99. ACNE 101 feat. CLEARSTEM Founders Danielle Gronich + Kayleigh Christina

May 18

listen to this episode:

Today's guests are CLEARSTEM Skincare founders Danielle Gronich (owner of the acclaimed San Diego Acne Clinic and known as The Acne Guru™) and Kayleigh Christina (Holistic Nutritionist)! CLEARSTEM Skincare is a revolutionary skincare brand that is both Anti-Aging and Anti-Acne with zero hormone disruptors or toxins. In this episode, we discuss Danielle and Kayleigh's personal struggles with cystic acne and failed attempts to cure it, common acne triggers (genetics, lifestyle, foods, etc), the genetic components of acne, different types of acne (hormonal vs. cystic vs. minor breakouts), debunking TikTok trends (baby botox, slugging, hydrochloric bandages, at home high-frequency, etc), make-up recommendations, and so much more!

CLEARSTEM's Website: https://clearstemskincare.com/ Use code 'SHEPERSISTED' for a discount :)

Kayleigh's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayleigh.christina/

Danielle's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielle.the.acne.guru/

Mentioned In The Episode…

+ San Diego Acne Clinic

+ Kayleigh's before and after

+ Pore-clogging ingredient checker

+ Face Reality Facialists

SHOP GUEST RECOMMENDATIONS: https://amzn.to/3A69GOC

Episode Sponsors

🛋This week's episode is sponsored by Teen Counseling. Teen Counseling is an online therapy program with over 14,000 licensed therapists in their network offering support with depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, and more via text, talk, and video counseling. Head to teencounseling.com/shepersisted to find a therapist today!

About She Persisted (formerly Nevertheless, She Persisted)

After a year and a half of intensive treatment for severe depression and anxiety, 18-year-old Sadie recounts her journey by interviewing family members, professionals, and fellow teens to offer self-improvement tips, DBT education, and personal experiences. She Persisted is the reminder that someone else has been there too and your inspiration to live your life worth living.

a note: this is an automated transcription so please ignore any accidental misspellings!

[00:00:00] Sadie: Welcome to she persisted. I'm your host Sadie Sutton. Every Friday, I post interviews about mental health, dialectical behavioral therapy and teenage life. These episodes break down my mental health journey, teach skills to help you cope with life and showcase testimonials from individuals, including teens, just like you, whether you've struggled yourself or just want to improve your mental fitness.

[00:00:20] This podcast is your inspiration to live a life you love and keep persisting.

[00:00:25] Hello. Hello. And welcome back to she. Persisted. Before we dive into this week's episode. I really just want to say a huge, thank you.

[00:00:31] We are almost at a hundred episodes. It's going to be huge giveaway announced this next week. And we are on the apple podcast homepage, which is the most like surreal, insane, amazing thing. If you go to the browse page, you scroll down to mental health toolkit. She persisted is featured next to some of the most amazing mental health podcasts, which is just so cool.

[00:00:51] So make sure you check that out. Subscribe, follow all the things I just cannot say. Thank you enough to each and every one of you for listening, following, and supporting she persisted.

[00:01:02] I'm so excited for this week's episode. It hits very close to home. I have struggled with acne since literally like middle school, fifth, sixth grade. I remember starting to get really bad breakouts and we're still finding routine that really works. But I know this is such a universal challenge for so many teenagers. And for many, it goes hand in hand with self-esteem and confidence and mental health, because it oftentimes feels like it's the first impression that you are giving other people and interactions on social media, all of these things.

[00:01:31] So to have a breakout going on to be struggling with acne can really. Cause your self esteem, confidence and mental health to take a hit. So when I came into contact with Danielle and Kaylee on Instagram, I knew that I had to have them on the podcast because they are the acne experts.

[00:01:48] They are the founders of clear stem skincare. Danielle is known as the acne guru. She studied cellular biology did not X and now Owen's a acne skin care clinic and they have a 98% success rate for getting people clear skin and keeping them cleared up. So. That is Danielle Kaylee is a holistic nutritionist. She is the other co-founder of Claire stem. As you'll hear Kaylee was actually one of Daniel's patients at the San Diego acne clinic.

[00:02:17] And she herself has also struggled with acne and other health issues. This is such an amazing conversation. We talked not only about acne clearing up your skin, navigating breakouts, but we also debunk a lot of Tik TOK trends we talk about baby Botox. We talk about slugging. We talk about those hydrochloric, pimple patches, anything, everything you've seen in your, for you page that you're like, I don't know if I should be using this Danielle and Kaylie, give their expert opinions to tell you what you should try and stay away from.

[00:02:43] So this is just an episode that is chocked full of information, about how you can heal your acne, how you can find a routine that works for you. And I highly recommend you guys check out clear stem skincare. Their website is clear stem, skin care.com. They have this amazing resource on their website where you can copy and paste the ingredients in your skincare list. You Google it, you copy paste, and it tells you if the ingredients and your face wash moisturizer, toner, sunscreen, et cetera, have poor clogging ingredients which can be making your breakouts a lot worse if you are acne prone. So I highly recommend you guys check that at the very least, they also have an amazing line of skincare with no poor coughy ingredients which as you guys can see on their Instagram have helped so many people clear up their skin and really healed their acne.

