All Things Acne: How To Heal Skin, Foods/Ingredients To Avoid, Accutane, Exfoliation, and Lowering Cortisol
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Hi guys, it's Mari and you're listening to The Pursuit of Wellness.

Welcome back to another episode of the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. Today, I am very excited for this conversation all about acne. Today, we have Danielle and Kaylee from ClearStem Skincare on the show. This conversation completely changed the way I have a

been approaching my skincare and acne journey in general. I have struggled with hormonal adult acne since I was about 21 or 22 years old. It has really dictated a big portion of my life. It's come and gone, but really like it has knocked my confidence in a big way. And I was so excited to have them on the show because they've both had severe acne as well and can relate.

They gave such good hacks when it came to food, ingredients, skincare, supplements, things that could be triggering acne that you'd never, ever expect. So I think you're going to love this episode. Stay till the end because we did a fantastic giveaway you guys are going to love. Let's hop right in.

ClearStem Skincare is a revolutionary skincare brand that is both anti-aging and anti-acne with zero hormone disruptors or toxins. I'm so excited for this episode. The audience knows I've struggled with acne for years. It's something that has impacted my life and confidence significantly.

Speaking to people who have both experienced and overcome acne creates a level of trust that is difficult to find in regular doctors and estheticians. I personally use Clear Stem Cleanser and the acne-friendly lip balm every single day, and I can't wait to learn more about the rest of your products. Danielle and Kayleigh, thank you for being here. Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having us. We've been beyond excited for this one. When we can talk with a host that gets it and sadly has also struggled with acne, it's just that much more value we can drive. So we're pumped. Yeah, we are extremely excited about this one. First of all, we just love you and everything that you're about. I mean, it's so much in common, but the skin struggle is like acne is such a unifying topic.

And with the little bit you shared about what you've been going through, I can't wait to dive into it because your audience is going to get so much value. Yeah, guys, Danielle is ready to dive into this case because it sounds like I was telling the girls some of my test results and I have pretty much the typical test results for someone with acne. So we are going to talk about that. Firstly, I want to hear how you guys met and how ClearStem came to be.

Yeah, so we both struggle with acne pretty aggressively. Mine was like grade four cystic acne, face, chest, body, you name it. It just, it runs in families and, you know, normally one parent will have it, you know, and the kid will have it and, you know, it can be varying degrees of manageable. For me, it was grade four on both sides of my family, so I never stood a chance. It got really bad when I went to college. That's when I started wearing makeup and got on birth control.

And it was one of the birth controls that was actually bad for acne. And my skin just erupted. So I, long story short, I did antibiotics for like probably six years, was on spironolactone probably four different times. They changed my birth control all the times. And basically I did three rounds of Accutane and it didn't even work. My acne came right back.

So the kicker for all that is that I was actually studying biology, genetics and immunology all through that time. So I would go to my doctor appointments with a list of questions like when I eat this, I feel like my skin reacts or when I have alcohol, I feel like I break out a little bit more around my neck. Things like that you would think a doctor would be able to answer or at least be curious about. And there was none of that there.

So I didn't go to medical school because I just realized it was a prescription writing machine that we operate in. And I didn't want to do that. So fast forward to age 30, I decided to leave the corporate world and start San Diego Acne Clinic. And I met Kaylee here as one of my patients.

When I met Danielle, I was at my wits end, was struggling with acne. I was in my mid-20s. I'd recently got off birth control, and my entire skin had erupted. Bright red, cystic acne covering my cheeks, my jawline, my neck, everything. And at this time, I was studying holistic nutrition. That was beyond—I've always been so passionate about it.

But I still wasn't finding the right solutions even in schooling for it. So I was still going the Western medicine route to try to figure out my acne because besides just different elimination diets, I wasn't, again, finding the information that I really, really needed.

And so, you know, I went to my primary care doctor. They were trying to convince me to go back on birth control. I personally just really didn't want to. But I was told that was the only way to, quote, balance my hormones. I was in the middle of school for holistic nutrition, so I knew that very much was not true. So I was like, OK, what else can I do? Because I really just don't want to do this for my own body. So they were like, OK, you can go on antibiotics.

I also knew the repercussions of antibiotics just killing all the good and bad bacteria in your body and really leaving your immune system depleted. So I knew there was an internal root cause and antibiotics in my head, I was like,

I feel like this will just make it worse. Like just didn't feel right in my own body about it quite yet. So then I went to the dermatologist and they were like, wow, this is really severe. You have to go on Accutane. And at this point, like months and months had gone by on top of going to doctors. I was trying every single skincare out there. I was being not only sent products to try, but also spending thousands of dollars on every single marketing that said it could help with my acne. And my skin just kept getting worse and worse. I was going to so many different estheticians and

Again, skin was just getting more and more aggravated. I tried the cleanest of clean to like harsh creams.

