December 30, 2025 • 54 mins
What if your skin isn’t the problem—but the messenger?
Could breakouts, hormonal imbalances, and low confidence all trace back to the same root cause?
And what if healing your skin wasn’t about adding more products—but understanding your body’s signals?
In this episode of A Really Good Cry, Radhi sits down with Clearstem co-founders Danielle Gronich and Kayleigh Christina for an eye-opening conversation on how to truly heal acne from the inside out. Danielle shares her years-long struggle with cystic acne and the frustration of endless prescriptions that never worked, while Kayleigh opens up about the emotional toll of post-birth-control breakouts that left her hiding from the world.
Together, they unpack the deeper connection between hormones, gut health, and skin—and why “clean” doesn’t always mean “acne-safe.” They also dive into how stress, sleep, diet, and hidden ingredients in skincare (and even haircare) can trigger breakouts—and the small, sustainable changes that can make a big difference.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The truth about birth control, antibiotics, and what they do to your hormones
- Why exfoliation isn’t optional—and how to do it right
- The most common pore-clogging ingredients hiding in your skincare and makeup
- How to support your body’s detox and hormone balance naturally
- The foods and supplements that may secretly be sabotaging your skin
- Why healing acne starts with awareness, not perfection
If you’ve tried everything and still feel stuck, this episode is your reminder: your skin isn’t the enemy—it’s your body asking you to listen.
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- https://clearstem.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/clearstemskincare
- https://www.facebook.com/clearstemskincare/
- https://www.tiktok.com/@clearstemskincare
- https://www.pinterest.com/clearstemskincare/
Follow Danielle:
Follow Kayleigh:
Follow Radhi:
- https://www.instagram.com/radhidevlukia/
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxWe9A4kMf9V_AHOXkGhCzQ
- https://www.facebook.com/radhidevlukia1/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Over the course of my late teens to late twenties,
I was on every type of medication you can imagine.
At the age of twenty nine, the third round of
acutane had flopped. My acne was coming right back within
a couple months, and I was like, I'll just need
to figure this out myself.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
One last Google search a pub San Diego acne clinic No,
and so Danielle cleared my skin in two months.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Today I'm joined by Daniel Bronick, better known as the
Acne Guru, and Kaylee Christina, an integrative health practitioner and nutritionists.
They are the co founders of a Clear Stem, the
first skincare line and supplements that are both clinically effective
and completely free of poor clogging ingredients. Even if you
have slight issues with your skin affects your confidence so much.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's are truly our life mission to help people understand
acne and relieve the suffering.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is kind of the playbook, that's the pharmaceutical playbook
in Western medicine. First, you try to take the batteries
out of the smoke alarms.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
With the birth control pills, the.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Birth control can mute the symptoms of the acne for
sure for as long as you're taking it, but the
moment you stop, you generally get a rebound effect.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
What are your the top three worst poor clogging ingredient
that you find in a lot of skincare for.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now, if you're still using those in your skincare, it
doesn't matter what type of acne you have, you will
still continue to break out.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I'm Radi Wuka and on my podcast A Really Good Cry,
we embrace the messy and the beautiful, providing a space
for raw, unfielded conversations that celebrate vulnerability and allow you
to tune in to learn, connect and find comfort together.
Thank you guy so much for being here again. And
I love your products close them. Your brand is beautiful.
(01:28):
It helps so many people. And I wanted to just
start off from the beginning and ask you guys, how
did Clearse theem come about? What was a purpose behind
it and why you created the products that you have.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, we started them out of a passion and a
need and out of deep alignment with the customers. So
Kaylee and I both struggle with acne or a very
acne prone. A lot of people are acne prone. It's
on the rise and you know, everyone has a different
degree to which they're acneic, and it generally runs in
families to some degree.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I had great for cystic.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Acne on both sides of my family well into adulthood,
so I really hit the lottery with my skin. And
in college is when it got really really bad. That's
when I started to wear makeup. I got a birth
control happened to be the wrong birth control from my skin,
so my acne just exploded. And ironically, I was studying biology,
genetics and imminology, fully intending to go to medical school,
(02:25):
and you know, I would show up to my appointments,
my doctor appointments about my skin with a list of
basic questions like what should I be eating, what should
I not be eating? When I have alcohol, I feel
like my acne gets worse. Why could that be? And
basically what I went through was just a series of
we can't answer that, there's no studies linked to that.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Here's more medication.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So over the course of my you know, late teens
to late twenties, I was on every type of medication
you can imagine. I was on all the retinees, all
the different kinds. I was on antibiotics, the stronger antibiotics
sphirinal lactown, then more spherenal lactown accutane three separate times.
And in between all that was doing all the lasers
and trying everything, and it just wreaked havoc on my gut,
(03:08):
my body, and my skin. Frankly, and at the age
of twenty nine, the third round of accutane had flopped.
My acne was coming right back within a couple months,
and I was like, I'll just need to figure this
out myself. So I wound up going to esthetician school
at night. Actually, so I had not gone to medical
school because I was so disenchanted with my experience, you know,
getting my acne treated. I was like, I don't want
(03:30):
to be a part of that medical system where it's
just prescriptions. So I was in the corporate world and
decided to solve my skin myself because that was the
only route that was left. Wound up becoming an esthetician.
I just went to esthetician school at night to get information.
And all of the biology that I had studied and
the medical profession that I had always kind of dreamed of,
(03:51):
it all came full circle right then and I saw
that treating acne was my dream career that I never
knew existed. So I learned under a lot of the
people in San Diego, worked for a few medspas, worked
for a few veteran estheticians, learned a ton, and then
I started San Diego acne clinic. That was about eleven
years ago, and I met Kaylee as one of my
first clinic patients.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Oh amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
And what was your story behind creating this? And I
feel like you both have individual kind of jennies that
brought you to this.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yes, So, my background and passion has always been nutrition,
even from such a young age. But when I was
blossoming into adulthood in my mid twenties, I made the
decision to get off of birth control. I was just
so passionate. I had a full time job that I
was working, but on the side, I was going through
different nutrition programs. I was just so excited to learn
(04:43):
more in the world, in the world of nutrition through education,
and so I decided to get off all prescription medication,
including birth control, and my skin just went crazy.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Within a matter of two months, I had bright read
inflame cystic acne both sides, my cheek down my neck.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
It looked like pustules.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It looked infected, like it wasn't even like parts of
it were normal acne, like there was some white heads
scattered in there, but it was that like really deep
painful cystic bumps everywhere. And on the nutrition side, I
started putting myself through so many different proto calls. I
wasn't able to run lab work at this point, yet
(05:26):
I eventually got there, but at this point I was
just putting myself through.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Dietary proto calls.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So everything from low FODMAP, cebo CANDID to diets like
you name it. I put myself through it, so many
elimination diets. Nothing seemed to shift or change. And then
when it came to skincare.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
I knew nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I only knew what marketing told me, like what I
would read and see, et cetera. And this was ten
years ago, so Instagram stories didn't exist, TikTok didn't exist.
The way you found information was googling, like that's just in.
It was a lot of just like medical links that
would pop up with no clear understanding. I actually could
not find any information on ACN. It was just the
(06:05):
only information I saw was remove sugars, remove some processed
foods like that was it like advice, no French fries
and chicken fingers, like that's what it said. And I
was like, okay, dub, but no real topical information. And
so I started to trying to figure out things myself.
So I tried everything from traditional drug store brands. I
(06:28):
was like, okay, I'll go so basic drug store.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Brands, No, didn't work.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I tried diy at home, like garlic and apple cider
vinegar and making all my own like tinctures and serum things.
I think that made it worse because I was doing
it really roguely, where I was just rubbing garlic on
my face, which burns your skin, Like that's way too
strong for your skin. And so I didn't understand about
the pH of skin and balancing and all of that
(06:53):
good stuff. And so then I tried a bunch of
different estetians and committed to their different lines. They put
me on you know, a three hundred dollars yearm that
promised it would clear my acne, you name it. Tried
all of these things. I'm working on this for almost
a year and nothing is shifting and changing, and honestly
just looks angrier at me. And when I truly felt
(07:15):
like I had exhausted everything, I didn't want to leave
my house.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
I felt so depressed.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm packing on makeup and I wasn't even like a
makeup girl, and I'm packing on this like thick clay makeup.
I'm not hanging out with friends. I'm basically just hiding
away in my house. I looked in the mirror. My
face looked so disfigured. It was a really dark time.
I thought, Okay, I guess I need to go to
the doctor and the dermat hall just to figure this out.
(07:41):
So I went to multiple primary care doctors and multiple
dermatologists because I really wanted to get different answers. I
really just wanted to understand what was going on with
my body. I needed help, and from primary care physicians,
I kept just giving the answer birth control and antibiotics.
And when I would ask why, I would say, Okay,
I hear you. I get that that's your system. But
(08:02):
what's going on is that prescription is going to help it?
And I just kept receiving the answer, I don't know,
let's just test.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
And it didn't sit right with me.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
My blood work from the doctor kept coming back normal,
which is very standard for a lot of women, especially
in America. The ranges that we are getting are not
optimal ranges. They're based on the standard American which you
do not want to be compared against. If you're really yeah,
you don't want to be compared against. And so I
(08:33):
went to the dermatologist and my acting was so severe.
It was just straight to acutane, and it was against
everything I personally wanted to do.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
But I felt like there was no other solution. So
I started the process to go and accutane.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It takes thirty days to go on because you have
to take two pregnancy tests thirty days apart and commit
to two forms of birth control before they'll let you
on it. And so I started the process and my
mom's like calling me. She's like, Haylee, please don't go
on acutane. And my mom's a chemist and she's just like, I,
you know you're not a teenager, like don't please, don't
(09:06):
go on. This is gonna be so destructive for your liver.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
I was like, I.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Don't have any other choice, truly, is how I felt.
One last Google search a pop San Diego acne clinic,
No Danielle spent three hours with me. I was her
last client of the day. We went through every product
I was using, supplement I was taking, and for the
first time, Danielle had this information about acne that I
was not able to find anywhere else, not in any
(09:30):
of the nutrition programs I was in either, like no
one was talking about it.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
In this way.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
My whole world was opened up and I just felt
so much passion to my body. I was like, more
people need to know and understand this information. And so
Danielle cleared my skin in two months.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
No way, fully clear.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
And not everything that happened in that first session with
Danielle and I, and you know, I would go into
her clinic because she had to do a lot of
extractions on me for a few months, like it took it,
like to get every thing out. We would lay, I
would lay on her clinic table and we would just
chat the whole time. And every single piece of that
we have rolled into clear Stem to make it scalable
(10:10):
so more people can have access to what are the
root causes of acne? What action steps can you take?
What are those sneaky little things that are hiding that
no one's talking about, and that's really what we've done,
and so it's our truly our life mission to help
help people understand acne and relieve the suffering.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I think you both so much for sharing that, because
it's so meaningful when you hear people's experiences and why
you know, this isn't just a random product that you've created.
This is something that you've experienced yourself. I've been through
the struggle, and you know, I think I can only
speak for myself as a woman. Even if you have
slight issues with your skin, it affects your confidence so much,
so much, and with all my friends, even if it's
(10:49):
just period related and you end up getting a spot
here and there, like, it really changes the way that
you see yourself. So for someone who's got acne, who's
living with day in day out, year in year out,
can only imagine how much in Knox your confidence. Like
you said, you didn't want to even leave the house.
Why do you think you know? The first thing you
spoke about was hormone control, that they put you on
(11:10):
the pill as soon as you end up getting some
sort of acne, especially as a teenager. Number one, why
is that the first first line protocol. And number two,
what was some of the from the research you've done
maybe what are some of the negative effects that you've
realized come from it? And number three why does it
not work for people?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, this is kind of the playbook, that's the pharmaceutical
playbook in Western medicine. First, you try to take the
batteries out of the smoke alarm essentially, is the analogy
that I use with the birth control pill. So, yes,
when you're a teenager, your hormones are surging, things are
going a little wild, specifically testosterone, especially with teenage boys.
