In high street stores and chemists across the UK, products that are unhelpful, like harsh alcohol toners, are targeted at teens with acne. These are too harsh for more permeable skin, and can increase sensitivity, leading to the stripping of the delicate acid mantle, and no doubt increased oil production as a consequence.

Acne skin conditions are often treated incorrectly by damaging skin more, rather than looking to balance and calm the skin, whilst providing the nourishment and vitamins skin may be lacking.

We take the holistic view that creating a gentle and healing skin regime, combined with healthier eating and drinking more water, alongside proper medical advice, will reduce symptoms, stage by stage.

Although acne may well be triggered by hormonal changes occurring naturally within an individual as their hormones develop, or during monthly menses, good care and nourishment of the skin can reduce some of the symptoms.

Acne can be linked with stress, as stress can affect digestion, which affects gut health, and subsequent absorption from foods.

Going to a GP and getting a dermatologist to identify the causes and type of acne, plus talking through treatment options, is the wisest first step. Being well informed about your choice of treatment plan, is essential. Then you can choose how to trial and combine prescriptions, holistic skincare options, and healthier life style choices.

Acne and health

Increasing your daily fruit and vegetables intake and eating more whole grained foods like brown rice and own bread, whilst decreasing fast carbs and sugars from cakes, sweets or fried foods will help improve your overall health. Drinking more water around the week before or at the onset of periods, can help dilute the hormones causing skin issues, if skin breakouts tend to time with your periods. For boys a similar rush of hormones may occur at times, so drinking more water may help flush through the system.

Drinking enough water overall is a cure all for many health conditions, e.g. 15 cups for a Male 11 Cups for a female spread out over your day. You only need a cup and 1/2 to re hydrate yourself fully when you remember!

Acne skin is often low in much needed linoleic acids. So replacing these acids, and creating a healthy skin environment is also important.

Cleansing should be gentle, with a PH balanced approach, absolutely no scrubbing, or excessive exfoliation, as this will only prompt skin to react by producing more oil to protect itself. Some skin will react even to fingers touching it by producing oil, so it’s best to avoid touching skin a lot.

Deep Ocean Facial Mud Bar

A gentle wash in the morning will suffice with a product like Deep Ocean Facial Mud Bar, which you lather between the hands and use a little of the lather to wash skin, and then rinse. This would be fine to use at night also, to remove pollution and daily grime before sleep.

This cleansing bar has healing ‘Ocean Clay Maris Limus’ which has been shown to reduce sebum production by 95 % in clinical studies - and more importantly is otherwise gentle enough to do no harm.

Our product Salvation Angel Clay, has a blend of clays (Green Blue and Healing Sea Clay Maris Limus) which over time we have found through our own research, to be the best at healing up skin problems.

Our clays are gentle and do not make skin red or irritate it.

How To Use The Salvation Angle Clay

Mix with a little water and spread with a mask brush into the areas that need a deep cleanse, e.g. the T panel, around the nose and chin etc. Use the mask brush to work into the pores gently. Only a thin layer is needed, and remember clays are activated with water but do not need to be very thick. You can leave the clay for 10 minutes to dry on the skin or rinse it off before it is completely dry. Rinse away with a warm clean flannel, and lukewarm water. You can rinse clay off with your hands but this takes a little longer.

It is possible to use the clay in your hand, and just use a little to clean your skin everyday, and rinse immediately e.g. using the clay as a powder wash.

After cleansing, always use a clean dry towel to pat dry, and then moisturise with a non-comedogenic product like ‘Immortal Flower Cream’ which has a balanced blend of essential fatty acids and is a ‘High Linoleic Oil’ product with no pore congesting ingredients. It’s rich in micronutrients that will support the health of the skin flora, and help restore the acid mantle.

Immortal Flower Cream

This cream also has a little salicylic acid as part of its preservation system and has 7 fruit and flower seed oils which have a balanced blend of micronutrients but are exclusively high in polyunsaturated fatty acids that do not trigger permeable skin conditions.

As skin starts to improve with a basic cleansing routine and twice a week masking, plus nutritious hydration, you could add a High Linoleic Vitamin C Oil like Radiance Oil to improve the levels of fatty acids in the skin. This oil has very active fatty acids that the skin can absorb. When using a facial oil on oily skin, cleanse and then apply a few drops of the oil, and allow several minutes to let it soak in, massaging lightly. if your skin does not absorb all of the oil, blot lightly with a clean tissue, and apply moisturiser over this to aid the absorption.

In many cases acne skin is also dry in patches, which shows its need for love and care rather than a stripping or harsh approach. You can tell if your skin is ready for an oil serum like radiance oil, simply by the way your skin absorbs the oil.

Offering skin a chance to replenish itself can help the overall health, improving skin naturally as it takes the vitamins it needs from the products you use, rather than trying to fix conditions symptom by symptom. Our products are handmade and natural and have not been clinically tested, though many of our ingredients have, so we really welcome any feedback and thoughts from you as to how things have worked.