So at this point, I didn't know what to do because I didn't want to leave my house. I was packing on like the thick theater clay makeup and I'm not even a huge makeup person. I love makeup to play up, but I was never the type of person that needed to put on makeup before I left the house. So this was really foreign to me to do this and to not want to see friends and not want to make plans and not want to go out. Definitely not my personality. So I just, I felt like I was having an identity crisis and

feeling really depressed during this time. So I thought to myself, okay, I guess I have to go on Accutane. I really, really don't want to. My mom was trying to convince me not to. I started the process for that because you have to take blood work for it. And during this time, I was like, okay, one last Google search to look for someone who specialized in acne that can help me. And Up Pop San Diego Acne Clinic responded

Like, all right, here goes. So I booked an appointment and I happened to be Danielle's last client of the day. She had me bring in every single supplement I was taking, all the skincare I was using, makeup I was using. We went over diet. And the astonishing things I learned is all...

all the acne nuances that aren't educated about in Western medicine, but even sometimes in Eastern holistic medicine, there's these nuances that not everyone knows that's very, very specific to acne that we'll talk about on this podcast. But we found I had about 12 different acne triggers going on, eliminated all of them, got on a proper skincare routine because I didn't even really know what proper

for exfoliation meant. No, I didn't really know what non-communogenic meant, that I shouldn't be using products that have pork-logging ingredients. I didn't know any of this. So...

Proper skincare routine. It was literally four products at the time. One of them was actually, it's our Selvernu serum now, but Danielle was just in the early stages of developing it with our now chemist. And my skin was completely clear in a matter of two months with no scar damage. And Mari, I'll send you the before and after if you want to show it while, you know, this podcast gets launched so people can see because people don't believe how aggressive it was until they see it.

A picture of it. Year before and after is actually pinned to the top of our Instagram. Yes, you're right. It is. So everyone can go check it out there. That is absolutely insane and makes me want to make an appointment right now. Obviously, we're going to chat because, I mean, I've told you guys a little bit of my personal journey, but I think I've had...

acne now for almost a decade and really it got bad in my mid-20s and I'm someone who's super health conscious. I really watch what I eat and I feel like I've been through the gamut with acne and as you guys were talking about, medication is such a big part of an acne journey. I feel like for anyone who's had bad acne, you've been put on antibiotics, you've been put on birth control, I've been on spironolactone, I've

with the idea of Accutane so many times. And it's really difficult when you are in that low point to say no. It's so hard. And you see these people of authority that you want to trust. And I think that's what's so challenging. And you're at your lowest point and you're like, well, I guess because I feel like I've tried everything else. So what else is there to do? And that's honestly why we created ClearStep and why we have such an education platform

forward way of of talking to everyone and why we go on podcasts just like this is to reach that person who is in that point in their life.

I think everyone would probably be very curious as to what all of your acne triggers were. I actually looked at your chart the other day. I haven't thrown your chart away because I love seeing it. I want to know the 12 triggers. So she was in the wellness community and pretty well known for that. So brands would just send her stuff. You know what it's like. They get a hold of your address and there's a PR box there every single day. And it was stuff from Sunday Riley. It was stuff from God, who else?

Like $100 plus serums. I think you had a La Mer item too. Things that you would go to Nordstrom and have to charge because they're so expensive. You're hoping they're going to work. Or Sephora. Sephora's gotten better. It's still not the best, but Sephora skincare. Drunk elephant maybe? Yeah. All the usual suspects were in there. And they were high quality, well, seemingly high quality, high priced products.

products with a lot of marketing and buzz around them. So most of them had either coconut oil or shea butter in them, which are the two biggest pore cloggers in skincare and hair care. And then a couple of them were

What was the other one? Oh, it was your hair conditioner. It also had olive oil and coconut oil. And that's why your right side. Most people sleep on their right just because of blood flow. It had wheat germ oil in it too. It did. A lot of conditioners have wheat germ oil in it. And it was a good conditioner. It was Pureology. So that's going to transfer from your pillow to your face. Yes. And I can go on a whole rant about the whole pillowcase thing because you can have a brand new pillowcase every single night. But if your hair conditioner has pore cloggers, you will still break out.

Wow. People are focused on the wrong things when it comes to acne because the right thing to focus on is ingredients and they're very hard and there's a lot of them. And I just have to say I so appreciate this approach because I think anyone who's had acne...

