No milk/No Dairy : Dairy Free Diet

I actually quit dairy for reasons unrelated to acne (I don't believe a cow's hormones are compatible with the human body), but was thrilled to notice an amazing skin improvement. My acne used to be more severe in my teen years and started to clear up in my early 20's. However I've had moderate back acne and little white bumps that are under the skin on my face for as long as I can remember. The ones on my face were mostly only noticeable up close, but we all know we're perfectionists when it comes to our own appearances. They bothered me quite a bit as I thought my skin was an unpleasant texture and would avoid looking at myself in certain lighting. As soon as I quit dairy (three weeks ago) I've noticed a drastic improvement on my back, chest and face. I can only attribute it to the cutting of dairy as it's the only lifestyle alteration I've made, and a problem I've had for 7 years has pretty much disappeared. My back and chest are completely clear and the white bumps on my face are almost completely gone (there are a couple here and there which I'm convinced will clear up too given time). A side bonus note unrelated to acne, I've noticed significantly more stable moods and a massive dulling of my ADHD symptoms since quitting it too. So glad I did it and can't recommend it enough.

Going completely dairy free has helped me with back acne. But you cannot just cut out milk, you have to cut out all dairy products/products with some kind of dairy in it. This is kind of a struggle in the beginning as you have to read a lot of labels, and A LOT of food that you wouldn't think had milk in it does (like some potato chips), but after a while you would know more of what is safe. And also, going dairy free helped me with weight loss. I think it is mostly because nearly every chocolate contains milk, so I stay away from it, and dark chocolate without milk satisfies cravings faster because of the amount of cocoa. Anyway, this is my experience - but if you haven't tried going dairy free yet I recommend trying it at least :-)

I've been lurking for 3 years on acne.org but just joined up today. Back story: 34 year old female, 2 kids, moderate acne (not cystic) for 3+ years. Never been overweight, no obvious lactose intolerance GI Issues. I can tolerate dairy just fine but I know it's not meant for regular human consumption. I had bad pregnancy nausea and constipation while pregnant and have always felt that pregnancy damaged my gut. My problems started afterward. Acne began at 31 years of age, 3 weeks after I weaned my 2nd baby. No previous struggles with acne and it came so out of the blue I thought it was a yeast rash. I have tried almost every topical available and have had 6 appointments, 3 of them with a dermatologist. Neither dr ever mentioned that diet could play a part in my acne. All said it was "hormonal". I absolutely cannot tolerate birth control pills so that's not an option. I tried them and was miserable. 2 months ago I decided to drop most dairy from my diet to just SEE what would happen. I used to eat yogurt and cheese sticks every day and would sometimes eat cereal but not regularly. Mostly it was cheese and chobani yogurt. Admittedly I did not go hardcore on the dairy free but I definitely reduced my dairy intake significantly....by about 75%. Maybe 3 times in 2 months I had pizza and twice some feta in a salad. In these last 2 months my acne has gotten worse. The worst it's ever been. So I'm going to say that dairy is not my problem. Reduced dairy showed zero improvement. In the midst of the worst breakout I ate 3 bowls of cereal to feel better. :) Now I'm onto dropping grains too. As of 3 days ago I have gone full paleo. It sucks but the struggle is real. After 30 days I will post if I notice any improvement so look for that in the forums. I'm really trying to go hardcore with this since I'm more and more aggravated, hopeless and depressed looking like an inflamed bumpy mess.

Wanted to share my story here about the dairy-acne connection. I tried everything for my acne. Retin-A, antibiotics, birth control, and even Accutane. Most worked for a while and Accutane kept me mostly clear for 9 years but my acne started coming back slowly. The last few weeks, I was getting new breakouts everyday and starting to feel the skin stress of the pre-Accutane days. I was mostly getting acne around my mouth and chin. I decided last week to cut out all dairy from my diet. Since that day, I have not gotten one single new pimple and my skin is less oily as well. It is only after Accutane that I became interested in natural remedies and I've been doing a lot research over the years. I really believe that acne is an internal problem. Often caused by diet and stress. I wish I had known this 10 years ago prior to going on Accutane. It's sad that something as simple as diet change could be saving people from years of insecurity with regards to their skin and a lot of money. To anyone who suffers from stress, anxiety or depression when it comes to their skin (like I did), I would highly recommend eliminating dairy from your diet to determine if this may be the culprit for you. I would also consider testing for other food intolerances that could be affecting your skin (gluten, nuts, etc).

