LadyGang - LG QUICKIE: ACNE, AGING, FUNGUS + HORMONES HOORAY!

Episode Date: November 16, 2023

What exactly is hormonal acne? How does Spirolactane work? What are we supposed to do about acne when we are trying to deal with anti-aging at the same time?  The founders of CLEARSTEM, Danielle Gronich & Kayleigh Christina, join the LADYGANG today for a deep dive into Becca's adult acne, Jac's fungus, and Keltie's love of pore-clogging oils.  This episode is a game-changer in learning how our skin works and how the beauty marketplace is filled with products that do more harm than good! Plus, helpful insights into how a simple blood test can clear your acne, the natural version of retinol that works. Plus, we take questions from our community!  Visit clearstemskincare.com and use code LADYGANG for 20% off See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Head on over to theladygang.com right now. This episode of Lady Gang is brought to you by Clear Stem Skin Care, a revolutionary skin care brand that is both anti-aging and anti-acne with zero known hormone disruptors. You need to try this line if you want to be doing anti-aging that won't break you out. You can learn more at clearstemskincare.com. It's time for a quickie. Podcast One presents the Lady Gang, the Hollywood girl posse with Lady Gang Quickie. Here's Kelty Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jack Vanek. Let's make this quick.

Our guest today founded Clear Stem Skin Care in 2017. Danielle is a licensed clinical esthetician and the founder of San Diego Acne Clinic, where she channeled her own 10-year-plus experience with cystic acne to empower others to heal their skin from within. Working with thousands of people across all ages and ethnic backgrounds, she quickly earned her reputation as the acne guru. Thank God she's here for us, with a 98% success rate in clearing patients' skin. One of these patients was Kaylee Christina, a certified holistic nutritionist who suffered from her own bout of cystic acne in her mid-20s. Connecting over their mutual love of zits, just kidding, their mutual passion for holistic health, the two dove into clinical research together to uncover the nasty truth about conventional skin care for acne and aging.

Most acne products contain toxic hormone-disrupting ingredients, while products that target aging are full of pore-clogging fillers. It's been great to get older. Determined to deliver a safer, more effective alternative to traditional skincare, they joined forces to formulate ClearStem, the first toxic-free brand that targets both acne and aging at the same time. If you're ready to get rid of breakouts and prevent premature aging without all the toxic shit, then ClearStem is for you.

And today we're going to talk about zits, zits, zits, zits. as a former Accutane lover, I'm going to talk about my zits. Please welcome to the podcast, Danielle and Kaylee from ClearStem. Welcome. That was the best introduction ever of all time. Like nothing else will ever compare. Like, yeah. We can roll that over every video we do from now on. I'll just have that overlay. So good. Thank you so much for having us ladies. When we heard about your products, we got like obsessed and I'll tell you why, because I was always like what the actual F is going on. How am I thirties and still dealing with acne? Like I'm a teenager. I did feel like life should be fair, that there should be a time

in your life as a growing woman where acne should end and you should have like a nice break where you're just acne free and beautiful, but you haven't started aging yet. And then the aging can begin and we can compartmentalize these things. When we got to thirties and forties and we were like, wait a second, I'm having zits and also wrinkles. And then anything I put on my zits to dry out my zits gives me more wrinkles. Like this is a real issue and a real problem. So when did you guys first discover that? Thank you for like illuminating the points of our work. So, well it is so true like you think you're gonna grow out of it because that's like the rumor and the myth but you don't and there's as women we have so many different opportunities for our skin

to freak out on us getting on birth control getting off birth control trying to get pregnant taking all the vitamins it's all the makeup and the treatments like we just have a lot of opportunities for this sort of thing so um kaylee and i started this journey we co-founded clear skin care because at the time i had already had my acne clinic san diego acne clinic and I've been doing it for, you know, a couple of years treating acne and I was already like formulating products, but the acne education that I teach in my clinic is so not common. It's, you know, normally you go to the dermatologist, you spend maybe 11 to 14 minutes there because that's the only amount of time that the appointments are allotted for. So

there is no like getting into your diet. There's no discussing your makeup. There's no like discussion of your, you know, optimal hormones and things you could be doing to balance yourself. Um, there's none of that conversation. It's just a prescription matching service because that's the way our medical system is structured. Um, so we both went through that at length. I did Accutane three separate times. That's how bad my skin was like struggled with cystic acne, face, chest, back, like you name it, um, for well over a decade and still struggle. Sometimes we knew that like the medical system for treating acne, it was just wildly broken. And, um, Kaylee, you know, they were telling her like, Oh, you, you have to do

