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The Aloe Vera Acne Remedy: Is There Clear Skin in Sight?

aloe-vera-acne

One of the greatest benefits of an aloe vera acne remedy is that it soothes the skin and relieves inflammation. Although it is important to use gentle and natural ingredients to treat your skin, the true cure for your acne actually lies much deeper.

Aloe Vera Acne Benefits

Aloe vera is a plant similar to a cactus that grows in warmer climates. Aloe vera is often used as a popular natural remedy in the diet and to treat the skin since it provides advanced healing benefits to soothe burns, reduce inflammation, and even treat scar tissue. [1]

If you have ever applied soothing aloe vera to a sunburn, then you probably know firsthand how calming and cooling this natural remedy can be. Here are some of the many benefits that aloe vera provides to the skin:

  • Hydrates dry and cracked skin
  • Strengthens the outer barrier of the skin to protect from environmental toxins
  • Treats insect bites, burns, blisters, and frostbite
  • Balances the skin and keeps it healthy
  • Reduces inflammation caused by a sunburn
  • Reduces inflammation from skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis
  • Kills bacteria to quickly heal wounds or cuts
  • Deeply moisturizes the skin to strengthen the outer barrier
  • Provides anti-aging benefits
  • Lightens dark pigmentation in the skin

As you can clearly see, aloe vera is full of countless benefits to treat the skin.

Let’s check out what several acne sufferers from the acne.org forums had to say about using an aloe vera acne remedy:

Wowwww. helped my skin so much! Salicylic wash and Alpha Hydrox BHA Souffle made my skin red and irritated but it was helping my acne and my red marks but I needed something to help soothe those chemicals on my face and this organic natural substance did the trick!!
Bought it at Lowes for 4 bucks

I am in love with aloe vera. I use 99% pure organic aloe vera gel, with nothing extra added. (DO NOT try the crap from the drugstore). My face is VERY VERY sensitive (every lotion I have ever tried stings), and the aloe has been wonderful! I had dry, flaky rough inflamed skin that was also oilly and had piples and blackheads. I apply a thin layer after washing my face (with a baking soda paste which you HAVE to try! go read my review!) my inflamation and redness is GONE, my rough skin is gone, my pimples are gone, and my black heads are minimal!

While aloe vera is a beneficial natural product to treat and strengthen the skin, it does not provide a complete acne cure. Let me explain.

As an aesthetician, I continually advise my clients to use natural and gentle products that are free from chemicals to treat their skin. However, if you are only relying upon a product like an aloe vera acne remedy to clear up your skin, then you will be sorely disappointed.

The cause of acne starts with a poor diet. This diet weakens your immune system, fills your body full of toxic chemicals and additives, and leaves your skin vulnerable to acne breakouts. If you want any hope of clearing up your skin for good, then you must first of all balance your diet by eliminating high carb and high sugar foods, and then focus on the products that you use to hydrate and strengthen your skin.

With that being said, the many benefits that aloe vera provides will work well to treat the side effects that acne causes to your skin. An aloe vera acne remedy can:

  • Reduce hyperpigmentation caused by acne scarring
  • Hydrate the skin to strengthen its outer barrier
  • Reduce chronic inflammation caused by acne
  • Speed up the healing of acne lesions
  • Keep the skin smooth and youthful

The most important point to keep in mind is that an aloe vera acne remedy can be used AFTER you have cleared up your acne to restore health to your skin. The first step is to balance your diet to eliminate any acne triggers, and then use aloe vera to hydrate, heal, and restore health to your skin that has been damaged by chronic acne.

Sources:

  1. “Aloe Vera to Skin Care | Skin Care.” Bitterroot Restoration | Home. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. <http://www.bitterrootrestoration.com/skin-care/aloe-vera-to-skin-care.html>.

About the Author: Bethany Ramos is an aesthetician and makeup artist with a special interest in using nutrition to heal and alleviate a number of conditions in the skin. You can find out more skin care and makeup tips by visiting her blog at FacebyBethany.

by Bethany Write a Comment

Pantothenic Acid Acne Benefits: Can Vitamin B5 Cure Acne?

pantothenic-acid-acne

Although natural acne cures do have some validity, it is important to research each and every vitamin that you include in your diet to see how it truly affects the quality of your skin. While vitamin B5, also known as pantothenic acid, has a number of health benefits, the jury is still out as to whether or not it is a “cure-all” acne treatment.

