I have begun my transition into a raw food diet for about two weeks now. I have noticed that my skin is very dry all over my body (I even have dandruff and I have never had dandruff before in my life). From what I have read, others transitioning into a raw food diet have experienced this as well, but I couldn't find much information about it. For anyone who has gone through this, could you please answer a couple of questions:

1. When transitioning to a raw food diet, did you experience dry skin? If so, how long did this last?

2. What can I do to help this problem? (I have heard that coconut oil helps, but can I really rub coconut oil on my body and face without feeling greasy and without clogging my pores?) Any suggestions besides coconut oil?

Thank you very much to anyone that reads this and has any tips at all! I greatly appreciate your feedback!

This is a detox symptom. I recommend putting nothing on your skin except filtered water. You might want to also look at what toiletries and cleaning products you are using. For myself, for many years now, I have only been bathing with filtered water. I no longer use soap or shampoo (except in extreme circumstances, like if I get dirty motor oil in my hair or something). Also see about using a water filter on your shower to remove the chlorine from your water, as this will be absorbed into your skin.

You might want to try some dry skin brushing.

coconut oil is a strong surfacant so would probably dry the skin out.

Prana, do you use soap to wash your hands after going to the bathroom? I don't mean to get up in your business, but I am curious because it seems to be a trend of some raw fooders not to use any soap but I was wondering if that covered every situation...

I use Jojoba, in small amounts it really helps hold moisture into your skin, without clogging, as its chemically almost exactly the same as the oil your skin naturally produces, except with allot of vitamin E... it absorbs into the skin quickly... Also, taking showers that are ideally about 5 minutes long, but no more than 10 minutes, and only with warm water, not hot, will drastically increase the health of ones skin, its how I beat the crap out of acne! I just wash my hair in my sink first, then take the shower and its easy to feel clean after 5 minutes...

The point of this is that it helps keep most of your bodies natural acid barrier intact, which when completely stripped can take over 7 hours to rebuild, leaving you open to bacteria,and making your skin dry out much more quickly... one thing with jojoba oil though is your not supposed to go out into the sun with it till it absorbs completely, but that has never taken me more than 10 minutes, usually less than 5.

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Jenny,

When I started eating raw foods, I had the exact opposite reaction. My sin became very moist and felt better than I ever remember it being. Partly, I suspect that is because raw foods have so much greater water content than cooked foods. Are you eating lots of juicy fruits and drinking juices or water too?

I hope it clears up soon.


My favorite raw vegan

Consuming coconut oil has brought a significant benefit to my skin overall-- more moisture, and it has more of an internal "glow"--feels healthier. (I typically add about two or three tablespoons to my green smoothie in the morning).

During the winter, I will apply topically a mixture of virgin olive oil mixed with coconut oil. That seems to work best for me-- and it's not sticky!

Eating coco oil, avos, olives, nuts, and lots of juicy fruits and veggies.
Bathing/showering less, every day is very hard on the skin. Every 2-3 days is sufficient, washing "areas" with a wash cloth if needed between.
Using strictly natural or homemade products on the skin, or nothing at all.
Using an apple cider vinegar dilution to regain proper ph balance after bathing.
Exfoliation removes dead skin as well as stimulating blood flow under the dermis. Dry brushing is great for this.
Jojoba oil is wonderful for the skin, noncomodegenic (non-clogging of the pores) and very similar to our own sebecous secretions. I wash my face with a blend of jojoba and castor oil (oil cleansing method), exfoliate with baking soda scrub and sometimes use white clay or bentonite clay mask. You can also rub papaya or pineapple on skin for a chemical peel.

If you find changes to your body too radical you can slow them down by transitioning into a raw diet a little more slowly. Add more and more over a greater span of time. This can have the added benefit of helping to incorporate these new habits into your lifestyle permanently.

Best of luck!

Guys, I have a question. I am using sun screen on the kids and like to wash off the greasiness of it when we are out of the sun. This requires soap of some kind, I'm using dr bronners castile with lavender oil that I added in. Is there anything else you suggest? I prefer not to have to soap their skin every day but don't exactly want them sleeping with that stuff on them.

Wow! I can't believe how many replies I've gotten already.

Trive- I do eat a lot of juicy fruits and drink plenty of water, but I don't drink very many juices because I still need to find a juicer. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the responses. That helps a lot! I'll try all your suggestions and hopefully that will help! I was feeling a little discouraged, but all your help re assured me to stick with this. Thanks again!

glad we could help ^_^ if your looking for a juicer, which can also do a ton of other things besides juice, If its within your budget id suggest the omega 8004, I am not anywhere near the most experienced person with juicers on these boards, but I just love this juicer, and did allot of research before deciding on it... its amazing! plus being able to make yummy peanut butter and whole fruit sorbet, and the uses for many other non-raw things ive used it for, its almost the only thing I use in my kitchen now... plus the 15 year warranty is pretty awesome

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Curator- Thanks! I forgot my password, so I haven't been able to get on for awhile. Thanks for the tip! I'm going to look for one online.

No prob, and welcome back

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I got very dry skin when I first started. Keep drinking water! and veg juices. Do you feel thirsty? Is your mouth dry?

Your kidneys are doing alot of house cleanning and I found in my case, they drew extra water from the rest of my body in order to keep themselves clean. I had to drink twice as much water as normal on some days. Your body knows that kidneys are more important than your skin in this situation.

Dry brushing + jojoba and/or coconut oil might help. To keep your face from breaking out google "oil cleansing method" or "ocm." - good luck!

WorkoutMan-Yes, I do feel thirsty sometimes. Lately, though, I've been drinking more water so it has been a little better.

CJJ- That's so weird. The past week or so I've been breaking out instead of having dry skin, so I came on here to look at ways to get rid of breakouts, and saw your response. Thanks for the tip

The best thing for my skin has been drinking more water. I went from about 1 liter to 3-4 liters each day and my skin is much more hydrated. I don't even have to skin brush anymore.



Swayze
[www.fitonraw.com]