Monday, 30 March 2015

Why Going To The Gym Might Be Causing You Acne

We all know that exercise is good for you – it keeps you fit and healthy and alleviates stress, but it can be a contributing factor to your acne.

Exercise itself isn’t the enemy. In fact, exercise can release those ‘feel-good’ hormones that can actually assist your acne. The issue with exercise and your skin is sweat and hygiene.

Of course you want to work up a sweat when you are exercising, but workout sweat mixed with oil, dead skin cells, make up, and whatever else is on your skin – particularly your face, can cause clogging which can lead to acne. We have some simple tips below that will help you keep your skin clear when you are at the gym:

Cleanse!

Before you hit the gym remove all make up, moisturiser and traces of dirt, oil and bacteria that may be on your skin by cleansing. By ensuring your skin is clean and clear your skin has a chance to breath and it reduces the risk of clogging pores.

It’s equally important to cleanse after your work out to clean your skin of sweat, oil and bacteria that you may have potentially transmitted to your face while exercising.

Pick the Right Clothes

If you already know that you are prone to acne you need to carefully consider your workout clothing. Synthetic fabrics like lycra and nylon trap heat and moisture against the skin which creates a breeding ground for acne causing bacteria. 

Choose natural, loose fitting fabrics like cotton that allow the skin to breath. 

Shower

Get out of those sweat soaked gym clothes and take a shower! While at the gym you’ve potentially touched a lot of gym equipment that’s loaded with bacteria, as well as working up a sweat. Use a gentle cleanser like SkinB5’s Acne Control Cleansing Mousse and avoid scrubbing. Rough exfoliation will not help, and can potentially create more breakouts.

Don’t let the fear of acne prevent you from exercising! Follow these simple tips and you shouldn’t exacerbate your acne.

4 Signs Your Skin Is In Distress

Leading busy lives, feeling stressed and under pressure can also cause physical symptoms like skin distress. If you are feeling stress in your everyday life it’s worth looking at these 4 signs to evaluate the impact it’s having on your skin. 

Dry Skin

When we are stress we tend to stop being kind to ourselves. We often skip meals; stop exercising, skip our skincare routine and we often don’t keep hydrated. These factors that cause your skin to dry out and become flaky.

To treat dry skin use a light moisturiser such as SkinB5 Acne Control Moisturiser. 


Flare-Ups

Research indicates there are links between acne and stress due to hormones. Stress causes your body to release hormones like cortisol, which causes the skin to produce more oil. More oil can mean your skin becomes clogged and exacerbates acne.

To manage your Acne flare-ups take SkinB5 Acne Control Extra Strength Tablets or Caplets on a daily basis. 

Hives/Rashes

Hives are itchy red lumps over the skin. It can be caused by an allergic reaction, but some people experience chronic hives that can be caused by heat, exercise and stress. Existing hives can be made worse by stress.

Hives can be treated with antihistamines. We recommend you see a doctor or pharmacist to rule-out an allergic reaction.

Increased Sweating

Do you break out in a sweat when you are stressed? Its common for people to experience increased sweating when they are under stress. Sweat can cause the skin to clog and spread bacteria.

Increased sweating due to stress is best managed by treating the stress. Try breathing techniques to help you relax, yoga and exercise.

When you are in distress so is your skin! Try relaxation methods to keep yourself calm and to release stress. When you take control of your stress you may find your skin improves. 


Monday, 23 March 2015

Skin SOS: Dealing with Breakouts

With all the home remedies and wives tales, how are we to know what actually works when we do break out? With first-hand experience, I know how sore and inflamed breakouts can get, so when it occurs it is time to get serious – SOS! Here’s what you can do to fight the breakouts when they occur:

Skincare routine:

- During the day: a little bit of pure lavender oil applied to the affected area with a cotton bud can be useful to reduce the inflammation of any breakouts.

- At night: The most effective external treatment I have ever come across is to spot treat using a specially designed clay mask. SkinB5’s Skin Purifying Mask contains French Green Clay alongside herbs and essential oils that can help to draw out the impurities and kill any bacteria present. Put a generous dab of the mask onto the affected area and leave on overnight. This is perfect for sore inflamed pustules, especially due to its cooling nature.

- Use only gentle cleansers like SkinB5’s gentle foaming Cleansing Mousse with active ingredients of Vitamin B5 to help balance the skin’s sebum. Wash your face morning & night.

- Use a gentle moisturiser with no harmful chemicals. SkinB5’s Acne Control Moisturiser is gentle, non-oily, and contains nutrients to treat & heal the skin.