But they have found that the pill can just sort
(11:51):
of take the batteries out of the smoke alarm essentially,
so you just kind of overregulate, hop into hyperdrive with
the hormones. And basically the pill that they generally prescribe
to young girls as the higher estrogen estradial pill, right,
so that will suppress the testosterone that is the main
driver of acne. So the hormones all have interplay. Each
(12:12):
one plays a specific role. How they relate to each
other is a very complex situation. But generally speaking, testosterone
and androgens, like the male hormones, those are the ones
that going to that are going to create the most
obvious hormonal acne spikes. So when you make estrogen the primary,
you know, main character, it's going to suppress that androgen
(12:34):
testosterone behavior, and it can suppress the acne that's coming
from that. So that is what they do, because it's
generally the first and strongest thing that is, you know,
that they're able to do. Then they generally prescribe the
prescribe some antibiotics, especially if there's like pustules and like
other things like that. Everyone's been on antibiotics for their
(12:54):
acne as well, so those are kind of the first
few things the birth control can mimit. It can you know,
you know, mute the symptoms of the acne for sure
for as long as you're taking it, but the moment
you stop, you generally get a rebound effect. And there's
other things that happen, especially in a woman's body in
terms of like gut health and how certain nutrients are
absorbed that are being impacted by the pill as well,
(13:16):
And that's the stuff that's not really talked about.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
And so those are the side effects that we deal with.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Once we get off the birth control, our acne has
rebounded the original things that we're causing it, especially if
it's from your diet, those things are still there. Those
never went away, so it can come back even more aggressive.
And yeah, Kaylee can kind of talk more about what
else happens in the women's body when she's on birth
control for too long.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, please is going on medication is a choice, right,
And I think what many times is removed from that
decision for certain people is they don't understand the choice
they're actually making. I don't think they're given an informed
decision making process. I think they go into the doctors
and it's like, hey, this pill will help solve this acne.
(13:57):
To people who have been struggling with acne for a
long time, that to them feels like the greatest gift.
They're like, just take the pain away, just take it away,
just make it go away. It could be any stage
in life, but especially there's women who are like planning
for a wedding or trying to d like things that
are affecting their confidence. Are like, just take it away.
But the information that's not given is how if you
(14:20):
do choose to be on the pill, how to support
your body in the process. They're like Danielle mentioned there's
a lot of really important nutrients in the body that
the pill suppresses, selenium B, twelve, vitamin D. It has
a serious effect on gut health and actually changes the
probiotic prebiotic balance that's going on in your gut. And
so we're told to take this pill, but given none
(14:43):
of the resources of how to properly support your body
if you choose to be on it, Because what happens
when you go off the pill and many women at
this point are on it for ten fifteen years. Yeah,
there's we have so many moms that come to us.
There's children who are we putting on who are being
put on the pill at age eleven and twelve for acne.
(15:04):
They're not even sexually active yet. And by the time
they get off, maybe they're thirty, I don't thirty five.
If they choose to not have kids until thirty thirty five,
until a slightly later age than early twenties, they could
truly be on birth control for twenty years. So for
twenty years, you're cutting off communication between your ovaries and
your brain. For twenty years, you're depleting these vitamins and nutrients.
(15:29):
You are causing disruption in your gut health. You are
muting androgen testosterone and you are raising estrogen, and then
we expect to just get off the pill and everything
is fine, and that is not the case.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
There's also a way to safely get off the pill.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
We're not educated about that, making sure our lymphatic system
is moving, making sure we're having bowel movements, making sure
we're sweating and properly detoxing to support our body. And
so we as women were having these rebound effects after
getting off the pill because we're not told how to
support our bodies during or transitioning off. So our body
after ten, fifteen, twenty years, there's a flush of testosterone
(16:07):
that comes back like a rubber band.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
It is rebounding back.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Then our body doesn't want to put it right, like
we only have sony parking spots for all the hormones
and we have all this testosterone floating around and they're like,
where are the parking spots?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Like I don't where's the parking garage.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
I don't know where to go, where to be, what
to do.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Our body doesn't know how to properly metabolize it. So
our bodies are just so so confused Yeah, So a
lot of times these women who get off the pill,
who are dealing with wild side effects after birth control,
it's our body just trying to recalibrate and figure out
what the heck is going on with this new body
I haven't had in twenty years.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Oh my gosh, so bat really explained, Thank you. I'm
I guess my first question from what you said is
some of the things if someone is having this and
they are thinking of coming off the pill, or they've
just come off the pill, what are three things that
you recommend somebody does that can help them body adjusts
back to normality.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yes, I would say stress and detox are the first two.
So really taking a look at your stress levels, Are
you sleeping enough, are you drinking enough water? You know,
are you whether it's meditating or going on walks or whatever,
you need to just help make sure that when you're
transitioning off birth control it is a slightly calmer environment,
(17:23):
because if you are doing hit workouts every single day
and chugging like really crazy energy drink and not sleeping
and just drinking so much caffeine during the day, that
is not a safe environment. Your body does not feel
safe to get off birth control, so that can make
symptoms a lot worse. The second one, we really need
to make sure detox pathways are open. So I love
(17:45):
jumping in the morning. There's like the pogo jumps you
can do, or jumping jacks, or if you want to
be really fun with it, get a little rebound or
trampoline to jump on. But you can simply just jump
around your house in any way. I like to pump
what I call the big six, and it's like pumping
your lymph nodes under your jaw, around your clavicles, under
your armpits, your stomach you're growin, and behind your knees,
(18:09):
giving those a little pump every single morning. Drinking warm
water with lemon with some salt for thing in the morning.
Making sure that you have general movement throughout the day.
Is that working out, is that walking whatever is right
for you, and making sure having regular bowel movements. Bowel
movements is probably number one as far as detox, because
(18:32):
when our body is trying to filter out all of
these excess hormones that don't belong in the body, that
are confused on where to go, that are left over
from the birth control, we need to get them out
through sweat and bowels. That is how they exit the system.
If those do not get a chance to exit the system,
that is going to cause additional hormonal overload and imbalance
(18:53):
that gets stuck in the body where some of those
really gnarly symptoms happen, whether it's hair loss, hair growth
in the areas you don't want it, acne, skin rashes,
feeling really really bloated and tired and exhausted all of
the time. A lot of those can come from just
really stuck toxins and additional hormones that don't belong in
(19:16):
the body anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
And I know you mentioned that when you got your
loves done, everything seemed like it was normal. Yeah, And
so you know, when you're a teenager, acne is sometimes expected.
You know, you think that you're going through a hormone
imbalanced But then there are people who are in the
thirties or late twenties that are getting these extreme breakouts.
Would you say that you know the hormone levels that
you had were getting hormones tested.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, I was getting my hormones tested, but it was
not the proper blood work for hormones because I just
went through my primary care physician or.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Should someone ask for what kind of blood work should
they ask for?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
So we love functional medicine practitioners and functional medicine doctors.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
There's so many great resources.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
There's individual practitioners, there's bigger companies that are also really
helpful for running functional blood work. But there's a big
difference between the blood work you run with your doctor
and functional blood work. If you find an individual practitioner,
you actually can get regular blood work run through your
doctor and have a functional practitioner.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Look at it. Though.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That is really helpful because what's most important is the
ranges you need to get done.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
There's so much that we can see through blood work.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We just need to look at new ranges and play
detective on what's causing certain things. But then also true hormone,
gut and toxin level testing is done through stool and urine,
So those are our additional testing that different functional practitioners
can do where you can get a bit more of
a peak inside.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
And you said your acne was on both sides of
your family, so it felt like it was quite genetic.
So would you say that that's even more difficult to
try and help cure as someone who's just got it
hormonally as a teenager, or I mean for you, you've
obviously figured out a way to do it for your
own body. But if anyone who's seeing it in their family,
are the different protocols that someone.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Should take, that's a really good question.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
So there is generally a genetic component, it's just to
what degree.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
So the genetic the primary.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Genetic trait that can make someone like really breakout prone,
it's called retention hyper keratosis. Basically, you produce more keratin
protein than the people who like never wash their face
but never break out right, So there are some people
who just don't break out. That could be because they
don't have that like hyperkeratosis. Genetic predisposition, right, So the
people that do make that extra keratin protein, our pores
(21:34):
get clogged more easily, more naturally our own skin protein.
It can generally be a little bit stickier, it doesn't
kind of shed and like get that cell turnover that
we ultimately want. So what we need is a little
bit more exfoliation. We need regular expoliation. It doesn't need
to be harsh. In fact, it shouldn't be overly harsh,
just needs to be a little bit consistent, kind of
(21:54):
like exercise. I always tell people to liken their expoliation
to their exercise. You want to do, you know a
little bit a few times a week, and maybe you
vary the intensity or the type. You know, you find
what works for you. Versus never exfoliating and then only
exfoliating once every two months when you get a facial
that would be like never working out and then running
(22:15):
a marathon on. So you want to make sure that
you're doing it consistently and the right type that is
supportive for your barrier, regardless of the source of your acne.
There are some things that you need in your routine
in order to stay clear. Number one is that proper
exfoliation generally a therapeutic blend of both physical and chemical expoliation.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
That's the necessary like once you punch right.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
So by physical expoliation, I mean like a gentle scrub,
something that's going to get rid of that dead layer
of skin. It's going to kind of clear the way
and give access to the poor and then then right
after that is when you do your chemical exfoliation, like
a mendelic acid serum. Most people are familiar with AHAs
and BHAs you know BHAs like your salasilic I think
(23:00):
we've all gone through the salicilic right, So that's your
Baha experience and very very useful. But then you get
to the world of AHAs. Those are your glycolics. You're lactic,
you're a mandelic acid, and there's a few other ones too.
We have found that mandelic acid is like the Goldilocks
of acids for acne. It's also effective for brightening the skin,
(23:21):
and it's effective for fungal acne. That's why it's the
best for people that are acne prone. You still get
that cell turnover that makes your collagen you know, be
happy and repair after the acne, and you get those
anti aging benefits of it as well. So that's kind
of the crux of like the clear stem like system
is getting those like, you know, the proper exfoliation that
also helps you age well. But then the other thing,
(23:43):
no matter what source of acne you have, you want
to make sure you're not using porklogging ingredients, yes, because
you will just continue to break out. You can have
perfect hormones, perfection in your diet. You can have your
water blessed bia sham, it doesn't matter if you're using
pork clogging ingredy in your skincare, most notably your moisturizer,
(24:03):
your sunscreen, and your makeup. Those are the three things
that break people out the most. Yeah, and even if
they're organic, right, and we can talk more about this,
but if you're still using those in your skincare, it
doesn't matter what type of acne you have, you will
still continue to break out.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
What are your the top three worst poor clogging ingredients
that you find in a lot of skincare.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I'll break it down into the different categories because people
often interpret clean beauty as meaning acne safe, and it
is not clean beauty still breaks people out. The top
three poor cloggers in clean beauty are going to be
coconut oil, coconut alkanes, and then shay butter.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah, and you always think, I mean I grew up
even like through my teens, I would think, oh, the
thicker the moisturizer, like whir it was the better? So
of be like putting on sheer butter or cocon oil,
and you think that that's just going to deeply moisturize
your skin.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
For some people that works for them if they're not
acne proba right.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, And we we like to tell people if you're
doing something and your skin is flawless, keep doing it right, right,
But if you have acne and you're struggling, listen, not
let's say something.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
And then there's the other, uh, there's the other you know,
hundreds of other poor clogging ingredients that brands us, usually
by accident because their chemists just aren't aware of the
commutogenesy factor of them. But it'll be things like isopropyle
mirror state ethyl hexel palmitate setire with.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Twenty if I recognize that one.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
It's even in cetophil moisturizer.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So it's in things that are you know, even touted
as acne safe, but they can range from mildly committogenic
to extremely commutogenic. So yeah, there's there's about a hundred.
There's hundreds of these ingredients. There's like a hundred that
I have kind of memorized over the years and doing this,
but we don't want everyone to have to memorize them,
so we created a checker where you can just copy
(25:56):
and paste the ingredient deck of whatever product you want
to use, put it in the checker. It'll tell you
and red if there's something that's likely to break you out.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
It's on your website. I think I saw that. Yeah,
that's so useful.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
It's a mandatory tool before you try anything else. And
even if you've been using something for a long time,
you're like, oh, it can't be this. I've been using
it forever. Companies reformulate. We've got to check. I can't
stress it enough. Never make assumptions. Always check the ingredients.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And the acid that you mentioned is that in one
of your exfoliations, in this one.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Right here, amazing, which is a game changer. I took
a break from it last week just because I forgot
to take it with me when I was traveling last week,
which I was so bummed, and I used it last night.
I'm like, oh my gosh. Sometimes I forget how much
it brightens your skin, like how everything is sort of clearer.