[00:03:27] So highly recommend you guys check them out. They do have a code. She persisted. I will be using my own code this week because I'm out of face wash and I have been using their clarity serum and their moisturizer. It's called Hydra glow. And both have really been helping clear up my skin and prevent breakouts even as I moved home and been adjusting to the warmer climate.

[00:03:47] So game-changer highly recommend that you check those out

[00:03:50] So with that, let's dive in and as always make sure to leave a review on apple podcasts and Spotify subscribe, follow on Instagram at ACI persistent podcast and share the episode. If you enjoyed.

[00:04:02] Thank you guys so much for coming on cheaper assisted.

[00:04:04] I'm so excited to have you here. Acne and mental health are something that in our, for so many teenagers and a lot of the times it's at the forefront of their minds because it's where this, the way they're showing up. It's the first thing that they think people will notice, and it is hugely related to confidence, self esteem.

[00:04:20] And again, Teenage thing that everyone's like, oh, you'll have bad skin. It'll suck. It'll be terrible. And so if there are two people that can really speak to that and give advice, it would be you too. So I'm so honored to have you on the show.

[00:04:31] Kayleigh: Thank you were overjoyed to be on truly. We love you and love everything you do for your community.

[00:04:37] So excited to shed some light, hopefully offer a lot of value and help some people with their skin in the

[00:04:41] Sadie: process. Yeah. So starting without with your background, your story, struggling with acne, and then what motivated you to start clear stem and, and bring so many resources to people that are struggling with. So the background

[00:04:56] Danielle: is we both struggled with really, really, really bad, and it got really bad for me in college.

[00:05:03] It wasn't so much in high school. But it got really bad in college. Just like. Phase the chest body like everywhere. Right. And I was under the care of like a bunch of different doctors and dermatologists and trying to find out what was going on. And like, I was studying biology and genetics at the time.

[00:05:21] So I would come with questions of like, Why does, why does it get worse after I eat these booze? Or why does it get worse after drinking? Or why is this birth control making it better or worse? Just like questions about like, how it was working and like, no one could really answer any of them. And I just thought that was wild.

[00:05:36] So I had to go on like antibiotics a bunch of times I had to do so you're in a lag town, changed birth controls a bunch of times, which is just like a nightmare sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. And then long story short, I had to do Accutane like three separate times and it still came back every time. And the third round I had to like cut short, cause it was like damaging my vision so bad and it was like, it might've been permanent.

[00:05:58] Right. So long story short. We decided to solve it myself at the age of 28. After that last round of Accutane failed, I went to, I wound up registering in beauty school to get access to skin information just for myself. But when I was there, I saw a business model for what is now San Diego acne clinic.

[00:06:17] So it's an acne clinic here in LA Jolla, which is in San Diego. And all we do is treat acne. So basically just the obsession and struggling with my skin for so long is what started the whole, the whole thing. And then we were formulating. PR stem cell serum to help get rid of the scars for our ethnic patients.

[00:06:34] And at that time I had met Kaylie and I was treating her skin. And that is like where clear stem was sort of worn.

[00:06:40] Kayleigh: Yeah. So that's actually where we, where we met, I was a clinic patient of Danielle's. And so growing up for me, I didn't have really bad cystic acne, but I. At what felt like constant ongoing acne.

[00:06:52] So I did the typical proactive that everyone does. I also, I went to the dermatologist. I got put on different, which is like a cream that you put on that like just rips apart your face. I remember being so self-conscious in high school. Cause like one summer I was put on different. Peeling all the sides of my face.

[00:07:09] And I was literally about to start the ninth grade and I was like, are you kidding me? Like you're already. So self-conscious like going into high school and just having your face for a part. So I remember like going off of there early, just because I was like, I can't go into high school like this. And so I just had.

[00:07:24] Acne, but never cystic. And then shortly after college, all of a sudden my skin broke out and bright red inflamed, cystic acne. I was under stress from work. I wasn't eating the same. I was taking a lot of supplements. I was trying all different types of skincare because I was in the wellness space too. So I had a very successful wellness blog and a really good platform on social media.

[00:07:46] So I was trying all these different skincare and. Like I just could not get control my skin. I started going to every doctor, dermatologist and esthetician, and the only solutions I was given was go back on birth control, go on antibiotics, go on Accutane. I was like, I don't want to do any of those. I know how disruptive they are to your health.

[00:08:05] Like Accutane, like Danielle said, it can cause like vision loss. It's so disruptive to your gut health, into your liver. Like Andrew, your skin long-term. And so I almost went on Accutane. I really didn't want to, but I'd start the process because I truly felt like I had no other option. I was packing on theater makeup, like the fit clay makeup that like miss America pageant girls wear.

[00:08:26] And I was like, packing that on. I didn't want to leave the house. I didn't want to see friends. I was so embarrassed of my skin. Because acne, like, it really hits your mental health. It hits like you look at yourself in the mirror. I was actually like texting a girlfriend the other day. I literally just yesterday, she's 23 years old.

[00:08:41] She's a friend of the families and she's been dealing with a lot of acne and shoot. I was reminding her to take progress pictures as I was guiding her on what to do. And she was like, yeah, I, I haven't been taking progress pictures because I can't even like, look at myself in the mirror, just makes me want to cry.

