I’ve been pretty hard on conventional acne treatments in the past, but I’d like to make something clear.
I don’t think that conventional treatments are the epitome of evil … all the time. They have their place, and they do help many people. As I’ve mentioned many times around the site, I did use benzoyl peroxide on my face for about four years.
I can’t say that it worked that great. I always had acne anyway, despite using it twice a day, every day. And several times, my acne broke through the defenses and got a lot worse than I would like.
To be honest, I have NO Idea to what degree benzoyl peroxide was actually preventing me from getting acne. I was too scared to ever go off it in that four year period, so there was no way to know what kind of state my skin would be in otherwise. It’s benefits could have been completely in my mind. But maybe the acne prevention it provided was real….. I don’t know!
It’s fairly common that people use conventional acne treatments, have them work great for a while, and then later on, they mysteriously, and frustratingly, stop working.
Perhaps your body has just become immune to the treatments. But perhaps it’s because your health has deteriorated in the time that you’ve been covering up your symptoms, and it’s finally managed to stealthily cross the poor health line, army man past the topical border patrol, and bring you right back into acne-ville.
Covering up symptoms and silencing your body’s messages to you is a reason I dislike conventional treatments.
Another reason I dislike them is because in some cases, they make actually make acne worse. They irritate your skin, dry out it out, and actually produce more acne.
And yet another reason I forgo them, is because of the side effects. There are certain acne treatments that I would not recommend anyone EVER go on and those include things like antibiotics and Accutane – these are scary and unhealthy options, even for short term use.
However, I’m here to say – if you want to use conventional topical acne treatments, like benzoyl, or salycylic acid, or whatever else…. do it. THAT IS – if you actually think it’s legitimately helping your skin.
I mean.. honestly, if your conventional treatments were working all that great, you most likely wouldn’t be reading my website, would you? But if you do think that your treatment is helping, but not working miracles, you will probably see some great results from combining it with a healthy lifestyle. My skin did clear up really easily when I was on benzoyl and then made lifestyle changes to go along with it.
But here’s the thing – it’s okay to use them in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle, if you need a little boost… but only if you are planning to use them short term and then let the healthy lifestyle take over. This stuff isn’t safe to be swallowing or slathering on your skin day after day, year after year (including stuff like birth control pills).
So I’m going to be honest – maybe it would be easier for me to keep my skin really clear all the time if I went back to Benzoyl and combined it with my current lifestyle. I have no idea if it really would, but I’m not willing to find out. I know how easy it is to get psychologically attached to our treatments because of the FEAR.
Now that I’m off it, and hey…. the world kept turning….. I’m not going to go back to putting unsafe chemicals on my face day and night and get stuck in that trap.
It’s hard to get out once you’re in it!
In conclusion (didn’t your high school English teacher tell you to never close essays that way? :p ): Go ahead and use conventional treatments with your healthy lifestyle, but think long and hard about it first. Will you ever honestly be able to stop using them?
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Gross, a Proactiv vending machine.
I can just picture it now – some teenager waking up with a huge zit. They rush to their room, collecting nickels and dimes that fell under their bed, smashing open piggy banks to scrounge enough money to get through the week with a clear face. Then they drive to the vending machine and JAM in the money to get their acne fix fast. Then the vending machine gets jammed and it’s like some bad comedy movie where they’re shaking and kicking the vending machine to get their damn Proactiv!
Awesome mental imagery. 8)
Anyway, I use Bio Oil on my skin, have you heard of it Tracy? It’s a slight bastardization of everything in nature, but it helps keep my skin really soft (I wouldn’t even really say moisturized, but just…soft.) Especially after swimming or a sunburn. It’s got Purcellin Oil in it which is extracted from some sort of gland from ducks (yes, ducks) which keeps their feathers smooth and waterproof. As far as Bio Oil goes, it’s definitely an unnatural product if only for the reason that the ingredients (mostly various oils such as emu oil, Vit E oil, etc.) aren’t all found in 1 can in nature. I don’t think using a conventional beauty product, but also advocating a natural lifestyle makes me or anyone else a hypocrite. We live in the 21st century and I also live in the “real world.”
I think a good question to also ask is “have we discovered any artificial haircare/skincare/whatever ingredient, which may actually be beneficial and better than anything found in nature?” That’s a pretty interesting thing to ponder.