Everything just looks clearer and brighter, and it just it
(26:48):
gets in there and it dissolves whatever is in your
poor So even people who aren't struggling with acne see
such a difference. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna yeah, just
seemed like your skin's luminosity. It's like to call it
your skin's own autofluorescence.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
It's just that glow.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Right, you may not even struggling with acne, but it's
just that glow that you have to your skin when
your pores are clean and clear because you've put out
used in mendelic acids here and that gets in there
and dissolves, you are just able to shine through.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Yeah, I'm excited to use it. Denial you guys pictures please.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Oh my gosh, yes, yes, tomorrow morning send us pictures
of like your skin and you first wake up.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
After you definitely, I'm definitely going to do that. You
were mentioning about lots of diets that you tried, like
trying to take things out elimination diet. What are some
of the I know your nutrition is the most and
what are some of the foods that you think people
should start off eliminating all there's some general foods that
you recommend people just take out of their diet if
they are struggling with acne.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yes, and this doesn't need to be overwhelming, because there's
some elimination diets out there which I get you can
be so overwhelming it feels like you can't eat anything.
The acne elimination protocol is it's actually fairly simple. Yes,
it's in a lot of things, but there's really easy alternatives.
So the first one which surprises most people is eggs.
(28:10):
When we are not saying that eggs are bad. There's
some people that just love it for their nutrient dense
the nutrient density of eggs, and people swear by them.
But eggs are on the top allergen list. They can
cause an effect on our immune system and they have
something in it. It's specifically in the egg whites called
albumin protein, which can just be very challenging for our
(28:33):
body to break down and absorb. So it gets a
little stuck and our bodies have a little bit of
a reaction to it.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
So for people who are.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Either acne prone or they're acne prone for a certain
period of time. Right, not everyone is genetically acne prone,
but there's people who are acne prone getting on or
opha medication before or after pregnancy, or a big hormonal
change perimenopause, menopause, teenager, etc. Those big hormonal changes in life.
Our bodies can be a lot more sensitive during this time.
(29:02):
So it's not that you have to eliminate them forever,
but where you'll see the breakouts is around your jawline,
and underneath your jaw is where you'll mostly see the
breakouts from eggs.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Okay, So that's a big one.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I always recommend a sixty day elimination trial, giving yourself
a really great challenge for eggs. If anyone struggling in
the morning, we love replacing with a coconut yogurt and
a plant based protein powder and chia seeds and pumpkin
seeds to get that to get more of that B
twelve and vitamin D like from the from the nuts
(29:36):
and seeds in there, or you can make it really
great smoothie like. There's a lot of other options to
replace it with. So eggs is a big one. The
second one is dairy. Yeah, dairy can be very acne
triggering for people, and we know dairy as milk and cheese,
But where it can be sneaky and hidden is in
way protein. So some people are just purchasing a protein
(29:59):
that was recommended to them, or they go to their
local like smoothie shop or get a shake after a workout,
and they don't ask what kind of protein. It is
way can be a very aggressive acne trigger, and you'll
see some men that actually break out on their backs
because of it. Men and women, but a lot of
men that are just like heavy lifters. Yeah, the ware,
(30:21):
they're drinking a lot more of it, right, They're drinking
so much more of it. So dairy is up there,
and then sugar of course, because we're impacting our insulin levels.
But another one that's interesting for people. This doesn't cause
acne for everyone, but gluten is a really big one
to consider. So for some people can cause sinus issues,
joint pains, inflammation, floating, but for some people it really
(30:42):
triggers acne. So again, giving yourself that sixty day elimination
and then slowly if you choose to integrate anything back in,
slowly integrate it back in and just see how your
body responds. Because it could be a quantity issue, quality
and quantity, right, both there's quality of eggs, quality of dairy,
but also the quantity like could you maybe have eggs
(31:05):
two days a week when you introduce them back in,
But then that's your threshold, right, Maybe it's just not
in every single day thing. So that's a big one.
The second one is supplements. Okay, yes, this was a
major trigger for me. It was ten years ago. It
was the height of biohacking. I was taking so many sublimits.
(31:26):
I feel like we're kind of back in it, Honestly.
I think we took a break and we're back on
a really big supplement craze and so B twelve, vitamin
D and zinc.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
We love those for our body.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Our body needs those nutrients, but in excess amounts, they
can actually cause hormonal imbalances. Yeah, and they're in so
many things now right Again, great things to have. And
I know you're a vegan as well, and so we
have a lot of our community that's also vegans, and
so they're typically taking a a B twelve supplement and
(32:02):
it is a very high dose of B twelve and
it's acting on their testosterone levels and can actually be
triggering acne. So our first thing we always recommend is
work to get it from food sources. There's a lot
of amazing food sources for B twelve, nuts, seeds, et cetera.
But then if you are externally supplementing with a physical supplement,
(32:24):
we always recommend a dropper so you can control your
dose of it and just make sure that you're not
having forty thousand times the amount that you're supposed to
have to in a day, which which does exist in supplements.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
So those are the really big ones to look out for.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
You're saying B twelve. It made me laugh in my head,
but it's actually not that funny. I I it's a
lot of nutritional yeast. Yes, And oh my gosh, I
got my results back recently, and the one thing that
was completely off the charts was my B twelve. It
was beyond any limit that I've ever so I was
(33:00):
having nutritional yeas and everything and that's got B twelve
in it or sometimes added into the nutritional yeast, and
then I'm obviously adding in for like a cheesy flavor.
It makes everything tastes so good. But my B twelve
was crazy, and I was like, wow, this is something
that vegans usually really struggle with, even hitting the lower amounts,
and there I am off the charts with it because
(33:21):
of nutritional use. So I need to read without for that. Actually.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, And so yeah, nutritional yeast is such a good
one for B twelve, but specifically for vegans. If someone
is overdoing it, it could be triggering acne. So just
making sure that you are viewing that as like one
amazing cheesy flavor like I love like a mac and
cheese with the nutritional yeas like since I'm not since
I don't do dairy, so so great, but then managing
(33:44):
like how often during the day, how many times a week,
just to make sure people aren't overdoing it and breakout.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, I was definitely shocked when I saw that. I
was like, damn, I'm a vegan, but this is pretty
good for me.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
It's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
A lot of impressed symptoms though, because of the not.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
That I know, Like I had gone through a phase
where I was getting a load of these were like
under my skin spots, you know, the ones that you
can't pop but they just like sit there. Yes, So
I don't know whether that was linked to it, because
then obviously once I became conscious about it, I cut
down the amount of nutational yeast. But yeah, I don't know.
I need to track whether it correlates to anything else.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
The cool thing about some of these vitamin triggers is
that it'll happen pretty quickly, right. The worst thing is
when you have a delayed reaction, because there could have
been a lot of variables between you know, when you
ate the thing and why you're.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Seeing it in your skin.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But when you overdo Beach twelve, especially like with beach
twelve shots, yeah, or really potent liquid supplement that'll have
like you know, eighty thousand percent RDV, you'll see it
within like forty eight hours, You'll start getting like hormonal
acne and it gets you right on the jaw. And
that's why so many women think that their acne is
hormonal is because in the quote hormonal zone. But most
(34:52):
things actually create acne in that zone because that's where
the deeper hair follicles are and that's where acne starts.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Are there any other things that you you find, are
these hidden reasons for why people get acne, anything that
people probably wouldn't expect, but actually are causes that you've seen.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Let's see here, not rinsing their face off right after
they exercise.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
That got me a huge one.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Yep, it gets everyone at some point.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
That got me. I was working out and sweat, like
I had started doing really intense workouts or I was
sweating a lot, and then sometimes I'd go shop after
or go do something after, and I wouldn't actually wash
my face straight away, and I started getting all of
these micro micro like it felt like a rush, but
it wasn't. But these all these little tiny spots that
were kind of sitting on my forehead, on the side
(35:37):
of my cheek, and I could not figure out no
matter how much I exfoliated afterwards, no matter how And
this went on for a long period of time, and
then I realized I started getting it all over my skin.
I started getting on my arms, and I was like, oh,
it must be the sweat.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
That's the sweat literally goes right back into your post.
So the good news is it's a really simple salt.
All you have to do is stick your face.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
In the water fountain or it just like splash on.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
It's just removing the sweat in that moment and then
you can go about your day. Yeah, you don't need
to bring your whole like you know, skincare routine to
the yoga studio or anything like that. Simply splashing it
off is a fantastic and effective solution. We also have
for the people that run hot, like I run really hot,
I sweat a lot, and you're not going to like
splash your face off like thirty times a day, right,
(36:21):
But we made something called skin Spray all day and
it's meant to kind of be that refresher for our athletes,
for the you know, personal trainers, the yoga girl, the
people that are kind of active throughout their day and
breaking a bit of a sweat throughout the day. There's
that way to kind of replenish, replenish the skin and
just kind of like hit like an antibacterial reset so
that your sweat doesn't go back into your pores and
(36:42):
create those annoying bumps.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Because everybody gets that.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Yeah, I've been the definitely.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
So great for moms running around.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Hitting their two year old everywhere, running around not being
able to have that free time to even stop.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Skin spray is a lifesaver.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Okay, nov I'm going to keep it in my call
from now on. Give myself a spider during the day.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
You touched on something else though, you set the back
of your neck, right, and you have curly hair, Yeah,
hair products, especially for curly hair, contain poor clogging ingredients.
And I'm specifically talking about the conditioners and the leven
hydrating products.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Yes I use them they of.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Course right, And those conditioners contain poor clogging ingredients. Shampoos
not as much, but conditioners like ninety eight percent of
the time from what I have reviewed.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Its Yeah, and it's so interesting that you think of, Okay,
when it's skincare, I'm just gonna when it's my skin issues,
I'm just going to focus on what I put on
my skin, and then you forget to think about everything
else that, whether it's perfumes or whether it's things that
you have around in your environment. Even sometimes candles and
things that I extend or can end up affecting so
much of your body.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yep. I've been hearing a ton of people recently that
certain nail polishes are causing like rashes around their eyes.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Really good.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
Yeah, it's very.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
It's you know how people touching their eyes are.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
No, there's some time a.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Goal that's maybe even when they get the nails done.
I find that when I go to nail salons, actually, yeah,
my skin ends up being itchy or end up getting
reading that headache from the fumes.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Yes, I mean hearing it from a lot of friends
recently that they switched out their polish and the rashes
went away. Yeah, So there's like there's all these little things, right,
that we just have to remember everything that we're putting
on and in our body, not just skincare, can affect
our skin in different ways, and it's it's not to
make people spiral and be afraid of things. What I
(38:30):
find is it's actually more empowering. It's just it's the
power of choice for certain things, and it just brings awareness, awareness,
and intunement to your body. Like you just become more
in tune of like what works me, what doesn't work
for me? You have your things, you figure it out,
and it can be frustrating and overwhelming, and the figuring
out process, it absolutely can be. But when you get
to the other side, you were just so much more
(38:53):
self aware and in tune with your own body and
your own reactions, and you actually start you actually stopping
yourself to other people and you just start comparing yourself
to yourself of like, oh no, this might work for
a lot of other people, but it just does not
work for me, and that's okay, And that's also really empowering.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
At the same time, to just know your body so.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Well definitely helps you to tune in so much. Yeah,
we spoke about what you eliminated or the things to eliminate.
What about things that people should incorporate to help with
the acne in terms of diet and what they should
be eating.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
What transforms for a lot of women is actually eating
in the morning. Oh yeah, intermittent fasting can be a
really great tool, But for women, I truly see it
as a tool and more of a proto call, and
to me, a proto call. You're doing every once in
a while, right, or you're doing it for a week
at a time.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
But as women, our hormones are a.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Lot more delicate, and so there's certain times of the month,
especially around your menstrual cycle, where intermittent fasting can actually
put your body into so much more stress.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
And we know that.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Stress is directly correlated to acne. That's a whole nother
component to it is just stress levels, emotional capacities sometimes
like sometimes you're going through a really big stressor in
the family and that's your acting trigger. And so for women,
we are not meant to intermit and fast every day
all of the time, and so it's really really healthy
(40:17):
for our hormones to be eating first thing in the morning,
especially if we can eat before that caffeine. Truly, I
see so many women's hormones and stress levels shift when
they can eat first thing in the morning.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Wow, And is there anything specific like him protein or
high healthy fats.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah, I would say, I would say kind of trying
to get a little bit of everything in so protein, fats,
and a little bit of carbs. As women, we do
need carbs, getting that nice, nice healthy mixture. So is
it that coconut yogurt with protein powder and chia seeds
on top? Do you go more savory where you're sautaing
up some veggies in the morning and then your choice
of protein, whether that's tofu, chicken, sausage, leftovers from the
(40:57):
night before that you're just reheating in a skillet. Is
it a smoothie that you're getting just the combination where
you're getting maybe some spinach and greens in protein powder
fruit that kind of hits all your categories of protein,
fat and fiber in there. Another one is hydrating before caffeine.