I struggled with acne for a really long time. Just as I hit puberty I went from having a few spots that just got worse. It was to the point where strangers would offer suggestions and point it out without my asking for their input. Just like the many others on this site, my confidence was shot. I learned not to look at myself in the mirror (glance at eyes only or hair basically), which I realized recently I still do! (Scars) Dermatologists loaded me with creams and antibiotics, which looking back I realized how F*cked up it was to be on antibiotics for as long as I was. it wasn't curing anything it was masking whatever it was that was causing the inflammation. The more I started reading up on health and wellness the more I started getting into holistics and nutrition. I used to AlWAYS refer to this website. I love that its still around because it was so helpful to read on a community dealing with the same shizznitt I was. ANYWHO... Whenever I did a cleanse my friends and I would notice how clear my face would get... (Hormone check ups always came back normal.. it had to be food related) I simplified my diet.... did another fast/ cleanse... and tried a few foods... MY goodness, as soon as my inside was "cleaned up" it was so much easier to see what triggered my acne. I found out I have an intolerance toward: DAIRY, SOY, GLUTEN I would break out and feel crummy so fast! Now at 27 I have a very simple diet: primarily gluten free vegan/ no soy and my acne has not been an issue since having figure out what diet worked best for me. People ask me if Im miserable and feel like Im missing out, I feel great and to be frank having a "cheat" with a trigger-food just isn't pleasant for me. Not only do I get nauseous but having do deal with a breakout for 2 weeks is even worse. SO I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. i love the foods I can eat and feel great! Even if I have a flare up(soy oil , for example, can be pretty sneaky when it comes to restaurant ingredients). ,But I'll take GAIA liver health caps (basically anti-inflammatory herbs, with multiple benefits) and it helps things calm down quickly. My dad made fun of me wondering how a child of his could be so sensitive to food. but later we found out that the GI problems he was having was a similar intolerance's. I got him back saying I got it from HIM! So yes I recommend cutting out dairy! Looking into dietary changes takes time, but its worth it!

Overrated. Didnt do anything. Tbh, i found introducing it back actually balanced my vitamins a bit more and made me break out less. Im happy for those that swear by this though.

Let me just start this review by saying that I have NEVER wrote a review for anything in my life. But I promised myself that if this worked I would tell people about it in hopes that it might help someone else. So here it goes, my skin was really good until my last year of college. For whatever reason (most likely hormones) I began breaking out terribly, like 5-7 massive zits each day. I went on birth control, which actually just made things worse so I got off of it. I went on a ton of prescription meds that didn't work either. I even got a handful of strong chemical peels, which helped for a week and then everything came back. I did eventually go on the acne.org regimen, and this helped a lot. I went from 7 zits a day to 1 a day...but the thing is that I have olive skin and every time I have a pimple it leaves a mark that will last for a couple months. Needless to say that 1 zit a day adds up to a huge amount of ugly purple marks I had on my face. I just wasn't fully satisfied. Fast forward to a year later, I'm engaged at this point and I was determined to have clear skin for my wedding day. My last resort was to get rid of dairy. Now for anyone who knows me, they would think this would be impossible because I love cheese and I love ice cream. But I pulled through. I didn't cheat, and you know what? A month later I was getting married and my face was the clearest it's ever been. We've been married for 5 months now and I can honestly say the only times I ever get a pimple is when I'm on my period (I'll get one or two on my chin, not a big deal) or when I cheat and eat dairy. I've cheated three times and every single time my face broke out in 3-5 massive zits the very next day. Now I know for a fact that it is the dairy that I was sensitive to. I'm a nurse and I can say that medically, this does make sense. Just like in the hospital when a patient has an allergic reaction to a medication, a completely different patient may have an allergic reaction to the same medication but have a different reaction, like one might break out in a rash, while the other has an irritated throat. So just because we don't have a typical lactose intolerant reaction, like stomach problems, doesn't mean our bodies aren't trying to tell us that dairy doesn't agree with us. It just comes out in different ways for different people. Anyways, just wanted to put my story out there. going dairy free really did clear me up, I'm even planning on slowly getting off using BP this month. I just don't really need it anymore. I hope this helps someone. one piece of advice if you do decide to try this out is to do it the right way. No cheating, no butter or milk or anything. You can't tell if it will work unless you fully commit. And it's not as hard if you research the substitutes. Earth Balance makes an amazing dairy free butter and So Delicious brand makes incredible dairy free ice cream. If you do the research it is definitely feasible. Hope this helps!