Accutane and go back on birth control. There is no other way and she knew that that wasn't right So that's when we were like, let's get together and fix this I'm currently I have to I have to be um, totally Transparent i'm on spironolactone and it's a relationship that I love and hate at the same time So having you i'm selfishly very excited because I feel like you do a lot of work in that space of like getting people from that or Pharmaceutical way of treating acne and not do you have any advice for me going off cold turkey? Cause it's gotta happen, but I'm so

afraid because everything comes up in life and you're like, but I have this wedding and I don't want to risk going off of it. Or I have a vacation or I have like, I don't want to have a zit on my face. And so do you have any pointers for me? Sorry to take up the time and Bogart this whole thing. It's all about me today, but what do I do? That's a really common question and it applies to so many people so spironolactone basically um it's used off-label to help reduce androgens or you know testosterone which you know in theory helps with hormonal acne and reduces oil so it can be really helpful but it's only addressing one area of skin and yeah if you're still using products with pore clogging ingredients in it which most people are as soon as you stop the

acne is going to come like right back right because you're it's like taking the batteries out of the smoke alarm. So to answer your question, the way to get off of it, um, we created a hormonal acne supplement called mind, body, skin. It has completely blown up. Um, and it starts working in like five to seven days. Like you'll feel the difference. And it, it basically does what spironolactone does, but in a different way and in a more holistic way and a more long lasting way. Um, so you would, you wouldn't, you can go cold Turkey if you want to. Um, but what you could do is also like alternate days. You could do your Spiro one day, mind, body, skin the next day. I wouldn't double up just because it would be too much of that same, you know, focus. Um, but you

can also just taper off your taper off your dose as well as of Spiro. I don't know how long you've been on it. Um, but eventually what happens for a lot of women is that you need more and more for it to keep working. And then you start getting the weird side effects. If you're on spironolactone every time I did it, it either didn't work. So they'd put me on a higher dosage. My hair started falling out. My body chemistry changed and I was peeing like every eight minutes. So that's what a lot of people go through with it. So getting off of it, um, mind, body, skin is the solution. Oh, I'm so glad you shared your story because so many women are going through this and in their thirties, it's so crazy that so many women are on prescription for their acne in their thirties,

getting into it almost more than kids in their teens. When we think we should be dealing with all the acne. And here we are all of us in our thirties. And we're like, what the, just what Kelty said in the beginning, like what the heck is going on? We're supposed to be done with this when we're 18 years old. And that's where all the education that we've built comes in to the actual root cause of acne. For example, when I met Danielle, I had no idea what comedogenic or poor clogging meant. I'm like, I would see non-comedogenic on bottles. And I'm like, oh, I think we're supposed to buy things that say that, but I actually had no idea what it meant And non-communogenic slash non-poor clogging, it's really the same thing, is so important not only for acne, but also for aging and just the natural luminosity of our skin.

Because if we're putting anything on our skin that's poor clogging, it's going to cause acne. And even people that aren't dealing with aggressive acne, take a look at your skin. Anyone that's listening and you're like, I don't deal with acne at all. but look and see if your skin is like a little texturized or if it's like a little bit dull or there's just little bumps to it, but you would never consider it acne. That's clogged pores. So makeup, skincare, hair conditioner all cause this. And we can be doing all the amazing work on the inside, or you can be taking different prescriptions. And if you're still using ingredients topically that are clogging your skin, you can do all the protocols in the world,

the most holistic route possible. And your skin is never going to achieve the most clear it could ever be if you're still clogging it topically. So that's a big reason why we talk about both the external and the internal reasons of acne and take it really simple because I, I was the person that was overwhelmed. Like how am I supposed to check all my products? Like, I don't even understand what this means. We bill an amazing ingredient checker on our website. So it's free for everyone. And all you do is like lay out all your makeup, skincare, and start with your go-to because anyone that's like loves makeup right you know like 60 things sprawled out so start with your go-to everyday things um and just google them one at a time copy and paste the full ingredient

deck make sure you check because some um websites can be a little tricky and try to just show you the key ingredients and try to give you like five so you gotta like search on some of those websites for the full ingredient deck copy and paste into our ingredients checker and it'll show up any of the pore cloggers, it'll show it up in red. And you just want to double check below because we have the list physically below for you, but that way you don't have to throw out everything and just start brand new. It's like, okay, it's my moisturizer breaking me out. I'll just switch that. Oh, it's just my foundation breaking out. I'll switch that or, oh, it's just my bronzer. So it makes it really easy to know the culprit and then you can easily make the switch from there.