(41:19):
Warm water is best. I mean, you know iraveta best,
So you know that cold water can typically shut down
people's digestive system and kind of close the body off
a bit more so, starting your morning with warm water,
lemon salt just being delicate and allowing your body to
wake up, allowing your body to get in flow for
the day. But having that hydrating drink first thing in
(41:41):
the morning, getting that food in with a healthy combination
of protein, fat, fiber is just going to put you
off to an amazing star It is going to put
your body and mind in a position to make better
choices throughout the day too. You won't be reaching for
the junk food which we do crave when when that
is like sometimes I am so hungry, I'm coming home
(42:02):
from work, I'm starting to make dinner and I'm inhaling chips.
Yes like that, Yeah, yeah, that happens. And so when
you can just make sure that you're eating throughout the
day and not getting to the point of starvation where
you do just inhale a bag of chips or whatever
your go to sources for that minus savory some people
(42:24):
as sweets, and so just making sure that your body
is say sheeted throughout the day. It's going to keep
your energy levels happy, your hormones happy, your stress levels happy,
and it's going to help reduce some of those cravings
that could lead to inhaling some acne triggers in there.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
For someone who is going through it right now and
the spending so much money on products. They are trying
everything under the sun, but it's just not working. What's
the one thing that you would recommend they start with.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Definitely checking and removing poor clogging ingredients. Okay, this is
the thing that affects I want to say like the
eighty twenty ar Old for sure, but I think it
affects everyone in some way to some degree. So no
matter what your source of acne is or what's going
on in your life, poor clogging ingredients will keep you
broken out. So these things mix with your natural oil,
(43:14):
your skin protein, they create a plug and then your
skin just keys kind of growing, you know, on top
of it and around it, and that's when your body
recognizes an invader and that's where you get like bacteria
get trapped in there too. So poor clogging ingredients are
the thing that is ruining most people's skin, and it
also causes accelerated aging and other things besides acne that
(43:35):
we don't want. So the first step is to pull
up you know, it's easier done on a laptop, but
literally everything that you're using, everything that's touching your skin
and your hair, get the ingredients from their website, copy paste,
put it into the checker, see which ones pop up
and red. Then you find the solution the replacement for
those you might find that it's your moisturizer. Most moisturizers
(43:56):
do break people out. Everyone who has had acne their
whole life is like terrified to moisturize, and they're not wrong.
Most moisturizers do break people out, but it is still
important to moisturize. So basically, if you find that your
moisturizer has poor cloggers, get rid of it, or you
can use it like on your legs. You can have
like the sexiest softest knees for your face and anywhere
you break out, make sure that they're completely noncomutogenic, no
(44:19):
poor cloggers. That will make a massive difference, and I
mean massive. The other thing that you can start doing
is dialing in your exfoliation. Most women who break out,
they're exfoliating a little bit, but it might not be
the right type for their skin, or they're relying on
retine or tretinoin. A lot of estheticians really don't recommend
tretonoen for active acne or inflamed acne. It can create
(44:42):
more irritation and purging, and then you're just stuck in
this constant cycle.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
We prefer mandelic acid.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
It works more quickly, more effectively, and it plays nice
with other things, and it actually dissolves the stuff that's.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
In the poor that's breaking you out.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
So getting rid of poor cloggers and incorporating a mandelic
acid call it every other night, make a huge difference.
Like you can have new like new skin where like
everyone's being like, wow, your skin looks amazing, like inside
of a week if you make just those changes.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Woh, such simple changes but can make such a difference.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Nowadays, I feel like skincare routines are literally like twelve
steps long. If with your skin care run, what are
some of the basic steps that someone needs to take?
Like what are things that people are adding in right
now that are just unnecessary? How many steps should a
routine really be?
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I think it's unnecessary to have a bunch of steps
to remove your makeup right A lot of cleansers are
they're kind of underwhelming. Yeah, And if a cleanser's not
getting your makeup off.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
What is it doing?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
It's like, what is it doing?
Speaker 1 (45:42):
And a lot of the really common cleansers that people
are using. I'm not going to say any names right now,
but there's a lot of cleansers out there that just
don't do the job. Like if you're you know, doing
a toner step afterwards and you still have a ton
of foundation on after your cleanse, that cleanser is not
going to get rid of it. You can use it
as a body wash, but so a lot of women
are doing to multiple cleansing steps and then makeup removing
(46:04):
wipes and then some other type of like cleanse to
get their eye makeup off. So it's like a bunch
of different cleansing steps and it creates a lot of
friction on the skin, especially around the delicate eye area.
You never want to be tugging the eye skin just
to get your makeup off. So I think that's the
number one area where I'm constantly troubleshooting for people because
then their eyes are just irritated and things are burning
(46:25):
them and it just creates this cascade effect.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
Okay, that's a good one. I was going to ask
you about oils actually, because there are so many times
where I mean I went through a phase where I
was using a lot of natural oils on my skin?
Is that something if someone's got acne that they should
avoid completely love this question.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
So we use the commutogenic scale when we're judging ingredients, right.
Commutogenic means how likely it is to clog your poor
and create a comodont okay.
Speaker 4 (46:51):
So the scale is zero to five.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Zero is completely say think watery, I'm not going to
clog your poor.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
It cannot do that. Hyaluronic acid is another one.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
That's then there's things that are a five like they
will start clogging you know.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
That's like your coconut oil.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Like things that are like waxy at room temperature, things
like palm oil, things like that, right, And then that
most things are somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 4 (47:13):
For example, olive oil is regarded as a two oho
okay out of five.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Right, So if you don't have acne at all, you
might be able to use olive oil as a moisturizer
and it could be great for you. So it really
depends on how acne prone you are and where those
oils sit on the committogenic scale. Most essential oils like
the ones like say bergamont or like lavender like things
that are more known for medicinal or you know, aroma qualities.
Speaker 4 (47:37):
Most of those are going.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
To be completely noncommutogenic. However, they can be a little
bit caustic or irritating, so you want to dilute them,
dilute them a lot into and into what's called a
carrier oil. So most essential oils are not going to
break you out. They could just be irritants. It's a
different conbo. But as far as the other oils that
you just want to use for general moisture, there are
(47:59):
a few that are completely acne safe. Hemp oil which
is my personal favorite. Yeah, hempseed oil is fantastic. You
can get it cold pressed. It smells like kind of
like light, nutty delicious, So that one's fantastic. Argone oil
is another one that's very safe for people. Castor oil,
believe it or not, even though it's very thick, it's
known to be a zero on the.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
Yeah, and do they hydrate?
Speaker 2 (48:23):
They do.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Some oils are a lot thinner and more they can
be a little bit more hydrating then the thicker oils.
Like I wouldn't use castor oil as my moisturizer. Like, yes,
it's going to hydrate, but it's going to be more
of a slugging effect. I aren't necessarily going to deliver
that juicy hydration that you ultimately want. And then there's
other oils that are a little bit thinner, like rose
hips oil. Rose Hip is hydrating, So there's just a
(48:46):
few out there. Another couple of ones that you'll see
in cosmetics that are acne safe are sunflower oil safflower oil.
So those happen to have a commutogenic grating of zero
to know.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
Actually, I always thought that maybe oils ended up just
being plugging because it was, but now you know there's
a good range of it.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
I think when folks are trying to give someone acne
advice and they don't know the details, they'll just say
be safe, stay away from oils.
Speaker 4 (49:11):
It is kind of an old way of thinking.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
I think that that was kind of the I want
to call it propaganda, but that was like kind of
like what like you know, back in the nutrigena era,
like that's what people used to say. And again, this
stuff isn't studied in medical school. So I think a
lot of derms will just add of caution for their patients,
say avoid oils, because they know a lot of them
can read cavoc. So I think it just became a
(49:32):
blanket statement.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
To just avoid oils.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
The oil free became a marketing designation, but I've seen
stuff that's marketed as oil free aimed at the ACTI consumer,
but the primary filler is isopropyle miror state, which is.
Speaker 4 (49:45):
Far worse than most oil.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
Well, that's where people get tripped up, and that's why
we're so focused on teaching about poor clogging ingredients.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
One of my favorite products of yours is the black
human seed oil. Yes, yes, is it cool? Good sea? Yes? One.
I love it because I have such a deep purpose
of sharing how spices can help heal your body so much. Yep,
they can help protect heel support in so many ways.
So when I saw that, I started taking it and
I absolutely love it. Could you share why black cuman
(50:14):
seed oil is so incredible for the skin.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
It's incredible for a lot of systems in the body.
So one thing about clear Sum is we have a
blood work wing of the business. It's called our Acne
lab panel, and we have blood chemists that are specifically
trained to look at things through the acne lens. And
after thousands of people were getting their blood work done,
with us. We kept seeing the same things emerge, a
lot of gut dyspiosis, you know, unwanted pathogens and just
(50:40):
kind of like immune burden. And Black Human seed oil
is really really known and you know, time tested for
helping ward off unwanted pathogens. It's not a wide scale
antibiotic or anything like that, but it just helps give
you that extra boost, so it helps with the gut
and that helps with the skin. And then also it's
in good seeds is a little bit of seed oil,
(51:01):
which is fabulous. Anyone that's done skin seed cycling for
their hormones is kind of like, you know, in love
with pumpkin seed oil. It has that natural amount of
zinc that we really really want, but again it's not
too too much, so it's perfect. And then the Seabucks
thorn seed oil the Omega seven, so that combination with
the Black Human is like a trifecta for helping multiple
areas of the body that impact your skin.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
I loved to actually started taking it after I got
food poisoning for like a short period of time, and
I could feel that my gut was just not happy,
and I could see that my skin wasn't happy. Every
time my gut's messed up, I know it's on my
skin straight away, And so when I started taking that,
I honestly felt like I felt a difference within a
couple of weeks, like it was so great. That makes it.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Also helps with blood sugar, yes, which helps everybody exactly.
Speaker 4 (51:45):
Everyone needs help with blood sugar.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
And one of my additionally one of my favorite aspects
of it is how it supports underlying infection. So one
of the what I think craziest things we've been seeing
in the acne lab panel is so many people have
very essentially like micro amounts of underlying infections. It can
be strap, it can be staff, and it's not showing
(52:08):
up anywhere else in the body except for acne. Some
people can receive it differently, right. It can show up
as a rash, it can it can actually show up
underlying strap, can show up as back pain somewhere. It's
pretty wild how underlying infections can show up in the body.
But since we are focused on acne and people are
coming to us with acne, we are seeing so many
(52:29):
cases that have these underlying infections, and black human seed
oil can be so helpful.
Speaker 5 (52:35):
For mitigating underlying infections.
Speaker 1 (52:38):
It was helping so many people after they were doing
the lad panels. So we just we're like, more people
need this amazing. Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much.
Speaker 3 (52:45):
Is there anything else that you'd love to share for
anybody that would be struggling right now, have been in
a place that you've been, any words of encouragement or
love sending out to them.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
Truly sending so much love. We have a really great
checklist and I'll make sure or that we repost it
around the time of this podcast too. I also believe
it's in one of our blogs on our website. If not,
I'll double check to make to make sure it is.
But we have this checklist that makes it really easy,
and it's everything we talked about on this podcast because
(53:15):
a lot of people will maybe be taking notes during
this podcast and trying to figure out like, okay.
Speaker 5 (53:20):
This, make sure I eliminate this, should I do that?
Speaker 2 (53:22):
And so we have this amazing checklist you can just
save to your phone that has the categories of food supplement,
stress triggers, and then of course we have our poor
clogging checklist. If you don't use a laptop, we have
our poor clogging checklist on.
