mandelic acid experience [Archive]

Arky

09-19-2011, 08:49 AM

..I have severly clogged pores and very sensitive skin

For improving your clogged & sensitive skin, you could try cleansing your liver, gallbladder & bowel whilst also increasing your intake of herbs that support & protect the liver. Turmeric, milkthistle, artichoke & chanca piedra all aid both liver & gallbladder health. This will improve your health generally but will also aid your body in handling fats & oils more effectively, which will have a direct effect upon the skin. Please don't underestimate the direct link between hepato-biliary health & skin health, since the skin is the largest organ of detoxification in the body, followed by the liver and the bowel. Also note that excessive consumption of fats/oils has a detrimental effect upon the hepato-biliary system & thus has negative ramifications for skin health. Excessive fat intake can be a risk when eating a raw diet, since many people tend to rely upon seeds & nuts excessively in order to obtain sufficient daily calories without relying upon consuming excessive fruit/fructose (itself a hazard for health, in a number of ways, though fruitarians will argue against this 'til they're blue in the face; each to their own. But I digress...).

You were a little ambiguous about exactly what you mean when you say your skin is 'sensitive', but if you mean it's sensitive to various chemicals & substances, this can imply that there may be a liver congestion issue. The reasons for this remark can get very lengthy so I'll refrain from explaining them here, but I assure you that multiple chemical sensitivities etc. can very definitely relate to impaired liver detoxification, hence the value of protecting & supporting the function of the liver for someone with skin issues (& indeed almost any systemic health issue) is easily apparent. If you mean histamine issues then that's a different topic (though I'll just mention that flavanoid-rich substances such as tea are helpful for reducing histamine response).

Also consider increasing your intake of antioxidant compounds such as:

flavonoids: (quercetin - onions, apples), wine, green tea, citrus pith (not to excess, since although citrus bioflavonoids promote integrity of blood vessels & capillaries, they contain naringenin, which can have a slowing effect upon Phase 1 liver enzyme activity), beetroot, berry fruits, walnuts & pear skins (both contain elagic acid). (beetroot is also rich in methyl donors which assist the liver in disarming toxins on a molecular basis, & juiced beetroot is fabulously detoxifying to the both the liver and the bowel).

procyanidins: (a sub-group of flavonoids e.g. grapeseed & pinebark, AKA 'Pycnogenol', hawthorn, bilberry etc.)

carotenoids: beta-carotene (dunaliela salina, turmeric, carrots, sweet potatoes etc.), lutein (kale, avocado, marigold petals), astaxanthin (the pink algae-derived pigment present in seafood but also available in supplement form 'BioAstin'), lycopene (tomatoes - never from a can as the cans inner coating may contain bisphenol compounds, red grapefruit, red water melon). Remember that carrot juice also happens to aid liver & bowel detoxification.

anti-oxidant & anti-inflammatory culinary herbs, including rosemary (contains carnosic acid) & thyme.

Omega 3-rich foods. Omega 3 tends to promote anti-inflammatory prostaglandin synthesis within the body & additionally nourishes cells throughout the body, including the skin. There is a natural 'flow' of dietary fats/oils through the pores of the skin, which serves many purposes for skin health - for example, not only does this 'flow' of oil protect the skin, it also, under the right conditions, cleanses the pores. Therefore, it is important to ensure one is consuming sufficient levels of appropriate fats, & avoiding or at least minimising damaged fats such as those fried at high temperature or those that have become otherwise oxidised (rancid).

Foods rich in vitamins A, C, & E, many of which overlap with some of the many foods already mentioned. Zinc is also important, &, on a vegan diet, can be obtained from many nuts & seeds, but of course one needs to be careful not to consume too many fats or this will be counterproductive. Silicon is beneficial for the skin (get it from fruits & vegetables with shiny skins, including romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, bell peppers, apples etc.). Sulphur is also beneficial for the skin, which is why one often sees MSM being recommended (it's a Methyl Sulfonyl Methane), but some people have issues with MSM, & I don't personally use it (http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?42893-MSM-Powder-Warning). Also, where sulphur-rich foods are concerned, bear in mind the 'thiols' caveat concerning people with heavy metal intoxication (a classic example of which is those people who have dental amalgams). FWIW, radishes are rich in both sulphur & silicon.