[00:08:55] And I was like, oh my, and that's it. Cause that's how I felt too. And I was like, I understand looking in the mirror, like hit so bad, but just take progress pictures and put them in an album and you can like look at them later, but they're hidden. Yeah, they're hidden, but the progress pictures, because when you look in the mirror every single day and see your acne, it's so hard to see like the little progress, cause you're staring at it every day.

[00:09:14] But when you can take those pictures, like you can see, you can find more hope you can you can see that you're progressing forward. So yeah. One last Google search, because I didn't want to go on any of these toxic prescription medications. Accutane also, you have to like sign a lot of waivers. It's saying it's linked to depression, anxiety, like all that stuff.

[00:09:31] Oh my gosh, you don't do that. So one less Google search, a pop San Diego acne clinic. That's where I met Danielle and I happen to be her last patient of the day. Thank goodness, because we ended up talking for about an hour and a half before she even did a facial on my skin. And I had gone back to school at this time to study holistic nutrition.

[00:09:48] So I felt like I knew so much about what. In your body and on your body, the effects that it has. But what I didn't know is how everything pertains to acne and how are those even healthy foods and healthy supplements that trigger acne in excess. And so my whole world was opened up into this. We found out that I had 12 different acne triggers going on, and they're like even simple ones.

[00:10:09] I was using skincare with poor clogging ingredients and for clogging oils. I was taking too much vitamin D too much vitamin D triggers, testosterone, which triggers a hormonal imbalance struggles triggers hormonal acne. I was eating eggs every single day. Eggs is a big acne trigger. So I had like 12 of these going on.

[00:10:25] We moved them. Danielle did my facials. My skin was clear in two months. And if you want to see how bad it was, I say the, I can send you a before and after pictures. You're with your community, but also if anyone goes to our website, clear stem, skincare.com, I'm one of the very first before and afters, and you can see the difference.

[00:10:45] And I got an, a proper skincare routine and remove the acne triggers. And that's how clear Clearstone was born from, from this merging of Danielle and I and our stories and realizing that. We just w like skincare and what causes acne can feel so confusing, but with the right information, you know exactly what to do and exactly the skincare routine to do so you can have clear skin.

[00:11:08] Sadie: Yeah. I love that. And it really is such a gap in the industry. Like to my knowledge, there is not an acne based on facialist skincare. Office in the bay area, because whenever I've made appointments and I'm like, can you do like an acne specific ones? And I'm sort of like a teen facial. And it's really just like kind of a mix of what are they, whatever they have and it's really hit, or miss, there has been so many appointments where I'm like, okay, this went great.

[00:11:31] Like, I feel like we really did target my breakouts and other times I'm like, okay, I'm more moisturized, but my acne is the same as it was before. And. Similar to you guys did the whole thing with dermatologists, like six months appointments trying like seven different creams and oral medications and different birth controls.

[00:11:48] And it is really difficult to find what works. So I'm so excited to have this conversation and dive into what you guys know because there's, you guys have so much knowledge about. Evidence-based tips and tricks causes all of that kind of stuff. I starting at the beginning of what can cause acne, you mentioned a couple of things, whether it's like lifestyle, genetics, ingredients and products kind of going into those basic causes that people can be aware of or listen for, like what might be adding to their breakouts.

[00:12:14] Kayleigh: Yeah, a really good jumping off point that we like to start. Everyone on is checking their skin. Makeup and hair conditioner for poor clogging ingredients. So the easiest way to do this is we've actually created a really great tool for everyone is on our website under education or under resources.

[00:12:34] There's poor clogging ingredients list. It has it all a stout in alphabetical order, but it also has a search deck. So you can Google your product, Google look up the ingredient deck. Page copy and paste the whole ingredient deck, not just the key ingredients where there's like six listed whole ingredient, deck copy, and paste it in any port calling entry it's will come up as red, and then you can just double check them in alphabetical order below as well.

[00:12:59] But if it has a poor clogging ingredient that. Pretty much telling you that's a culprit for breaking you out. So it could be one of your products. It could be five of your products breaking you out, but that way, you know, the exact culprit that is causing it. And that is the number one thing that's causing acne and people is topical products that are clogging their pores and causing acne and causing them to break down.

[00:13:22] Sadie: Is there like one or two products that you see people using where they're like, this is helping with my acne or it's like an over-the-counter thing, or it's just something that a lot of people use. And you're like, actually, this is one of the biggest issues. This is so common that we see adding to poor clogging.

[00:13:41] Okay. That's so funny because my mom was shopping for my brother. He's in fifth grade right now and he just went to the dermatologist and he's struggling with breakouts and she's like, we got to get him this routine. I've heard good things about Santa fell. Like I'm going to get him the morning and night routine.

[00:13:55] And I was like, yeah, that sounds fine. It's one of the go-tos that you see, it says dermatologist recommended on the bottle and what's a great alternative that people can reach for instead,

[00:14:04] Danielle: Rather than set a solution.

[00:14:06] That's that easy to get we don't generally recommend drugstore products because they generally have a lot of parabens and other toxins in them. And the best moisturizer ever is the one that we spent a lot of time formulating, and it's the one called Hydra glow. And it's on our, on our website.

