Hormonal Cystic Acne can seem impossible to cure. I will share how to cure hormonal acne naturally by healing the root of the problem itself hormonal imbalance.
I have been there. Hormonal Cystic Acne is as painful physically as it is emotionally. I usually share before and after pictures with you so you can see the journey unfold and find hope that your healing journey can too.
You know what I do not have even one photo saved to share with you!
Growing up in my mom’s salon, and working my way through college as a skin care specialist and makeup artist for 3+ years.
I share a lot here on the blog on the topic of Hormonal Weight Gain (click to read how I healed my hormones and dropped 50+ pounds) after having babies.
Like I share in that post I was “that girl”, you know the one that could eat anything and stay skinny.
Well, luckily growing up my skin had always been naturally flawless and acne-free.
That all changed after having babies though.
If you want to see that journey and how I reset my hormones, healed my thyroid after having babies, and dropped the hormonal weight gain of over 50+ pounds click here and deep dive that next.
Here we will be covering:
- Hormonal Cystic Acne
- Hormonal Acne Remidies
- Hormonal Acne Diet
- Hormonal Acne Skincare
Hormonal Cystic Acne
The definition of hormonal cystic acne by Clevland and Clinic is, “Hormonal acne is when breakouts form in adulthood that could range from blackheads and whiteheads to painful cysts. Hormonal acne is linked to the overproduction of sebum (an oily substance in skin glands), which clogs pores, leading to pimples.”
Hormonal acne affects people from ages 13 to 50.
Hormonal acne starts with puberty and can happen on and off until one ’50s.
Though hormonal acne can occur in both men and women. The majority is most common in women, pregnant women, and menopausal women.
How common is hormonal acne?
Acne is the most common skin condition in the US affecting close to 80% of the American population during their lifetime.
The research on hormonal acne found that hormonal acne affects 50% of women in their 20s and 25% of women in their 40s.
Crazy right?
What is the difference between fungal acne and hormonal acne?
In short fungal acne is most commonly a result of something “outside” of our bodies. Dirty pillowcases, phones or hands touching our faces too often, and so forth.
Fungal acne is most commonly a whitehead that can be itchy, red, and sometimes get inflamed.
Hormonal acne is due to hormonal changes producing an increased amount of oils in the skin. The excess oils interact with the bacteria on the pores and can result in;
- Excess Sebum
- Dead Skin Cells
- Bacteria
Hormonal Acne Remidies
Let’s take a holistic approach to look at Hormonal Acne. Our bodies are like cars they send us “check engine lights” all the time. The acne itself is not the real problem, it is simply the “check engine light”.
In order for us to remedy hormonal acne for good, we must “pop the hood” so to speak, and see what the problem is and fix it.
Fixing the root of the problem with it will fix the problem itself.
It is also important to realize that acne is just one of many issues on the surface that hormonal imbalances will cause.
Other common signs of hormonal imbalance are
- hormonal weight gain (or hormonal weight loss problems)
- hormonal belly
- hormonal imbalance irregular periods (hormone imbalance heavy periods)
- estrogen dominance in women
- night sweats hormonal imbalance
- progesterone deficiency
- itchy scalp hormonal imbalance
- thyroid hormone imbalance
- teenage hormone imbalance
And the list goes on, but I think you’re getting the point. Our endocrine system (aka the hormone factory) is responsible for the HUNDREDS of different functions in our bodies.
So, if our hormones are off queue the domino effect of other issues and symptoms one will face.
To circle back to the hormonal acne remedies, the remedy for hormonal acne is to heal your hormones.
The fastest way to heal your hormones is by changing your diet (foods). This leads us right into our next topic the best hormonal acne diet.
Said another way the best diet to heal hormonal issues altogether!
Hormonal Acne Diet
On my own hormone healing journey (autoimmune disease/hypothyroidism) the most effective result I saw was in changing my diet.
Dr. Mark Hyman, who is one of my favorite natural healing functional medicine doctors said it this way, “Food is either medicine or it is poison, it is either providing health and nutrients or slowly killing your body“.
I remember the first time I heard him say this my first thought was, “YIKES!!”.
We all know there are foods that are “good for you” and foods that are not. Pretty obvious.
