The Skin I am In...

Part 1

Many of you may not know me personally, but for those who do, you know of the struggles I have had for over 20+ years with acne. I cannot even tell you how embarrassing and painful of a disease it is.

Those of you who have acne, know of the struggle that occurs inside of your very soul every time you see a new breakout of are made fun of because you have "pizza face" (one of the names I have been called by a child riding on a school bus when I was jogging).

I have spent so much money and tired every product under the sun. You name the miracle cure, I have bought it. Why? Well, for a lot of years i thought there was a magic bullet to put on the outside of my skin that would heal it from within. WRONG! I have learned over the years, that you heal acne from within.

First, understand that I am not a doctor and everything you read on my blog, is from my own journey of discovery for my skin type. It may or may not help you, but it will be a great place to start your journey to healing your acne.

What things have I learned or changed over my 20+ years of discovery about my acne you ask?

#1.  I stopped washing my face with any type of acne cleanser. WHAT??? I know, I bought into all the hype that somehow acne skin was just dirty and needed harsh chemicals to clean and balance the skin. Not so. What you ask do I do instead? Hold on to your hat, friends. This will literally change your skin. 

Oil cleansing

The sebum of oily and acne prone skin is predominately composed of oleic acid. Oleic acid is a monounsaturated datty acid also known as omega-9 fatty acid. To balance out your skin, you need to introduce linoleic acid to your skin. Linoelic acid is an insaturated fatty acid also known as omega-6 fatty acid. "Acne patients have been shown to have low levels of linoleic acid in their skin surface lipids." (source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2936775)

When our skin is deficient in linoleic acid, our skin's natural sebum becomes thick and sticky which clogs pores and creates acne issues. To balance out our predominately composed oleic acid skin, we apply oils high in linoleic acid directly to our skin, thus balancing the acids and diminishing break outs.


This data was gathered from a beautiful, smart woman named Dawn Michelle. You can access her website at the following link: http://www.minimalistbeauty.com/oils-specifically-for-acne-prone-skin/

I have been oil cleansing now for 4 months with great success. My favorite oils that have worked for my skin are Neem Oil (more on this one later), Rosehip Seed Oil, Hemp Oil, and Grape seed Oil. I use only organic, cold-pressed oil. I also add a couple of drops of Tea Tree Oil.

Try it for a few weeks.

I will tell you about the next change I have made in a subsequent post.

Have a great day!