Speaker 5 (53:35):
Our app too.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
That's just it's so easy from your phone with the
clear Stem app. But yes, this checklist and you can
just go through it and just get in tune with
your body and just see from this checklist maybe what's
going on in your diet and your lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (53:52):
And commit to sixty days. You can commit to anything
for sixty days, go through the checklist, eliminate the big triggers,
and see how you respond. And it is so beyond helpful.
Speaker 3 (54:03):
I just want to say, it is actually really refreshing
and beautiful to see people who have been through something
and are able to have actually gone through the experience
and then created something from that. There are so many
products out there, so many skincare brands. We all know
they're just shops and shops filled with it. But to
have people who've actually been through it, who've done so
much research on it, who've lived it themselves and have
(54:25):
come out the other side, to then know that this works,
it's just it's really wonderful to see that. So thank
you guys so much for sharing everything you've learned with
the world through your products. Thank you, and I'm so grateful,
thank you for being here.
Speaker 4 (54:36):
Like why
Over the course of my late teens to late twenties,
I was on every type of medication you can imagine.
At the age of twenty nine, the third round of
acutane had flopped. My acne was coming right back within
a couple months, and I was like, I'll just need
to figure this out myself.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
One last Google search a pub San Diego acne clinic No,
and so Danielle cleared my skin in two months.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Today I'm joined by Daniel Bronick, better known as the
Acne Guru, and Kaylee Christina, an integrative health practitioner and nutritionists.
They are the co founders of a Clear Stem, the
first skincare line and supplements that are both clinically effective
and completely free of poor clogging ingredients. Even if you
have slight issues with your skin affects your confidence so much.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
It's are truly our life mission to help people understand
acne and relieve the suffering.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is kind of the playbook, that's the pharmaceutical playbook
in Western medicine. First, you try to take the batteries
out of the smoke alarms.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
With the birth control pills, the.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Birth control can mute the symptoms of the acne for
sure for as long as you're taking it, but the
moment you stop, you generally get a rebound effect.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
What are your the top three worst poor clogging ingredient
that you find in a lot of skincare for.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now, if you're still using those in your skincare, it
doesn't matter what type of acne you have, you will
still continue to break out.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I'm Radi Wuka and on my podcast A Really Good Cry,
we embrace the messy and the beautiful, providing a space
for raw, unfielded conversations that celebrate vulnerability and allow you
to tune in to learn, connect and find comfort together.
Thank you guy so much for being here again. And
I love your products close them. Your brand is beautiful.
(01:28):
It helps so many people. And I wanted to just
start off from the beginning and ask you guys, how
did Clearse theem come about? What was a purpose behind
it and why you created the products that you have.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, we started them out of a passion and a
need and out of deep alignment with the customers. So
Kaylee and I both struggle with acne or a very
acne prone. A lot of people are acne prone. It's
on the rise and you know, everyone has a different
degree to which they're acneic, and it generally runs in
families to some degree.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I had great for cystic.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Acne on both sides of my family well into adulthood,
so I really hit the lottery with my skin. And
in college is when it got really really bad. That's
when I started to wear makeup. I got a birth
control happened to be the wrong birth control from my skin,
so my acne just exploded. And ironically, I was studying biology,
genetics and imminology, fully intending to go to medical school,
(02:25):
and you know, I would show up to my appointments,
my doctor appointments about my skin with a list of
basic questions like what should I be eating, what should
I not be eating? When I have alcohol, I feel
like my acne gets worse. Why could that be? And
basically what I went through was just a series of
we can't answer that, there's no studies linked to that.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Here's more medication.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So over the course of my you know, late teens
to late twenties, I was on every type of medication
you can imagine. I was on all the retinees, all
the different kinds. I was on antibiotics, the stronger antibiotics
sphirinal lactown, then more spherenal lactown accutane three separate times.
And in between all that was doing all the lasers
and trying everything, and it just wreaked havoc on my gut,
(03:08):
my body, and my skin. Frankly, and at the age
of twenty nine, the third round of accutane had flopped.
My acne was coming right back within a couple months,
and I was like, I'll just need to figure this
out myself. So I wound up going to esthetician school
at night. Actually, so I had not gone to medical
school because I was so disenchanted with my experience, you know,
getting my acne treated. I was like, I don't want
(03:30):
to be a part of that medical system where it's
just prescriptions. So I was in the corporate world and
decided to solve my skin myself because that was the
only route that was left. Wound up becoming an esthetician.
I just went to esthetician school at night to get information.
And all of the biology that I had studied and
the medical profession that I had always kind of dreamed of,
(03:51):
it all came full circle right then and I saw
that treating acne was my dream career that I never
knew existed. So I learned under a lot of the
people in San Diego, worked for a few medspas, worked
for a few veteran estheticians, learned a ton, and then
I started San Diego acne clinic. That was about eleven
years ago, and I met Kaylee as one of my
first clinic patients.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Oh amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
And what was your story behind creating this? And I
feel like you both have individual kind of jennies that
brought you to this.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yes, So, my background and passion has always been nutrition,
even from such a young age. But when I was
blossoming into adulthood in my mid twenties, I made the
decision to get off of birth control. I was just
so passionate. I had a full time job that I
was working, but on the side, I was going through
different nutrition programs. I was just so excited to learn
(04:43):
more in the world, in the world of nutrition through education,
and so I decided to get off all prescription medication,
including birth control, and my skin just went crazy.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Within a matter of two months, I had bright read
inflame cystic acne both sides, my cheek down my neck.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
It looked like pustules.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
It looked infected, like it wasn't even like parts of
it were normal acne, like there was some white heads
scattered in there, but it was that like really deep
painful cystic bumps everywhere. And on the nutrition side, I
started putting myself through so many different proto calls. I
wasn't able to run lab work at this point, yet
(05:26):
I eventually got there, but at this point I was
just putting myself through.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Dietary proto calls.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So everything from low FODMAP, cebo CANDID to diets like
you name it. I put myself through it, so many
elimination diets. Nothing seemed to shift or change. And then
when it came to skincare.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
I knew nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I only knew what marketing told me, like what I
would read and see, et cetera. And this was ten
years ago, so Instagram stories didn't exist, TikTok didn't exist.
The way you found information was googling, like that's just in.
It was a lot of just like medical links that
would pop up with no clear understanding. I actually could
not find any information on ACN. It was just the
(06:05):
only information I saw was remove sugars, remove some processed
foods like that was it like advice, no French fries
and chicken fingers, like that's what it said. And I
was like, okay, dub, but no real topical information. And
so I started to trying to figure out things myself.
So I tried everything from traditional drug store brands. I
(06:28):
was like, okay, I'll go so basic drug store.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Brands, No, didn't work.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I tried diy at home, like garlic and apple cider
vinegar and making all my own like tinctures and serum things.
I think that made it worse because I was doing
it really roguely, where I was just rubbing garlic on
my face, which burns your skin, Like that's way too
strong for your skin. And so I didn't understand about
the pH of skin and balancing and all of that
(06:53):
good stuff. And so then I tried a bunch of
different estetians and committed to their different lines. They put
me on you know, a three hundred dollars yearm that
promised it would clear my acne, you name it. Tried
all of these things. I'm working on this for almost
a year and nothing is shifting and changing, and honestly
just looks angrier at me. And when I truly felt
(07:15):
like I had exhausted everything, I didn't want to leave
my house.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
I felt so depressed.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm packing on makeup and I wasn't even like a
makeup girl, and I'm packing on this like thick clay makeup.
I'm not hanging out with friends. I'm basically just hiding
away in my house. I looked in the mirror. My
face looked so disfigured. It was a really dark time.
I thought, Okay, I guess I need to go to
the doctor and the dermat hall just to figure this out.
(07:41):
So I went to multiple primary care doctors and multiple
dermatologists because I really wanted to get different answers. I
really just wanted to understand what was going on with
my body. I needed help, and from primary care physicians,
I kept just giving the answer birth control and antibiotics.
And when I would ask why, I would say, Okay,
I hear you. I get that that's your system. But
(08:02):
what's going on is that prescription is going to help it?
And I just kept receiving the answer, I don't know,
let's just test.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
And it didn't sit right with me.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
My blood work from the doctor kept coming back normal,
which is very standard for a lot of women, especially
in America. The ranges that we are getting are not
optimal ranges. They're based on the standard American which you
do not want to be compared against. If you're really yeah,
you don't want to be compared against. And so I
(08:33):
went to the dermatologist and my acting was so severe.
It was just straight to acutane, and it was against
everything I personally wanted to do.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
But I felt like there was no other solution. So
I started the process to go and accutane.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It takes thirty days to go on because you have
to take two pregnancy tests thirty days apart and commit
to two forms of birth control before they'll let you
on it. And so I started the process and my
mom's like calling me. She's like, Haylee, please don't go
on acutane. And my mom's a chemist and she's just like, I,
you know you're not a teenager, like don't please, don't
(09:06):
go on. This is gonna be so destructive for your liver.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
I was like, I.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Don't have any other choice, truly, is how I felt.
One last Google search a pop San Diego acne clinic,
No Danielle spent three hours with me. I was her
last client of the day. We went through every product
I was using, supplement I was taking, and for the
first time, Danielle had this information about acne that I
was not able to find anywhere else, not in any
(09:30):
of the nutrition programs I was in either, like no
one was talking about it.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
In this way.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
My whole world was opened up and I just felt
so much passion to my body. I was like, more
people need to know and understand this information. And so
Danielle cleared my skin in two months.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
No way, fully clear.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
And not everything that happened in that first session with
Danielle and I, and you know, I would go into
her clinic because she had to do a lot of
extractions on me for a few months, like it took it,
like to get every thing out. We would lay, I
would lay on her clinic table and we would just
chat the whole time. And every single piece of that
we have rolled into clear Stem to make it scalable
(10:10):
so more people can have access to what are the
root causes of acne? What action steps can you take?
What are those sneaky little things that are hiding that
no one's talking about, and that's really what we've done,
and so it's our truly our life mission to help
help people understand acne and relieve the suffering.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I think you both so much for sharing that, because
it's so meaningful when you hear people's experiences and why
you know, this isn't just a random product that you've created.
This is something that you've experienced yourself. I've been through
the struggle, and you know, I think I can only
speak for myself as a woman. Even if you have
slight issues with your skin, it affects your confidence so much,
so much, and with all my friends, even if it's
(10:49):
just period related and you end up getting a spot
here and there, like, it really changes the way that
you see yourself. So for someone who's got acne, who's
living with day in day out, year in year out,
can only imagine how much in Knox your confidence. Like
you said, you didn't want to even leave the house.
Why do you think you know? The first thing you
spoke about was hormone control, that they put you on
(11:10):
the pill as soon as you end up getting some
sort of acne, especially as a teenager. Number one, why
is that the first first line protocol. And number two,
what was some of the from the research you've done
maybe what are some of the negative effects that you've
realized come from it? And number three why does it
not work for people?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, this is kind of the playbook, that's the pharmaceutical
playbook in Western medicine. First, you try to take the
batteries out of the smoke alarm essentially, is the analogy
that I use with the birth control pill. So, yes,
when you're a teenager, your hormones are surging, things are
going a little wild, specifically testosterone, especially with teenage boys.
But they have found that the pill can just sort
(11:51):
of take the batteries out of the smoke alarm essentially,
so you just kind of overregulate, hop into hyperdrive with
the hormones. And basically the pill that they generally prescribe
to young girls as the higher estrogen estradial pill, right,
so that will suppress the testosterone that is the main
driver of acne. So the hormones all have interplay. Each
(12:12):
one plays a specific role. How they relate to each
other is a very complex situation. But generally speaking, testosterone
and androgens, like the male hormones, those are the ones
that going to that are going to create the most
obvious hormonal acne spikes. So when you make estrogen the primary,
you know, main character, it's going to suppress that androgen
(12:34):
testosterone behavior, and it can suppress the acne that's coming
from that. So that is what they do, because it's
generally the first and strongest thing that is, you know,
that they're able to do. Then they generally prescribe the
prescribe some antibiotics, especially if there's like pustules and like
other things like that. Everyone's been on antibiotics for their
(12:54):
acne as well, so those are kind of the first
few things the birth control can mimit. It can you know,
you know, mute the symptoms of the acne for sure
for as long as you're taking it, but the moment
you stop, you generally get a rebound effect. And there's
other things that happen, especially in a woman's body in
terms of like gut health and how certain nutrients are
absorbed that are being impacted by the pill as well,
(13:16):
And that's the stuff that's not really talked about.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
And so those are the side effects that we deal with.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Once we get off the birth control, our acne has
rebounded the original things that we're causing it, especially if
it's from your diet, those things are still there. Those
never went away, so it can come back even more aggressive.