What we do not realize is the foods most Americans consume on what is called the Standard American Diet (“SAD” – fitting acronym is it not)
Keto is not where I started, but I will save you the failed attempts and jump right to what worked for me.
Six years ago when I started Keto it was not as easy as it is today. The internet certainly was not what it is today, Pinterest was not even a thing to my knowledge, and Youtube was but a babe.
All of this made starting Keto when I did quite a challenge.
I recommend it to anyone who will listen to it a MUCH easier way!
The Custom Keto Diet takes all the guesswork out of it. No countless hours figuring out the “do’s and don’t’s of keto”.
This meal planner is customized to fit your lifestyle and gives you weekly meal plans eliminating that time-consuming task as well.
You may be thinking, “K’Lee what does keto have to do with hormonal acne?”
EVERYTHING!
Inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, and sugar are inflaming your body and when your body is inflamed it is missing the signals from the “hormone factory” (endocrine system).
When the Endocrine system misses the signals to “produce more or produce less” of hormones in our bodies…. again imagine a domino being knocked down and causing 1,000s more to fall.
Dominos falling is fun to watch when it is not a metaphor for our health being knocked down with every falling domino.
How do we stop this vicious cycle?
Eliminate the foods causing the problems!
When going keto I tell all my coaching students in my Healthy Hormones Coaching program to start the right way from the beginning and go Clean Keto.
Clean Keto means eliminating dairy and other processed junk foods that are otherwise “keto-approved”. The old way of eating whatever as long as it was “keto-approved” earned itself the name dirty keto (lol).
Custom Keto Diet allows you to modify the plan to fit your needs so it is easy to be “clean keto” and still follow the meal plans populated for you (and bonus you can try it free – click here for more info)
Best words to the wise, when starting anything getting your mindset right first is key!
I was on Keto for almost 3 years before transitioning to a more Keto(ish) + Paleo(ish) eating style. I knew when I saw my body heal I would NEVER add certain foods back in. (I go through this in more detail in my coaching program click here for more info)
Why would we go back to eating the foods that were causing us to be sick in the first place?!?!
Now the Keto diet is not for everyone. But most who I have spoken to that said “keto didn’t work for them” either A) did not stay on it long enough to see it work or B) were the ones asking if there are “cheat days” on keto (insert eye roll…. no friend “cheating” on your health got you here).
Give it a go. For a minimum of 90 days (no cheating obviously, if you do start over at day 1 again).
My guess based on my own results and the results of hundreds of thousands of other people is you are going to see AMAZING results across the board – including your skin!
Hormonal Acne Skincare
When I tell people I healed my autoimmune system despite doctors and specialists telling me it was impossible I can sum it up in one sentence.
I used food as medicine and clean nontoxic living to heal my body naturally.
We talked about the best hormonal acne diet in my personal experience that what you put in your mouth is numero uno in the healing process.
Numero dos – what you put on your body.
Our skin is our largest organ and it literally drinks whatever we put on it.
To quote Dr. Hyman again, “if you wouldn’t put it in your mouth you probably shouldn’t put it on your skin“.
Acne itself is caused by both inner (inside our bodies) and the outer (what touches our skin on the outside).
In order to heal hormonal cystic acne, we must also review what you are putting ON your skin.
I have several really deep dives on how to eliminate toxins from your home, skincare, make-up, beauty, and personal hygiene products on the blog (click here for a great one to read next with a free Clean Skincare eBook).
In a nutshell, drugstore products are loaded and I do mean LOADED with endocrine disruptors. AKA they are wreaking your hormones!
Conclusion
By ditching the toxic chemicals in products you are putting onto your skin, and eliminating foods that are affecting your skin from within you are doing SO MUCH more than just healing your acne!
Yes! You will heal your cystic hormonal acne along the way, and probably pretty quickly as well.
That is an amazing bonus…..but if you continue down the path of ignoring that “check engine light” which for now is in the form of hormonal acne. More lights will pop on.
Weight gain, hair loss, extreme fatigue, sleep issues, ridges on your fingernails, problems getting pregnant, and on and on the list of hormonal “check engine lights” goes.
Comment below what is your biggest takeaway from this post?
PS Need more one on one help? Reach out to me about our Couples Coaching program as well as my one-on-one Healthy Hormones coaching!
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