- Do not exfoliate over the affected area. This can tear the skin and make the blemishes worse.

- Do a full Skin Purifying Mask treatment over the whole face 1-2x per week.


Nutrition changes to encourage healing:

- Avoid all processed foods. Sugar in particular can increase your breakouts (Danby 2010).

- Avoid all dairy products, including whey protein. Consumption of dairy, especially skim milk, has been linked to increase face & body acne (Melnik 2009 & 2011; Adebamowo 2008).

- Drink lots of clean water. Minimum 2L per day.

- Consider avoiding all grains and focus your diet on a Paleolithic style way of eating. This includes no rice, no wheat, and also no white potatoes because this eliminates many inflammatory and high-GI foods that can increase the occurrence of breakouts (Veith 2011).

- Supplement with SkinB5’s Acne Control tablets to provide the nutrients your body needs to treat the cause. Vitamins and minerals are important for balanced hormones and sebum production, so a deficiency in key nutrients can often be the root cause of your acne. More on why a nutritional approach to treating acne is important can be found HERE.

Dealing with breakouts can be a very emotional and painful issue. Using the above tips, you can help to treat the breakouts quickly, and reduce them occurring again. Remember that there is usually an internal cause for acne, such as a deficiency in a key vitamin or mineral that may be causing problems such as hormonal dysregulation – so ensure you treat internally as well as externally for a whole body approach.


References:

Adebamowo, C. Spiegelman, D. Berkey, C. Danby. F, Rockett, H. Colditz, G. Willett, W. Holmes, M. (2008). Milk consumption and acne in teenaged boys. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 58(5), 787-793.

Danby, F. (2010). Nutrition and Acne. Clinics in Dermatology, 28(6), 598-604.

Melnik, B. Schmitz, G. (2009). Role of insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, hyperglycaemic food and milk consumption in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris. Experimental Dermatology, 18(10), 833-841.

Melnik, B. (2011). Evidence for acne-promoting effects of milk and other insulinotropic dairy products. Milk and milk products in human nutrition, Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser Pediatr Program, 67, 131-145.

Veith WB, Silverberg NB. (2011). The association of acne vulgaris with diet. Cutis, 88(2), 84–91


Haley is a passionate Naturopath & nutrition expert, writer, and mum of 2 young children, with years of experience in the industry. She is a known as a real 'nutrition nerd' and follows the latest natural health research. As a Paleo and raw food enthusiast, she coaches people in healthy living, beauty and positive mindset. Haley has personally experienced the benefits of the SkinB5 natural acne treatment system and is happy to offer her guidance to help others regain clear skin. Follow her blog at www.aliveinwonderland.com & link with her on facebook at www.facebook.com/aliveinwonderlandhealth

Using French Clay to Treat Breakouts

The use of clay for its healing benefits began with Aristotle (384-322 BC) and has been used around the world for centuries to heal, both internally and externally. Egyptians considered French Green Clay in particular to be very sacred, due to its amazing regenerating and energetic properties.

Science is now starting to prove the mechanism of action behind the use of clays for healing skin conditions like acne and ulcers (Williams 2010).

Clays are by nature absorptive - they absorbs toxins and contaminants from the skin when applied topically. French Green Clay is also very high in trace minerals – it’s like a superfood for the skin! The clay works very gently to draw out the bad stuff (toxins) and put in the good stuff (minerals).

 If you are suffering from breakouts, here’s how a clay mask can help:

- Spot treat overnight by applying SkinB5’s Skin Purifying Mask over the affected area. This mask contains French Green Clay which will allow the excess oil and toxins to be drawn out while you sleep, as well as provide an intense mineral, vitamin & herbal treatment direct to the area. 

- Treat your face with a full Skin Purifying Mask treatment 1-2x per week. Put the mask on a clean damp face, leave it on for 5 minutes to dry then rinse off with warm water.

Natural clay extracts have been clinically proven to have antibacterial actions against strains of bacteria that are commonly resistant to many antibiotics, including Escherichia coli (E.coli), Staphylococcus aureus, PRSA, MRSA, Mycobacterium marinum and Salmonella Typhimurium to name a few (Haydel et al. 2008). Therefore using clay masks and spot treatments over acne can provide amazing antibacterial benefits to kill any potential underlying bacterial contaminants. The clay will also draw out impurities and assist in healing the skin.

