This episode is going to pivot away from business a bit and dive more into the lifestyle side of the podcast that we love to cover here and there. Let’s be real, if your business is running great but your life and body are falling apart, there’s a problem! Well, we’re about to get really personal and specific in this episode and hopefully help a LOT of people today because we’re talking about the dreaded curse most of us have dealt with or are still dealing with- acne.

Our guests today are founders Kayleigh and Danielle from Clearstem Skincare, a non-toxic skincare line that targets acne, anti-aging, and scar reversing utilizing premium ingredients. 

Both women struggled with acne for years in spite of multiple dermatologists, specialists, multiple rounds of Accutane, laser treatments, and more. Kayleigh and Danielle took a leap of faith and founded CLEARSTEM Skincare.

Today we talk with Kayleigh and Danielle all about what MOST doctors and dermatologists don’t tell you: there are ROOT causes of acne that YOU can address to support your body and skin. We cover things like: the biggest misconception people have about acne, the first steps you should take to heal your acne, your hormones, gut, and nutrition and how those influence your skin, and what to be aware of in your products that may be aggravating your acne issues, how to find out which ingredients in your products you’re using are pore-cloggers, and SO much more. 

 

Kayleigh & Danielle’s Story 

Holistic Nutritionist Kayleigh Christina is the co-founder of CLEARSTEM Skincare, a non-toxic skincare line that targets acne, anti-aging, and scar reversing utilizing premium ingredients. Christina’s journey into the skincare world started when she developed numerous health issues, including severe cystic acne in her mid-twenties, and tried in vain to find a cure. After countless doctors, dermatologists, and specialists, no one could figure out what was going on. That’s when she took matters into her own hands. 

Danielle Gronich, known as The Acne Guru™ is the formulator and CEO of CLEARSTEM Skincare, a non-toxic skincare line that uses premium ingredients to correct acne, acne scars, DNA damage, and melasma. Danielle studied cellular biology and genetics throughout her education and has had a passion for solving acne as she consistently struggled with her own acne with no solution in sight, despite going through three rounds of Accutane and multiple laser treatments. She took a leap of faith and decided to leave the corporate world, dove into clinical research, and went back to school to find the answers. 

 

CLEARSTEM

CLEARSTEM helps people streamline everyone’s regime. Increasing products is increasing the amount of error. You might not layer them properly or know what is doing what. Streamlining to 5 products total can help keep things simple. 

CLEARSTEM was born when Kayleigh and Danielle were together healing Kayleigh and also trying to figure out how to heal ethnic scars. If you have darker skin or are able to go from fair to really tan, the darker your skin tone the more easily you scar. That’s where the stem cell serum came from and when they finally perfected it, is when CLEARSTEM began!

 

The biggest misconception about acne

Everyone thinks their acne is hormonal. This makes sense because that is all that the dermatologists talk about and don’t have any discussion around diet or lifestyle. As women, we go through more hormonal fluctuations than men do. 

It could be a factor but might not be the only factor. The first thing you want to do is check for pore-clogging ingredients in your makeup, sunscreen, lotion, and hair care. The hormonal conversation is such a tiny part of a much bigger conversation. 

There are a lot of simpler things you can start with to see first if there are other factors than hormonal. Start with pore-clogging, vitamins, food, and excess caffeine. It’s good to check those quick and easy things to tighten up before diving into testing that can be expensive. 

Best First Step when Struggling With Acne 

Look for pore-clogging ingredients. Google your product and find the full ingredient deck, don’t just do the key ingredients. Copy it and head to www.clearstemskincar.com and head to resources and click on the ingredients list, you can paste your ingredients lists in the search bar and any that will show up as pore-clogging will show up as red. If it has pore-cloggers, then you want to get a replacement. 

Check this first and then whatever else you do to improve your skin and health isn’t going against anything you are using topically. 

 

General rules to help prevent acne

1. Pore cloggers if first. 
2. The vitamins that you are taking. Most people take vitamins of some kind. Multi or other vitamins. Certain vitamins in excess can trigger acne. 

 

We need to be Eating more

When we were younger we would get all of our diet things from magazines and now social media. We were told the only way to lose weight was to track calories. We are malnutrition and not getting enough food. We wonder why our hair is thin, our skin looks dull, and why we have low energy. Your body is in survival mode, it’s not holding onto muscle it’s just trying to preserve itself to survive. 

When we are eating more our bodies actually know what to do with it. You should be looking at the nutrient-dense foods, the good fats, and the protein. 

 

Supports to Prevent Acne 

Hormones: Eating the correct amount of fat. We do need healthy amounts of fat, the second we aren’t our bodies start freaking out. Protein is secondly important as carbs. It’s all three: proteins, fats, and carbs. You should be eating those every day. We need carbs for our hormones to balance and function. We need good and complex carbs. If it’s coming from real food sources it’s not going to make you fat. Your skin is an organ, it needs all these ingredients to thrive and glow. We need to fuel our bodies with the proteins, fat, and carbs from real food to have that amazing skin we all want. 

Complex carbs: fruits, vegetables, and potatoes. 

Gut Health: Antibiotics are a fantastic tool, but the over-prescription of them for acne can do terrible things to your microbiome. A spore-based probiotic is key. A spore means the bacteria itself is in its protective space so it can travel past your intestines into your gut where it can thrive and grow itself.  Your gut is your second brain. The more you can do to support your gut the better improvements you will see throughout all areas of your life. 

 

When to Wash Your Face

It depends on your cleanser. Cleansers that have benzoyl peroxide in them are harsh on your skin. If you are using an acne wash that has harsh ingredients and washing your face morning and night, then yes that is way too aggressive. 

We need to also watch out for sodium laureth sulfate. They have known irritants in common drugstore brands that you think are harmless but have those harsh sulfates in them. 

A gentle cleanser is necessary and you do want to cleanse in the morning but just not that much. In the morning you can cleanse for maybe 10 seconds maximum. Don’t over-cleanse and don’t use really hot water. Your skin is made of protein and heat kills protein. 

At night you do want to do your cleanse. Also depending on if you wore makeup that day you might want to do a double cleanse to remove the makeup and then cleanse your skin. That means washing your face twice with your cleanser to remove makeup at first and then actually cleanse your skin. 

 

 

Show notes

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Follow along with Kayleigh & Danielle: 

www.clearstemskincare.com

www.instagram.com/clearstemskincare

www.instagram.com/danielle.the.acne.guru

www.instagram.com/kayleigh.christina

 

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