Hey Love Vitamins!
This is the first edition of a new feature on the site called “Ask the Readers”, where you can ask a question and the Love Vitamin community will respond with their experiences, opinions, and advice! I would like to post one of these about once a month.
If you want to submit your own reader question, head on over to the ‘Ask the Readers’ page!
I chose the following question because it’s something I genuinely am not sure of the answer to. My skin personally likes hot and humid weather, but some people’s skin just hates it resulting in mad summertime breakouts.
My feeling is that all the holistic health stuff we talk about on The Love Vitamin would be the answer to stop these kinds of breakouts, but beyond that I am actually at a loss for specific advice. I just don’t have experience with it.
So here is the question:
Hello Love Vitamin readers. It’s summer here where I live, and it’s getting really hot and humid. My routine is the same, my diet stays the same yet I’m breaking out like crazy in small red bumps. Do you think it is because of the weather? And how can I improve my skin? – Chi Le
So, Love Vitamins, what do you think? What’s your own experience with the best way to quell the summertime beast?
29 Responses
an organic honey mask at the end of the day is perfect for me during the summer!
When hot weather arrived, we sweat more, so our pores can get more blocked. Is really important tone your skin more often during the day, you can use a toner spray. Also make sure your morning moisturiser is light and fresh, like fluids and gel. A rich cream should be applied at night instead, to repair skin.
Another tip is if you notice a breakout, apply a drop of lavender oil and it will kill it.
agreed with the pure lavender oil being applied to breakouts. this has helped me so much — nothing else was working. i have very painful cysts and the lavender helps a lot mostly. sometimes the acne is too stubborn and it takes a few days. i use divine essence (brand).
Hi,
This happens to me as well, and I am wondering if it is some sort of seasonal allergy. I am getting some testing done to see what I am allergic to. Maybe this would be worth looking into?
Niacin has worked wonders for me. Google niacin and acne, then do some research. I’ve been taking a 25mg (non-flushing) niacin supplement + a topicial 4% niacin gel that I ordered online. When I moved to New Orleans my skin began to freak out and this has been the only thing that has workded for me. The awesome thing about the gel is that it does not dry your skin out. Do your research on niacin as a supplement (ie., flushing vs non-flushing), as too much of the non-flushing kind can have adverse effects on your liver. For me, just a very small amount of the flushing kind has help to ward off any inflammotory honkers when used in conjuction with the gel (which is not expensive, btw).
@Juliette,
I’ve been looking for a good niacin topical something or other to use, can you recommend the one you are using?
Also, I use a diluted Apple Cider Vinegar as a toner, would the niacin have an adverse side effect if I use it after the ACV toner?
Thanks!
err,,,typo alert..lol..
“inflammatory” 🙂
If small red bumps, it is mostly heat rash. Take cool showers and don’t use any oil-based moisturizer after.
My nose use to get clogged on hot summer months until I realized my body needs to stop sweating before I put any moisturizer on.
If I just finished a workout and don’t have enough time to cool down (even after a shower), I just go without a moisturizer. Sweat, itself, is moisturizing enough.
Wow I never thought of heat rash! I sometimes get small red bumps after a hot shower (my skin hates heat) and I thought maybe it was from the water drying out my skin…this makes so much sense! I’ve tried cooler showers and lukewarm baths and my skin seems to like that much better. The difference in my skin since making a switch is surprising. Oh, and I also agree about the moisturizer. I recently started working as a waitress and was wearing a moisturizing BB cream to work. After sweating for a couple of days from a hot kitchen, my skin started breaking out like crazy! Now I just wear a little concealer on the breakouts and that’s it. My skin can breathe much better now, and the breakouts seem to be calming down.
Awesome, glad it could help! It took me a long time to figure it out.
I get really bad chest acne in the summer. It began really early this summer and I decided to nip it in the bud by wiping with salicylic acid pads and patting baby powder on every morning and evening. Morning and evening has been the key as I live in HUMID Louisiana and tend to stay sticky constantly.
I also use honey on my face at night to control inflammation. Also extra coconut oil on my nose to control blackheads (Summer sun requires sunblock which has required harsher cleansers, which in turn has been causing more blackheads on my nose).
First, thanks for your great blog, Tracy!
I stopped eating gluten two years ago and it cleared my skin in a week! Since then I had only small breakouts when e. g. drinking a beer or eating a cake, but when I ate a whole sandwich in October I had a breakout that wouldn’t calm down. So I also dropped sugar and dairy completely which helped and in January my skin was almost back to normal.
In March-April I suddenly developed a rash like acne from my neck spreading to the cheeks. (Never experienced this acne type before – it usually looks like hormonal acne).
After some weeks it became better but then got worse a few weeks ago now with really red and itching skin. It now looks like acne rosacea so I have tried to remove these possible triggers: http://www.medicinenet.com/rosacea/page6.htm#what_should_be_avoided_what_foods_are_good_for_rosacea
and it is getting better at the moment, but I am still figuring out what caused it. Stress? New food intolerances? Change in skin care? A combination?