It’s time to find out the truth…

How Pantothenic Acid Impacts Acne

To better understand the benefits of the pantothenic acid acne treatment, we must first explore how pantothenic acid impacts your health as a whole.

Pantothenic acid provides such benefits to your health as: [1]

  • Treating hair loss
  • Alleviating asthma
  • Reducing allergies
  • Relieving stress
  • Treating heart problems
  • Treating respiratory disorders
  • Boosting immunity
  • Reducing signs of aging
  • Alleviating skin disorders

As you can see, pantothenic acid does contribute to the quality of your skin. But how? The answer may be much different than you think…

One major pantothenic acid acne benefit is in the fact that this vitamin greatly boosts and protects the immune system. So what does that have to do with your acne treatment? Well, what many people do not realize is that a compromised immune system can directly lead to acne.

When your immune system is weakened, it will leave the protective barrier of your complexion vulnerable to damage, making it highly likely that the acne bacteria on your skin will result in chronic, inflamed acne lesions.

To take it a step further, another pantothenic acid acne benefit is that this vitamin relieves stress. Stress is yet another factor that will compromise your immune system, which could result in hormonal imbalances, excess oil production, and bacteria on your skin that will cause acne.

However, as a word of caution, this vitamin is not a complete acne cure-all. Come again?

While pantothenic acid is highly necessary to improve the quality of your skin and strengthen your immune system, you will never be able to defend your body against acne if you don’t first of all correct your diet. A weakened immune system stems from poor digestion, caused by an unhealthy diet.

To get started, it will greatly benefit your immune system and skin to eliminate processed, sugary foods from your diet. These foods cause an overload of toxins in your body, which will throw your hormones out of whack and lead to acne bacteria overgrowth to result in serious breakouts.

In addition, it pays to include foods rich in pantothenic acid in your diet, like: [1]

  • Broccoli
  • Cabbage
  • Mushrooms
  • Salmon
  • Legumes
  • Collard greens

While you may be tempted to supplement your diet with a pantothenic acid acne supplement, it is always best to try to get this vitamin from fresh food sources since they will provide a variety of vitamins and nutrients to benefit your skin.

On top of that, some foods rich in vitamin B5, like salmon, also contain omega-3 fatty acids. These omega-3 fatty acids are vital to the health of your skin since they once again boost your immune system to strengthen your complexion to naturally resist acne. Do you see how it all works together?

Check out what a few acne sufferers from the acne.org forums had to say about pantothenic acid acne remedies:

After reading about pantethine (the active form of B-5), i'm wondering why people aren't trying it instead of b5? From what ive read, you get a better effect with a lot less to no side effects. Because you only have to take around 900 mg or so of pantethine, there will be no adverse side effects.

I've been taking B5 for 2 weeks now. My skin is less oily and my break out minimizes but my skin isn't clear yet. So I am going to give it another 2 weeks to see if there are any further improvements. Basically, I am taking 10mg (20 pills and 4 times a day) per day. I see a significant reduction of oil after my third day. Also, I used to have on average 3 new pimples per day and now I'm only having 1 new pimple in 3-4 days.

I've been taking B5 for about 4 days now, and my skin looks and feels better. My cystic acne that I had cleared up. Now I just have hyperpigmentation from all of my old acne.

So what have we learned today? While a vitamin like pantothenic acid definitely has the ability to benefit your skin by boosting your immune system, it will not provide an acne cure by itself. Start out on the right foot by cleaning up your diet and including foods rich in vitamin B5 to strengthen your skin to naturally fight acne!

 

Sources:

  1. "Health Benefits of Vitamin B5 or Pantothenic Acid." Welcome to Organic Facts. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. <http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vitamins/health-benefits-of-vitamin-b5-or-pantothenic-acid.html>.

About the Author: Bethany Ramos is an aesthetician and makeup artist with a special interest in using nutrition to heal and alleviate a number of conditions in the skin. You can find out more skin care and makeup tips by visiting her blog at FacebyBethany.

by Bethany Write a Comment

Chest Acne: Is There a Cure for Your Skin?

chest-acne

Getting a pimple can be embarrassing, but what if you start experiencing acne breakouts on your chest of all places?

