Okay, so I've been superhero (80%) and vegan (20%) now for about two and a half weeks.  My skin looks terrible!  I have acne like a puberty-stricken teenager, and I've never had acne in my life!  Not only is it on my face, but my shoulders and chest.  I'm disgusted with this, and don't know what to do!  Is this part of the detox?  How long should this last?!  HELP!!

Danielle,

Hang in there. My skin went haywire for about 6 weeks and it's now calming down. I always got breakouts before my period, but other than that my skin has been pretty good for the last 10 years or so. I had adult acne in my 20's (never as a teenager) but it calmed down a lot in my 30's.

I ate pretty good before changing to vegan. But I did eat a lot of salmon so I think the Omega 3's I was taking in helped my skin. I now make sure to get flax and hemp seed oils and throw hemp seeds into my green smoothies.

It takes about 2-4 weeks for a pimple to start forming from the start until they rear their ugly head on our skin. So if your breakouts are the result of your skin detoxing, it'll take some time to clear up. While it's hard to wait a long time, it will get better if it's really from detoxing. I stay away from alot of vegan processed convenience foods as I'm trying to stay with whole foods.

I have eaten sweets the past two days, but other than that, I really haven't had anything sugary or sweet in probably three weeks!  I sure hope it's just part of the detox!

Daniele,
You may be reacting to something new in your diet. If these symptoms are new since changing your diet I suspect a food or ingredient may be the culprit here.

Soy is a common source of breakouts in sensitive people. Oils, tapioca, carrageen, cane crystals and the like could be causing this reaction in you skin.

You could try brown rice and veggies for a few days or try eliminating any of these ingredients or any other that could be responsible.

Think of yourself as a detective and use trial and error to find out what you cannot appear to tolerate.

Good luck, Justin

I have eaten soy for years, but always in small quantities as I am allergic to cow dairy (milk, cheese, etc.) but not their meat.  Never had a taste for regular milk or soy milk, and I'm allergic to nuts, so obviously, I've never tried almond milk.  My diet mainly consists of brown rice, quinoa, barley and rolled oats with lots of fruits and veggies.  I incorporate soy 2-3 meals/week, but that's about it.  I really don't think it is the soy!  I'm trying masks, scrubs, exfoliants, and everything, and nothing has worked.  It just keeps getting worse and worse, almost to the point of wanting to see a dermatologist.  Argh!  Thanks for the advice though...

I had a especially difficult case. Whenever my blood sugar gets too high my face breaks out with painful cystic acne. It starts as painful lumps deep under the skin and takes a few weeks for it to work its way out, drain, and clear up.

In order to get it under control I have to eat low glycemic foods then exercise after each meal.

I went with green veggies, mushrooms, legumes, nuts and seeds. It is an extreme approach that I would hesitate recommending to just anyone.

Of course stopping the blood sugar spikes had other beneficial consequences but only avoiding these painful hideous oozing sores was motivation to keep me on the straight and narrow.

If I screw it up I get instant feedback.

Thank you for all of your advice.  Since I'm allergic to fungi and nuts, I probably couldn't get away with trying the diet you suggested, but it is appreciated all the same.  I woke up today, and think that the worst of it may be over...so I'm really hoping that it really was just my body detoxing all the crap I had put in it...

I too have been having a terrible time with acne!!!  I have been vegan for 3 1/2 months with some variance in the beginning with the holidays and trying not too be too militant with it and scare family off.  But now I have really been good for the last two months with maybe one or two "whoops" moments.  My acne is worse than ever!  I had been taking oral antibiotics to keep it at bay for a year or so (before going vegan) but kept getting yeast infections so just gave up on that.  Plus didnt want to be popping pills, of course.  So the oral antibiotics from 5-6 months ago MIGHT be finally out of my system and now the real stuff is showing up again?? Someone suggested sugar might be causing it so have tried to cut that down significantly , but I am at soooooo much less sugar intake than 6 months ago.  I did switch to natural cane sugar for my tea and occasional Coffee fudge brownies of Alicia's.  I switched from soy milk to rice milk about a week ago in case that might be causing trouble.  But have had an especially bad break out this week. Its sooo frustrating.  I am 43 years old and never had acne this bad.I just found a way to like tofu last week so had it twice.  Do I have to stay away from that?  And I bought some maple sugar to occasionally add to my green tea, which I just switched to a decaf version of this week to get any caffeine out of my diet.But here's the deal...I am a "quality of life" person and dont want to make myself crazy taking out ALL of life's little pleasures in extreme measures.  Everything in moderation is a good thing.  So if I am starting to feel guilty making vegan choices over superhero/macro ones then I wonder if I am crossing the line into extremism??  Any advice is appreciated. 

Hi Theresa,
Tofu is of course made out of soy and when you had two servings in a week your skin suffered. Maybe there is your culprit.
Could you conceive of a hiatus from soy for a week or two? If you skin greatly improves then you are having a reaction to soy and should continue to avid it. If nothing changes your can be sure soy is not a problem.
Sugar/agave/cane crystals/maple and honey are common culprits but have had less of those and your skin is worse so I'm suspecting soy.
good luck, Justin

Hi everyone. I have been vegan for almost 5 months now and my skin is breaking out too.  At the same time I became vegan, I went off of oral contraceptives which had been doing a great job of preventing breakouts for me.  I'm hoping things will eventually clear up as my hormones adjust to my new diet and lack of oral contraceptives, but in the meantime I recommend trying a sulphur mask at night. This works the best for me and really gets breakouts under control literally in a matter of minutes.  I bought mine at Sephora and the brand is DDF.  Good luck to everyone!  :)

Hmmm...I have been off the pill for about two months now...maybe that, too has something to do with it...

Thank you for the response.  I will try to go off of soy for a week or longer and see if there's a difference. ,,,Bummer, and I just totally enjoyed the Clean, Mean Burritos with my non-vegan husband.  They were sooo good for anyone who hasn't tried them.  I'll check out the sulphur mask too.  Good luck to all of you who suffer from acne!

Danielle---
It is 100 percent the fact that you've been off the pill for two months. Your hormones are going nuts because of it. Hopefully it will calm down in I'd say...maybe another month? For now just be gentle on yourself and know that you're doing the best you can. Quit it with the scrubs and exfoliants and just use warm water, and some tea tree oil. 
I hope it works out for you. I do know there are some all natural vegan anti-acne things out there for you if this doesn't work but unfortunately I think you just need some time and a little gentleTLC. Hang in there :) 

Danielle and Justin-
My skin has been clear for a long time and was really glowing about 3 weeks into becoming a vegan/superhero overnight. Now, on my 3rd month of TKD, I have a sandpapery rash on my forehead, chest, and back, and breakouts on my face, neck, back, and chest. Not "normal" breakouts either. Deep, painful lumps. I don't eat any soy and very little sugar, usually a piece of fruit. I drink tons of water. I have no clue why my skin is so insane, I feel like I have teenage skin all of the sudden.
Has anyone gone through this and gotten to the other side where there skin is done detoxing and looks amazing. I really need a shred of hope. This is totally screwing with my head and my life. It is literally effecting my ability to work.
Help!
Thanks.
Trying to think peaceful, happy thoughts,
Cassi

Are there any foods or drinks that help calm the skin?