[00:14:22] It's got that like luxurious, like consistency and it feels amazing and it helps restore the skin barrier, but without any pork Cloggers, and then it has ingredients in it that also helps with scars. So that. The perfect moisturizer, but if someone's listening to this and they're like, oh my God, I've been using that set of Phil and I, I need something immediately.

[00:14:39] They can just go use like aloe Vera gel generally.

[00:14:42] Sadie: Okay. That's so funny. I had a friend at boarding school and she used to get like the like clear, pure Alovera and like every morning and night, put it all over her skin. And she was like, I don't know what it is, but I swear this is the secret. And so that's amazing to hear that that's a great solution

[00:14:57] Kayleigh: yaks, and you look at it too, like.

[00:14:59] Yeah. Like the set up the lotion has like what 20 ingredients. There's a ton of poor Cloggers in it, parabens salt, like toxins that aren't healthy for. You can actually cause a lot of hormone disruption. If you look at Alabama, just get a hundred percent. Alovera like, that's the only ingredient it's hydrating your skin.

[00:15:13] Like really simple. You can grab it at a drug store. So if you're ever in a pinch.

[00:15:18] Sadie: That's amazing. In addition to ingredients, are there certain like foods? I know that sometime working out can add to breakouts, but also like bounds with everything. Are there other things that can lead to breakouts that are like lifestyle related?

[00:15:33] Kayleigh: Yeah. The first thing we tell people to do is check all their ingredients for pore clogging ingredients. That is number one. Again, hair conditioner is a really big one too. So if you're breaking out on your back on your sleep side, that's a hair conditioner.

[00:15:43] We have people check their supplements. So a supplements like vitamin D zinc and B12 and all in excess. So again, devil's in the dosage here. These are all great supplements for you, but in excess they'll trigger testosterone.

[00:15:58] And cause a hormone disruption, which will then cause hormonal acne. The fourth one, which is very tricky and sneaky one is biotin because you'll see it in hair, skin and nail supplements. And girls will want to take it to make their hair grow, to make their nails longer and stronger, but it actually triggers acne.

[00:16:16] And so that's going to be a big one too. If you are struggling with breakouts at all, make sure you're not taking any supplements with biotin.

[00:16:23] Sadie: Okay. Interesting. And then when people are struggling with acne from a hormonal perspective, you kind of touched on that. There is that something that a lot of the times is genetic, there's not much you can do, or do you find that it's more lifestyle based, based on what supplements they're taking?

[00:16:37] And, and that kind of stuff.

[00:16:38] Danielle: So that's a great question. So acne is genetic, like at its core, it's a genetic predisposition and it runs in families. And basically our pores make more keratin protein than some other people who just don't break out at all. So our pores get clogged really easily cause we're just like constantly producing, like extra stuff.

[00:16:57] Cells. And they don't really like shed as well as they could. So we get clogged more easily. Right. So anyone who gets acne has that genetic traits to some degree, then there's environmental triggers that can make it better or worse. Right. So like Haley said, the bioteine will make it way worse because it's making you produce even more of that skin protein and clogging our pores even more.

[00:17:19] And then there's other supplements that people take. You know, seem healthy and they could be in some dosages, but if we take too much, it can mess with our hormones. Some vitamins that mess with our hormones is if we take too much our B12 and then zinc and then too much vitamin D now all three of those.

[00:17:37] Bikes testosterone in excess and testosterone is the, you know, essentially the, the male hormone, if you want to call it that. But that's the one that causes the most acne breakouts. Like that's why we break out during PMs is because our testosterone's a little bit higher. So for someone who's taking a bunch of vitamins, it's a really good rule of thumb to just not take anything that's like over 150% of your recommended daily though.

[00:18:03] Sadie: Okay. Okay. And then they'll find

[00:18:04] Kayleigh: this information on the back of the bottle. So for anyone that doesn't know where to find it. So if you turn over the back where the ingredient deck is, it'll have like percentage of RDV that stands for recommended daily value.

[00:18:16] Sadie: Okay. Interesting. And then at Kaylee, you mentioned that eggs were a big culprit for you.

[00:18:20] Are there any other foods that are really can lead to breakouts? Obviously everything's in moderation. But if there are certain things, we were like, oh my gosh, that's my favorite food. I eat it 12 times a day. And you're like, actually that's probably causing all your breakouts. What are those?

[00:18:32] Kayleigh: Dairy is a huge one.

[00:18:34] That's the number one food that's going to trigger. Acne and dairy is not just milk because a dairy is very sneaky in a lot of things. People are like, oh, well I don't really drink a glass of milk. I'm not really eating dairy. Of course, dairy is cheese as well. So even a little amount sprinkled on your salad, sprinkled on your wrap here and there.

[00:18:53] It all builds up. So keeping in mind. That, but the sneaky places where it hides whey protein is a huge acne trigger that you'll get the really aggressive cystic acne from. And that's found obviously whey protein powder, and sometimes it's sneaky in protein powders. It's like mixed with other things.

[00:19:13] Certain smoothie shops that you go to, you have to ask for a plant-based protein, because if it's not a plant-based one its way. And so that could be sneaking, like what you think, you know, you get a workout in, you're grabbing a smoothie at college or at your high school, it could be made with whey protein.

[00:19:28] And so it's really important to ask what type of protein that they're using to avoid that. You'll also see it in different, like nutrition on the go bars. I know all the time in college, I was always like grabbing bars, like in between classes or before going out for the evening or. You'll see it as like whey protein isolate, you'll see milk, protein powder milk powder, whey powder.