The dermatologists and the doctors you speak to, I've been told that diet has nothing to do with it. I've been told that ingredients have nothing to do with it. And this is so refreshing. Complete nonsense. I just really appreciate that. But anyway. Thank you. To put that, why they say that is because the average MD only goes through about 19 hours of diet per day.

nutrition learning and it's mainly contraindications like don't have grapefruit if you're on statins or don't have dairy if you're taking an antibiotic. It's contraindications. It's not eating for health and it's absolutely not eating with regard to gut health or acne. So it's a whole other rant. And something that we are really passionate about is not knocking the Western medicine system. It's just like not knocking doctors individually, I should say. It's more about the

process that they have to go through for medical school and they could get their license revoked if they're not, you know, following FDA guidelines, following the food pyramid. Like I've known actually a lot of dietitians who speak out on social media platforms about their learnings in school of like how it's actually hurting people of like, you know, what people are prescribing in the hospital to eat and different things. And they've actually gotten their licensing taken away from talking out against people

what the system and the schooling teaches. Right. If there's no white paper for it, then you're going outside of the guardrails and creating a liability. And so that's it's basically just legal guardrails. Yeah. So there's a lot of ways that that can be. The medical system can hinder people's health. And another

terrible kind of thing to be aware of, not to be all doom and gloom. But with acne, as we'll talk about later, lab reports and looking at digestion, nutrients, gut health, all of that gets pretty much ignored in typical blood work, especially in an acne context.

And a lot of doctors will get penalized from the insurance companies if they run labs that are deemed unnecessary. So your doctor might be like, okay, there's something going on with your digestion. Want to figure out what it is. I want to run a couple of reports to see if maybe you're not breaking down a certain macro properly or maybe something to do with leaky gut. Let me just look in this other corner. And if it's not deemed necessary, they can actually get penalized for running extra labs.

Wow. Which is why it's so difficult to get your hands on these tests. You need to hire a naturopath or I mean, here in LA, in California, we do have a lot of access to those things, thankfully, but you don't have that everywhere. And I think people are really starting to become interested in getting tested for these things. And some exciting news is coming very soon. We are launching a telehealth wing of ClearStem where we'll actually have an

acne lab test that you can either take to your doctor, take to any lab that takes your blood and take this very specific requisition form to them that is going to test for all the things that cause acne. So because a lot of people don't know. So you need if they go to their doctor, their doctor might not know what to specifically test for. So this puts the control back in your hands of being like, OK, this is what I need tested for.

Wow. That is huge news and such a great idea. It's necessary. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Sorry. We went on a tangent. Let's get back to the 12 triggers. So the conditioner was a big one. Conditioner, skincare products. There was no exfoliation. I believe someone had told you that because your skin was so raw and inflamed, this is a big misconception that you shouldn't exfoliate skin that's that inflamed. What?

Well, yes and no. It depends on what you're going to do after the exfoliation. So you hadn't been exfoliating and people who break out, we actually produce more keratin protein than people who don't break out. That's the genetic, one of the genetic components that makes us acne prone is this retention hyperkeratosis, extra keratin production. So in order to manage that excess keratin, we actually do need more exfoliation and regular exfoliation, like a little bit every other day or every third day, not just like twice a month.

So dialing in your exfoliation when you have acne is as critical as dialing in your workout routine for your body. It is literally the same kind of concept, the right intensity, the right cadence, the right type. And exfoliation doesn't have to mean there's little beads in the in the.

It can. Yeah, there's physical, which is what you're referring to. And then there's chemical. And don't let the word chemical scare you because those are actually some of the best exfoliants. So physical exfoliation and you want a therapeutic level of both, actually. So you want the physical first and then the chemical after. So using a light, gentle scrub that doesn't have jagged particles and it isn't going to cause inflammation.

unnecessary inflammation is key. So you want something that is going to, that you could do almost on a baby's skin and it wouldn't be too rough. So you do want to get that surface layer of keratin protein off, get that smooth surface. Then you introduce your chemical exfoliant, which in this case is an AHA, an alpha hydroxy acid. They're a big family of acids. People have heard of them. There's glycolic and lactic and the betas like salicylic. We actually use the sweet spot. We use mandelic acid.

And it's the sweet spots, like the Goldilocks of acids, especially for acne, because it's one of the few acids that is non-irritating but still effective enough to get the job done and unclog the pore. And it's also effective for fungal acne.