My skin has never liked hot and humid weather and is in general very sensitive but this rash like acne has definitely gotten worse during hot and humid days.
So my advice for now is to remove these acne rosacea triggers, drink lots of cold water and put some frozen e. g. peas on the skin when it is bad and wear a hat so you don’t get sun directly on the breakout.
My skin used to hate hot and humid weather. But now it loves it because I know how to deal with it. So these are my tips: Wash your face with water only morning and evening, tone with pure rosewater (it provides a lot of hydration) and skip any moisturizer or oils. If you wear makeup, wash it off with the Aleppo soap (also called Syrian soap or laurel soap) or a pure Sabon de Marseilles would be similar. Once a week or so use Oil Cleansing Method, then wash with the Aleppo soap. Every other day in the evening treat yourself to a honey and cinnamon mask for 15 minutes, then wash it off. This routine works wonders in the summertime. I talked about it more in detail in my latest blogpost: http://vitalivesfree.com/?p=1495 (Tracy, I hope you don’t mind!). 🙂
S’all good 🙂 Thanks for sharing your tips!
Changing the subject dramatically but there is no contact info for Tracy directly.
Personal question Tracy which may have been covered already but what contraception are u on? I only ask because if u r able to use it and still keep clear then it means I can too, I am on the copper coil and was worried of my copper zinc ratio but it seems ways better then pumping my body full of synthetic hormones to wreak havoc xxx
Hi Phoebe, I also have a copper IUD (coil). It seems to affect people differently, but yeah… I don’t really feel like it causes me any issues!
I have the copper as well. After a few bumps in the beginning, I now love it. (The first got dislodged and the second was inserted improperly.)
It all depends on you, your diet, and your body. When I first got mine, I supplemented with zinc and magnesium because I didn’t eat meat. When I ate grass-fed beef once in a while, I tapered off the supplements and had my body regulate itself.
If acne is seasonal and shows up as small bumps, it its probably one of two things – an allergy or clogged pores.
To see if it’s an allergy, get tested or maybe see if it gets better when you go on vacation into a different part of the world.
If it’s not an allergy, it’s usually congested skin. In the summertime, skin tends to be sweatier and oilier, and your skin’s sebum is enough to clog your pores, so eliminating products most likely will not be the solution (given that this is seasonal and you didn’t introduce new products). You can’t “quit” your sebum. The best thing to try is to use a gentle scrub, salicylic acid, and/or mandelic acid. A combination of the above will help to keep the pores clean and clear, preventing those bumps. Just make sure you protect your skin from the sun and don’t use so much that it irritates your skin. A little goes a long way if you give it time.
@Juliette,
I’ve been looking for a good niacin topical something or other to use, can you recommend the one you are using?
Also, I use a diluted Apple Cider Vinegar as a toner, would the niacin have an adverse side effect if I use it after the ACV toner?
Thanks!
Hi Tracy!
I’ve purchased most of your books and trust your insight greatly–do you do personal consultations? I feel like I’m swimming in a dark space with myself and my acne right now and could really use it.
Thanks again for all of your information!
Hi Cheryl, sorry beautiful, I don’t do personal consultations! Sending you tons of love though, I know what it’s like to be in that dark space. *hugs*
Hey Cheryl, Check out consultations with Fran at http://highonclearskin.com/
Yes, good idea 🙂
I have used Fran’s services and she is really great and supportive. Definitely worth talking to her!
Hi there!
I was wondering what your thoughts were on Estro Guard, by Longevity Warehouse? I actually bought this product a couple of years ago thinking it was what Fran and you mentioned in your videos, but it wasn’t, oops! I haven’t used the product yet, mostly because I’ve been focusing on healing my gut first, thinking it would work better when things are moving. . .smoothly. Another question I have is whether or not Thorne S.A.T support and this would be effective if someone struggles with digestive issues? Do you think it’s all connected, or is there an order of things to address?
All the best,
Melanie
Hi Melanie, I haven’t tried Estro Guard but I think it’s a good high quality alternative to Estroblock. And yes I don’t see why something like the Thorne SAT liver support would be ineffective if you had digestive issues! I think you can work on all of it at the same time
hiiiii….how can I get rid of red marks of acen…pls telll me m very upset
To answer what to do in the summer about acne, for me, the summer kills my skin. I usually have a wet or damp cold towel with me, because during the summer I am outside all day. I wipe my face whenever I get the chance to get the sweat off, because for me, sweat causes a lot of breakouts. Also, I stay hydrated, which helps a ton! I work at a horseback riding barn in the summer, so I literally bring a gallon jug of water with me everyday, and I drink it all! A combination of both these things help me greatly in the summer 🙂
Last summer I broke out terribly in small bumps all over my forehead..I have never experienced anything similar to that, it was so shocking everyone around me was asking me “what happened to your skin?”, which only added to my misery..eventually i discovered some tips on a blog and what realllllly made a difference for me was Tabula Rasa pads from Arcona..even now if I don’t use them I get like a small rash on my forehead (not to the same extent though)..but if I use them and not touch gluten my forehead is completely clear