Most of us have suffered the embarrassment of acne at some point in our lives, and many have acne for an extended period of time. Although people around you might blame that chocolate bar you're eating, the truth is that the causes of acne are varied and complex, and although not eating chocolate might help, it probably won't get rid of your acne completely.
Basically, acne is caused when the skin produces too much sebum. This mixes together with dead skin cells and other dirt and debris, and then clogs up the hair follicles in the skin. Bacteria move in, the area becomes inflamed, and you have acne. So the solution lies in a combination of reducing sebum production, and keeping your skin clean. Topical medications and antibiotics can certainly help, but mostly they treat the symptoms and not the cause.
So it makes sense to use a more holistic, natural approach, to try and get the body's processes back to normal. One of the best ways to start is by looking at what you eat. If your diet is full of fast food, fats, sugars and other unhealthy stuff, then your body is far too busy dealing with all that garbage to worry about how much sebum it produces. Start by changing to a healthy, balanced diet, containing plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. This will help to cleanse your system, detoxify your body, and often results in a drop in sebum production.
You can also use herbs or herbal extracts to enhance your body's ability to fight acne. These include:
- Herbal cortisone
- Jing Huang Gao
- Olive leaf extract
- Tea tree oil
Tea tree oil has a similar effect to using a product containing benzoyl peroxide, and is much kinder to the skin. Nobody knows for sure why these herbs do such a good job of reducing the incidence of acne, but certainly they are all considered to be good for cleansing the liver. So it's likely that in some way the liver is linked to our hormones, and testosterone levels certainly affect the production of sebum.
You also need to find a gentle, natural cleanser to use on your face. Keep your hair, hats and headbands away from your face or don't wear them at all, because oil and dirt collect underneath them. Also, make sure you frequently wash anything that your face rests against, like your pillowcase. Most importantly of all, don't pop or squeeze your pimples - that's almost guaranteed to make them spread.