And it's anti-aging, so that's the one that we use. Okay, we like that one. Yeah, so one of the key steps to clearing and maintaining acne is dialing in your exfoliation. So a little bit of a scrub, maybe just like 5 to 10 seconds, nothing aggressive, and then following it with something like a mandelic acid, game changer, your skin will be different the next day. Which product at Clear Stem should we use for exfoliating? So for physical exfoliation, it's vitamin scrub, and for the chemical exfoliation, it's

It's Clarity, the yellow one. I always like to say it. That's why we make everything a different color so everyone can remember. Yeah, we learned that early on because we just had different shades of blue and no one could tell the names apart. No one knew. Packaging is key. It's key. And what's really important to know about any acid, including our Clarity serum, is for it to do its work, you actually have to let it sit. So after you wash your face, you do a really, really gentle vitamin scrub. Again, it's

I feel like so much of us who struggle with acne are conditioned to be so mean to our face. I don't know if you ever did this, but back in the day, I would like wash my face with really hot water to feel like I was burning it off or scrub it so hard to because, you know, my face was so had bumps everywhere. And actually gentler is going to achieve much better results because acne is so aggravated that we want to gently exfoliate just enough to do its job, but not actually exfoliate.

aggravate it and make it more angry. So really gently exfoliate, pat your skin dry, and then rub on the Clarity. Let it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes. That's where it's going to do its work. Because if it's an acid, anything you put on over top is going to neutralize it. So if you put on the Clarity serum, then immediately follow with serums and moisturizers.

it's going to not only eat away at that, but it's just going to immediately neutralize it. You want it to get in the pore and actually eat away what's in the pore. So it's very important that you have that step. And because we're all about giving back to yourself, we love to have people like, you know, maybe journal during that time, listen to a favorite song, finish doing your self-care routine, getting ready for bed, watch an episode of Friends, like do something for yourself in that 15 minutes of time.

I love that. Okay, good. Good tips. I'm currently not exfoliating at all. Oh, I cannot wait for you to start. I'm literally going to rent a room in LA just so I can treat you. Please, please, please, please. I can't wait to get my hands on you. I need help, you guys. I'm listening to this and I'm like, wow. I just have so many, I guess, core beliefs about acne, like you said, like the hot water. I kind of still do that. Like I have these things in my head. I thought exfoliating was bad. Well, so exfoliating...

Exfoliating, it's not black or white like that. So if you exfoliate with something super, super rough and then you put on a moisturizer that has a pore clogging ingredient, it's going to backfire because you just essentially think of exfoliants and scrubs like gatekeepers. So they let they open up your your they open up access to your pores. Just think of it like that. So it's whatever you do following that makes the thing good or bad. So if you have a moisturizer that has a pore clogging ingredient, which is

about 95% of moisturizers do. That's why everyone with acne is like terrified to moisturize. But if you put, if you exfoliate and then put on something with pore cloggers, you're going to break out. Yeah, for sure. And that's why a lot of people break out after facials because, you know, exfoliation is a big part of any facial, but then usually what they're putting on afterwards is loaded with pore cloggers. So hopefully this is all kind of making sense for people that are listening to this. 100%. It's making a lot of sense to me too. How...

frequently should someone with acne be getting facials or extractions, do you think? Great question. So it depends on who you're going to. We actually, I don't recommend just going to anyone if you have acne because this information isn't taught in esthetician school at all. There is a wonderful company called Face Reality and they have a training program for estheticians who just focus on acne. Those are going to be your best bet.

So a face reality specialist, you can look them up on Yelp or I think they have a directory and their products are their products are pretty good. They're not focused on anti-aging or non-toxic the way that we are, but their products are good for straight up acne. Can be a little drying sometimes, but it's still your best bet for a treatment.

And you want to make sure that that person you're going to is asking you questions. They should be reviewing everything you're using at that first appointment. They shouldn't just be doing treatments on you. They need to be identifying what the problems are. So finding someone who can do that and then do the acne treatments on you that include light levels of peels and extractions and then a non-pore clogging routine after that, that's the best bet for someone who is just looking for a starting point. Under the surface level, under the skin,

When it comes to internal health, how important is nutrition and what are the most common triggers for acne when it comes to food? We always like to start with what can you remove to make your life easier first? Because we can give you a whole list of foods that are good for your skin, but it's really...