Also something funny happened to me last month, I got this really pretty and colorful letter. I open it and it was from Proactiv saying something along the lines of “We miss you. Won’t you consider trying Proactiv again we want to steal your money?”
hahaha that is a great visual 😀
I haven’t really heard of bio oil, except I think from you mentioning it a long time ago. I’ve also been thinking about this a lot since I wrote the article about MMS – where is the line between ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ and what fits into a healthy lifestyle. I mean I guess it doesn’t matter as long as it works and doesn’t produce side effects or long term health risks (which most pharma drugs and lotions, and frankly, most commercial products, do).
Hi Tracy,
Love your blog. I’ve been embarking on a lifestyle overhaul for the past couple months and am looking for a little encouragement. My acne is relatively mild, but I’m 23 and would love to have the flawless skin that all my friends seem to have — and would also like to be able to keep things under control as I attempt to wean myself off the birth control pill. So for the past two months or so, I’ve drastically reduced my intake of gluten, dairy, and sugar, starting drinking green smoothies every morning and eating a lot more salads. I take probiotics, fish oil, and zinc as well. I had one major lapse about a month ago, when I went to Europe for a week…and of course went a little nuts with the baguettes and cheese! But my skin didn’t seem to have any major problems…that started after I got back. After about a week of returning to my good diet, I started breaking out in tiny little bumps all over my forehead…the kind that aren’t inflamed but give your skin a bumpy texture in certain lights. I assumed it was a detox symptom and would go away soon. But it’s been three straight weeks and they just seem to be getting worse! Worst of all, this week I started to get cyst-type acne on my chin as well…not too big or visible but extremely painful (insult to injury!).
Could this be a detox/healing crisis? My skin hasn’t looked this bad in years! Starting to get discouraged…
Thanks for being such a wonderful resource!
Natalie
Hi Natalie!
I’m sorry to hear things aren’t going that well. I’m not sure what’s causing the clogged pores… but I hear many people say they get this type of acne as their ‘detox’ breakouts. Before you went to Europe, were you seeing improvements in your skin at all?
I’ve been using water only on my skin for about two years now, since my skin stays under control if I am perfect with my diet.(no gluten, no diary, no vegetable oils) However, my skin was always dry, red, and splotchy despite just washing with water, and every single moisturizer I ever tried clogs my pores and breaks me out horribly. I started using your recommendation of washing with honey about a week ago, which I was very unsure about. Here I am a week later with the best looking skin I’ve had since I was 15 (I’m 27). I can’t believe it. My skin looks, dare I say, normal. I know this isn’t really relevant to this topic, but I just had to share. Thanks, Tracy. I love your site, and your positive outlook on life
That’s so great to hear Seth!! 🙂
Have you heard of Glycolic Acid before?it is called AHA too. Is it ok to use the AHA cleanser sparingly with manuka honey?
Great blog btw and you are looking extremely gorgeous!;) ive saw ur pic when u used to have acne and i can say WOW wat a success
I’ve heard of it… I think it should be okay, as I think it’s fairly mild…. but I actually don’t know much about most conventional treatments, so I can’t say for sure. Use it if you want to and you think its helping your skin!
Hello! I just found your site, because I was trawling the internet for an alternative solution for my acne. Unfortunately, I have become at my most depsperate because my doctor has put me on some anti-biotics … or I agreed to take anti-biotics, and halfway through the term, I can not only see that they aren’t working, but my skin is getting worse (this is probably due to a lot of things, including my disappointment over th anti-biotics and the anxiety my steadily exacerbating acne is causing!). He said relunctantly that if it didn’t work, we would move to Accutane but he “really didn’t want to” put me on this… I wondered why and thus my internet trawl began. It’s funny because your story is very similar to mine – this is the worst my skin has ever been, and I hit aged 23 a couple months ago, even though I’ve had mild/moderate acne for yeeeaaaarrrsss… I just wonder if it’s a good idea to stop my anti-biotics altogether… or just carry on for another 5 weeks? It’s really awful because as I have dark skin, even small outbreaks leave dark, long-lasting marks and scars. Your site is wonderful!! Thanks.
Hi there!
I say get off the antibiotics as soon as possible, especially if they aren’t even doing anything! And get on some probiotics asap. Antibiotics are only setting you backwards in progress since they hurt your digestive system so much
Hey Tracy,
Your story and Website is amazing. I’ve been using a cleanser by a company called Image Care for quite a while. I’ve had my doubts about it because it contains a lot of harsh chemicals that fight acne. It has cleared my acne up, but the main miracle worker that I use on my face is Manuka honey. Ever since I started using Manuka honey, I saw incredible changes in my skin. I heard that jojoba oil is really good for your skin too and I’m considering using some. Would it be a bad idea to start using just Manuka honey and jojoba oil on my face and throw out the harsh cleanser?