And yeah, Kaylee can kind of talk more about what
else happens in the women's body when she's on birth
control for too long.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah, please is going on medication is a choice, right,
And I think what many times is removed from that
decision for certain people is they don't understand the choice
they're actually making. I don't think they're given an informed
decision making process. I think they go into the doctors
and it's like, hey, this pill will help solve this acne.
(13:57):
To people who have been struggling with acne for a
long time, that to them feels like the greatest gift.
They're like, just take the pain away, just take it away,
just make it go away. It could be any stage
in life, but especially there's women who are like planning
for a wedding or trying to d like things that
are affecting their confidence. Are like, just take it away.
But the information that's not given is how if you
(14:20):
do choose to be on the pill, how to support
your body in the process. They're like Danielle mentioned there's
a lot of really important nutrients in the body that
the pill suppresses, selenium B, twelve, vitamin D. It has
a serious effect on gut health and actually changes the
probiotic prebiotic balance that's going on in your gut. And
so we're told to take this pill, but given none
(14:43):
of the resources of how to properly support your body
if you choose to be on it, Because what happens
when you go off the pill and many women at
this point are on it for ten fifteen years. Yeah,
there's we have so many moms that come to us.
There's children who are we putting on who are being
put on the pill at age eleven and twelve for acne.
(15:04):
They're not even sexually active yet. And by the time
they get off, maybe they're thirty, I don't thirty five.
If they choose to not have kids until thirty thirty five,
until a slightly later age than early twenties, they could
truly be on birth control for twenty years. So for
twenty years, you're cutting off communication between your ovaries and
your brain. For twenty years, you're depleting these vitamins and nutrients.
(15:29):
You are causing disruption in your gut health. You are
muting androgen testosterone and you are raising estrogen, and then
we expect to just get off the pill and everything
is fine, and that is not the case.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
There's also a way to safely get off the pill.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
We're not educated about that, making sure our lymphatic system
is moving, making sure we're having bowel movements, making sure
we're sweating and properly detoxing to support our body. And
so we as women were having these rebound effects after
getting off the pill because we're not told how to
support our bodies during or transitioning off. So our body
after ten, fifteen, twenty years, there's a flush of testosterone
(16:07):
that comes back like a rubber band.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
It is rebounding back.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Then our body doesn't want to put it right, like
we only have sony parking spots for all the hormones
and we have all this testosterone floating around and they're like,
where are the parking spots?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Like I don't where's the parking garage.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
I don't know where to go, where to be, what
to do.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Our body doesn't know how to properly metabolize it. So
our bodies are just so so confused Yeah, So a
lot of times these women who get off the pill,
who are dealing with wild side effects after birth control,
it's our body just trying to recalibrate and figure out
what the heck is going on with this new body
I haven't had in twenty years.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Oh my gosh, so bat really explained, Thank you. I'm
I guess my first question from what you said is
some of the things if someone is having this and
they are thinking of coming off the pill, or they've
just come off the pill, what are three things that
you recommend somebody does that can help them body adjusts
back to normality.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yes, I would say stress and detox are the first two.
So really taking a look at your stress levels, Are
you sleeping enough, are you drinking enough water? You know,
are you whether it's meditating or going on walks or whatever,
you need to just help make sure that when you're
transitioning off birth control it is a slightly calmer environment,
(17:23):
because if you are doing hit workouts every single day
and chugging like really crazy energy drink and not sleeping
and just drinking so much caffeine during the day, that
is not a safe environment. Your body does not feel
safe to get off birth control, so that can make
symptoms a lot worse. The second one, we really need
to make sure detox pathways are open. So I love
(17:45):
jumping in the morning. There's like the pogo jumps you
can do, or jumping jacks, or if you want to
be really fun with it, get a little rebound or
trampoline to jump on. But you can simply just jump
around your house in any way. I like to pump
what I call the big six, and it's like pumping
your lymph nodes under your jaw, around your clavicles, under
your armpits, your stomach you're growin, and behind your knees,
(18:09):
giving those a little pump every single morning. Drinking warm
water with lemon with some salt for thing in the morning.
Making sure that you have general movement throughout the day.
Is that working out, is that walking whatever is right
for you, and making sure having regular bowel movements. Bowel
movements is probably number one as far as detox, because
(18:32):
when our body is trying to filter out all of
these excess hormones that don't belong in the body, that
are confused on where to go, that are left over
from the birth control, we need to get them out
through sweat and bowels. That is how they exit the system.
If those do not get a chance to exit the system,
that is going to cause additional hormonal overload and imbalance
(18:53):
that gets stuck in the body where some of those
really gnarly symptoms happen, whether it's hair loss, hair growth
in the areas you don't want it, acne, skin rashes,
feeling really really bloated and tired and exhausted all of
the time. A lot of those can come from just
really stuck toxins and additional hormones that don't belong in
(19:16):
the body anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
And I know you mentioned that when you got your
loves done, everything seemed like it was normal. Yeah, And
so you know, when you're a teenager, acne is sometimes expected.
You know, you think that you're going through a hormone
imbalanced But then there are people who are in the
thirties or late twenties that are getting these extreme breakouts.
Would you say that you know the hormone levels that
you had were getting hormones tested.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, I was getting my hormones tested, but it was
not the proper blood work for hormones because I just
went through my primary care physician or.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Should someone ask for what kind of blood work should
they ask for?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
So we love functional medicine practitioners and functional medicine doctors.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
There's so many great resources.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
There's individual practitioners, there's bigger companies that are also really
helpful for running functional blood work. But there's a big
difference between the blood work you run with your doctor
and functional blood work. If you find an individual practitioner,
you actually can get regular blood work run through your
doctor and have a functional practitioner.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Look at it. Though.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That is really helpful because what's most important is the
ranges you need to get done.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
There's so much that we can see through blood work.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We just need to look at new ranges and play
detective on what's causing certain things. But then also true hormone,
gut and toxin level testing is done through stool and urine,
So those are our additional testing that different functional practitioners
can do where you can get a bit more of
a peak inside.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
And you said your acne was on both sides of
your family, so it felt like it was quite genetic.
So would you say that that's even more difficult to
try and help cure as someone who's just got it
hormonally as a teenager, or I mean for you, you've
obviously figured out a way to do it for your
own body. But if anyone who's seeing it in their family,
are the different protocols that someone.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Should take, that's a really good question.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
So there is generally a genetic component, it's just to
what degree.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
So the genetic the primary.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Genetic trait that can make someone like really breakout prone,
it's called retention hyper keratosis. Basically, you produce more keratin
protein than the people who like never wash their face
but never break out right, So there are some people
who just don't break out. That could be because they
don't have that like hyperkeratosis. Genetic predisposition, right, So the
people that do make that extra keratin protein, our pores
(21:34):
get clogged more easily, more naturally our own skin protein.
It can generally be a little bit stickier, it doesn't
kind of shed and like get that cell turnover that
we ultimately want. So what we need is a little
bit more exfoliation. We need regular expoliation. It doesn't need
to be harsh. In fact, it shouldn't be overly harsh,
just needs to be a little bit consistent, kind of
(21:54):
like exercise. I always tell people to liken their expoliation
to their exercise. You want to do, you know a
little bit a few times a week, and maybe you
vary the intensity or the type. You know, you find
what works for you. Versus never exfoliating and then only
exfoliating once every two months when you get a facial
that would be like never working out and then running
(22:15):
a marathon on. So you want to make sure that
you're doing it consistently and the right type that is
supportive for your barrier, regardless of the source of your acne.
There are some things that you need in your routine
in order to stay clear. Number one is that proper
exfoliation generally a therapeutic blend of both physical and chemical expoliation.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
That's the necessary like once you punch right.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
So by physical expoliation, I mean like a gentle scrub,
something that's going to get rid of that dead layer
of skin. It's going to kind of clear the way
and give access to the poor and then then right
after that is when you do your chemical exfoliation, like
a mendelic acid serum. Most people are familiar with AHAs
and BHAs you know BHAs like your salasilic I think
(23:00):
we've all gone through the salicilic right, So that's your
Baha experience and very very useful. But then you get
to the world of AHAs. Those are your glycolics. You're lactic,
you're a mandelic acid, and there's a few other ones too.
We have found that mandelic acid is like the Goldilocks
of acids for acne. It's also effective for brightening the skin,
(23:21):
and it's effective for fungal acne. That's why it's the
best for people that are acne prone. You still get
that cell turnover that makes your collagen you know, be
happy and repair after the acne, and you get those
anti aging benefits of it as well. So that's kind
of the crux of like the clear stem like system
is getting those like, you know, the proper exfoliation that
also helps you age well. But then the other thing,
(23:43):
no matter what source of acne you have, you want
to make sure you're not using porklogging ingredients, yes, because
you will just continue to break out. You can have
perfect hormones, perfection in your diet. You can have your
water blessed bia sham, it doesn't matter if you're using
pork clogging ingredy in your skincare, most notably your moisturizer,
(24:03):
your sunscreen, and your makeup. Those are the three things
that break people out the most. Yeah, and even if
they're organic, right, and we can talk more about this,
but if you're still using those in your skincare, it
doesn't matter what type of acne you have, you will
still continue to break out.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
What are your the top three worst poor clogging ingredients
that you find in a lot of skincare.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I'll break it down into the different categories because people
often interpret clean beauty as meaning acne safe, and it
is not clean beauty still breaks people out. The top
three poor cloggers in clean beauty are going to be
coconut oil, coconut alkanes, and then shay butter.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah, and you always think, I mean I grew up
even like through my teens, I would think, oh, the
thicker the moisturizer, like whir it was the better? So
of be like putting on sheer butter or cocon oil,
and you think that that's just going to deeply moisturize
your skin.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
For some people that works for them if they're not
acne proba right.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, And we we like to tell people if you're
doing something and your skin is flawless, keep doing it right, right,
But if you have acne and you're struggling, listen, not
let's say something.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
And then there's the other, uh, there's the other you know,
hundreds of other poor clogging ingredients that brands us, usually
by accident because their chemists just aren't aware of the
commutogenesy factor of them. But it'll be things like isopropyle
mirror state ethyl hexel palmitate setire with.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Twenty if I recognize that one.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
It's even in cetophil moisturizer.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So it's in things that are you know, even touted
as acne safe, but they can range from mildly committogenic
to extremely commutogenic. So yeah, there's there's about a hundred.
There's hundreds of these ingredients. There's like a hundred that
I have kind of memorized over the years and doing this,
but we don't want everyone to have to memorize them,
so we created a checker where you can just copy
(25:56):
and paste the ingredient deck of whatever product you want
to use, put it in the checker. It'll tell you
and red if there's something that's likely to break you out.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
It's on your website. I think I saw that. Yeah,
that's so useful.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
It's a mandatory tool before you try anything else. And
even if you've been using something for a long time,
you're like, oh, it can't be this. I've been using
it forever. Companies reformulate. We've got to check. I can't
stress it enough. Never make assumptions. Always check the ingredients.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
And the acid that you mentioned is that in one
of your exfoliations, in this one.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Right here, amazing, which is a game changer. I took
a break from it last week just because I forgot
to take it with me when I was traveling last week,
which I was so bummed, and I used it last night.
I'm like, oh my gosh. Sometimes I forget how much
it brightens your skin, like how everything is sort of clearer.
Everything just looks clearer and brighter, and it just it
(26:48):
gets in there and it dissolves whatever is in your
poor So even people who aren't struggling with acne see
such a difference. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna yeah, just
seemed like your skin's luminosity. It's like to call it
your skin's own autofluorescence.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
It's just that glow.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Right, you may not even struggling with acne, but it's
just that glow that you have to your skin when
your pores are clean and clear because you've put out
used in mendelic acids here and that gets in there
and dissolves, you are just able to shine through.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Yeah, I'm excited to use it. Denial you guys pictures please.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Oh my gosh, yes, yes, tomorrow morning send us pictures
of like your skin and you first wake up.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
After you definitely, I'm definitely going to do that. You
were mentioning about lots of diets that you tried, like
trying to take things out elimination diet. What are some
of the I know your nutrition is the most and
what are some of the foods that you think people
should start off eliminating all there's some general foods that
you recommend people just take out of their diet if
they are struggling with acne.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yes, and this doesn't need to be overwhelming, because there's
some elimination diets out there which I get you can
be so overwhelming it feels like you can't eat anything.