You want to remove all acne triggers first because a lot of times, sometimes people are eating in their head really healthy, but they're eating some really big acne triggers. So the first thing to start with, which was a couple of my adding up to that list of 12 pork loggers,

My list of supplements is a huge one. I mean, I was still am very deep in the wellness industry, love supplements, love testing all different things, love biohacking. But I was taking too high of dosages of acne triggering supplements. So the top ones that trigger acne, again, in excess is the key word because all these vitamins and nutrients are so important for our body. But more is not

always better for certain things. So vitamin D, zinc, and B12, all three of those in excess trigger testosterone production. So it can actually cause hormonal acne. You'll see it kind of around where you'd have a mustache and goatee and along your jawline. I'm like posing right now for you guys listening because that's exactly where my acne is. But here are the sneaky things.

If you ask someone, they're like, oh, I'm not taking a standalone vitamin D or not taking a zinc. You have to check everything. So one, checking all your multivitamins, but also other sneaky things. So a lot of supplements that will help with brain health and focus and energy will be loaded with B12. And sometimes it'll say 40,000% of your recommended daily value. And that's going to trigger testosterone and that's going to trigger the hormonal acne.

you want to check drinks that are in the fridge. If you ever see drinks that have the words immune support on it, it'll most likely have vitamin D and zinc in it. And you just want to check the amounts in it. Again, these are nutrients that are really important to our body. It's the excess of it. We're having it in a lot of different forms. Think about if you're taking a multivitamin and having a

on your way to work and, you know, grabbing an immune beverage in the middle of the day, you're now having three different things that could have overreacted

over the correct dosages of these supplements. And then the last one, this doesn't trigger hormonal acne, but it triggers what Danielle was saying before, retention hyperkeratosis, the core reason why people are more acne prone, biotin. Biotin will actually trigger retention hyperkeratosis. So if you're actually already having

If you already have that and struggling with acne, it's essentially like pouring gasoline on a fire and making it that much worse. A lot of people who are acne prone will know, oh yeah, I can't do anything with biotin in it. They've usually figured that out the hard way. But those are the key ones to start with with supplements. And again, you can start getting rid of stuff because maybe you can switch up your multivitamin or maybe you don't need to be taking a standalone zinc of any form. Maybe you're getting it through other sources or

or maybe you're not even deficient in it. So your body actually doesn't need excess of it. So really important to check for those first. I heard you guys mentioned that on a different podcast, and I immediately reduced the amount of zinc and vitamin D I was taking because after doing my tests with the naturopath, I could see I had good levels, like perfect levels of vitamin D, but that doesn't necessarily mean you need to take it every single day. And I also think during the pandemic, a lot of us like overreacted.

upped our zinc, upped our vitamin D. And I also learned that if you take too much vitamin D, it can actually be toxic in the system. So vitamin D is fat soluble, which is exactly why your naturopath said you don't necessarily need to take it every single day. Even people who are deficient, their naturopath will give them guidance. But a lot of times they'll say they don't need to take it every single day because it's fat soluble. And it also...

a standalone vitamin D, you typically need to take other supplements with it to make sure you're absorbing it properly if you are deficient in it. So that's a really tricky one that if you are deficient, you should work carefully with your naturopath to make sure you're taking the other nutrients that help it become absorbed and not build up to a toxic level. When it comes to food, what are the main triggers?

Kaylee was eating egg bowls every single day. And I was so sad to break up with them. And I know, Mari, I know you have a lot of eggs too. So you don't have to give them up forever because I still love eggs. But I gave them up for a short period of time. And then now I have them as like breakfast treats. Like it's a special occasion. How often? I'll have eggs like once a month and be fine. Yeah, I could have it once a week and be okay. Because, okay, I'm not a big fan of eggs.

I cut them out for four weeks because I could see on my blood test results I was highly sensitive to eggs. Yes, very common. Cut them out for four weeks. I didn't see much of an improvement with my skin. Then I went to Europe and ate eggs a lot. And now we're breaking out.

Interesting. So a few things with eggs that might actually help. It's really the egg whites that are the worst. There's a protein in it called albumin protein, which is really hard to break down and it gets stuck and clogged up in our lymphatic system. So again, cheeks and jawline and slightly under the neck. Anytime I have

eggs too many days in a row because it can happen a lot when I'm traveling and, you know, it's harder to find protein filled breakfast. And I'll start to see little bumps under my jawline when I'm doing that. But the cool thing is, is when that happens, you know where it's coming from. You're like, OK, cool. Now I can just pull back on eggs like I did that to myself. And instead of having the frustration before of not knowing where it came from. So puts the power back in your hands. Moving forward, if I really want an egg bowl, I actually do an egg yolk bowl. I separate the egg in the egg

and the egg white, or sorry, the yolk and the egg white, and I'll just do like three egg yolks and scramble them up. Okay. I love that. I just go for straight hollandaise. I'm basically drinking hollandaise sauce.

