Going Dairy Free for Acne: My 30 Day Results
I didn’t experience regular acne breakouts until my early twenties. I got lucky in high school only having an occasional pimple now and then, but once college hit, so did the zits.
During the summer of this year, I felt like my skin was at an all-time low. I attributed this to several plausible reasons: maskne, stress, and most of all… my diet. During the latter half of 2020, my diet was a free for all with nightly bowls of ice cream or cereal with milk being a regular occurrence. Specifically, my dairy intake had increased significantly as I consumed my favorite comfort foods more frequently.
The link between dairy and acne has been talked about extensively, with webmd.com listing milk as one of the worst foods for acne. Particularly, the hormones found in milk are what can trigger breakouts most noticeably around the jawline, chin and cheeks (check out my before photo above… 🤔) according to the Curology blog. After a particularly stubborn cystic acne breakout appeared in late July, I decided to finally do the thing I had never tried for my acne: cut out dairy. I wanted to give the experiment 30 days to really give my skin a chance to show results.
Watch my video documenting my dairy-free acne experiment to see the change week by week at the top of this page.
The first week was hard, since dairy was such a staple in my diet. I had a few slip-ups like using milk in a sauce recipe, and forgetting potato salad is made with mayo. But by week two, I felt like I got the hang of it and actually found dairy swaps that I enjoyed. For example, even though I’d been an almond milk fan for years, I picked up my first carton of oat milk and became obsessed. It has a taste super close to skim milk— slightly sweet, and the texture is just about the same. Great for drinking plain to compliment Oreos (vegan and diary free!) or in a bowl of cereal. I also started making my own ice-cream like snack using just bananas! Check out how I do it on my Tik Tok below.
@slashedbeauty Healthy(ER) alternative to ice cream 😅🍌 ##tiktoktaughtme ##icecreamday ##foodvideos ##healthyfoodrecipes ##todayyearsold ##summerproject
After just one week of going dairy free, I already started to see improvement. The inflammation of my worst breakout had gone down noticeably, and by week two they were completely flat with only hyperpigmentation (dark spots) left behind.
During week three, I was expecting my period and thus… period acne. However, it was night and day from what I typically expect around my time of month. Usually, I would get several breakouts right before my period and they wouldn’t begin to heal until after my cycle. This time, I was surprised to only get two small spots that healed up within a few days of them appearing!
Skin Care Products for Acne I’m Currently Using
Throughout the experiment, the biggest difference I saw was the amount of new acne I was getting on a weekly basis (so much less than what I had started to consider “normal”) and the rate in which it was clearing up. Instead of breakouts with multiple pimples in an area, new acne would be limited to maybe one or two small spots at a time that would disappear much more quickly than I was used to. At one point during this test, I went a full week without any new acne, which was mind blowing to me!
At the end of this experiment, I’d say my acne was reduced by about 85%. I think avoiding dairy both greatly reduced stubborn breakouts from popping up in the first place, and helped increase the speed of healing for current pimples. Overall, my skin is so much more manageable now. I have a much clearer baseline skin condition now. For example, it was normal for me to always have some type of problem area present before I cut out dairy. Now, I expect maybe one to two small whiteheads or closed comedones max before I start looking into a rogue makeup or skin care product.
The million dollar question: since going dairy free helped my acne, will I stay dairy free? I’m not one to stick to restrictive diets, however this one is worth it for me to adopt long term. While I may not be completely dairy free all the time, I am going to try to keep my dairy consumption as low as possible with easy swaps, indulging occasionally on the real deal.
Have you ever tried cutting out dairy for acne?
I didn’t have a spot on my face until my late teens and then at 17 started working in a pizza shop and my skin was never the same, I’m in my 30s now and did this about 6 years ago and can agree dairy (especially cheese can cause acne) I slip up all the time but if it get out of control I back off the dairy. I wish it was more common knowledge as it would save people so much heartache.
Yes, I’ve definitely cut down (but not out) in my normal day to day routine. We only keep real milk in the house for certain recipes but for smoothies and such I use Oat.
I noticed the same thing and it’s crazy but it worked. I just ate Mille products yesterday and already had a papule this evening and I know it’s because of the custard pie I had yesterday. No dairy means no acne except for one or two during my cycle. I think anyone getting new adult acne or an increase should
Consider removing dairy. I’m an esthetician and I know ask my clients to consider this first before commuting to extensive treatments for the long term.
what type of acne do you have? I’m hoping this will help my acne, not much will because mine is hormonal
My cystic acne is definitely hormonal!
Mayonnaise doesn’t have dairy, but it is a good idea to cut it out since it’s mostly oil.
I recently learned this.. LOL!!
I am in the exact same boat right now! Had no issues with acne in 5 years, had perfect skin all through college. i’m now a junior and have these massive breakouts. I’ve tried accutane, spirolactone, forms of horomone treatment and nothing works. Today is day four of being dairy free and very hopeful for this to help even a little
I hope it works well for you! I also have 3 serums in rotation that are making a huge difference– check out my video about them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c5AHkM3v9g