Causes of Hormonal Acne and How to Get Rid of it

At the basic level, acne is a chronic inflammatory condition. So, with this basic definition in mind, how do you know how to eliminate hormonal acne?

The best way to prevent hormonal acne naturally is to take a holistic approach that includes diet, lifestyle, and a balanced skincare routine. While it may be tempting to focus on just the skincare routine, some, strategic food and lifestyle tweaks allow you to overcome the underlying inflammation. As a result, you get fast and lasting results.

The main factor that triggers hormonal Acne

To address the inflammation that causes hormonal acne, we have to identify what causes inflammation.

And it emphasizes one thing: stress. But we are not talking here only about emotional stress.

There are three types of stress that we can face. These are emotional stress, chemical stress, and physical stress.

All 3 forms of stress trigger the body’s stress response system, which is also part of our natural inflammatory response.

1. Emotional Strength

It is very self-explanatory and includes things like anxiety, worry, or a busy / over-busy schedule.

2. Chemical Strength

Chemical stress can be just as bad these days – or even more emotional stress.

Because the most common source of chemical stress is the food we eat every single day.

In addition to food, makeup and skincare products may contain ingredients that add more stress to the body.

Also, water and air are possible sources of stress-inducing chemicals.

3. Physical structure

This can include things like a wound, an injured muscle, or misalignment in your spine (or other body parts).

How to know if your ACNE is a hormonal

In general, acne is considered to be related to hormones if it:

• It generally occurs on the lower part of the face such as the jawline and chin.
• Flare before your period at other stages of life during pregnancy, during menopause, or during a significant change of hormones.
• Hormone therapy such as birth control leads to or worse.

In addition to the above, hormonal conditions like PCOS can also cause acne to worsen.

High androgens and insulin resistance are quite common in PCOS patients. And as we saw, imbalances in both of those hormones contribute significantly to inflammation and hormonal acne.

Note: The suggestions given in this section are general guidelines. The only way to ensure that your acne is related to hormones is to have your hormones tested by a doctor.

How to eliminate hormonal acne naturally at home

In this section, we are going to look at your skin, lifestyle, and how to use skincare routines to make your skin clear faster.

If your acne is really severe, it is best to follow all these steps.

However, you can start with whatever makes the most sense for you and add on others as time passes.

1. Add more hormone balance foods to your acne diet

The most effective step you can take to cleanse your skin is to eat more hormone-friendly foods.

Here are the 5 categories of hormone-balancing foods:

Crunchy vegetables

Plant proteins

Naturally, fatty foods

Antioxidant-rich fruits

Green Vegetables

2. Start seed cycling to Acne

Seed cycling is a food-based approach to hormone balance that is synchronized with your menstrual cycle.

Under seed cycling, you can intake a specific set of seeds during each phase of your cycle:

• Follicular stage: flaxseeds and pumpkin seeds.
• Luteal phase: mole And sunflower seeds.

Each set of seeds provides nutrients that support the fluctuations of our hormones naturally.

Now, even though there is not a lot of scientific research surrounding seed cycling, it is a method often taught to naturopaths.

And there is significant evidence on social media and other blogs from women who have successfully used the seed cycle to improve their hormones and skin.

3. Support gut health to keep away acne

Not only is skin our largest organ, but it is also an elimination organ (which causes us to sweat).

However, the skin is not meant for heavy elimination. That work is for your colon!

Therefore, it is important to keep your colon healthy and ensure that you have at least 1 bowel movement every single day.

For acne, it means a lot that if you can’t get rid of that waste through the colon, your body can try to get it out through the skin.

And this will only worsen your acne.

Therefore, make sure to intake plenty of gut-friendly foods.

Now, the good news is that we talked earlier about hormone-friendly foods which are also very good for your stomach.

Saying that there are two gut-friendly foods that I want to highlight here: bone broth (or vegetarian broth if you are a vegetarian/vegan) and probiotic foods.

• The broth is a concentrated source of nutrients that cures the lining of the intestine.
• Probiotic foods (such as fermented veggies) contain live bacteria that are beneficial for remodeling your gut bacteria.

