Keratosis Pilaris: Do Natural Remedies Really Work?

Day 1:

Hello, everyone. My name is Nichole, and I have keratosis pilaris on the backs of my arms.

It sucks. 

Over the years, I’ve just adjusted to it, and I rarely think about it. But every now and then somebody points it out. And it always makes me feel…well…BLEH!

At on point in high school, I refused to wear tank tops until I was a junior because of how much I hated the bumps. And to this day, I still loathe the question, “Do you have goosebumps?”.

But now, I’m going to commit to a plan. A 40 day plan since that’s about the time it takes for an adults skin to renew.

So what is keratosis pilaris?

If you want the full technical explanation, click on the link above. If you want a quick summary read below.

Keratosis pilaris is a skin condition. It is characterized by non-itchy, non-painful red bumps on the skin. This condition is most likely to affect legs or arms. In my case, only my arms are really affected. Sometimes it appears on a person’s face or neck.

The red bumps are a result of the body produced excess keratin, usually great for hair growth, in places with a high density of hair follicles. For some reason, this keratin isn’t readily exfoliated off, and it results in an in-grown hair situation with general inflammation in the area.

For special events, I now put on concealer to hide the bumps. But most of the time, I just ignore them. It’s not a big flaw, and I have better things to do than put concealer on my bumps... most of the time.

But I’d like to know if I can get rid of them naturally. So I turned to the Internet!

 

My 40 Day Treatment Plan

*** I am not a trained professional. I am trying out these various natural remedies to see if they help my skin. This might not work for your skin. In particular, many resources say apple cider vinegar should be mixed with water. But my skin doesn’t seem to mind, so I just put it straight on. THIS MIGHT NOT WORK FOR YOUR SKIN.

Morning

I will put apple cider vinegar on my arms for 10 minutes. Once it soaks in, I’ll wash it off in the shower. Then, I’ll put argan oil (I bought my argan oil at a Kaldi’s in Japan, and it was only $9.00, so shop around) on next. After waiting for ten minutes, I’ll seal it with the lush cuticle cream.

Evening

I will put on apple cider vinegar again for 10 minutes before washing off and applying a tsp. of manuka honey to my arms. After 30 minutes, I will wash it off and then apply some more argan oil to my arms which I will then seal in with a little bit of lotion.

Twice Weekly

I’ll use a sugar scrub combining white sugar with olive oil. I’ll scrub with an exfoliating washcloth in the morning after the vinegar application. I only want to do this twice a week because of the mess and to keep from over-exfoliating.

Important Reminder

I will have to be doubly diligent with sunscreen application since the skin being treated will be more susceptible to burning.

Reasoning Behind the Treatment

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar has acetic acid in it. I wanted to have a chemical exfoliant in my routine. Chemical exfoliants cause less abrasions than manual, so I thought for everyday exfoliation this was my best bet. The vinegar is also supposed to have anti-microbial properties as well. Although, I don’t want it to be too strong, or I’ll risk chemical burns.

Argan Oil

Argan oil is notoriously good for skin and hair particularly of the sensitive variety. I’ve used argan oil on my face, and it’s one of the few oils that I can use and not develop acne or styes. I’m looking at you coconut oil. Plus, it makes your skin super soft. The downside is the stuff isn’t often ethically sourced. So, I’ll try to be careful about sourcing it.

Manuka Honey

Manuka honey is a special type of honey made from bees in New Zealand. The honey is supposed to prevent inflammation. And it’s super anti-microbial which is good since I’m impairing my skin’s defenses by putting acid on it everyday.

Sugar Scrub

This is a lighter version of salt scrub. I have really, really sensitive skin. So sensitive that the only makeup cleanser that doesn’t make my eyes swell up and my cheeks flush in red irritation is Lush’s Ultrabland.

I mean it. I’ve tried Biore, Olay, Estee Lauder, and about every other makeup remover under the son. I also can’t use olive oil or coconut oil without getting styes.

But I digress, I’m using a sugar scrub because I think some manual exfoliation should be used, but I want it to be fairly gentle.

Lush Cuticle Cream

I just like this cream. It seems to lock in moisture and protect my cuticles from the elements. Hopefully, it will do the same for my KP.

Ending Thoughts

All of these are things readily sourced where I live in Japan, and they are within my budget. Hopefully this works. But I’ll have to be consistent, and I’ll post weekly updates.  We have about 10 weeks to go!

 

Upfront Cost: $70.00 (The Manuka honey is the most expensive part).