[00:19:49] Like you'll see a lot of different variations of it. And so definitely checking the ingredients of what you're eating, but it's hidden in protein powders, protein drinks, protein bars, even if you don't think it's a protein bar, it'll. Always check the ingredient deck just in case because companies are adding more and more ingredients into their foods.

[00:20:09] And so that's a big one. The third one is hydrogenated and inflammatory oils. So this is the canola oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil. Corn oil, peanut oil. Those ones, those are highly, highly inflammatory. Again, those are also snuck into a lot of processed foods, processed bars, different drinks, things like that.

[00:20:31] And so keeping an eye out for those ones Oh, no, a lot of college students listening to this, don't really want to hear this, but caffeine is, and it's caffeine and excess. So if you're sticking to like a cup of coffee a day, you're grabbing your Starbucks and we're talking about like cleaner Starbucks, the frappuccinos and shadows.

[00:20:49] Those are going to trigger these so much sugars. So much dairy, like so much in that even like the almond milk at Starbucks has like an insane amount of sugar, which is going to trigger acne. But if you're grabbing your coffee, You know, a splash of an almond milk, something like that, or just a black coffee, an iced coffee.

[00:21:04] That's fine. One a day, but when you're getting two, three cut, like I just, I think back to how much coffee I drank in college, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so coffee in excess for all the college students listening is going to be a huge aggravator of acne. Okay.

[00:21:19] Sadie: This week's episode is sponsored by teen counseling therapy is an amazing tool to have in your toolkit. If you're struggling with self-esteem confidence and mental health, like we talk about in this episode and teen counseling is a great way to find a therapist.

[00:21:33] It's an online therapy program with over 14,000 licensed therapists in their network. They offer support on things like depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, in so much. And you can meet with a therapist via talk text, or video counseling, depending on what level of support you're looking for. So what you're going to do is you're going to go to teen counseling.com/she persisted.

[00:21:54] You are going to take a quick survey that matches you with a therapist based on what you're hoping to work on. So maybe that's stress, maybe that's sleep. Maybe that is depression, anxiety, family, relationships, whatever it is, they will match you with a therapist that specializes in that area. Then you put in a parent or Guardian's email, if you're under 18, this is that they can give consent to treatment and provide payment.

[00:22:16] But none of your information in the survey is disclosed. I tried it all. It says SAB or whatever your name is, is hoping to work with a therapist from teen counseling. Please click here to learn more, give consent, and sign up. To start your therapy journey or start meeting with a new therapist. You are going to go to teen counseling.com/she persisted again.

[00:22:36] That is teen counseling.com/processed dead.

[00:22:39] So we've talked about a couple of different types of acne.

[00:22:42] We've heard like cystic acne. We talked about hormonal acne. I wanted to ask you guys if your recommendations for treatment are different based on the different types of acne. And if it's helpful to know what type of acne you have to treat it, or are they really all the same with your recommendations for how to care for that?

[00:23:00] Danielle: Oh, great question. So if you have a specific acne

[00:23:03] Kayleigh: in,

[00:23:05] Danielle: he had a couple of different things. So you had the type of. Your keratin production is like really, really, really strong. That means you're more likely to get cystic acne versus just like the smaller ones. Right? So some people are just way more acne prone because of their scans keratin production process.

[00:23:23] They can get cystic acne from the same thing that caused only minor acne and someone else that said cystic acne is the kind that can scar you the worst. And it can be linked more often to something internal that's going wrong. Like say something with the liver or something with digestion. Something that's bothering, like your lymphatic detox system is more likely to create cystic acne.

[00:23:45] And you'll be able to tell if it's more of an internal cystic acne versus like from a product, because it'll have really specific patterns like cystic acne, that's coming from something in your diet. Like. Gluten. It's going to look different on your it'll. It won't be all over your face. It'll just be really hardcore on your cheeks.

[00:24:04] I have. And they'll have like,

[00:24:06] Sadie: where I put my bronzer almost.

[00:24:08] Danielle: I could be your bronzer, check your ingredients. We'll do that. Like, if you're getting really bad cystic acne on just like really distinct parts of your body, and it doesn't seem to make sense. It could be tied to your lymphatic system, which is a sign.

[00:24:21] There's something else going on internally. But if you you're just acne prone everywhere, it's all over your face in equal parts. The sticks. Some of it's not whatever that's probably from a product it's probably from something that's going all over. So in that case, we do for everyone, we recommend checking your ingredients.

[00:24:37] First and foremost, that is key. Before you make any other changes or buy anything new, you don't want to be changing things. If you don't know what the original problem was. so that's number one for everyone. And then exploitation is really important. So using a light physical scrub you know, at least a few times a week, it followed by a mandelic acid or something to dissolve the clogs and dissolve the bacteria is going to be really important, no matter what type of acne you have, and then the, the best treatment for cystic acne.

[00:25:08] It is going to be ice packing. That's something you can do immediately throughout the day. And it won't harm the skin and it'll help it really calm down. So ice packing is like the number one strict versus

[00:25:18] Sadie: to. Okay. And then you mentioned like chief breakouts. You see those charts online on Tech-Talk where it's like, if you're breaking out in your nose, it's like this issue of your forehead, it's a gut issue, et cetera.

