into that!I stopped using shampoo (for the most part) if I rinse every day (or at the most every other day) my hair remains manageable and feeling quite wonderful once dry (it feels icky while wet, thick and almost glopy) I used to shampoo twice a week (sometimes less) so getting used to "taking care of my hair" more often takes a bit of getting used to. I've used a bit of shampoo a couple of times since I stopped using it, usually when I went more then a few days with out rinsing.No soap at this point either. Actually I was off soap a lot sooner then shampoo. The skin on my body feels great.
If anyone is curious, I find a journal article supporting the idea of grains, glycemic load, and acne: “Acne Vulgaris: a Disease of Western Civilization”
http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/138/12/1584)
Thanks JB! I’ll have to check it out.
Very cool! I’m deft going to try the Beauty Balm. I already love Green Pastures CLO/ButterOil. Next time I place an order I’ll be adding in the balm too. I’ve been washing my face in oil since January of this year and it’s made a HUGE difference. In fact, I’ve been meaning to make a blog post about this myself. You’ve inspired me to get on it (starting work on it…..NOW).
I can’t wait to see your post! I wish more people knew about washing with oil. It’s made such a difference in my skin.
[...] Organic Orange Oil and Lavender Oil. Sounds delightful. Another blogger mentioned it (here) while posting about how she cleared up her skin. I am a huge believer in Fermented Cod Liver [...]
I tried the coconut oil and and although i am a huge fan of the stuff, it made me break out really bad. I waited and waited to see if it was an adjustment to no avail. Then i read that palm oil is more suitable than coconut as coconut IS actually comedogenic. I have been afraid to try it again with the palm but just food for thought
[...] greasy and no I don’t get clogged pores or zits anymore. You can read more about that here: How I Cleared Up My Skin. The only things I do different now is tallow instead of coconut oil and I don’t use baking [...]
To ‘A Nourishing Journey’: I have washed my hair (and my kids’ hair) with only baking soda for a few years now. I just put a little bit (maybe 2 Tablespoons for long hair or 2 teaspoons for baby’s hair) in a cup of warm water, no need to measure the water, it can be 2 cups or more. Just dump the baking soda water over your head and massage it in well. It doesn’t feel like this is doing any good while doing it, but it’s working. Rinse well. That is it! I wash my hair this way every 2-3 days. For my kids they can go longer without washing. I still use conditioner for myself to prevent tangles but my son only uses the baking soda and his hair is soft and shiny.
Great to hear! I’m always happy when people find out they can take care of such nasty stuff through a simple diet change and natural suppliments!
Keep in mind, your entire body is crawling with good and bad bacteria. You need to nurture the good guys and starve/kill off the bad ones. This article is a great start for that! You can think of it as a “nano armor!”
I’m doing something similar with Vinegar in my hair, but I’ll have to try the Baking soda idea too. I’ve heard it’s good as a deodorant as well.
-Yossif
Hi! I was wondering about buckwheat, because it’s not a grain but you can use it instead of rice to cook with and you can make nice pancakes with it too…
Do you know how it affects your blood sugar levels..?
O and what about chickpea flower??
I hope you can shed some light
Thanks!!
Not sure, I haven’t looked into those flours yet. I do love buckwheat pancakes!