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Agnus Castus - The Lowdown and FAQs

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So far I've spoken a little bit about my external skincare routine, which does a great job in contributing to my overall skin health. But what you put on your face is only a small part of getting - and staying - clear. If you really want to get fully clear, you need to look at a number of contributing factors, such as diet, intolerances, and hormonal imbalances, and understand what's going on inside your body. It took a long time for me to understand this. For years I was convinced that there would be a "cure", a medication that I could take once and I'd stay clear forever. This is ultimately how Roaccutane was presented to me, as "the cure". It wasn't. After a lot of research and a lot of trial and error, I found out about Agnus Castus. This was a huge turning point for me. After a few months I started to see some big results, not just on my face, but for the rest of my body too.  What is it? It's a herb that comes from the Chaste tree, which is...

Tis the Season to be Sniffly - Natural Cold Remedies

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I love this time of year - it's Christmas! It's family and friends, it's time off work, and most of all - it's party season! It's also prime time to get a cold. I've manage to dodge all sneezes and sniffles up to now until BAM, the eve of New Years Eve I get a full blown classic cold. I'm determined not to let this stand in my way of having a good time on one of the biggest nights of the year - so here are a few things that I do when I get a cold to stave off the symptoms and get back to my old self. Hot Lemon and Ginger I drink this a lot of the time anyway as I love the taste and I also see a huge difference in my overall complexion when I've been drinking it. Lemon is full of vitamin C, and it also acts as a natural antibiotic so it really soothes your throat. Ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory and helps with clearing your nose! It can also help fight off colds (I've been drinking hot ginger on it's own all month and it's done a pretty ...

GOING CAVEMAN (ISH)

When I first went on Roaccutane, I was under the care of a Dermatologist who was adamant on this piece of skincare advice: "Don't use anything on your face but water". This was big news to me. Seriously, just water? Not even a Simple Face wash? Not even cleanser? Toner? Nope, just warm water and cotton pads and that's it. I was 19 then and up until that point had always had an extensive skin care routine at night which was forever changing. My thought process behind this was that the more products I used on my face, the better my skin would become. I never thought about whether it was actually doing anything to help, nor had I ever considered simplifying my routine until that point. What the Dermatologist was unknowingly recommending to me is what some people refer to as the Caveman routine . A really strict Caveman routine doesn't even involve water. It is literally nothing. The theory behind this is that due to all of the chemicals used in the vast majority of s...

The Holy Grail of Honeys - Manuka Honey

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My skincare routine is very simple. Usually I use a make-up wipe to take my eye make up off, use a cotton pad with a warm water to cleanse, and that is it. Over the years I found that honestly this is what worked best for me, and I've stuck loyally to it fearing any addition would cause disruption. However, recently I've been feeling brave and after hearing a lot of hype from the internet about Manuka honey I took the plunge and bought a pot.    Manuka honey has strong antibacterial properties as well as being anti-inflammatory. If you've been considering buying this then you'll know it's not cheap. I paid �16 for a small jar at my local organic supermarket, but you only need to use a small amount at a time so a little goes a long way. If you go to some health stores it can be a little over-whelming as there's a huge selection of  different "strengths" which are shown by little plus signs ranging from +5 up to 16+. Most Manuka honey users advise on b...

Why I chose the Holistic route

When it comes to making a decision about your health and how to effectively treat a problem, you always want to make the right choice for you and your body. More importantly, you want to find something that works long-term and therefore gives you long-term results. We are extremely fortunate to live in a part of the world where various medications are available to us. That gives us choice, and the more choice you have, the better chance you have of finding something that works for you. With skin conditions like acne, I found that all of the medications prescribed to me targeted one 'cause' only - bacteria and oil production. This doesn't get to the root of the problem, the root cause of your body producing all of this excess oil, so treating acne this way to me is like trying to stick a plaster over a leaky pipe. Additionally to this, once I finished a course of medication, my acne always returned. It could take a while (after roaccutane it took around a year after each cou...

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog! Here I am going to share my journey with you, offer advice based on my personal experiences, and hopefully open your eyes to all of the options available to you on your journey to clear skin   ? Please note, this is not a 'Get Clear Now' gimmick. I can't guarantee that anything on here will work for you, as we are all tuned differently and everybody's body responds differently to different things. However, I can create an awareness of all the different options available to you, and I aim to help you make an informed decision xo  ?