This episode of Lady Gang is brought to you by Clear Stem Skincare, a revolutionary skincare brand that is both anti-aging and anti-acne with zero known hormone disruptors. That's right. Can you listen to that again? Remember when I was like, why am I doing aging and have acne at the same time that there should be 10 years where you don't have to deal with either of those two things? This is the first skincare line that deals with both at the same time. And if you've ever dealt with breakouts, you know that acne products dry and damage the skin, which also causes premature aging. And then you're trying to do anti-aging products, but they're breaking everyone out because of their thick pore clogging fillers. So it's this vicious cycle. And that's why we're

so excited to talk all about skin today on this episode. The founders of ClearStem are both in their thirties and extremely acne prone. So they made this non-toxic line that targets acne and wrinkles simultaneously. Two women, Danielle and Kaylee are here today to talk to us and you've been meeting them and I hope you love them so much. The two of them really bonded over skin. Danielle has been using in her clinic for over 10 years. We just love them. Formulas that they make keep winning award after award after award. So I know you're falling in love with them on this podcast today, but the hype is so real. You need to try this line if you want to be doing anti-aging that won't break you out. You can learn more at clearstemskincare.com. And I have a question for

you. Sometimes I think people misconstrue clean beauty with non-pore clogging, but that is a myth, right yeah it's the biggest myth that we're constantly educating people on the word clean it just refers to like non-toxins like parabens phthalates dyes like things like that it has absolutely nothing to do with acne same thing with organic skincare you think you're you know buying something that's you're like okay this is good this is healthier for me it's going to fix the thing that's bothering me but both of those words are just so vague and they can be interpreted in very different ways, especially the clean conversation. So, um, clean organic, those are actually some of the products that break people out the worst because they rely heavily on coconut

oil, shea butter, um, other things that, you know, seem healthy in our day-to-day life, like avocado oil, algae, seaweed, um, a lot of things that we, you know, know and love in our kitchen actually break us out when they're applied topically. So that's where a lot of that confusion comes from. Kelty's jaw is on the floor. What have you been putting on your face? what your skin food? No, no. Well, the coconut oil really just got me. Um, cause I love to put anyway. Okay. We've been telling her, we have been telling her she has like this thick paste thing. She's, she's, she's, um, retired it, but there was like this really thick paste that she was putting on her face. And I think the years of Accutane saved you from not having absolute,

it's literally the Accutane. I was like, you're putting coconut oil, like straight oils onto your face. If I did that, I can't even imagine what I would look like. No, it's true. So you're shocked. You're shocked. I know. Here's my question. I want to, I want to ask you something. What is it that is happening inside of us when hormonal acne strikes? Because it kind of strikes at the same time every month and it strikes, you know, you know, it's coming. And then you like, for me I have one pore on my cheek and it likes to fill itself the same fucking pore every month and like it gives me the same zit I'm like we've been through this like it's the same thing and I just don't understand like why that happens and then I guess what does the the pill you're

saying like what does it do what can you explain how that works yeah so the bigger conversation here. So everyone thinks their acne is hormonal because that's, or bacterial, right? But everyone thinks it's hormonal because of that cycle. We generally get it during PMS, that window right before our period, because the estrogen has dropped so much and testosterone's like running the show at that point. When you spike testosterone, that's the quickest way to get hormonal acne. Like that is the main hormone. Androgens and testosterone are the main hormones, the male hormones that, um, you know, spike our oil and create hormonal acne. That said the real, the genetic cause of acne is something called retention hyperkeratosis.

Basically, if you are prone to acne, it runs in your family. It is a genetic thing, genetic predisposition, but we make more skin protein, more keratin than other people who like don't even bathe, but have perfect skin, right? Like that's the big difference at the core. So our pores we can produce like five times as much skin protein as as those people who never break out so our pores get clogged a little bit more easily we also generally have a little more oil so a little more oil mixing with our extra skin protein our pores just get clogged then it ebbs and flows with things in your diet certain vitamins that you're taking that are messing with your hormones and then just your natural hormonal cycles so um our vitamin helps with

that because it's helping with all of those like you think it's just hormones but we're actually getting your back in like eight other ways like supporting digestion giving you a healthy amount of vitamin a so your skin can naturally exfoliate the way that it needs to um and then turmeric for inflammation milk thistle for the liver dim to help balance the hormones and then b5 that which is the thing that kind of mimics um spironolactone so our hormonal acne supplement it really does help with all the hormonal cycles but it's actually giving you everything else you need that you weren't aware that you needed. So exfoliation is really important. And then removing pore cloggers, because what I've seen in my, you know, 10 years of treating acne,

everyone comes in with a self-diagnosis. I think this is hormonal, but then I go over their products with them, their ingredients, and they're, they're clogging their pores. Like, like Kaylee said, their makeup, foundation, sunscreen, those are the three things that always have pore cloggers. Sorry, makeup, lotion, sunscreen. When you have clogged pores, it might be fine certain parts of the month, but during PMS time, or for some women it's ovulation, that's when it flares up. So you think it's just hormonal because that's the only correlation that you're noticing, but really the pore has been clogged all month and it just couldn't fight it off at that time. So a lot of people find that once they get rid of their pore cloggers and start exfoliating the right amount