[00:25:29] Is there truth to that or is it a lot more complicated and it's not as direct of a correlation? I think those

[00:25:36] Danielle: charts are very misleading.

[00:25:40] Some of them, are you can't just point to your nose and say that something going on in the body, that's kind of ridiculous.

[00:25:46] Sadie: Stress-related to a very specific test you're having, that's the only reason,

[00:25:51] Danielle: right? It's just to an organic chemistry test. Oh, we solved it. Yeah, because those charts don't take into account.

[00:25:59] Yeah. Yeah, they're right there. They're missing the boat on like 80% of it. Right. So I don't find them because they are so incomplete. I determined that they are inaccurate to be honest. That said it's, it can get you, get you thinking. So your lymphatic system runs all through your body, but in your face, it really presents on the cheeks.

[00:26:17] It starts in the temple. Then it goes down to the. So if that's the only area that is really breaking out and like, your forehead's totally fine, then that is a sign that there's something going on internally. And from there you want to get some blood work done. You don't just want to be guessing and be like, oh my God, I have a ball, a gallbladder issue.

[00:26:34] Like you don't know until you run labs. Right? So that's when you get with like a functional medicine person or a, like a natural path, or even an acupuncturist, like those people that have more of an Eastern medicine. They are going to look for things like liver and digestion and possibly gut health, where most of these issues stem from versus a traditional dermatologist.

[00:26:56] Who's not going to look at any of that.

[00:26:57] Sadie: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:59] Kayleigh: And to give an example for everyone who's listening. So the face mapping, you know, says liver right here. Right? Okay. Well that doesn't mean that your quote liver is out of whack and your liver is failing. The liver is in charge of filtering out excess hormones.

[00:27:15] And so when you have an override of either estrogen and progesterone, whatever that is, your liver is in charge of filtering it, filtering it. If your liver is just a little sluggish and the hormones aren't getting filtered out correctly. Yes. It's a correlation to your liver. But add one more thing onto that.

[00:27:31] What if you're taking too much vitamin D and it's throwing off hormones, which is then connected to the liver, see, it goes all the way back, like, okay. Lip verbal. What's the root cause. Liver is linked to hormones, excess supplementation of vitamin D zinc and B12 all cause hormone disruption. So there's always that.

[00:27:49] Lifestyle root cause that you can infect.

[00:27:54] Sadie: If there were like three practices that people could implement throughout their day, whether it's like, I don't know, drinking enough water or washing their face a certain number of times, we talked about ice packing that you would just be like, this is a great place to start.

[00:28:05] We wish everyone was doing this to care for their skin. What would those be?

[00:28:10] Danielle: It's the leading would be definitely in that list. Deletion is how you control your skits behavior, whether you're talking about acne or anti-aging. Definitely everyone needs a really good, really good gentle cleanser. That is something that every single human being needs.

[00:28:25] And then how, and when you create is, is really important. So we like to use a therapeutic blend of both physical and chemical exfoliants. So that's why our kit has both a scrub. Got the, they were beautifully together. Think of it like weights and cardio. They're, they're different, but they go together and they get you the result that you want.

[00:28:44] And then a really good, the other thing is everyone needs is a mineral based sunscreen and an acne safe.

[00:28:50] Sadie: Okay. Yeah, those are, those are all huge and very easy to build into your routine. It's like once, twice a day, you're already getting up in the morning and getting ready for bed to build those that practice of using those products is something that's a small shift, but has huge results.

[00:29:04] I am to go kind of in the opposite direction in debunk some skincare, beauty trend that we're seeing growing up, especially on tech talk. I'd love to hear your guys's thoughts. The first one which we talked about on our intro call is something called baby Botox, which up until tick-tock I had never heard of, and then I was getting all these like 19, 20, 21 year olds getting Botox for like prevention.

[00:29:26] And the, the saying really is like, okay, start young, stay young. It's preventative. It's preventing wrinkles from appearing. What are your guys's thoughts there of people getting Botox starting like early twenties?

[00:29:37] Kayleigh: This makes me so sad of like the education that's being put out there because of Ted talk and like scaring people into aging.

[00:29:45] So just, I always think knowledge is power. So to understand what Botox is doing, and then you can make the decision for yourself. So Botox is a muscle relaxer, so you inject it in, it relaxes the muscles. Causing you to not make as many facial expressions, which people will tell you is quote, leading to wrinkles.

[00:30:05] Now think about it this way. If anyone listening has ever been injured, like you've had a surgery or something where you have to, or in a cast, you let's say you have. Cast on your arm. Okay. When you get that cast taken off, because you haven't been able to use that muscle, what is it? It's so atrophied.

[00:30:22] It's sagging. It's like it doesn't look tight and lean and like how it would look if you were doing some weights. So the same thing with your face. It's like there, if you look at. You know, a muscular skeleton, you'll see there's muscles all behind your skin under your face. And if you're not activating those muscles over time, they're going to start sagging.

[00:30:45] So if you're constantly injecting it with a muscle relaxer, just like putting your arm in a cast, that those muscles are going to sag over time, and then you're going to need. Facelifts and fillers and all these additional things to reform your face because you've lost the muscle tension. So really the best way to keep your skin like really smooth and young is we already talked about exfoliation, increasing cell turnover, getting rid of those dead skin cells.