French Green Clay contains a vast array of nutrients, including magnesium, calcium, iron, silica and potassium. Putting this on your skin provides a healing wonderland to occur by adding all these wonderful minerals directly into the skin, while the clay also absorbs impurities from the site. Using it frequently, alongside nutritional therapies like high dose vitamin B5 and Zinc (as found in SkinB5’s natural Acne Control Tablets) will speed up healing, lesson scarring and prevent further breakouts occurring.



Haley is a passionate Naturopath & nutrition expert, writer, and mum of 2 young children, with years of experience in the industry. She is a known as a real 'nutrition nerd' and follows the latest natural health research. As a Paleo and raw food enthusiast, she coaches people in healthy living, beauty and positive mindset. Haley has personally experienced the benefits of the SkinB5 natural acne treatment system and is happy to offer her guidance to help others regain clear skin. Follow her blog at www.aliveinwonderland.com & link with her on facebook at www.facebook.com/aliveinwonderlandhealth

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Top 5 Makeup Tips to Compliment Anti-Acne Skincare Practices

When you have acne, the initial instinct is to cover it up with makeup. But while you may feel better camouflaging your pimples with thick concealer or foundation, you are actually be creating further irritation with harsh makeup products – which can lead to more acne! Our top 5 tips for a makeup routine that will compliment your anti-acne skincare practices are:
 
 
 
 
 
1.Choose a water-based, non-comedogenic foundation: the product of choice should be non-greasy, hypoallergenic, and water-based. This minimises irritation and will not create further redness or inflammation. Look for products that say non-comedogenic; this means it will not clog pores.
 
2.Don’t layer it on: it is hard to resist the temptation to apply a thick layer of foundation to cover raised, red and angry pimples. Don’t do it, it will just make things worse! Use a minimal amount of foundation and use a mineral loose powder as finishing.  To cover redness, use a colour correction foundation.
 
3.Choose natural ingredient makeup: Some makeup contains harsh acids or ingredients that harm the skin, so it is best to use mineral makeup to minimise irritation. Use a natural, light hydrator, like SkinB5 Acne Control Moisturiser, before putting on a makeup as a protective barrier to keep the skin fresh and moist underneath the makeup. You can even combine the SkinB5 moisturiser with a high quality mineral makeup products, an easy anti-acne trick!
 
4.Keep it light: Always lightly apply foundation with bare hands and in a dabbing motion. Allow your skin to have breaks to breathe and recover by scheduling in makeup free days. When a little coverage is required, use a mineral loose powder instead of foundation.
 
5.Remove makeup the right way: Always remove makeup before bed and never re-apply makeup to old makeup. As always, remember to cleanse (with a gentle cleanser like SkinB5 Acne Control Cleansing Mousse) and moisturise morning and night. 
 
While these tips will help you combat acne while using makeup, don’t forget the allure of natural beauty! SkinB5 natural acne treatment can help you regain clear skin and give you confidence to greet the world makeup free (just being your natural self)!  That’s true freedom.
 

Coping with Acne: The Emotional Battle

Acne clearly has an impact on our physical appearance, but acne also inflicts powerful emotional and psychological damages in sufferers. When you or someone you know suffers from severe or stubborn acne, there are some things you can do to help.
 
Underdstanding your acne: Acne is part of everyone’s lives at some point, whether you are a teenager or an adult. While you or someone you know may be upset with their acne, the key is for them to understand that it is a common problem and there are effective and safe ways to treat and prevent it. By researching with a local doctor or dermatologist, you can identify what type of acne it is and what is the best method of treatment.
 
 
Not Stressing: Life is filled with stressful times, however it is scientifically proven that stress is powerful inducer of acne by upsetting your hormonal balance. By chilling out, calming down, and staying emotionally centered, you or someone you know with acne, may find that they break out less often.  
 
Talking to others: Acne can take quite a toll on someone’s emotional health. Some people with severe acne unfortunately can become reclusive, self-hating and depressed. These are serious mental health concerns, and should be dealt with by a professional. In the first instance, speak with family and close friends openly about how you feel and ask for their help to find appropriate treatments. Talking to a counsellor or psychologist about feelings of self-depreciation can prevent any further damages.
 
Living a healthier life: Genetically some people may be more likely to experience acne at some point in life. However, the importance of a healthy lifestyle should not be overlooked. Acne can be the kick you need to start a cleaner eating and exercise driven life, and will make you feel better about yourself!
 
Knowing you aren’t your acne! People with acne can feel like that is all other see when they talk to them. It’s not true! While clear skin is the ultimate goal, don’t let acne take away your sense of self worth. Let yourself or someone you know with acne remember that they are loved and cherished, with or without acne!