Believe it or not, this is much more common than you think, and on top of that, it is humiliating and often difficult to conceal inflamed and red chest acne outbreaks.

Chest acne is actually similar to facial acne, and it results from clogged pores mixing with an accumulation of oil and dead skin, further compounded by infection and inflammation caused by the p. acnes bacteria. That definitely paints a nasty picture, leaving you scouring the Internet and racking your brain for any type of treatment that will clear up the delicate skin on your chest. Right?

Another important thing to keep in mind is that the skin on your chest is thin and subject to damage, especially if it has already been compromised by sun exposure. Many men and women neglect to care for their chest in the same way that they care for their face, but if you do not take the time to treat this chest acne, then it is likely that you will have serious and highly visible scarring on your chest after the acne has healed. This is something that you want to avoid at all costs!

Chest Acne Treatment: What Really Works?

If you start to search online for a chest acne cure, as a woman, you may stumble across quite a few beauty blogs online attempting to give you their advice. I personally saw some disturbing advice at MarieClaire.com telling chest acne sufferers to dab benzoyl peroxide directly onto chest blemishes, which is actually the last thing that you want to do if you hope to clear up your skin and keep it free from scarring!

Yes, using a drying ingredient like benzoyl peroxide may seem like a good idea, but when you look a little closer, you will find that benzoyl peroxide is a harsh and aggressive chemical ingredient often found in over-the-counter acne products that will do more harm to your skin than good. If you use benzoyl peroxide in the long term, it will leave your chest red, flaky, and severely dehydrated. While you may experience temporary relief from a few chest acne blemishes, they will return with full force and become even more difficult to treat since the quality and integrity of your skin has been compromised by the use of benzoyl peroxide.

But don’t take my word for it! Listen to the first-hand account of a few acne sufferers on the acne.org forums that had unfortunate experiences with benzoyl peroxide:

I think for those with complicated lesions, inflamed, difficult to deal with I would recommend that. But what worries me a little is the "Peroxide" in the formula. We all know that Hydrogen Peroxide generate free radicals and seems to be the case in BP, meaning premature aging.
So I think if you manage to control your acne, then you should consider using Tea Tree Oil and Salicylic Acid (SA) on the spot. SA works wonderful reducing inflammation and avoiding the red big bump we all hate. Tea tree oil kill bacteria.

I should have researched the side effects before trying benzoyl peroxide. I have religiously followed my dermatologist recommendations and have been using benzoyl peroxide for five years. I didn't know that benzoyl peroxide caused premature aging. I found that out only a week ago. Since then, I stopped using benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide 10% does help my cystic acne, but it doesn't eliminate it.

[Benzoyl peroxide] does cause severe drying and is a killer if you get it anywhere near your eyelids so you have to be careful, leaves red marks where you had a spot, I still keep getting spots so it doesn't prevent you getting them just helps clear them faster, I am a little concerned about premature aging so think I am going to just put it on the individual spots for most nights .

So what is the bottom line when it comes to finally getting rid of chest acne? Well, the truth is that the answer is much simpler than you may think, and it starts with making essential changes to your diet. To give you a quick example, foods that are very high in sugar not only cause damage to the immune system, but they also inhibit the skin’s ability to absorb necessary minerals. Eating too much sugar over the long term will begin to break down the elasticity and function of your skin, leaving it dry, lackluster, and unhealthy.

If you want to have any hope of getting rid of chest acne and preserving the quality of your skin, it is important to cut damaging foods containing excess amounts of sugar and preservatives out of your diet as quickly as possible so that your skin can finally get the nutrients that it needs to repair itself. When you couple that with avoiding harsh chemicals in your acne treatment products, you will finally be able to look forward to beautiful and clear skin from head to toe!

Sources:

  1. "Chest Acne - Preventing Back and Chest Acne - Marie Claire." Hairstyles, Women's Fashion, Beauty Products, and Relationship Advice - Marie Claire. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.marieclaire.com/hair-beauty/how-to/tips/acne-back-chest>.

About the Author: Bethany Ramos is an aesthetician and makeup artist with a special interest in using nutrition to heal and alleviate a number of conditions in the skin. You can find out more skin care and makeup tips by visiting her blog at FacebyBethany.

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