So i'm 22, not the type to write reviews but I said to myself, if i ever find something that works for my acne then im going to write about it because i know how sh*tty acne makes you feel and so if i can help even a single person then thats good! So i have been using acne.org for just under a year to try to get rid of my acne! I used to get big sore spots on my chin and cheeks and some little ones all over my forehead. I have really tried everything - lymecycline for 8 months - worked really well i had clear skin but then went off it and straight away my skin was worse than before and also reading all the bad things about antibiotics online how they affect your gut etc I didn't want to be on them anymore. I tried being on the pill (dianette) and again my skin was perfect but it was making me have mood swings often where i'd just feel sad and I thought that it wasn't worth it! I also tried benzoyl peroxide for a bit and although it did work a bit (it got rid of bumps on my forehead but didnt do much to chin spots) - it made my skin so dry and horrible that it actually almost looked worse - it made my makeup sit horribly on my face and i felt like it made me face look wrinkly! not good! So I started thinking I wanted to take a more natural approach to my acne. Firstly I gave up dairy (still have the odd bit now and then - cant completely give up chocolate haha!) but dramatically cut down. Next I went on acne.org in the natural/holistic section to see what was recommended. I wanted to go in this section because although some other treatments may work, i started not trusting any of the reviews because I started thinking that a lot of them sounded fake as though maybe the company had written them - i figured that in the natural section who would write a fake review? So anyway, i started with ACV - i think this worked quite well, at least for my chin and cheek spots (this is where i used to get a lot of big sore ones), however i started getting loooads of bumps all over my nose and forehead and so had to stop that. Next i tried potato - i think this worked quite well for acne scars but because it was so messy i stopped doing that so much in the end and now will only do it every now and then when i feel like it haha Next i tried epsom salt - i put it in a bath every night and also used the salt to wash my face along with a face wash - i really do think this worked for the big spots but it irritated my skin unfortunately and i got little bumps on my arms and forehead so gave it up! Next i tried green tea and rooibos tea (redbush) - amazing! So i now drink about 4-5 cups of green tea or red bush tea a day, and also wipe the tea bag on my face if i am not wearing makeup when i drink the tea (usually morning and night). I have a chemistry background and have read a lot of scientific papers about green tea and acne and have found that there is a lot of science behind why it works - basically the antioxidant reduces the inflammation and therefore because green tea and red bush tea have such high antioxidants, this means that your acne becomes less inflamed! Also there have been studies that prove that green tea makes your skin less oily - definitely a plus! I also bought an antioxidant face moisturiser, i just typed antioxidant cream into amazon and looked at the first one that came up and it looked good so i got it and it really is good! my face is always hydrated and lovely! so nice to finally not have dry or oily skin! its kinda expensive the one i got but im sure there are others that would work just as well that are cheaper! So yeah thats all i do now - gave up dairy and drink a lotttt of tea! My skin is not flawless i still have some acne scars and i get little spots every now and then but i have not got a big spot in like 3 months so it is definitely working and i'd recommend anyone to try it! Oh and by the way i wash my face with Dr. Bronners tea tree soap stuff - i dont really know if this is any good but it hasn't seemed to make my skin worse, takes makeup off well and makes me feel clean afterwards haha Another thing i'll say is that I don't really know which helped my skin more: no dairy or green/red bush tea - but my skin is so much clearer and i don't want to give either up and get bad skin again haha. Ask me any questions you have and i'll try to help! As i said before I know how horrible having bad skin is, it used to make me feel so sh*tty when i woke up in the morning, but honestly i think little changes make a big difference!

Going online and discovering new face masks things to eat and not to eat I came across a article that talked about dairy. Milk contains hormones those hormones creates excess sebum production thus creating hormones. That article changed my life well not really but you know what I mean. When I stopped drinking dairy products soy milk/almond milk/coconut milk took awhile to get used to because it tasted nothing like cows milk and I eventually got used to it. And with a no dairy diet I saw a huge difference in my acne my face cleared up not completely just a few stubborn pimples around my mouth but it really helped. Milk and acne are not friends and if you have acne I would recommend a no dairy diet.

I used to drink a LOT of chai lattes, cappuccinos, etc. I also used to get a huge, cystic pimple on my chin about once every month. They were so severe and inflamed that they left red indent marks on my skin. It was very frustrating because once one cleared up, another appeared. Even though I typically only had one cystic pimple at a time, they made me very self conscious as they were so huge. It was especially difficult at work where I had to interact face to face with coworkers and clients everyday. At the time I thought my birth control pill was causing acne, but then I read about the milk free diet. I didn't eliminate dairy from my diet (I don't eat much dairy to begin with), but rather I significantly cut down on my milky drinks. Low and behold, I didn't get acne anymore. Now I also use an oil free moisturizer, and I slather an acne gel all over my chin at night. I miss my drinks, but I much prefer having clear skin. Before resorting to medication to clear acne, I highly suggest reducing your dairy intake or eliminating dairy first.