[00:31:10] Activating collagen using products with stem cells in it. Like we have our bounce back in cell renew serum. That's going to help increase the college in and bounce and vibrancy in your skin. But also there's different, really fun facial exercises that you can do that helped us tighten, tighten the face.

[00:31:26] And that's going to work out those muscles the same way you would work out your arms and your legs to keep like a tight lean look. And that's, what's going to help your skin more than Botox.

[00:31:36] Sadie: Gotcha. The next thing that has been all over my, for you page at least is slugging. And it's something that's always made me a little bit apprehensive because someone as someone that's acne prone, whenever someone recommends like an oil and like, I don't know, oily skin is what got me into this.

[00:31:50] Like, I'm not sure. And like aquifer petroleum jelly isn't necessarily oil, but you do get that like oily look it's extreme amounts of product on your skin. What are your guys's thoughts there? Is it, is it good for acne or is it like run in the opposite direction? Do not do.

[00:32:05] Danielle: It's funny, this one's counter intuitive, but alpha four is actually, okay.

[00:32:13] It's so thick that it can't go into your poor. Almost think of it. Like. Right. So the way you would use that as if your barrier is compromised and you're really, really dry, that's a problem in and of itself. So you can use Aqua for, you know, it's called slugging. You put it on at night, but only at night, because if you put it on during the day and you sweat your sweat and get up to going to clog yourself.

[00:32:33] So you would put it on at night, over your moisturizer, just to seal your moisturizer in. It's not something you put on bare skin all the time as your moisturizer, because it's the wrong pH and all my ears can breathe. And it's just not, it doesn't take the place of a moisturizer. The seal and your moisturizer.

[00:32:48] So yeah, that it is safe to do. It's fine. If you do break out, especially if you're, if you're breaking out and you are getting treatments and you're maybe peeling a little bit, it can be really uncomfortable. So using that trick can be helpful.

[00:33:02] Sadie: Sometimes when I have a breakout that's like starting to scab over, I'll definitely do a bit of aquifer on it.

[00:33:06] And do you recommend doing that? Like the entire time? Like if you have a breakout come up, put aquifer on it or just towards the.

[00:33:13] Danielle: Oh, well, it's only mentioned restore moisture to the skin. It doesn't help with active acne. So for your scab, it would be fine, but for an active breakout, you're better off ice packing it, a bunch

[00:33:24] Sadie: to calm down.

[00:33:25] Okay. And then similarly, I feel like I either see like there's one camp of people that's like dry out the Pymble you have like the Mario Badescu. Like what alcohol putting that on the pimple. And then you have some people that again are like aquifer moisturized. That acne is from a lack of moisture in the skin.

[00:33:42] What is your advice there? Do you want to dry out dry out breakouts? Are you wanting to restore moisture so that they can heal? You

[00:33:49] Danielle: want your skin to be moisturized, but an active bullet? It does generally help to dry it out. Sometimes it can backfire, but if you have like a white head where there's like pests in there yeah.

[00:33:58] Drying it out. It's going to be helping.

[00:34:00] Kayleigh: Okay. And that's exactly why we created our clarity serum. So that was known as the blackhead dissolver, but it's going to, it's going to be a little more drying because it is naturally, it's not a moisturizer, right? Yeah. But that's why we've created. That's why our clear kid exists because you expose create, and then you moisturize after.

[00:34:20] So you're getting both in, so you're exploiting, you're putting the clarity ceremony and you're letting it sit for about 10 minutes. So it can do its work, eat away at what's inside your poor. And then once that's done after about 10 minutes, you still leave it on, but then you apply moisturizer after that to hydrate the area, nourish it, fill it with calming ingredients.

[00:34:39] Okay.

[00:34:40] Sadie: Hydro coal, coal Lloyd, like H Y T R O. Yeah. Those bandages. I see people smother them on their entire face. Leave them on overnight. And then. Peel them off. And there is like the oil patches from where the acne was just that work.

[00:34:55] Is it just like a total bad

[00:34:57] Danielle: pile have seen that? It's very new. I haven't tried it yet. What do, I mean, that's essentially like a really gnarly, poor strip, just enhanced. What that would do for someone it's more fun than it is a long-term solution. So it would be like just taking off all the oil that's there.

[00:35:17] Well, guess what your body's going to replace that oil in two days. So it's not a long-term solution. It's just more fun for videos. A clay mask would be a more reliable long-term solution that does something. Okay.

[00:35:30] Kayleigh: We aren't wanting to remove oil from our skin because oils are natural skin barrier.

[00:35:35] It's how it's protecting our skin, hydrating it. And we need that. And so when you're doing too many things to cut oil, you're starting to disrupt the natural. State of your skin. And a lot of times people are oily because actually their skin is dry and it's over producing oil. That's not always the case, but a majority of the time it is people are just over producing oil because they're not moisturizing correctly, not keeping their skin hydrated.

[00:35:59] So it's not able to balance same way. Like a hormone imbalance occurs like an oil about oil imbalances.

[00:36:05] Sadie: Okay. And then the last one I've seen on tech talk is at home. Like high-frequency the little zapping machines. What are your thoughts there? Is it a solution? Should we all be buying this on Amazon? Or are you guys like no, no, no.

