Best Ways to Heal Blackheads and Comedones Naturally

There are many different acnes and all require variations for optimal treatment – here is the protocol for comedones and blackheads. Do these things and I promise the comedones will cease and desist! 🙂

Other posts coming soon for:

• hormonal/cystic acne
• acne rosecea
• whiteheads/pustules
• acne scars
• emotional/stress related acne

Symptoms:

Tiny non-inflamed bumps, with very small white or blackheads OR pores that seem large and dark OR tiny bumps with no dark/light discoloration, just bumps.

Possible causes:

• High androgens (hormone imbalance)
• Insulin sensitivity
• Liver overwhelm

Treatment:

Nutritional Therapy:

Most important: eat lighter + decrease sugar and liver-stressing foods

Suggested beverages:

• green tea
• spearmint tea
• ginger tea
• dandelion tea
• turmeric milk
• water
• kombucha

Suggested foods:

• phytoestrogens (flax and soy)
• high fiber (veggies and certain grains and fruits)
• high protein
• decrease/eliminate liver aggravating foods, ie, greasy/fatty, sugar, alcohol, caffeine
• veggies and beans – can’t go wrong – make chili or kitchari!
• Increase: cooked veggies (esp. green + cruciferous), meat and bone broths, beans/legumes
• Ok: grains such as quinoa, millet (no gluten, high protein/fiber)
• liver friendly foods such as dark leafy greens, beets, grapefruit, garlic
• see this post on 14 foods to cleanse the liver
• ground flaxseed
• chia seeds
• liver (from grass-fed organic animals)
• organic eggs + fatty fish like salmon

Foods to avoid:

• greasy/heavy foods
• fried foods
• ALL sugars and refined carbs – including honey and agave. Sorry 🙁
• alcohol
• caffeine
• food additives/preservatives
• Omega 6 fats (corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, vegetable oil, sunflower oil, canola oil. Use ghee, coconut oil, olive oil or hemp seed oil instead.)
• Grain (not grass) fed red meat
• See this post for more info

Supplements:

• green tea extract (regulates androgens and sebum. Chi tea is the recommended brand, although I am trialing another supplier now – stay tuned)
• reishi mushroom (balances hormones + great liver support. Hyperion Herbs is the recommended brand)
• DIM (balances hormones. Estroblock is recommended the recommended brand)
• vitex (balances hormones)
• red clover (balances hormones + supports liver)
• burdock root (cleanses liver)
• turmeric (supports liver)
• dandelion root (supports liver)
• Bhumyamalaki (Phyllantus amarus) is the classic Ayurvedic herb for the liver
• Neem (taken internally)
• fermented cod liver oil (if you can’t find this than cod liver oil is better than nothing!)
• sunlight (get your vitamin D naturally. Artificial A+ D supplements stress the liver!)

Eating habits:

• eat lighter (ie less heavy foods and less greasy foods.
• favor veggies over other foods
• favor steamed, dry-baked or raw over other preparations
• eat less (don’t have huge meals that leave you stuffed and lethargic – instead eat small meals more often)
• don’t eat right before bed (give yourself at least 2 hours from your last meal before going to bed, 3 hours is even better)
• Most importantly – especially in light of the recommended lifestyle therapy – drink more water! A lot more.

Lifestyle Therapy

Most important: sweat regularly (through exercise or sauna) + drink lots of water.

Detox through sweat and massage

• sweat or steam – can even boil water and do a home steam facial at least 1x/week (moss herbal steam therapies coming soon – stay tuned!)
• use a sauna (wet or dry)
• sleep – get enough, especially during your woman time 😉
• massage – massage both body and face at least 1x/week (use abhyanga – detailed post coming soon – or google it!)
• exercise to the point of sweating regularly – hot yoga is perfect! Suggest 20min -1hr 3-5x/week.
• drink lots of water!

Skincare Therapy

Most important: exfoliate regularly + use castor oil (correctly) to cleanse

• oil cleanse with a high percentage of castor oil (I prefer 1/3 castor, 2/3 hemp seed) and decent exfoliation (use a washcloth gently or finely ground herbal powder) (moss‘s Vert Pur is a great oil cleanser with 30% castor oil. Castor oil is very purifying yet restorative.)
• use an exfoliating face mask at least once a week (fresh papaya, strawberry or yogurt, or a mix of any of these – ok to add honey – use raw + organic. max usage is every other day.)
• use a purifying facemask once a week (like bentonite clay or activated charcoal) (join the facemask of the month club for recipes and for ingredients)
• moisturize only with non-comedogenic, dry oil (like moss‘s Clear Resolution which contains loads of hemp seed oil and a therapeutic blend of essential oils to clear pores)
• use a topical with green tea extract and gentle exfoliants (like moss‘s Nutrient Synergist, which contains over 2% of green tea and pumpkin lactoferment for exfoliation)

Final Takeaways

• eat lighter

• decrease (eliminate if possible) sugar and refined carbs

• go super easy on heavy/greasy foods, caffeine, alcohol

• sweat regularly

• drink lots of water

• exfoliate regularly (yet gently)

• use castor oil (correctly) to cleanse

Hope this helps – book a consult if you have any questions or need help sorting through all this! 🙂 Note – DO NOT overwhelm yourself trying to do ALL of this – within these lists you will find the few things that work for you – then take those and leave the rest. Trust your intuition and be prepared for a little trial and error.

xx

{ Shop moss products we recommend for clearing blackheads here. }

{ Read next: How to clear hormonal acne }