Here’s my opinion. If you’re an adult woman with acne, you should stop wasting time and money and just get your hormones tested.
Our hormones are, in most cases, intrinsically linked to acne breakouts. So knowing what your hormones are doing is incredibly worthwhile in your pursuit of clear skin.
If I could take a time machine back to when I was breaking out badly, this would be one of the first things I would have done.
I didn’t do that though. Because I thought it seemed too expensive. And I thought I already knew everything that I needed to know to clear my skin (partially true, but there’s things I would have done differently, this being one of them).
Here are the reasons why you should just do it:
1. Getting Your Hormones Tested Will Save You Money
Why?
Well, you tell me 😉
How much money you’ve wasted on supplements that don’t work for you because you don’t know what your hormones are doing?
I mean, the internet is great because it’s full of people sharing information that we may never have had access to. But now there’s so much info (ie. conflicting info), it’s gotten to critical mass.
It’s awesome, but the very thing that is awesome about it makes everything confusing af.
I admit to playing a role in that just by default, since I myself have a blog and share info. But it’s unavoidable!
The facts are, what works for one person and their hormonal imbalance may not be the thing that is right for you if you have a different imbalance.
But when you see people getting clear skin on a miracle supplement, it’s hard not to want to try it too.
Next thing you know, you’re still not clear, your wallet is empty, and your drawers are overflowing with supplement bottles.
(No shame ladies, you should see my own “supplement graveyard”, as I like to call it).
If you just get your hormones tested, then you can choose supplements and other strategies that are 10X more likely to actually help you.
In short, getting your hormones tested will save you money in the long run, even if it’s a bit more up front.
2. Getting Your Hormones Tested Will Give you Peace of Mind
You know that confusion I was referring to before?
The millions of treatment options?
Doesn’t that feel like a heavy weight?
Like inexplicable anxiety… like you’re never going to get clear, because you have no idea what da feck is going on and why you’re breaking out, and so how could you possibly find the right treatment?
Although you’ll never know everything about why your body does what it does, a hormone test is a great start to getting on the right treatment path.
Believe me, you’ll feel a lot more empowered if you know whats up.
3. Getting Your Hormones Tested Will Save You Time
I mean, I don’t know about you, but when my skin was covered in acne, I couldn’t clear up fast enough. I wanted it to happen, like, yesterday.
Well, getting your hormones tested is going to shave a lot of time off your clear skin journey. Time that was wasted on trial and error.
Not that it’s not going to be perfect. It’s not a magic bullet. There may still be trial and error. But there’s going to heck of a lot less of it!
Which means you get clear and start feeling confident a lot sooner.
Tune in to my next blog post, I’ll tell you which hormones to test and what the best testing methods are.
Have you had your hormones tested in pursuit of clear skin? Was it worthwhile?
13 Responses
Dear Tracy,
I couldn’t agree more with you. Many women are suffering from hormonal imbalance due to the increasing stress, erratic lifestyle and food from animal sources that have been given hormones.
Testing hormone levels helps in identifying which hormones are the problem and the necessary medication can quickly calm down the acne.
Keep writing.
Xoxo
Dr Niketa.
Tracy,
this isn’t related to this article in particular, but i just want to say that every time i try to follow your advice–cleansing my face with natural things like honey or baking soda, cleaning up my diet, taking measures to improve my digestion–I always end up making my skin much, much worse than if I had just stuck to my harsh chemically cleansers and not bothered that much with my diet or lifestyle. It seems that the more I try to do right by my body, the more I get it wrong. I really want to believe that going natural will be much more beneficial in the long run than if I had stuck to chemicals, but it seems that all my best intentions always lead me to make some of the worst mistakes I could make with my skin. It’s been about 4 months since I started following your blog’s advice again, and at this point I’m completely hopeless and have suicidal ideation. I want to believe so much that if I stick with this “natural” path, that I’ll be able to achieve the skin of my dreams, but I just don’t know anymore.
I will admit that the thing I struggle most with when it comes to following your advice is self love. It’s not that I want to completely forgo the ignore the mental/emotional aspect of acne, it’s just that I’m not really sure what loving myself means, and I don’t know if it’s possible for me to love myself when I look in the mirror and see a monster. I’m totally at a loss, and I’m hesitant to jump off the natural path since I’ve put so much effort into it already, and there’s still the stubborn part of me that hopes that if I just push a little more, I’ll achieve the skin of my dreams through your methods.
I also struggle with getting exercise, which I only do occasionally.
I know that no one thing is right for everyone, but I really want to believe that going all natural truly is the best thing for me, even though so far it has wrought nothing but despair–and I can’t seem to get myself to stop being hopeful despite that. Please help me choose the next step in my clear skin journey. I will of course continue to try to love myself, keep my diet clean, and exercise, but what I’d really like to know is if I should go back to chemically, commercial acne products and doctor prescribed facial cleansers, which in the past had kept my skin mostly clear despite my lack of exercise and fairly bad diet. I hope to hear from you. I appreciate the fact that you were able to get such good results for your skin with all natural things, but I’m just not sure if this is right for me.
Hi August, sending huge amounts of love.