that they naturally need to be doing, it's a game changer. Then their hormones don't seem to be as big of an issue because the real issue, the root cause, if in this case it was their pore cloggers and there's makeup that's been removed. So now it's like a whole different world. My gosh, I want a lot of sense. I wanted to ask you a question because I've been dealing with a fungal thing that's happening on my face for over a year. It was caused by a antibiotic that I had a reaction to. But when you're talking about the dermatologist, like in the first part of the episode, I had gone to so many dermatologists that tried to just say it was so many different things that I had to kind of self-diagnose myself after like so many trial and errors.

But anyways, I'm almost positive it's a fungal thing. But when I went to the dermatologist last time, he prescribed me an antibiotic, like a topical one. And I broke out in the worst cystic acne I've ever had in my entire life, like huge, huge pimples on my face because he thought it was like a skin barrier thing that he was now correcting. So as somebody that's now, I went from like fungal rashes all over my face to cystic acne, like what is the best thing to kind of like bring yourself down to zero again? Like what is the first step to kind of, if you're freaking out in like every direction? Um, the first thing, if it is truly, truly fungal related, you don't want to use any oils on your skin because the fungus eats the oils that's going to flare it up and make

it worse. Um, I would go to a baseline, like for instance, from our line, I would just use the Gentle Clean, the Selvernude, if you can, the Hydroglow, and just three products, super, super baseline, see where you are. But Jack, exactly what you're talking about is why last month we launched our ClearStem Acne Lab Test. And it's actually a blood work test to help you discover the root cause of your acne with guided protocols for each. Because one of the root causes of acne is bacteria, fungal, and infection related. So within the blood work, it'll show you, um, specifically what different markers are raised, what's going on, where is it coming from? It could be like a liver issue, a kidney issue, a gut issue. What do we need to support in the

body? And then a guided protocol for you, what to remove, what to include different things, depending on which type your acne is, because it might also be fungal infection related, but you could have just for example, like some stress and blood sugar related. It could be a little hormone related. So it'll give you all of those markers rather than just addressing it from a topical standpoint, because it does sound like something internal is going on. We have to always remember our internal organs can't talk to us. So the only way for them to give us signals is to come out through the skin and it's the body like trying so hard to communicate, be like, hi, something's going wrong on the inside. But sadly, the medical system just isn't set up to spend the

amount of time it would take to go through it. It's just not the methodology of our medical system. Um, which is why we created the acne lab test. And there's so many amazing nutritional therapy practitioners out there, different people that are really doing all this amazing work with people with acne and different skin issues to actually help find the root cause that can spend a longer amount of time with you. So wait, so how do you get the lab test? I'm like, this is what my dermatologist needed to do. We are so excited. We launched it with this amazing, amazing woman, Emily Morrow, who's a blood chemistry specialist and has been doing this for years. So it's on our website. It's under the resources section, acne lab test. We partnered with Rupa labs for

this, which is an incredible lab company that does custom formulated lab. Like doctors can even work with Rupa lab to custom order lab panels. So we've created a custom acne lab panel that tests for over 84 markers to again, give you hand over the root causes of your personal acne. It'll analyze different patterns and then you'll get solutions for each one. And guys, that's awesome. Whoa. I mean, I need to do this like today. It's, I mean, it's for, it's really for the men and women who've been struggling for so long. Again, we have so many people in our community who've been struggling with acne for decades and they find us and they're like, oh my gosh, I didn't even know that taking too much vitamin D could

be causing my hormonal acne. Sometimes it's that simple for people. And our goal is to give people the relief from all the suffering and the overwhelm and not feeling seen and heard by doctors, like feeling really understood by our education and making really simple tweaks that they just didn't know to see massive results in their skin. Wow. I love it. All right. When we Come back, your quest story, your questions from the community, and we're going to talk about aging. This episode of Lady Gang is brought to you by Clear Stem Skincare, a revolutionary skincare brand that is both anti-aging and anti-acne with zero known hormone disruptors.

So if you've ever dealt with breakouts, you know that acne products can dry and damage the skin, which also causes premature aging. No, thank you. But anti-aging products keep breaking everyone out because of the thick, pore-clogging fillers they use. So the founders of Clear Stem are both in their 30s, extremely prone to acne. so they made a non-toxic line that targets acne and wrinkles simultaneously. Hallelujah.

