CBD’s Promising Effect on the Skin
Can CBD help with acne? Skin problems can be a bane, especially when your typical skincare routine no longer does the trick to resolve it. Acne can be a troublesome pest in the teenage years, and even more so as we age through our 20s and on and find out, we still get pimples. It can be disheartening. Fortunately, there are natural, safe alternative options for your acne that you may not have tried yet. Instead of the usual chemical cocktail of cleansers, toners, and more that you’d find in a drug store, let’s turn the spotlight to CBD yet again.
Is CBD the answer to your acne problems? Let’s find out more in our guide.
What is CBD?
If you’re not familiar with the cannabinoid CBD, or cannabidiol, one of the 60+ phytocannabinoids can come from the cannabis plants.
This includes both hemp and marijuana. CBD products are legally extracted from hemp plants in the US, so there’s 0.3% or less delta-9 THC. Non-psychoactive and non-intoxicating, CBD on its own cannot get you high.
It’s most commonly used for various symptoms, including anxiety, inflammation, or just for general wellbeing. Epidiolex is an FDA-approved CBD medication that’s used to treat seizures.
It seems the bounty of properties we get from the hemp compound is abundant. This fact is made clearer when you look at what cannabidiol has done to the skincare industry — and what it can do for the skin, in general.
Curious to learn more? Be sure to read up on the CBD section of our blog.
The Endocannabinoid System
Something people may be less familiar with than even CBD is the endocannabinoid system inside of us. An entire body system, the endocannabinoid system, or ECS, helps the body achieve homeostasis by regulating and maintaining other bodily functions.
The ECS influences the respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, digestive, and most other systems throughout the body. It does this through the cannabinoid receptors in the body and the endocannabinoids being produced and regulated through them.
In short, the ECS is a complex molecular signaling system that’s not just present in all humans, but all mammals. That’s right — even your cat, dog, or other mammalian pet has an endocannabinoid system.
And CBD works by acting as an endocannabinoid when it enters the system. While it’s a phytocannabinoid, it shares enough molecular similarity with the endocannabinoids we produce to stimulate results.
What are the Biggest Causes of Acne?
Acne, while most common in teenagers, can happen at just about any age. It’s an inflammatory, chronic skin condition that almost everyone is familiar with.
Dead skin cells or oil clogging the skin, bacteria, and excess oil, or sebum, production are the most common culprits. While sebum is designed to help protect our skin from the outside world, it can also mix with dirt, dead skin cells, and other pollutants and get trapped in a pore, which then becomes a pimple.
Some additional things that may worsen or trigger acne include certain medications, stress, a change in diet or poor diet, and/or hormonal changes. Even a change to your environment can trigger acne in some cases.
In reality, many factors influence acne, and other factors increase the severity of someone’s symptoms when they have acne.
What is Acne?
Acne is actually short for acne vulgaris, the most common human skin disease in the world. It affects the quality of life of millions across the world. Not only is it inflammatory, so it can cause redness, pain, and other negative symptoms, but can also exacerbate self-esteem or confidence issues.
Can CBD Help with Acne? How Does it Work?
While more research is needed on cannabidiol as a whole, there are former clinical trials and studies on CBD and acne.
Researchers in Hungary published a review in 2014 that observed the very real likelihood that cannabidiol exerts both anti-inflammatory and sebostatic effects on human sebocytes.
Let’s break that down into real human lingo, though — what does that mean? ‘Sebostatic’ implies that something can halt or reduce the production of sebum. CBD likely exerts anti-inflammatory properties and properties that help lessen the production of sebaceous oil that’s known to cause acne.
We see similar results in a larger review on cannabinoids and their relationship or influence on the skin, especially skin inflammation.
In fact, the review observes studies performed even over 30 years back indicate topically applied phytocannabinoids can stimulate a variety of properties to help with acne alone. They found that phytocannabinoids like CBD help to decrease sebum production safely.
In summary, CBD appears to have a trinity of anti-action effects when it comes to the body:
- Anti-inflammatory properties help prevent any pro-acne compounds or agents from elevating the inflammation level.
- CBD shows it can possess a remarkable antibacterial effect by eliminating bacteria naturally, which is generally ideal for someone suffering with acne.
- Finally, and most importantly, various CBD products appear to help regulate sebum production. For those with particularly oily skin, this helps to reduce sebum production drastically.
Does CBD Help with Body Acne?
Thus far, we’ve been mentioning mostly acne on the face, but there doesn’t seem to be a barrier just because acne is on another part of your body. Acne across the legs, arms, chest, back and other places are common, and CBD can work just the same for them.
Yes, CBD can help with body acne all the same as it can for regular acne. While everyone is different, so it may not work for everyone or everyone’s type of acne, the fact that it’s body acne has no distinction.
Can CBD Help with Acne Scars?
Especially for adults or those plagued with chronic, hormonal, or cystic acne, acne scars play into the picture, too. In fact, when looking at it from a confident perspective, many who suffer from scars see it the same as acne and want their smooth skin back.
The biggest thing that needs to be stressed is that both acne and acne scars are human. There’s nothing wrong with having them, and many people can learn to accept themselves with one or both. Some people want to take the time and effort to get rid of their acne scars, and that’s okay, too.
Can CBD help with getting rid of those scars, though? When applied topically, at least twice daily, it appears to improve skin hydration and elasticity for multiple months. This combination can result in a reduction in the appearance of acne scars and fine lines, wrinkles, and more.
What’s Effective for Acne?
As we now know, cannabidiol can come in a wild variety of different forms. There are plenty of ways to get a CBD extract into your body, as a result. Topicals are the preferred treatment when it comes to acne or any other skin issue.
Higher up on the list are the CBD topicals many have come to know and love. There’s a huge range of different salves, balms, creams, and more on the market, but they vary drastically in quality, CBD strength, and other variables.
Our 500mg CBD salve is straight and to the point, though. You get full spectrum cannabidiol extracted from hemp, formulated from beeswax, coconut oil, and aromatic essential oils for maximum impact.
Lab-tested for accuracy and safety, it absorbs easily and can avoid the metabolization process ingestible products must go through before they start stimulating effects. Combine the CBD salve with any of our tinctures, gummies, and other products to see what combo you like the best!
Make sure to check out the next blog: CBD for Pets: How CBD is Changing the Pet Industry
Or, check out this blog: Does CBD and Melatonin Help with Sleep?