Which is incredible, by the way. Holiday sauce is great. Oh my, that's insane. But I love that because eggs are so nutrient dense and it sucks to have to cut them out. The yolk is what's nutrient dense, though. Yeah, got it. Not the white. An egg white, I heard this on an Andrew Huberman podcast. So since this is related information, excuse me if I mess it up at all. But egg whites contain something that actually blocks other nutrients being absorbed.

And I don't know exactly which ones are. It might be. It was a couple of key nutrients that the egg whites will actually block the absorption of, which was interesting. I'll try and find that podcast. But I found it very interesting. I'm convinced it's like the chicken's revenge. Like, don't eat my babies. They're pissed. I'll give you acne. What are some high protein breakfasts that you guys do recommend? Like, what can we do instead of eggs?

I honestly I do a meal delivery service called Thistle and I do their big salad, their like protein salad thing. So it's just like imagine like a big like whole foods level salad with like organic local vegetables that I would never actually buy or prepare myself and then it'll have chicken on it. So I do that and then I add vegetables.

like some sort of lean meat. I'm on a venison kick right now because it's red. So it has all the iron and the good things, but it's not super high fat. So I just do that and eat that all day. So I know that's a bit of an odd suggestion, but that's how I feel the best. But having greens in the morning and then some sort of lean protein, just try it. It doesn't need to be breakfast food. Breakfast food is actually the most unhealthy category. But protein,

breakfast that are not that would be like a chia seed yogurt, like a non-dairy chia seed yogurt, avocado toast with gluten-free bread or sourdough. What else? What else do you eat? Yeah, I'm a little different. I don't go heavy protein in the morning. I used to and I noticed I felt a lot more sluggish, which makes total sense because your body's more focused on digestion because protein is the hardest thing to break down. So it's more focused on digestion and taking away from your energy. So I

Again, focus on what feels right to you. Some people might be like, oh, I definitely need protein in the morning. My body feels so good on it. If you're someone that feels a little more sluggish, go for light carbs and fats in the morning. They're quick exit foods, which means they don't take a lot of energy to digest. So I've been on like a gluten-free bread kick diet.

Like really, really clean. I like the base culture one, really simple with avocado and a ton of herbs on top. Or I'll go coconut yogurt with a little bit of raspberries as well. And I feel really fueled, but quick exit foods that don't take away from my energy, but still eating something in the morning because I like to eat for my hormones, making sure my hormones are balanced in the morning. You mentioned gluten. How big of a trigger do you think gluten is?

It's a huge trigger for a certain chunk of people. For some people, it helps nobody. It increases just overall inflammation. So if there's something else that is your main trigger, like say you're having like a ton of dairy and cheese or something like that, gluten is just going to make it all worse.

pretty much applies to most other health conditions. But as far as acne, it's the biggest thing for, I would say, about 30% of people based on my clinical experience at San Diego Acne Clinic. And then other people, it just doesn't bother them that much. Kaylee is actually celiac, so it's a big deal for her. Yeah, I would break out, not only get sick and a whole other host of issues, but break out really, really aggressively from gluten. Just like Danielle said, it's

wherever your body reacts to inflammation is how gluten is going to affect you. So some people react acne wise, some people it's digestion, some people it's their sinuses, some people get really bad joint pain after they eat gluten. So it's really how your body is going to take on that inflammation. I would say even above gluten though, as the worst aggressor of acne is dairy. That's like the worst of the worst. And again, not something you have to give up

forever. Like Danielle and I still have cheese every now and then we make sure we take our supplement when we're having cheese because it helps us not break out from it. But it's something you want to if you're really aggressively struggling with acne, something to remove for a period of time until your acne calms down and then bringing it back in in a really meaningful way. Like I I have dairy when I want really delicious cheese, but I you know, I don't have milk.

How does the supplement help with dairy intake? So the supplement, the backstory on this is, so I've had my clinic for about eight years. And when I have a patient come in who there's something going on internally, you can just tell there's relentless inflammation, inflammation,

In their lymphatic system, for example, and I just know there's something going off and, you know, they never go to the bathroom or they bloat after every meal, have a blood work, a network of blood work people. But one in particular that I send people to and everyone kind of comes back with the same or some variation of the same.

levels of issues with regards to digestion and hormone metabolism. Kaylee and I actually had a similar experience. We were struggling to break down certain foods and the liver was being a little sluggish because we were both on birth control for a really long time. So

The supplement addresses the main categories of the body that affect the skin. The first ingredient is bioavailable vitamin A, which a lot of people are deficient in and people with acne can be particularly deficient in. And we need that because it helps the desquamation. It helps the natural shedding of our extra keratin protein. So it helps our pores be less clogged and less acneic. Another thing that affects acne that we all know is stress.