In particular, the following are especially good for improving skin vitality:

turmeric (it's a potent antioxidant but also has known beneficial activity for gallbladder, skin, bowel, & skin. In ancient Ayurvedic medicine, turmeric is ascribed great reverence for its positive effects upon the skin. Try to obtain turmeric from a reputable supplier, & ideally organic, because relatively high levels of pesticides tend to be used in the growing of turmeric & ginger)

astaxanthin (generally, it's best to use food rather than supplements but astaxanthin is a reasonable exception if you're vegan. Astaxanthin is an incredibly powerful antioxidant but also does incredible things for the skin, apparent within less than a week of taking it).

Pine bark (expensive but powerful), or grapeseed (cheaper substitute for pine bark which isn't quite as good but does come close). Realistically, pine bark ('Pycnogenol' being the high quality version) is (at a worthwhile minimum dosage of 100mg) prohibitively expensive for most people (cheapest I know of is Healthy Origins brand at iHerb.com). Therefore, grapeseed tends to be more viable; many people use 250mg grapeseed extract each day with good results (Now Foods do a good 'Grape Seed, Mega Potency', & also offer a great value 'Super Antioxidants' product which covers many of the bases discussed in this post, although the grapeseed component is at too low a dose on its own. I'm not a doctor & I'm not telling you what to do, but if I personally found myself in your situation, I'd probably be inclined to combine the 'Super Antioxidants' with the 'Grape Seed, Mega Potency').

Green or White tea (as well as being consumed internally, it can additionally be applied directly to the skin. Tea is mildly acidic, which the skin likes, & is rich in flavonoids etc.). Incidentally, for different reasons, fresh cereal grass juice (wheat, oat, barley, spelt, kamut - whatever suits your palette), both internally & externally-applied, is great for the skin, too.

There's plenty more discussion on liver cleansing etc. in relation to skin health if you dig around in the forum archives (for example, there's one entitled 'question about wrinkles', IIRC). Always remember that the connection between the liver & the bowel is a 2-way street - they are intimately interlinked, &, as mentioned at the outset, poor liver function is invariably reflected in poor skin health. If you regularly consume carrot juice, beet juice, & perhaps also cereal grass juice, these will all have a wonderfully detoxifying (& nourishing & protective) effect upon the liver & the bowel, which your whole body will benefit from, including your skin. Consume a good quantity of pure water each day, too, along with the above dietary recommendations & you'll likely look years younger than your junkfood-guzzling peers ;)

As far as mandelic acid goes, I confess I'd not heard of it until you mentioned it, but, googling it, I see it is popular in the cosmetic surgery & cosmetics industries. Apparently, it's derived from the skin of almonds, which, surprise-surprise, are rich in flavanoids!

Lastly, I'll just mention that Alpha Lipoic Acid is popular in anti-aging circles, for it's powerful antioxidant effects which support good skin health. Alpha lipoic acid is an interesting antioxidant because it is relatively rare in it's ability to operate as both a water-soluble and a lipid-soluble antioxidant. This means it can work inter-cellularly, and intra-cellularly - or, to put it another way, it can work between cells, inside cells, and it can support the health of cell membranes (which are lipid-rich). Furthermore, alpha lipoic acid is able to protect & aid detoxification of the liver. Basically, this all sounds marvelous, and indeed it is, but there is one major caveat that 99% of the natural health & the cosmetics industry overlooks, out of nothing more or less than ignorance. This caveat is that alpha lipoic acid is also a powerful chelator of heavy metals within the body - again, this sounds marvelous, & it can be, when used extremely carefully, in tiny doses, & under controlled circumstances. But used indiscriminately, & in high doses (anything you find in a health shop is an extremely high dose), alpha lipoic acid has massive potential for shifting heavy metals across the blood-brain barrier, into the brain, instead of out of the body via the bowel. We all live in an increasingly toxic environment & unless we are certain that we have negligible levels of heavy metals in our system, it is very prudent to avoid consuming alpha lipoic acid. A safer alternative which also operates inter-cellularly, & intra-cellularly is astaxanthin.

If anything else occurs to me, I'll come back & edit, but that's about it for now. Take care.