Clear for Life

Mayo Clinic study reveals the 10 most common substances that irritate the skin. In the study Mayo Clinic studied several substances and ranked them on the basis of how often they caused contact dermatitis on the test subjects.

Though this study used contact dermatitis as basis it’s still useful for acne victims. Contact dermatitis results in swollen, reddened and itchy skin. Basically it’s an inflammatory reaction. Anything that irritates and inflames the skin can also aggravate your acne.

According to the Mayo Clinic study the 10 most common skin irritants are:

• Nickel (nickel sulfate hexahydrate) — metal frequently encountered in jewelry and clasps or buttons on clothing
• Gold (gold sodium thiosulfate) — Yes, the precious metal women love : )
• Balsam of Peru (myroxylon pereirae) — a fragrance used in perfumes and skin lotions, derived from tree resin
• Thimerosal — a mercury compound used in local antiseptics and in vaccines
• Neomycin sulfate — a topical antibiotic common in first aid creams and ointments, also found occasionally in cosmetics, deodorant, soap and pet food
• Fragrance mix — a group of the eight most common fragrance allergens found in foods, cosmetic products, insecticides, antiseptics, soaps, perfumes and dental products
• Formaldehyde — a preservative with multiple uses, e.g., in paper products, paints, medications, household cleaners, cosmetic products and fabric finishes
• Cobalt chloride — metal found in medical products; hair dye; antiperspirant; objects plated in metal such as snaps, buttons or tools; and in cobalt blue pigment
• Bacitracin — a topical antibiotic
• Quaternium 15 — preservative found in cosmetic products such as self-tanners, shampoo, nail polish and sunscreen or in industrial products such as polishes, paints and waxes

Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2006-rst/3268.html

As an acne victim you would do well to avoid exposing the acne prone areas of your skin to these substances.

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Clear for Life - The lifestyle for health, happiness and clear skin

I recently changed my chemical-laden shaving cream to coconut oil and that has made a huge difference on my skin.

The skin on my neck is very sensitive and used to get flaming red after shaving. I thought that it was part and parcel of shaving and that there’s not much I could do about it. Since I started shaving with coconut oil my skin takes it much better. Sure it gets a bit red, but not nearly as much as when I used chemical-based shaving creams. So probably the chemicals had a lot to do with it.

And for some reason I’m going through an extended detox at the moment. Due to that I’ve gotten some nasty pimples on my neck. They’ve already settled down quite a bit, but are still there. I used to hate shaving because it turned those pimples really red and angry looking. Of course they settled down quickly but it was obvious shaving irritated them a lot. Even that has settled down after switching to coconut oil.

Coconut oil also makes the blades so much easier to clear. While using shaving cream the space between razor blades used to get full of cream and whatever was coming off my skin. I had to open the tap full before it flushed the blades clean. With coconut oil I just have to run a little water through the blades and they come clean nicely and easily.

The only downside is that it’s a bit messy. I have to wipe the oil into a towel to get it out of my hands. But I’m willing to wash my towels a bit more often to keep shaving with coconut oil.

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Clear for Life - The lifestyle for health, happiness and clear skin

Katherine emailed me asking about Visine and acne. Visine is a brand of eye drops that are used to reduce redness and inflammation in the eyes.

Visine works by constricting the small blood vessels in the eye. So it reduces the blood flow to the eye and so gets rid of the redness.

Apparently some people have said that Visine also works for acne. That it reduces redness of a pimple. If the acntive ingredients in Visine penetrate your skin deep enough and do constrict the blood vessels around the pimple, this could happen.

Whether this works or not I’m not convinced this is very smart.

Pimples get rid for a reason: inflammation. Inflammation is part of the healing process and happens because the immune system fights the acne causing bacteria and other invaders in the blocked pore. Restricting blood flow to the pimple could clamp down your body’s healing efforts.

This could lead to slower healing of the pimple and possibly more scarring.

I’m just speculating there, but this kind of thing happens when you stick your fingers in and mess with the healing efforts of your body.

Better just let the body do the healing, and focus on supporting the body the best way you can.

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Clear for Life - The lifestyle for health, happiness and clear skin