The acne elimination protocol is it's actually fairly simple. Yes,
it's in a lot of things, but there's really easy alternatives.
So the first one which surprises most people is eggs.
(28:10):
When we are not saying that eggs are bad. There's
some people that just love it for their nutrient dense
the nutrient density of eggs, and people swear by them.
But eggs are on the top allergen list. They can
cause an effect on our immune system and they have
something in it. It's specifically in the egg whites called
albumin protein, which can just be very challenging for our
(28:33):
body to break down and absorb. So it gets a
little stuck and our bodies have a little bit of
a reaction to it.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
So for people who are.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Either acne prone or they're acne prone for a certain
period of time. Right, not everyone is genetically acne prone,
but there's people who are acne prone getting on or
opha medication before or after pregnancy, or a big hormonal
change perimenopause, menopause, teenager, etc. Those big hormonal changes in life.
Our bodies can be a lot more sensitive during this time.
(29:02):
So it's not that you have to eliminate them forever,
but where you'll see the breakouts is around your jawline,
and underneath your jaw is where you'll mostly see the
breakouts from eggs.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Okay, So that's a big one.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I always recommend a sixty day elimination trial, giving yourself
a really great challenge for eggs. If anyone struggling in
the morning, we love replacing with a coconut yogurt and
a plant based protein powder and chia seeds and pumpkin
seeds to get that to get more of that B
twelve and vitamin D like from the from the nuts
(29:36):
and seeds in there, or you can make it really
great smoothie like. There's a lot of other options to
replace it with. So eggs is a big one. The
second one is dairy. Yeah, dairy can be very acne
triggering for people, and we know dairy as milk and cheese,
But where it can be sneaky and hidden is in
way protein. So some people are just purchasing a protein
(29:59):
that was recommended to them, or they go to their
local like smoothie shop or get a shake after a workout,
and they don't ask what kind of protein. It is
way can be a very aggressive acne trigger, and you'll
see some men that actually break out on their backs
because of it. Men and women, but a lot of
men that are just like heavy lifters. Yeah, the ware,
(30:21):
they're drinking a lot more of it, right, They're drinking
so much more of it. So dairy is up there,
and then sugar of course, because we're impacting our insulin levels.
But another one that's interesting for people. This doesn't cause
acne for everyone, but gluten is a really big one
to consider. So for some people can cause sinus issues,
joint pains, inflammation, floating, but for some people it really
(30:42):
triggers acne. So again, giving yourself that sixty day elimination
and then slowly if you choose to integrate anything back in,
slowly integrate it back in and just see how your
body responds. Because it could be a quantity issue, quality
and quantity, right, both there's quality of eggs, quality of dairy,
but also the quantity like could you maybe have eggs
(31:05):
two days a week when you introduce them back in,
But then that's your threshold, right, Maybe it's just not
in every single day thing. So that's a big one.
The second one is supplements. Okay, yes, this was a
major trigger for me. It was ten years ago. It
was the height of biohacking. I was taking so many sublimits.
(31:26):
I feel like we're kind of back in it, Honestly.
I think we took a break and we're back on
a really big supplement craze and so B twelve, vitamin
D and zinc.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
We love those for our body.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Our body needs those nutrients, but in excess amounts, they
can actually cause hormonal imbalances. Yeah, and they're in so
many things now right Again, great things to have. And
I know you're a vegan as well, and so we
have a lot of our community that's also vegans, and
so they're typically taking a a B twelve supplement and
(32:02):
it is a very high dose of B twelve and
it's acting on their testosterone levels and can actually be
triggering acne. So our first thing we always recommend is
work to get it from food sources. There's a lot
of amazing food sources for B twelve, nuts, seeds, et cetera.
But then if you are externally supplementing with a physical supplement,
(32:24):
we always recommend a dropper so you can control your
dose of it and just make sure that you're not
having forty thousand times the amount that you're supposed to
have to in a day, which which does exist in supplements.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
So those are the really big ones to look out for.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
You're saying B twelve. It made me laugh in my head,
but it's actually not that funny. I I it's a
lot of nutritional yeast. Yes, And oh my gosh, I
got my results back recently, and the one thing that
was completely off the charts was my B twelve. It
was beyond any limit that I've ever so I was
(33:00):
having nutritional yeas and everything and that's got B twelve
in it or sometimes added into the nutritional yeast, and
then I'm obviously adding in for like a cheesy flavor.
It makes everything tastes so good. But my B twelve
was crazy, and I was like, wow, this is something
that vegans usually really struggle with, even hitting the lower amounts,
and there I am off the charts with it because
(33:21):
of nutritional use. So I need to read without for that. Actually.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, And so yeah, nutritional yeast is such a good
one for B twelve, but specifically for vegans. If someone
is overdoing it, it could be triggering acne. So just
making sure that you are viewing that as like one
amazing cheesy flavor like I love like a mac and
cheese with the nutritional yeas like since I'm not since
I don't do dairy, so so great, but then managing
(33:44):
like how often during the day, how many times a week,
just to make sure people aren't overdoing it and breakout.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, I was definitely shocked when I saw that. I
was like, damn, I'm a vegan, but this is pretty
good for me.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
It's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
A lot of impressed symptoms though, because of the not.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
That I know, Like I had gone through a phase
where I was getting a load of these were like
under my skin spots, you know, the ones that you
can't pop but they just like sit there. Yes, So
I don't know whether that was linked to it, because
then obviously once I became conscious about it, I cut
down the amount of nutational yeast. But yeah, I don't know.
I need to track whether it correlates to anything else.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
The cool thing about some of these vitamin triggers is
that it'll happen pretty quickly, right. The worst thing is
when you have a delayed reaction, because there could have
been a lot of variables between you know, when you
ate the thing and why you're.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Seeing it in your skin.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
But when you overdo Beach twelve, especially like with beach
twelve shots, yeah, or really potent liquid supplement that'll have
like you know, eighty thousand percent RDV, you'll see it
within like forty eight hours, You'll start getting like hormonal
acne and it gets you right on the jaw. And
that's why so many women think that their acne is
hormonal is because in the quote hormonal zone. But most
(34:52):
things actually create acne in that zone because that's where
the deeper hair follicles are and that's where acne starts.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Are there any other things that you you find, are
these hidden reasons for why people get acne, anything that
people probably wouldn't expect, but actually are causes that you've seen.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Let's see here, not rinsing their face off right after
they exercise.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
That got me a huge one.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Yep, it gets everyone at some point.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
That got me. I was working out and sweat, like
I had started doing really intense workouts or I was
sweating a lot, and then sometimes I'd go shop after
or go do something after, and I wouldn't actually wash
my face straight away, and I started getting all of
these micro micro like it felt like a rush, but
it wasn't. But these all these little tiny spots that
were kind of sitting on my forehead, on the side
(35:37):
of my cheek, and I could not figure out no
matter how much I exfoliated afterwards, no matter how And
this went on for a long period of time, and
then I realized I started getting it all over my skin.
I started getting on my arms, and I was like, oh,
it must be the sweat.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
That's the sweat literally goes right back into your post.
So the good news is it's a really simple salt.
All you have to do is stick your face.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
In the water fountain or it just like splash on.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
It's just removing the sweat in that moment and then
you can go about your day. Yeah, you don't need
to bring your whole like you know, skincare routine to
the yoga studio or anything like that. Simply splashing it
off is a fantastic and effective solution. We also have
for the people that run hot, like I run really hot,
I sweat a lot, and you're not going to like
splash your face off like thirty times a day, right,
(36:21):
But we made something called skin Spray all day and
it's meant to kind of be that refresher for our athletes,
for the you know, personal trainers, the yoga girl, the
people that are kind of active throughout their day and
breaking a bit of a sweat throughout the day. There's
that way to kind of replenish, replenish the skin and
just kind of like hit like an antibacterial reset so
that your sweat doesn't go back into your pores and
(36:42):
create those annoying bumps.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Because everybody gets that.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Yeah, I've been the definitely.
Speaker 5 (36:46):
So great for moms running around.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Hitting their two year old everywhere, running around not being
able to have that free time to even stop.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
Skin spray is a lifesaver.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Okay, nov I'm going to keep it in my call
from now on. Give myself a spider during the day.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
You touched on something else though, you set the back
of your neck, right, and you have curly hair, Yeah,
hair products, especially for curly hair, contain poor clogging ingredients.
And I'm specifically talking about the conditioners and the leven
hydrating products.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Yes I use them they of.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Course right, And those conditioners contain poor clogging ingredients. Shampoos
not as much, but conditioners like ninety eight percent of
the time from what I have reviewed.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Its Yeah, and it's so interesting that you think of, Okay,
when it's skincare, I'm just gonna when it's my skin issues,
I'm just going to focus on what I put on
my skin, and then you forget to think about everything
else that, whether it's perfumes or whether it's things that
you have around in your environment. Even sometimes candles and
things that I extend or can end up affecting so
much of your body.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Yep. I've been hearing a ton of people recently that
certain nail polishes are causing like rashes around their eyes.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Really good.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
Yeah, it's very.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
It's you know how people touching their eyes are.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
No, there's some time a.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Goal that's maybe even when they get the nails done.
I find that when I go to nail salons, actually, yeah,
my skin ends up being itchy or end up getting
reading that headache from the fumes.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Yes, I mean hearing it from a lot of friends
recently that they switched out their polish and the rashes
went away. Yeah, So there's like there's all these little things, right,
that we just have to remember everything that we're putting
on and in our body, not just skincare, can affect
our skin in different ways, and it's it's not to
make people spiral and be afraid of things. What I
(38:30):
find is it's actually more empowering. It's just it's the
power of choice for certain things, and it just brings awareness, awareness,
and intunement to your body. Like you just become more
in tune of like what works me, what doesn't work
for me? You have your things, you figure it out,
and it can be frustrating and overwhelming, and the figuring
out process, it absolutely can be. But when you get
to the other side, you were just so much more
(38:53):
self aware and in tune with your own body and
your own reactions, and you actually start you actually stopping
yourself to other people and you just start comparing yourself
to yourself of like, oh no, this might work for
a lot of other people, but it just does not
work for me, and that's okay, And that's also really empowering.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
At the same time, to just know your body so.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Well definitely helps you to tune in so much. Yeah,
we spoke about what you eliminated or the things to eliminate.
What about things that people should incorporate to help with
the acne in terms of diet and what they should
be eating.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
What transforms for a lot of women is actually eating
in the morning. Oh yeah, intermittent fasting can be a
really great tool, But for women, I truly see it
as a tool and more of a proto call, and
to me, a proto call. You're doing every once in
a while, right, or you're doing it for a week
at a time.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
But as women, our hormones are a.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Lot more delicate, and so there's certain times of the month,
especially around your menstrual cycle, where intermittent fasting can actually
put your body into so much more stress.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
And we know that.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Stress is directly correlated to acne. That's a whole nother
component to it is just stress levels, emotional capacities sometimes
like sometimes you're going through a really big stressor in
the family and that's your acting trigger. And so for women,
we are not meant to intermit and fast every day
all of the time, and so it's really really healthy
(40:17):
for our hormones to be eating first thing in the morning,
especially if we can eat before that caffeine. Truly, I
see so many women's hormones and stress levels shift when
they can eat first thing in the morning.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Wow, And is there anything specific like him protein or
high healthy fats.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah, I would say, I would say kind of trying
to get a little bit of everything in so protein, fats,
and a little bit of carbs. As women, we do
need carbs, getting that nice, nice healthy mixture. So is
it that coconut yogurt with protein powder and chia seeds
on top? Do you go more savory where you're sautaing
up some veggies in the morning and then your choice
of protein, whether that's tofu, chicken, sausage, leftovers from the
(40:57):
night before that you're just reheating in a skillet. Is
it a smoothie that you're getting just the combination where
you're getting maybe some spinach and greens in protein powder
fruit that kind of hits all your categories of protein,
fat and fiber in there. Another one is hydrating before caffeine.
