How Your Menstrual Cycle Affects Your Skin Many women notice that their skin seems to change throughout the month. One week it looks clear and glowing, and the next week breakouts appear out of nowhere. That’s because your skin is directly influenced by hormonal fluctuations throughout your menstrual cycle. Estrogen, progesterone, and androgens all affect oil production, inflammation, and pore congestion. Understanding these shifts can help you adjust your skincare routine,
Spearmint tea > prescription drugs for hormonal acne Spearmint tea has significant anti-androgen (a male hormone) effects. It works by reducing the testosterone in the blood that is known to cause hormonal acne. If you suffer from monthly breakouts (mainly cystic and on the lower half of the face), you are likely experiencing hormonal acne. Here’s why drinking two cups of organic spearmint tea daily can help clear that acne up… Spearmint vs spironolctone Spearmint’s anti-andr
Lindsay Maree
May 29, 20192 min read
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Spearmint Tea for Acne
Lindsay Maree
May 29, 2019
2 min read
Updated: May 13
Spearmint tea > prescription drugs for hormonal acne
Spearmint tea has significant anti-androgen (a male hormone) effects. It works by reducing the testosterone in the blood that is known to cause hormonal acne. If you suffer from monthly breakouts (mainly cystic and on the lower half of the face), you are likely experiencing hormonal acne.
Here’s why drinking two cups of organic spearmint tea daily can help clear that acne up…
Spearmint vs spironolctone
Spearmint’s anti-androgen effect works on the same mechanism that makes prescription spironolactone effective for hormonal acne. Spironolactone blocks androgen receptors and lowers free testosterone, which reduces sebum production and breakouts. Spearmint tea has been shown to lower free testosterone through a similar pathway, without the side effect profile of a prescription (which can include dizziness, breast tenderness, irregular cycles, frequent urination, and elevated potassium levels).
That doesn’t mean spearmint replaces spironolactone for every patient. But for many women dealing with mild to moderate hormonal breakouts, it is a powerful first step that gets skipped in favor of a script.
What the research shows
Studies show that spearmint contains a combination of active compounds: flavonoids, menthol, limonene, and rosmarinic acids. Each have anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, or anti-viral properties (or a combination of multiple). Clinical dermatologist Dr. Carl Thornfeldt has noted that spearmint works on multiple processes that drive adult acne.
A 2015 study presented at the American Academy of Dermatology annual meeting compared 100 milligrams of prescription minocycline (an oral antibiotic) with two cups of organic spearmint tea ingested daily.
Minocycline reduced acne lesions by 52% after three months, but caused side effects in about 20% of patients. Spearmint tea reduced inflammatory acne lesions by 25% after one month and by 51% after three months, with no reported side effects.
Separate research published in Phytotherapy Research found that spearmint tea significantly lowered free and total testosterone levels in women after 30 days of daily consumption (Grant, 2010), which is the underlying mechanism that ties all of this together.
How to use it
You can buy spearmint tea at most grocery stores and even on Amazon. My favorite is Traditional Medicinals Organic Spearmint Tea. Steep one bag for 15 minutes and drink 2 times per day. Be patient. Hormonal shifts take time, and most clients see meaningful changes between weeks 4 and 12.
This is not a quick fix or a replacement for a full skin protocol, but it is one of the most underused, evidence-supported tools for hormonal acne, and it costs about $6 a box.
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