My mother in law likes to try natural remedies and nontraditional kinds of medicines and treatments in her daily life.  It’s interesting because she has certain “wonder” substances, like colloidal silver, that she sincerely believes can cure almost anything.  I haven’t tried colloidal silver on every malady, but it has helped with certain things.  Specifically, I have shortened the duration of some sore throats by gargling the stuff.  She also believes in witch hazel. 

According to my mother in law, witch hazel is the best thing you can use to keep your skin clear and free from acne.  She promised me that it could sooth and heal any skin problem.  I was a little skeptical about it when I last went to stay with her, (because I’m skeptical of everything that sounds too good to be true) but I did end up trying it out.  While I was staying at her house, I got a large painful insect bite on the top of my foot.  I was itching it relentlessly and my mother in law saw.  She poured witch hazel over the bite, and immediately the itching stopped.  Within a few minutes, the swelling was already starting to go down.  It was amazing!  Apparently it is good for skin irritation and swelling too!

I always wonder what they will say next about the connection of this to obesity or that to obesity.  But why not connect everything to acne?  I mean they say that those who are breastfed for longer have a lower rate of obesity.  Well if you’re considering the countries in which women breastfeed as a general rule for the longest, you see that they are generally third world countries, so that could be an indicator of why. 

But you know, they could test some PETA participants, because they’ve done crazy stunts for example like having human breastfeeding I don’t know to protest against the drinking of animal milk.  Or test the kids who were say breastfed for a year or more as opposed to those that weren’t at all due to whatever circumstances, see if they have more acne.  See of those PETA participants had less acne after that.  It would certainly be interesting. 

You can’t say it wouldn’t at least be that.  Now I can’t say I wouldn’t shamelessly laugh at any scientist who tried to pull that.  But it would be interesting at least in theory for a while.  And science studies so many other stupid things, why not.

Mineral makeup has been one of the latest and most popular trends in skincare, makeup, you name it.  There is Bare Minerals, which is by far the most popular of course.  But it is basically composed of minerals that apparently don’t have the capacity to support bacteria.  They ideally don’t have parabens, oils, talc, dyes, fragrances, or fillers in general, and they say that they go lightly on the skin, also being appropriate for those with acne prone or rosacea prone skin. 

But there’s no regulation at the moment as to what a “mineral” makeup should be made up of.  They could use non mineral ingredients and still call it minerals. They could sell the same product as before and call it minerals frankly.  Your skin needs to breathe, and frankly if it’s done right, mineral make up does not coat the skin or stop it from breathing.  It therefore allows you to avoid the acne often associated with makeup in general. 

But the trouble is just finding one that actually fits the bill.  That can be far more complicated than one would think.  The trick is to just get a full set of information on any given product so that quite frankly you know what you are getting into.

The “Got Milk” campaign helped spread the news that you just have to have calcium if you want strong bones, but there’s more to the story than milk moustaches.  Your body lacks the ability to process calcium on its own.  You could consume calcium until the cows come home, but it would do you no good without vitamin D.  Why?  Because your digestive tract cannot absorb calcium without vitamin D.

How do you get vitamin D?  While you can get it from certain foods (I’ll tell you which in a minute) the primary source of this vitamin is that big yellow ball in the sky.  Simply spending a few minutes in the sun every couple of days is enough to give you all the vitamin D you need.  That’s not a big deal for most of us, even if we spend most of our time at a desk.  You can get sunlight by walking outside on your lunch break rather than sticking to the break room for the full hour.

But if you might not be getting enough sun and you’re concerned about getting vitamin D, you can it from the yolks of eggs, fish oils, or your morning orange juice.  Some milk and other products have vitamin D added to them and these are clearly labeled. 

Sebum, it is constantly known as a nasty substance that builds up in your pores, causes your face to be really oily and greasy, and essentially causes your acne to get worse.  and to some degree, all of our sterotypes, stories, etc are true.  it is a waxy substance that can irritate the skin, clog pores, cause pimples, turn into blackheads, and it is generally comprised of a variety of different elements such as squalene, glycerides, fatty acids, and cholesterol.  When our hormones rage out of control, our sebum production goes up.

There are treatments such as Accutane that are known to reduce or stop oil production all together in the skin.  But it’s hard to do, being that oil is produced literally in every pore of the skin.  And it’s not necessarily all that beneficial, being that we actually need it.  As we age, oil production and moisture in the skin decreases.  this is one of the major factors responsible for the process of premature aging.  In addition, sebum in the right amounts actually protects your skin from losing water, infectious bacteria, and fungi.  it reduces body odor and even protects the immune system.  it is only when its production is too high and hormones are up that it becomes a problem. 

So instead of trying to stop sebum production all together ot letting sebum become the bain of your acne existence, try keeping it under control instead.  Try keeping your skin clean and eating a little less fatty foods.  This could help to keep your sebum levels under control rather than stopping them all together and damaging your skin as we have seen with Accutane