[00:36:17] Go to your facial list.

[00:36:18] Danielle: Those can actually be really useful. You were just doing it with like a spot treatment a couple of times a day. If you overdo it, you can burn your skin. So it's all about following directions with that one, but they are using.

[00:36:29] Kayleigh: Yeah, make sure you're using cart. Make sure you're using one of those like soft bandage nets in between it, like put it over.

[00:36:35] So it's not directly on your skin. That's really good. Then you can avoid the burning, like Danielle was saying.

[00:36:39] Sadie: Okay, awesome. So advice for teenagers. If you could give a couple of tricks for people who are really like in the heat of it right now, they're like this has been going on for months, years, et cetera.

[00:36:48] It feels like I've tried everything. What are, what is your advice? Is it just stick with it? Stick to a routine, try different things, talk to a facialist or a homeopathic doctor. What is your, what is your advice to just around this?

[00:37:02] Danielle: I would suggest that they find, so there are some acne slash appy facialists that specialize in this and that are pretty darn good.

[00:37:11] Everyone's very different, but like, they'll know more than the average facial person, but they're called it's called face reality. And you can find an aesthetician, a skin person who actually is certified in that. And that's, that was my original certification back in the day. So it, it is very useful and you can learn a little.

[00:37:27] And they have really good treatment protocols for acne prone skin. So I would say start there that person's going to be able to guide you on your diet and your vitamins in a really good way. But also just reading all the information on our website is going to be very helpful and very instance that you can immediately and.

[00:37:43] Sadie: Okay, awesome. That will all be linked in the show notes so people can reference that. And then the last thing that I wanted to ask, we talked a lot about targeting acne causes, routines, et cetera. When people want to conceal in their, like, have an event or they feel more comfortable if they're concealing before they go to school or to an event.

[00:37:59] What does your guys's favorite products that you guys use when you have a breakout when you're struggling and you don't want to add to the poor clogging, but you also want to be able to cover up in the short term. So the

[00:38:09] Kayleigh: first thing, like Danielle mentioned before is ice packing hundred percent. If you're getting ready to go out for the night, going to event, go on a date, whatever it is, ice packet, that'll help down the, bring down the inflammation, the redness.

[00:38:21] If you purchase any of our products, this cell renew serum is really good for cause of effort, calming down inflammation and redness as well, any pigmentation leftover. And then as far as concealer, we absolutely love the brand pre. It's spelled P R I a and their concealer is actually so good for your skin.

[00:38:43] You can wear it to bed. Yeah. It's filled with calming calming ingredients like zinc and green tea. And it's actually like nourishing that breakout. So not only are you concealing it, but you're putting a nice little coating over top of really nourishing ingredients. So Priya is going to be your best friend and concealer for, for those summer breakout.

[00:39:04] Sadie: Okay. Awesome. Well, if people want to buy the clear stem products, if they want to continue to keep up with your guys's content, where can they find you? You can find

[00:39:12] Kayleigh: us at clear stem, skincare.com and then on Instagram. And tick-tock, it's clear stem skincare. If we're appoint you in any direction, if you're currently breaking currently breaking out, we recommend starting with the clear kit.

[00:39:24] It's only four products. It's a really simple, but insanely effective routine for clearing acne, but also giving you really. Glowy fresh skin. So you're not working on your acne and feeling like a ripping apart your face. It's truly healing your acne while nourishing your skin and minimizing wrinkles, because when it keep you off the baby Botox, but your skin looking good.

[00:39:46] So that's like the perfect mix. Cause our entire line is anti-aging and anti-acne, and non-toxic all at the same time.

[00:39:54] Sadie: I love it. And you guys have a code for the sheep assisted audience. If they want to get the clear-cut and start improving the routine while avoiding pore clogging ingredients. If you guys want to share that as

[00:40:03] Kayleigh: well, so when you guys head to our website type in the code, she persisted, we used some great money off who really want to, we go, we know ever enlisting our students in high school and in college.

[00:40:13] So really want to help you out with that. So enter she persisted at checkout for a nice little.

[00:40:18] Sadie: Awesome. And then if you guys want to see the actual tic-tac, we are referencing and debunking knees, they will be on the sheep resistant Tech-Talk so you guys can see what the trend is and then Kaylee and Danielle's thoughts.

[00:40:29] Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for doing this. I know it's gonna help so many people and having struggled with acne for such a long time. I'm so glad we got to do this and I have my to-do is going to do more exfoliating, gonna buy a little zapper, but not burn myself. So I'm really excited to implement all this stuff myself as well.

[00:40:46] Danielle: Amazing. Thanks for having us. You such a brilliant woman and we're so happy. We connected and happy to share everything we know with your audience. And hopefully we can connect even more with them. We're always in the DMS, always trying to help. So we just want to welcome your listeners into our

[00:41:02] Sadie: community.

[00:41:03] if you enjoyed this week's episode, make sure to share with a friend or family member or post about it on social media and tag me at ACI persisted podcast.

[00:41:11] I am announcing a huge giveaway next week to celebrate 100 episodes, 100 reviews. We're also on the apple podcast homepage. So, so many things to celebrate. So make sure to follow along and keep an eye out for that. With that, I will see you next Tuesday.

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