Stress is pretty much inescapable. We have ways to manage it, but it's pretty much inescapable. And we love 5-HTP because it's a serotonin builder and most people really need that, especially when you factor that most people with acne have something going on with their gut and your serotonin is made in your gut. So there's also 5-HTP for the stress response and the sleep. There is also vitamin B5, which is incredibly important for acne. It's also called pantothenic acid.

That does two things. It helps with digestion and then it also helps to curb the androgen or call it testosterone spikes for the sake of this conversation because testosterone, when it spikes throughout the day, is the main hormone that leads to hormonal acne.

Everybody kind of has testosterone spikes, especially if you have caffeine in the morning. So we did put a really therapeutic amount of that in there. There's also something called DIM, which has been known to help acne and PMS symptoms for a really long time. It helps with estrogen balance and estrogen metabolism. It also gives the liver a bit of a boost. And then speaking of liver, which is so important, there's milk thistle, dandelion, and turmeric.

So most acne supplements only focus on one or two of these categories, but we blended them all together because they are all necessary. So there's liver support and then digestion, which is just enormous and gets completely ignored in most Western medical offices. Most people have some sort of digestive issue, whether they're not breaking down fats properly or they don't have the enzymes to break down protein. We all eat way too fast. We're having our biggest meals generally at night in this country and a lot of it's meat-based.

And it's really difficult for everyone to break all this down. So that's how the vitamin addresses the main areas of the body that when they're inflamed cause acne. What time of day should we take this supplement? It's a great question. You can take it pretty much whenever you want. So I do, I wake up, I have a ton of water and then I have a matcha and I add this bone broth protein to it. I don't like to eat before like a big meal before like 11, but I do want a little bit of protein in there. So I'll take one with that matcha.

matcha bone broth drink that I have. And then I save the two because the serving size is three capsules. I save the three or sorry, the two capsules for my biggest meal. Or if I know I'm going out to a restaurant, I'll save it for that because you can't control the oils they're putting in there or if there's, you know, a little bit of dairy that makes it on. So you can take one with every meal. You can take all three with dinner. It really doesn't matter. But I do recommend that people take at least one in the morning because that's when your testosterone is naturally the highest. Yeah.

You definitely want to take it with food, though. So yeah, that's a must. Yeah, vitamin A is fat soluble and it needs fat in order to bind and do its work. There's also digestive enzymes in here. So you want to take it with food because that's how you get the benefit of it.

You mentioned stress, and I know stress has a big impact on acne. And it's kind of a double-edged sword because when you have acne, it's obviously causing stress to your life and causing emotional issues. What would you guys say to someone listening who is kind of at their wits end with acne?

You want to find the places in your life where you can control the stress more because there's a lot of uncontrollables in our life, but there are ones we can focus on. So, for example, back to that list of 12 things that were triggering my acne, I was doing HIIT workouts every single day.

Which I know probably a lot of people listening to this had a period of life where they also did the same thing because we were fed information that that was the only way to lose weight. And like we're just fed so much misinformation when, you know, now we know weightlifting, slower workouts are like really the best for our body.

But I was doing HIIT workouts every single day, which means my cortisol levels were out of control. And with everything else in life, you know, if you have a stressful job or stressful family situation, relationship, if you're adding another stress of working out, like that's one you can control. So I switched my workouts to more low intensity. I do weightlifting. I do Pilates. I go on long walks, but not a big runner and HIIT workout person anymore. Every once in a while, I'll bring it in.

I have been really passionate about syncing workouts to that time of the month. So anything a little more high intensity, I'll do around ovulation and I feel great doing it. But if you're ever forcing yourself into a high intensity and your body's rejecting it, it's a pretty good sign that you're at your cortisol limit and your body does not want to do that.

Focus on that. Take a look at your life too in general, your friend group, your family. And I know there's some things that are out of our control, but maybe working on setting boundaries, working on communication, spending some time for yourself.