ClearStem was founded in San Diego by two women, Danielle, the acne guru, owner of the acclaimed San Diego Acne Clinic, and Kaylee, holistic nutritionist. The founders met when Kaylee was suffering with severe cystic acne, searching for answers, and found San Diego Acne Clinic. After healing Kaylee's skin, the two bonded over everything they wanted to fix in the acne market. After reviewing thousands of products over 10 years of her clinic patients, danielle knew nearly all of them contained poor clogging ingredients or toxic chemicals that

disrupted the hormones so the two partnered because they knew their clients and the world deserved better the formulas keep winning award after award and the hype is so real you need to try this line if you want anti-aging that won't break you out learn more at clear stem skincare dot com the lady gang okay we're back becca has a question so um on social media there's been a lot of weird things. There's been a lot of Haley Bieber and she's slugging. That ruined my skin too. That's insane. We can, we can discuss that, but I think we're all smart enough to know we shouldn't be doing that. Right. Um, but I have been seeing a lot of stuff about protein powder and acne and there's being a very large link to that. And I think, um, as somebody who always

thought that I was like doing something good for myself when I would have like a, even if it's plant-based protein in my smoothie. I'm like, protein's good for us, right? And then I see that and I'm like, God damn it. I cannot get anything right with my skin. No, it's crazy, Becca, what you're going to say. But just, I'm going to jump in for one second. You know, I had a similar thing. So this year I went through this whole health thing and I have been deep into my root causes. I mean, I had 60 pages worth of work done. And at the end of it, I mean, in the middle of it, he was like, you are highly allergic to beef, any beef products. And I haven't eaten meat since I was in eighth grade. I haven't eaten beef, but it shows up in all of those protein powders and all

of those, you know, you're supposed to be getting the, what's it called? Starts with the C so that you, you know, collagen so that you age nice and you're, I'm trying to grow my hair at the same time. So I'm taking the collagen. And what I didn't realize is that my body is freaking out because this is a beef or a brovine product, even though it's not me eating a steak and my, and had no idea. And like, because I haven't ever really eaten that I had no like digestive upset or whatever, but it was like every anyway. So I just, I love what you're saying here. And that makes so much sense. Go ahead. Sorry. Sorry, Danielle. Oh, that's amazing. Okay. So the, I was going to say I'm nerding out. I'm like, is it a histamine thing? Like what is it? But we can go

back to that. Um, cause a lot of people tolerate bone broth really, really well. And some people don't and that's because of the histamines. But anyway, um, the protein conversation at large, Yes, protein. What is good about protein powders is that you can add it to your morning matcha or your morning drink that's normally sugar-based, right? Like if you're adding it to a smoothie, it can help balance out the glycemic load, which is very helpful because blood sugar regulation is one of the critical things for acne and aging. However, those protein powders can have a bunch of shit in them. It's so processed. I mean, just how it's made, right? How it got to you. It is processed. whey protein and milk protein isolate will break you out like crazy like you'll need another round of accutane right so anyone that's my body builder we're actually doing a blog post about this why do

sexy people get acne a lot of them are bodybuilders personal trainers fitness enthusiasts like people that are like working to be at the peak of their health but they're taking protein powders that have whey or milk in them and even egg white protein dairy and eggs can spike acne like crazy So that's a really common one. But then when you go to the plant-based ones, there's a whole other, um, you know, section of issues like heavy metals. And then what else is in it? Is there, did they add a bunch of other stuff to it? Like a bunch of biotin or a bunch of B12, which is another thing that in excess breaks people out. Um, and Kaylee actually knows a lot more about the protein powder conversation too. Well, it's, it's so interesting when you

actually take a look at the back of a protein powder, like, oh my gosh, I'm ingesting this every single day. And if you were to separate out all of those ingredients, you wouldn't have spoonfuls of them every single day. It's near impossible to find one without stevia, monk fruit, monk fruit, erythritol, and all of these are so disruptive to our gut. We've actually been seeing, this is crazy, but stevia and high amounts, which high amounts equal a little bit every single day, that's just building, building, building in the body, is actually acting as birth control and having huge issues with our hormones. So we, Emily Morrow, who helped, who partnered with us for the acne lab test, she works with a lot of clients on fertility. And there was a few of her

clients that couldn't get pregnant for years and years. They did everything. She was putting them on protocol. They couldn't figure it out. Three of them all at the same time, she had them remove this electrolyte mix from their morning drink that all had stevia. So having stevia every single morning, they had, she had them remove it. And within two months they were all pregnant. Now the research is coming out and showing how stevia can be acting on our hormones. And when, and again, it's not a bad thing. It's just when we're having it in our morning beverage, every single day, usually on an empty stomach, or if it's a protein shake, you know, we just worked out our bodies really cleansed and then we're dumping it in. It's making even more of