I know this journey can be frustrating when it doesn’t go in a straight line, and to be honest, if using the chemicals feels like the best thing to do at this point, then do it. It might be the most loving thing you can do for yourself in this moment. It’s okay. I fully believe that working on the mental side of things, the self love, and all that stuff is the thing that is going to make the biggest difference overall — to your hormones, to your skin, to your happiness, to your ability to make these good choices from a place of wisdom and love from within yourself instead of fear and anxiety (which when positive changes are made from a place of fear and anxiety, the results can sometimes be less than stellar). Which I know all this is tough because these concepts often feel completely intangible and confusing, and really hard when your skin is flaring up! Which is why I say, go for the chemicals now and work on the mental stuff in the meantime. Quit putting pressure on yourself. That’s when you’ll start to see your life and skin slowly change for the better.
There’s really only so much I can teach about it in a comment. I actually am at the moment running a private mind-body-skin coaching program and it’s been a joy to watch my clients go from anxious/confused/stuck to feeling a sense of freedom, love for themselves, and peace of mind – so if it’s something you want help with and are ready to invest in something like that, get in touch — shoot an email to support@thelovevitamin.com and we can talk about it
August,
I know if you are already doing “everything” and then someone comes and says “do this, it will help”, it’s annoying. So sorry, but this is what I’m going to do 🙂
I gently suggest what worked for me, in addition to the “natural path”:
– No picking the pimples
– not touching the face with dirty fingers (and I think out fingers always have bacteria in them!), I mean unconsciously, for example when talking in the phone etc.
– omega3 capsules. Instant improvement!
– no talc-based make up/powder. I can see that talc causes bad skin very fast, within 2-3 days 🙁
– Estroblock supplement
“it’s just that I’m not really sure what loving myself means” Good question, I thought about the same for years!! And was fed up with that whole concept, because everyone said how important that is, and I couldn’t understand the idea…like how do I even know if I love myself or not!?
Now I think it simply means: stop negative self-talk. Talk to yourself (meaning, how you think about yourself in your mind) the same way would talk to your best friend or a loved one. Would you say to them, “you look like a monster, you are hopeless, you can’t make this work, you should just kill yourself”? No! You would say, “you are just a human and you are doing your best. At this point of your life, you are at this point, and it is ok. You are unique and special, no matter how your skin looks like.” Or something like that. I think that is self-love <3
And it just intuitively came into my mind…it might be that the pressure of doing "everything right", in some "natural way", might in itself cause stress, and ironically, that is what makes your skin worse!
I think the same phenomenon happens to people who are trying to lose weight…negative self-image and stress around eating etc. causes stress and stress hormones actually causes weight gain (and not weight loss, and bad skin). Been there, done that 🙂 For me, stress also causes fluid retention and much worse pms etc.
Ok, good luck and I hope I was able to say something useful 🙂
You got lots of wisdom right here 🙂
Hi….tell us your page and how is your Acné now??
I don’t know to whom your question was? 🙂 But I don’t have acne anymore. If I use skin “care” products or make-up that has silicone or talc, my skin becomes quickly clogged. But this is more like self-inflicted skin condition than “true” acne. So it’s easy to control. I can also have couple of pms pimples, but they disappear quite fast. The rest of the time my skin looks like a porcelain doll 🙂 I don’t even have very healthy diet. I eat often dairy, chocolate, sweets, soda. Of course this is not wise…But Tracy was right, acne is hormonal or something to do with nutrition. I think for me it is or was, hormonal/stress related.
Tracy, I have a question, do you know this skin care cream Weleda skin food? It is organic/natural brand. It has very good reviews and even many celebrities love it too. But one of its main ingredients is lanolin. Is that good for skin, can it block pores? This cream can be used everywhere in the body, it is thick and waxy, but many people use it in the face. I wonder if I dare to try…
Another question too…Just very recently I read that saturated fats and omega 6 fats can cause inflammation in the body. If eaten too much…and inflammation probably means potentially acne too. I always thought it is “just” sugar that causes inflammation. For decades everyone has heard that chocolate and “fatty foods” can cause acne…but nobody has actually said what kind of fats in particular? When I searched for information, I became lost in zillions of articles in the internet 🙁 Do you know something about this? Is it suddenly so, that for example nuts, seeds and sunflower oil etc. aren’t good anymore, that they can actually cause inflammation, are somehow unhealthy?
Hi Anna, I don’t know the brand, but sounds like lanolin is ok if it’s actually the natural form of it, but the synthetic form can cause breakouts. Also, if your skin is super oily, a really thick waxy cream might not be that great for your face. Probably great if your skin is more dry.
And yes, “bad fats” — trans fats, heated vegetable oils, are all inflammatory… and nuts and seeds and things aren’t bad per se, but if we eat too many of them and not enough Omega 3s (which most don’t), it can lead to inflammation in the body. Look up the Omega 3 to 6 ratio for more info.
Hi Tracy. I am curious to know what hormone tests you recommend. Hormones fluctuate all the time so straight up blood tests can be so unreliable. Looking forward to part two of your post.
Hi Sascha 🙂 Yes, stay tuned!
Yes! I totally agree and always encourage my clients to get their hormones checked as part of their yearly physical. It’s so important for skin health. Thanks for sharing this important information!
Do you have any suggestions for guys with acne and getting hormones tested?
Hi Shannon, they can also do the saliva test, however, with men I am not as versed in what advice to give based on those results