(41:19):
Warm water is best. I mean, you know iraveta best,
So you know that cold water can typically shut down
people's digestive system and kind of close the body off
a bit more so, starting your morning with warm water,
lemon salt just being delicate and allowing your body to
wake up, allowing your body to get in flow for
the day. But having that hydrating drink first thing in
(41:41):
the morning, getting that food in with a healthy combination
of protein, fat, fiber is just going to put you
off to an amazing star It is going to put
your body and mind in a position to make better
choices throughout the day too. You won't be reaching for
the junk food which we do crave when when that
is like sometimes I am so hungry, I'm coming home
(42:02):
from work, I'm starting to make dinner and I'm inhaling chips.
Yes like that, Yeah, yeah, that happens. And so when
you can just make sure that you're eating throughout the
day and not getting to the point of starvation where
you do just inhale a bag of chips or whatever
your go to sources for that minus savory some people
(42:24):
as sweets, and so just making sure that your body
is say sheeted throughout the day. It's going to keep
your energy levels happy, your hormones happy, your stress levels happy,
and it's going to help reduce some of those cravings
that could lead to inhaling some acne triggers in there.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
For someone who is going through it right now and
the spending so much money on products. They are trying
everything under the sun, but it's just not working. What's
the one thing that you would recommend they start with.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Definitely checking and removing poor clogging ingredients. Okay, this is
the thing that affects I want to say like the
eighty twenty ar Old for sure, but I think it
affects everyone in some way to some degree. So no
matter what your source of acne is or what's going
on in your life, poor clogging ingredients will keep you
broken out. So these things mix with your natural oil,
(43:14):
your skin protein, they create a plug and then your
skin just keys kind of growing, you know, on top
of it and around it, and that's when your body
recognizes an invader and that's where you get like bacteria
get trapped in there too. So poor clogging ingredients are
the thing that is ruining most people's skin, and it
also causes accelerated aging and other things besides acne that
(43:35):
we don't want. So the first step is to pull
up you know, it's easier done on a laptop, but
literally everything that you're using, everything that's touching your skin
and your hair, get the ingredients from their website, copy paste,
put it into the checker, see which ones pop up
and red. Then you find the solution the replacement for
those you might find that it's your moisturizer. Most moisturizers
(43:56):
do break people out. Everyone who has had acne their
whole life is like terrified to moisturize, and they're not wrong.
Most moisturizers do break people out, but it is still
important to moisturize. So basically, if you find that your
moisturizer has poor cloggers, get rid of it, or you
can use it like on your legs. You can have
like the sexiest softest knees for your face and anywhere
you break out, make sure that they're completely noncomutogenic, no
(44:19):
poor cloggers. That will make a massive difference, and I
mean massive. The other thing that you can start doing
is dialing in your exfoliation. Most women who break out,
they're exfoliating a little bit, but it might not be
the right type for their skin, or they're relying on
retine or tretinoin. A lot of estheticians really don't recommend
tretonoen for active acne or inflamed acne. It can create
(44:42):
more irritation and purging, and then you're just stuck in
this constant cycle.
Speaker 4 (44:46):
We prefer mandelic acid.
Speaker 1 (44:47):
It works more quickly, more effectively, and it plays nice
with other things, and it actually dissolves the stuff that's.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
In the poor that's breaking you out.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
So getting rid of poor cloggers and incorporating a mandelic
acid call it every other night, make a huge difference.
Like you can have new like new skin where like
everyone's being like, wow, your skin looks amazing, like inside
of a week if you make just those changes.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Woh, such simple changes but can make such a difference.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Nowadays, I feel like skincare routines are literally like twelve
steps long. If with your skin care run, what are
some of the basic steps that someone needs to take?
Like what are things that people are adding in right
now that are just unnecessary? How many steps should a
routine really be?
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I think it's unnecessary to have a bunch of steps
to remove your makeup right A lot of cleansers are
they're kind of underwhelming. Yeah, And if a cleanser's not
getting your makeup off.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
What is it doing?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
It's like, what is it doing?
Speaker 1 (45:42):
And a lot of the really common cleansers that people
are using. I'm not going to say any names right now,
but there's a lot of cleansers out there that just
don't do the job. Like if you're you know, doing
a toner step afterwards and you still have a ton
of foundation on after your cleanse, that cleanser is not
going to get rid of it. You can use it
as a body wash, but so a lot of women
are doing to multiple cleansing steps and then makeup removing
(46:04):
wipes and then some other type of like cleanse to
get their eye makeup off. So it's like a bunch
of different cleansing steps and it creates a lot of
friction on the skin, especially around the delicate eye area.
You never want to be tugging the eye skin just
to get your makeup off. So I think that's the
number one area where I'm constantly troubleshooting for people because
then their eyes are just irritated and things are burning
(46:25):
them and it just creates this cascade effect.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
Okay, that's a good one. I was going to ask
you about oils actually, because there are so many times
where I mean I went through a phase where I
was using a lot of natural oils on my skin?
Is that something if someone's got acne that they should
avoid completely love this question.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
So we use the commutogenic scale when we're judging ingredients, right.
Commutogenic means how likely it is to clog your poor
and create a comodont okay.
Speaker 4 (46:51):
So the scale is zero to five.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Zero is completely say think watery, I'm not going to
clog your poor.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
It cannot do that. Hyaluronic acid is another one.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
That's then there's things that are a five like they
will start clogging you know.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
That's like your coconut oil.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Like things that are like waxy at room temperature, things
like palm oil, things like that, right, And then that
most things are somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 4 (47:13):
For example, olive oil is regarded as a two oho
okay out of five.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Right, So if you don't have acne at all, you
might be able to use olive oil as a moisturizer
and it could be great for you. So it really
depends on how acne prone you are and where those
oils sit on the committogenic scale. Most essential oils like
the ones like say bergamont or like lavender like things
that are more known for medicinal or you know, aroma qualities.
Speaker 4 (47:37):
Most of those are going.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
To be completely noncommutogenic. However, they can be a little
bit caustic or irritating, so you want to dilute them,
dilute them a lot into and into what's called a
carrier oil. So most essential oils are not going to
break you out. They could just be irritants. It's a
different conbo. But as far as the other oils that
you just want to use for general moisture, there are
(47:59):
a few that are completely acne safe. Hemp oil which
is my personal favorite. Yeah, hempseed oil is fantastic. You
can get it cold pressed. It smells like kind of
like light, nutty delicious, So that one's fantastic. Argone oil
is another one that's very safe for people. Castor oil,
believe it or not, even though it's very thick, it's
known to be a zero on the.
Speaker 3 (48:21):
Yeah, and do they hydrate?
Speaker 2 (48:23):
They do.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Some oils are a lot thinner and more they can
be a little bit more hydrating then the thicker oils.
Like I wouldn't use castor oil as my moisturizer. Like, yes,
it's going to hydrate, but it's going to be more
of a slugging effect. I aren't necessarily going to deliver
that juicy hydration that you ultimately want. And then there's
other oils that are a little bit thinner, like rose
hips oil. Rose Hip is hydrating, So there's just a
(48:46):
few out there. Another couple of ones that you'll see
in cosmetics that are acne safe are sunflower oil safflower oil.
So those happen to have a commutogenic grating of zero
to know.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
Actually, I always thought that maybe oils ended up just
being plugging because it was, but now you know there's
a good range of it.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
I think when folks are trying to give someone acne
advice and they don't know the details, they'll just say
be safe, stay away from oils.
Speaker 4 (49:11):
It is kind of an old way of thinking.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
I think that that was kind of the I want
to call it propaganda, but that was like kind of
like what like you know, back in the nutrigena era,
like that's what people used to say. And again, this
stuff isn't studied in medical school. So I think a
lot of derms will just add of caution for their patients,
say avoid oils, because they know a lot of them
can read cavoc. So I think it just became a
(49:32):
blanket statement.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
To just avoid oils.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
The oil free became a marketing designation, but I've seen
stuff that's marketed as oil free aimed at the ACTI consumer,
but the primary filler is isopropyle miror state, which is.
Speaker 4 (49:45):
Far worse than most oil.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
Well, that's where people get tripped up, and that's why
we're so focused on teaching about poor clogging ingredients.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
One of my favorite products of yours is the black
human seed oil. Yes, yes, is it cool? Good sea? Yes? One.
I love it because I have such a deep purpose
of sharing how spices can help heal your body so much. Yep,
they can help protect heel support in so many ways.
So when I saw that, I started taking it and
I absolutely love it. Could you share why black cuman
(50:14):
seed oil is so incredible for the skin.
Speaker 1 (50:17):
It's incredible for a lot of systems in the body.
So one thing about clear Sum is we have a
blood work wing of the business. It's called our Acne
lab panel, and we have blood chemists that are specifically
trained to look at things through the acne lens. And
after thousands of people were getting their blood work done,
with us. We kept seeing the same things emerge, a
lot of gut dyspiosis, you know, unwanted pathogens and just
(50:40):
kind of like immune burden. And Black Human seed oil
is really really known and you know, time tested for
helping ward off unwanted pathogens. It's not a wide scale
antibiotic or anything like that, but it just helps give
you that extra boost, so it helps with the gut
and that helps with the skin. And then also it's
in good seeds is a little bit of seed oil,
(51:01):
which is fabulous. Anyone that's done skin seed cycling for
their hormones is kind of like, you know, in love
with pumpkin seed oil. It has that natural amount of
zinc that we really really want, but again it's not
too too much, so it's perfect. And then the Seabucks
thorn seed oil the Omega seven, so that combination with
the Black Human is like a trifecta for helping multiple
areas of the body that impact your skin.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
I loved to actually started taking it after I got
food poisoning for like a short period of time, and
I could feel that my gut was just not happy,
and I could see that my skin wasn't happy. Every
time my gut's messed up, I know it's on my
skin straight away, And so when I started taking that,
I honestly felt like I felt a difference within a
couple of weeks, like it was so great. That makes it.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Also helps with blood sugar, yes, which helps everybody exactly.
Speaker 4 (51:45):
Everyone needs help with blood sugar.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
And one of my additionally one of my favorite aspects
of it is how it supports underlying infection. So one
of the what I think craziest things we've been seeing
in the acne lab panel is so many people have
very essentially like micro amounts of underlying infections. It can
be strap, it can be staff, and it's not showing
(52:08):
up anywhere else in the body except for acne. Some
people can receive it differently, right. It can show up
as a rash, it can it can actually show up
underlying strap, can show up as back pain somewhere. It's
pretty wild how underlying infections can show up in the body.
But since we are focused on acne and people are
coming to us with acne, we are seeing so many
(52:29):
cases that have these underlying infections, and black human seed
oil can be so helpful.
Speaker 5 (52:35):
For mitigating underlying infections.
Speaker 1 (52:38):
It was helping so many people after they were doing
the lad panels. So we just we're like, more people
need this amazing. Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much.
Speaker 3 (52:45):
Is there anything else that you'd love to share for
anybody that would be struggling right now, have been in
a place that you've been, any words of encouragement or
love sending out to them.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
Truly sending so much love. We have a really great
checklist and I'll make sure or that we repost it
around the time of this podcast too. I also believe
it's in one of our blogs on our website. If not,
I'll double check to make to make sure it is.
But we have this checklist that makes it really easy,
and it's everything we talked about on this podcast because
(53:15):
a lot of people will maybe be taking notes during
this podcast and trying to figure out like, okay.
Speaker 5 (53:20):
This, make sure I eliminate this, should I do that?
Speaker 2 (53:22):
And so we have this amazing checklist you can just
save to your phone that has the categories of food supplement,
stress triggers, and then of course we have our poor
clogging checklist. If you don't use a laptop, we have
our poor clogging checklist on.
Speaker 5 (53:35):
Our app too.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
That's just it's so easy from your phone with the
clear Stem app. But yes, this checklist and you can
just go through it and just get in tune with
your body and just see from this checklist maybe what's
going on in your diet and your lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (53:52):
And commit to sixty days. You can commit to anything
for sixty days, go through the checklist, eliminate the big triggers,
and see how you respond. And it is so beyond helpful.
Speaker 3 (54:03):
I just want to say, it is actually really refreshing
and beautiful to see people who have been through something
and are able to have actually gone through the experience
and then created something from that. There are so many
products out there, so many skincare brands. We all know
they're just shops and shops filled with it. But to
have people who've actually been through it, who've done so
much research on it, who've lived it themselves and have
(54:25):
come out the other side, to then know that this works,
it's just it's really wonderful to see that. So thank
you guys so much for sharing everything you've learned with
the world through your products. Thank you, and I'm so grateful,
thank you for being here.
Speaker 4 (54:36):
Like why
Host
Radhi Devlukia
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