an impact. So you have to think as well, those first things that you're drinking every single morning, make a bigger impact. I mean, remember back in the day, like maybe college days where you like wouldn't really eat and then you drink and you'd get really, really drunk because you have like nothing in your body. It's like the same thing. It's like you're waking up after six, seven, eight, nine hours of sleep. Your body's so dehydrated. There's nothing in it. And then whatever we're putting in our body is making an even bigger impact because our body's absorbing it so much faster because there's nothing in there. So what you put in your body within those first hours of the day on an empty stomach are the most important things and really

set your body up for the rest of the day and just your health in general. Wow. That's awesome. Wow. I need to talk about aging. Um, we talked about acne and now can we talk about aging? Um, we hear everything from the retinol to the Botox to the everything. And if you're dealing with a face that is feeling oily and zitty, and then you also want to have anti-aging, how are you able to create products that do both? Love that question too. Okay. So the number one tip for everyone here to age better, water temperature in the shower, no hot water on your face ever. And by hot, I mean like, like hot, like you, like if you pass the baby test, Like if you have a little baby, what's the water temperature you'd use on them?

Warm-ish, never hot, right? So your skin, treat your face the same way. If you stand under your shower with hot water blasting your face, it annihilates your moisture barrier, your lipid barrier, all of that. And that means that you're drier, you're more inflamed, and you get UV damage faster, which is the real ager. So just do lukewarm, lukewarm room temperature water, like pretty much as like, not cold per se but like as lukewarm and neutral as you can and don't over cleanse your face in the shower

so protecting your barrier is the number one thing that will help you age better otherwise your skin is just like out of whack it's dry then you're using more moisturizing stuff and you never get that balance because it's happening every day so number one tip lukewarm water only on your face as far as products go the way that we formulate is so specific there are anti-aging ingredients like Bacuchiol, which is the natural retinol alternative that we love because it's non-toxic. There's Bacuchiol, there's stem cells, there's really good moisturizers that are good for everyone like Squalane and Hyaluronic. And then there's other balancing agents like green tea and turmeric and a host of other herbs that are good for everyone. If you can reduce inflammation,

it's going to help acne and aging. So that's really the crux of our line. You'll see turmeric and a lot of our stuff and green tea and a lot of our stuff and everything is like pH balance, but yet the correctives that we choose to use, like mandelic acid, for example, mandelic acid is the main ingredient in our yellow serum called clarity. Um, that one is, it gets rid of acne by dissolving the congestion and it actually does work for fungal acne too. So it dissolves the, the thing that's in your pore creating the inflammation, but it also stimulates collagen. And then we put a little bit of vitamin C with that too, So it travels down even deeper with its acid, you know, co-pilot, right?

And then you get a brightening effect. So there's, we know how to formulate with the right ingredients and we do not compromise on anything that is acne genic or poor clogging. So most companies out there, and I'm talking like 95 plus percent, use the same common filler agents that break everybody out. Ethylhexyl palmitate, isopropyl myristate, satiris 20. There are things that the average consumer is never educated on. Dermatologists don't even get educated on this, right?

But they're the most common, cheap, shelf-stable filler agents, and it's in everything. So like Kaylee was saying with the ingredient checker, that's the number one place to start. Because if you're still clogging your pores, it's going to lead to inflammation. All your other good ingredients aren't going to really get in, and you're going to be congested, and that inflammation will age you faster. can you talk a little bit about the buccuccio is that how it's pronounced oil yeah because I once I had all this stuff on my face I all of a sudden would start having I used retinol for years and then once this happened I can't use retinol anymore because I will freak out on my

skin and I heard that that is a good alternative to use if you're sensitive to retinol that kind of has the same effect we don't love retinol it's in the you know dirty kind of category so we just don't use it anyway because of that but it's also very sensitizing and it doesn't play nice with other things granted there are different types of retinol and how you use it matters you could you know mix it with a moisturizer a few times a week it's not really going to do much but the pharmaceutical ones that you get are gnarly they they make it so that you like can't really be out in the sun you can't exfoliate with anything else your skin's constantly shedding so they're just really really really intense and they can create a really bad purge and just like

disrupt your skin barrier for a really long time. So yeah, Bacuchiol is our favorite. It stimulates collagen, helps brighten the skin, helps with that natural exfoliation level that you really want, but it doesn't create all the irritation and sun sensitivity. I will say, I feel like I've tried every serum under the sun. Like I just, it's like an addiction. The serum that you sent us, it really, when everyone's like, it's going to make you glow. Usually it just makes serums make you glow. Cause there's a shit ton of oil in it, you know? So you're like, of course I look good right after I put this on, I look like a glazed donut. But the serum that I used from you guys, like five hours into the day, I was like, I look amazing. How on earth is this possible? And like,

what is the difference with your serum and other, other things? I really do genuinely feel that it was different. Bounce back is nicknamed our no Botox serum, but it also helps you glow because of the texture and the consistency we made that serum a little bit thicker on purpose because it has a ton of peptides in there and we that you know that most serums are really thin that one is thicker on purpose because i feel that once your skin has dried your pores like kind of like um kind of close back up think of it that way right when your skin's moist it's more permeable things can get in so the fact that it's thicker means it's actually penetrating the actives are actually getting in and being more, um, interacting with your skin a little bit more.