I'm the type of person, I like human design and projectors are this way, but can only really process information, process their own emotions alone. If they're around too many people too often, you feel very out of body. Or you might be someone that loves to verbally process with someone else. Everyone has their own processing techniques of emotions. So finding the way that works for you and

And doing that. So I know about myself. I need some alone time to bring my cortisol levels back down. I need some quiet, calming music or even no stimulation at all. Most of the time what I need. But finding what works for you. Going on some more walks. Spending some more time in nature. There's so much science at this point showing how much being outside in nature, grounding, maybe taking your shoes off and

If you're by the water, put them in the sand. If you're somewhere where there's grass, like get it in grass. If you're somewhere where you really can't get outside, buy a grounding mat for in your house and spend some time doing that because that's going to help lower your cortisol level. So again, finding those little moments in your life, sometimes a really big drastic changes that you know you need to make, whether it's a career change or relationship change, or maybe it's just some micro moments every single day that you can do. I agree with that. And I think having a really, really good morning routine

Even if it's not long or complicated, but you're consistent with it is critical. I do the five-minute journal and have for a really long time. And when I don't have it, like say I just, my housekeeper puts it away or I'm traveling and I don't have it. Or whenever I don't have it, I definitely feel a little more unsettled sometimes. And I feel very grounded when I do that routine. So that and then morning movement I think is really, really, really important. And getting light in your eyes within the first like 10 or 15 minutes of waking up.

Just kind of thinking with your body's natural harmony and natural chemistry will do wonders for your nervous system. I think a lot of times we love to overcomplicate things when really it's just coming back to the basics. And again, back to acne and skin, anytime we're spiking our cortisol levels and really, really stressed out, it's going to be spiking also testosterone levels and just creating a cascade effect of imbalance of hormones.

which is going to trigger skin issues and acne for people. And sometimes it's acne, sometimes it comes out as eczema, psoriasis, can come out in a lot of different inflammatory conditions of the skin.

I have a lot of homework to do, for sure. And I thought those were great answers. And I think it's important to point out that everyone's so different. And as you said, it can come out in different ways. For us, it's on our face. Very obvious way of telling us we're too stressed out. There is a positive aspect to that, though, for what it's worth. Like we get to know when something is going on in our system. A lot of people are not in tune with their bodies at all. They don't know if they're digesting something. They don't know why they're stressed.

We have a direct line into what's going on in our body and it can piss you off until you figure it out. But being able to communicate in such a clear way with your system, I think is overall a gift. And for anyone who's struggling with acne, you age better. Yeah.

No way. Yes, you have more oil and more keratin protein. That's the raw material to age well. Oh, you guys, we're going to be looking fantastic. Exactly. So it's a blessing. Yeah, no, dry skin doesn't break out as easily, but it ages the fastest and there's nothing you can do about it. And oily skin is generally goes hand in hand with acne, but that's your lipid barrier. That's the thing that protects you from UV damage the most. So if you have acne, you're going to age better. Celebrate that.

I love this. I love a silver lining. We needed that. Always. It's the truth. Guys, we chatted earlier. We're going to do a giveaway. Can we give away maybe the five top selling products from ClearStem? So all you guys need to do is follow ClearStem and the Pursuit of Wellness podcast page.

Comment on our latest post and let us know your favorite part of this episode. Guys, tell us where we can find you online. You can find us, all things Clear Stem Skincare, across all platforms. And just like on this podcast, we love education, guys. We want to help relieve all the suffering that comes along with struggling with acne. So head to our Instagram to find more information. We have a skincare learning center on our website. Oh, we forgot to mention. So we briefly touched on pore clogging ingredients earlier about how that's the very first thing to remove.

So to take the frustration out of that, you can head to our website and go to the Poor Cloggy Ingredients Checker. You can copy and paste the ingredient decks of all

of all of your products into that and see which one of your products is breaking you out. It'll tell you the exact ingredient in it because that way you don't have to throw out everything that you own. Maybe it's your moisturizer, maybe it's your SPF, so you can figure that out. And then you can find Danielle on Instagram, Danielle the Acne Guru, myself, Kaylee.Christina. And very excited for the giveaway. We're going to wear our clear kit, which that's, you know, our number one bestseller kit of our four.

products to really help you get clear and our supplement on top of that. Yeah. The supplement is like blowing up. We knew it would change the company forever, but we didn't know it would be this big. But people start seeing people who have done Accutane and it didn't even work on them. Mind, body, skin starts working in like five to seven days. Like you can start to feel it working and then it just keeps getting better. And it's

the healthiest alternative if you don't want to take Accutane or be on antibiotics. And it's something you can take long term that you know is actually helping to support your body. So yeah, everyone needs this. Guys, you better enter this giveaway. I want to win personally. So make sure you go enter. And guys, thank you so much for coming on today. This was amazing. Thank you, Mari.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Go comment on my last Instagram at Mari Llewellyn with the guest you want to see next. I'll be picking one person from the comments to send our bloom greens to. Make sure you hit follow so you never miss my weekly episodes. If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to share and leave a review. See you next week. Please.

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.