Including these two intestinal-friendly foods in your diet can give a lot of boost to your skin.

4. Support healthy liver function

Before the toxins can be eliminated from the body, they have to be taken out of the blood.

And the liver is responsible for that work. It basically takes blood from the digestive system, filters it, and then sends it to the rest of the body.

So, maintaining a healthy liver makes it easier to get rid of any toxins that contribute to inflammation.

Here are two things that can help you in performing your liver function properly:

• Eat more anti-inflammatory foods, basically the same hormone-balancing foods we talked about earlier!.
• Include bitter foods in your diet as they are particularly healing and nutritious for the liver. Choose from things like Green Tea, Andivez, Radish, Dandelion, and Kali.

5. Use Acne Supplements Wisely

One thing that determines how well a supplement works is how much you actually absorb it.

And it is completely dependent on the health of your gut and digestive system. If both of these things are not in good shape, you cannot absorb any of the good stuff that complements them. And it may appear that the supplement is not working.

Therefore, before you go crazy on supplements you make sure that you are taking care of your stomach.

Once you are doing this I recommend starting with a good daily multivitamin. This saves you from having to buy a lot of different supplements and you only have to bother about taking one thing.

In addition to a daily multivitamin, other acne supplements that are helpful to some women include evening primrose oil, L-lysine, fish oil, zinc, Vitex, and vitamin C.

6. Prioritize self-care to reduce stress

The effects of a busy lifestyle on emotional stress and hormonal acne are easy to underestimate.

Nevertheless, as we have seen in this article, our bodies react to all stress in the same way.

So, making time for self-care can be a fun and relaxing way for you to support less swollen and healthier skin.

Now, when it comes to self-care, there is no one-size-fits-all.

What is relaxing and stress relief for one person can be boring and stress-inducing for another.

So, you may have to do a little experimentation to see what works for you.

However, here are some general suggestions:

• Physical activities such as yoga, dance, or hiking.
• Deviation of essential oils.
• Adult coloring books.
• Journalism.
• Favorite cooking.

7. Adopt a simpler and more natural skincare routine

When creating a skincare routine for hormonal acne, look for products that include:

• Non-comedogenic means that it does not contain ingredients that close the pores.
• As natural as possible. In particular, you want to avoid potential hormone inhibitors of pro-inflammatory ingredients. This means watch out for ingredients such as parabens, triclosan, phthalates, siloxanes, BHA, and BHT.

Also, be careful not to over-clean your skin. Even though oily skin and clogged pores can cause an overgrowth of bacteria, over-cleaning the skin – especially with harsh ingredients – can also destroy healthy bacteria that naturally sit on the skin.

Overall, less is better.

As a way to get your hands on more natural products, you can go the DIY route or buy from a company like SW Basics. Their products typically contain 5 or fewer ingredients.

It happens. With so little material, there is nothing to worry about.

Here are some of their products to consider for your routine:

S.W. Basics Toner

S.W Basics Cleaner

Finally, consider using a simple oil Like jojoba oil as your daily moisturizer.

Now, you may think that it will make your acne worse, but Jojoba oil is the only oil that is closest to the natural sebum that our skin produces.

And research shows that applying jojoba oil on the skin actually signals to your body that it does not need to produce more sebum.

Also, jojoba oil is non-comedogenic so that your pores can actually breathe!

Does Drinking Water Help Acne?

Water helps to flush out the waste from the body. Therefore, it can help eliminate toxins that are closing your pores and contributing to inflammation.

Do HORMONAL ACNE ever Goes away?

Overall, acne is an external inflammatory condition that is a reflection of the internal inflammation experienced in the body.

So once you start changing the conditions that cause internal inflammation, your skin will also start to clear.

And the fastest way to begin to see results is to eat more foods that support your hormones, gut, and liver.

As you make dietary changes, you can start incorporating self-care practices into your life, as well as simplifying your skincare routine.

With this holistic approach, you can achieve clear, glowing skin that you can enjoy for decades to come!