So it really does help heal your skin and the peptides help heal the barrier. And that's why you just look more, more healed. Yeah. It was different than anything I've ever tried. It's awesome. Okay. We're going to run out of time. And if I don't ask these questions for our community, the community will revolt. So here we go. Liz says, Liz wants to know when to pop it and when to not pop it? Oh, going, not popping it. So I was such a picker and a popper. I would just, I feel like that's a rhyme. It's a children's book. Yeah, it is a picker and the popper. Um, so speaking from someone who's struggled with this for so long, it can be a fixation thing. Like you want to fix something. So now I have a protocol that I do to replace

that it's kind of like for the person that's trying to quit smoking they like they they do something else with their hand they get a new fidget thing for their hand for something to do so my new protocol because you don't want to pop it um if it's cystic it's never gonna pop and i've destroyed my face with cystic one so with cystic just ice pack it right away ice pack it let it sit let that be your kind of fidget thing to do with it instead of picking it i promise you that inflammation is going to go down when you start ice packing it. But the best protocol for acne are pregame face mask. So get that lightly, lightly wet your face, pat it dry. So it's still a little bit moist, rub the pregame mask in, it has an exfoliating factor to it.

Let it sit about five to 10 minutes. If this is your first time doing anything really intensely exfoliating, go more five minutes. If you've done all the microneedling, all the things um, like in your past and your skin is really built up to it. You can go a little bit longer, do that, let it sit, and then do clarity right after just in the area, just for a couple minutes, you're not going to want to leave it on as long as we normally do. We normally want you to have clarity on for about 15 minutes. So leave it on for about five to 10 minutes and then immediately moisturize your whole face and do that before you go to bed and wake up the next day. And if it's Don't not, if it still hasn't gone away in about, um, like 48 hours, I wait 48 hours

do just the pregame mask again, really lightly about five minutes, heavy, heavy moisturize after with the hydro low again, you want to be careful what you're putting on after that. You're not putting on any moisturizers for clogging. So I recommend the hydro glow, but it's, it's, it's been such a myth that we need to dry the crap out of our acne and actually not moisturize, but you really need the moisturization factor to heal. So the exfoliating mask pregame and clarity, slightly, slightly drying, but still going to be really active for the acne. And then you're going to heavily moisturize after, and it's going to go away so much faster than picking it. I love this.

I have another question just as like the final step of this too, like having to cover it up with makeup. I feel like I do all the right things. And then I'm like, well, I have to go to dinner and I'm about to put all this shit back on the zit that I just kind of treated like a baby. What do you suggest? Are there, are there products you love as far as, as concealers go? Cause I know a lot of us just struggle with that too. Yes. Cannot recommend enough the line of the makeup line called Priya P R I I A. There's other makeup products out there that are acne safe, but anyone can reformulate at any time. Priya is very similar to clear stem ethos. They are meant to be acne safe. They will never reformulate to not be. And their, their concealers have a little bit of a

healing aspect to them too. So actually help down calm. It'll actually help calm down a breakout in the area. So putting a little bit of that concealer on and a little bit of their powder. If I ever have to wear, you know, going out to a big dinner event where I have your makeup after I've broken out, I'll actually do their powder first. And then I will like makeup sponge in a thicker foundation on top, but at least it protects it a little bit more when you have to put on something heavy after I love it now okay Lindsay I feel like Lindsay I don't want to shame you but we've learned so much in this episode but I still want to ask your question girl she says please I have I'm having breakouts before every period right now it is so annoying I've even gone so far as

