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Acne some of the facts

February 20, 2017

Acne some of the facts

Acne most commonly occurs in young pubescent adults, but can also occur at other times throughout our lives.  - its shows itself as an excess of blackheads and whiteheads, open pores and obvious red bumps or pimples, pustules and in some cases cyst or boils. The skin may also appear angry with areas of redness.


The cause is mainly still a mystery but there are some factors that play their part in this condition;

Hormones - They are busy stimulating sebum production ( oil) this substance that is responsible for keeping the surface of the skin protected but can lead to the pores becoming congested and blocked which lead to the pimples and all those nasties forming.

Food - Teenagers are often guilty of eating too many of the ‘naughty’ foods. These, however, aren't believed to cause acne but they certainly don’t improve it. It is, however, important to increase general wellbeing at this time, to support the body.

It's a great idea to encourage your teenager to Up the Greens - Introducing a fruit smoothie with a sneaky handful of spinach ( it’s virtually tasteless ) as this gives an added boost of Essential Vitamins and Minerals, include a banana as this helps them with energy and keeps them full ( speaking as a mother of a teenage boy!).

Dirt - It’s important to cleanse the skin gently and to avoid stripping the skin - It is very important to keep the Acid mantel or barrier of the skin intact as it's imperative to skin health- acting like a forcefield in keeping bacteria out of the lower layers of the skin. But at the same time as removing unwanted excess sebum.

Also be aware of keeping clean things such as helmet straps, collars, glasses and goggles as these are areas where bacteria like to hang out! Wash these regularly in warm soapy water.
Note- In the case of teenage makeup wearing girls, washing their makeup brushes regularly ( at least once a week) as this is also a breeding ground for bacteria.

Stress- Never more than today is there such pressure on teenagers and it comes in so many forms with the prolific use of social media and peer pressure at school. Childhood anxiety is on the rise. This can sometimes increase the desire to pick at the face - something to be deeply discouraged as this introduces bacteria into the skin. Stress is a known hormone disruptor so these are two are linked.

Caring for Acneic skin
A lot of the products on the market are very astringent and or stripping of the skin, this initially gives the acne suffer comfort as the skin feels squeaky clean but leaves the skin open and exposed to more bacteria invasion. It’s important to gently cleanse the skin and treat the skin topically with something of an antibacterial nature just to help inhibit the growth of bacteria.
Ferlow Botanical recommendation would be Neem soap, this doesn’t strip the skin and has all the wonderful antibacterial and healing qualities of Neem.
My recommended treatment would be Tea Tree oil - this can be applied directly to the very angry cyst and boils, or diluted in the form of Tea Tree Cream for a more general application.

This isn't a one size fits all, so if you have further questions or problems feel free to email me privately sam@ferlowbotanicals.com and I can give you a more specific guidence.