Acne is Not Your Fault

So many products...so many treatments...so many options from pharmaceutical companies. I have probably seen them all in various combinations. I have heard the stories and wiped away the tears of frustrated clients...and shed a few tears myself! It is time to shine some light on the topic of acne, as it is quickly becoming an epidemic in modern-day America. 
The answers are not as complicated as the industry is making us feel! We have to change the way we treat our skin! The way we have been treating it up until now is a reflection of how we feel about our bodies in general. I plan to break all of this down in a series of articles and will start by addressing our collective belief system regarding skin. This understanding will simplify your skincare routine, clear some space on your bathroom counter, save you money; and will slow down the aging process...and potentially eliminate the need for makeup. 
Many of our beliefs are based on decades of marketing campaigns by the cosmetic industry, who’s goals have always been rooted in profit, not necessarily our well-being. We inherited our beliefs and perceptions from both old and new systems of belief, puritanism and western medicine. One system perceives the human body as a “sinful” and dirty animal...something to be suppressed, ignored and punished. As far as western medicine is concerned, the body is something that needs to be fixed, illnesses prevented and avoided at all costs. Health misalignments are often considered an inconvenience and addressed individually. We have been so preoccupied with re-wiring the check-engine light, that it made us overlook the engine as a whole.

Our body is not an inconvenience! No task is too small or part insignificant! Our skin is a complex system. It is an incredible self-regenerating, self-irrigating, excretory organ that has specific protective functions. These functions are always working, regardless of whether we’re awake, asleep, at work or at play.

Our skin is an organ system that serves very complex barrier, thermoregulation, sensory and navigation functions, some of which are still to be named and researched. In this series, we will specifically concentrate on the four functions that are responsible for the formation and perpetuation of acne, and what happens when those functions go in overdrive: regeneration, irrigation, excretion and the “mirror” of internal health.