I'm using proactive like I'm a teenager I'm 43 pick a lane skin pimples or wrinkles but stop it with both do you have any thoughts for lindsey our sweet lindsey yeah so she the first so that you know when someone it's such a broad um there could be anything and there are a number of things she's gotta go do the blood test she's gotta do no no do the skin quiz do the skin quiz on our website it's the best five minutes you'll ever spend you'll be like light bulbs going off just with the skin quiz and from there you learn that like too much b12 can break you out or too much zinc so that it encourages you to look at your vitamins. So right there, it can eliminate a bunch of culprits. It also tells you about the poor clogging ingredients right there. Another,

you know, like right there, you're going to rule out so many of the things that are like causing it. Mind, body, skin is the hormonal acne supplement. And if she's 43, she's, you know, at that time, rumor has it that estrogen starts to kind of decline and testosterone can kind of run the show. You know, everyone's different with hormones. So I hate generalizing. However, the mind, body, skin supplement that we have is the thing that lets people not break out during PMS. Like it's changed both of our lives. Okay. I just ordered it. I know. I'm like, you did wait. I think they're giving us a lady gang code, Becca. Oh shit. Hold on. Okay. Last question. I'll need more. Julia asks, and this is our last question. I we've gone way

over. I'm so sorry, but this is information that the lady gang must have. What are the best type facials to get for acne prone, oily skin? What do we ask for when we go? That is so tricky. So there's a company called face reality. That's, um, they do pretty like really good training for acne. Those are the only estheticians I would ever go to. That said, some of them were kind of wild and often doing their own thing, or they give different information. They rely heavily on benzoyl peroxide. That's just kind of that protocol. However, I, I would only ever go to someone who is at least face reality certified because they understand and are thinking about pore cloggers. So you can go into search, find a face reality person, go by reviews and get,

you can, you know, try one of their treatments. A microderm with a light chemical peel is what we do at San Diego Acne Clinic. Our protocols are a little bit, they're just like more customized over the years. I just figured out what works. So microderm with an enzyme or a peel is going to be fantastic if you just don't trust anyone um because even then you kind of have to bring your own moisturizer right like if you go to facial you better bring your own moisturizer and sunscreen right and that's not fun so what we love to teach people how to do is to do it at home right the pre-game mask that kaylee was talking about in conjunction with a tool called the diamond buff which we also have on our website doing those two things together like once a week once every 10

days or so, that is your at-home facial. You will get amazing results and wake up with better skin. And it just keeps getting better. The more, the more you incorporate it into your routine. So face reality facial, or do our pregame mask and the diamond buff that we have on our website. I will say that when it was during COVID, I was, um, shooting a TV show. So there was like literally no one allowed to touch your face, except they, unless they had to. So I, when I would normally do my facials, I was like, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And I got a very good at home protocol similar to this. And I feel like my skin is actually much better when I'm just doing it at home by myself. Cause it's like you go to a rogue spa or like you're at the

mercy, like you're saying of whatever that person thinks. And a lot of people don't keep up with the education of what's going on. There are amazing people out there, but I actually really now prefer the at home stuff. Me too. Yeah. Especially cause you know, at our age, like we know our skin, we hopefully have gotten to know our skin. We know it, it likes and doesn't like, and you're right. Going to a rogue spa. Good luck. That's like rolling the dice in Vegas after. It's just like, it's such a gamble. It's probably not going to go well. Learning how to do it yourself is the best way when you lay down and they're like, so what products are you using? I'm like, bitch, I don't have time to tell you all the products I'm using right now. I was like, I didn't bring

a photo. I'm like, don't try to sell me your serum. I'm good. I can't, I can't do it. It's too stressful. Okay. Wait. So, um, ladies, my clear stem Queens, we have a special deal for the lady gang, right? Can you tell us about it? Do you know it? Yes. Yep. We code lady gang for 20% off. Oh my God. Lady gang. You're going to get that supplement right now. 20% off. Go get your mind, body, skin. You guys will have to come back because we had, I had so many other questions and we didn't like, no, I mean, we can, this was so much fun and we love just rapid fire questions too. It's so much fun. I love it. I love it so much. Um, we will put all the links and all the codes in the show notes and also on our, on our site, check it out, uh, 20% off with

code lady gang and let us know how you're at clear stem skincare.com you guys. Thank you. Yeah. Um, I didn't want anybody to like, not know where to go. This is like me, like driving off the side of the road when i'm listening to a podcast trying to get something right um so yes okay thank you for coming thank you guys and we will see you next tuesday thanks for listening the lady gang is produced by alex ingber steve delameter and jared monaco make sure you subscribe rate and review our podcast and if you love it share it with your friends on social media like oh my god i just listened lady gang this episode's so great swipe up to listen and if you really want to which we know you do please follow us on social at kelty at becca at jack vanek and at the lady gang sign

up for our newsletter at theladying.com and join our secret Facebook group. It's super fun. See you next Tuesday. This episode of Lady Gang is brought to you by Clear Stem Skincare, a revolutionary skincare brand that is both anti-aging and anti-acne with zero known hormone disruptors. You need to try this line if you want to be doing anti-aging that won't break you out. You can learn more at ClearStemSkincare.com.