There are certain foods that are very controversial when it comes to your skin’s health, and whether or not that particular food will aggravate your acne.
Garlic seems to be one of those foods that is either listed in acne treatment resources as your friend - a great way to treat your acne, or your foe - a food that has the ability to make your acne worse. So which do we believe?
The diet guidelines that I live my life by are the result of reading a collection of diet and acne books, talking to medical and health professionals, and through trial and error on my own skin and body (basically seeing what happens when I eat certain foods). Through all of this I’ve discovered what I call ‘danger’ foods, foods that I know WILL aggravate my acne. One of these being garlic.
Why garlic is bad for your skin when taken internally
It’s really important to note here that I’m talking about eating garlic, not using it as a topical. I’ll talk more about garlic and topical treatments later.
I have had differing opinions with the food garlic, which is why I think it’s one of those very controversial foods. I went to a naturopath about my skin once, and she actually recommended that I eat lots of onion and garlic to help my skin heal. I actually didn’t follow her advice because I don’t like to cook with these two foods (for other reasons) and I’m glad I didn’t! Because I’ll share a garlic related story with you that made me realize that yes, garlic is not good at all for the skin when taken internally.
A few months ago I’d arranged to go for a long walk for exercise, and then dinner with a friend. I had a quick …okay long …look at my skin before I went out and was happy. My skin was looking fairly clear and with just a small dusting of mineral makeup you could hardly see any of my acne scars. I didn’t have any new pimples forming either which was great. I remember at dinner even bringing it up with my friend. I told him that my skin was doing great and asked him what he thought. He looked at me and confirmed that yep, he couldn’t see a single spot on my face! I was soooo happy.
So we ate at a really nice restaurant close to where I lived then. I ordered a fish dish that came out on a bed of mash and roasted vegetables, including a ton of roasted garlic. I never would normally eat whole garlic cloves like that but I thought screw it, they’re weaker when they’re roasted so I hoed into it and ate the whole lot. AND I have to tell you, it tasted awesome.
The next morning I woke up with very aggravated skin. I had a heap more comedonal acne, my skin was a little reddish and blotchy, and already there were new pimples forming. I had an appointment with my Chinese herbalist (who is also a medical doctor) that day which was good because he was helping me clear my skin at the time. I think if I didn’t have that appointment I would have panicked! So I turn up at my appointment, and one of the first things he noticed was the garlic smell coming off my skin from all the garlic I’d eaten the night before. Hey, I couldn’t smell it!
He then asked me, “Do you like garlic?” which I responded with, “Normally no, but I ate a ton of it last night when I went out to dinner with a friend!”.
He shook his head and said, “Garlic will aggravate your acne and cause pimples you know.”. He then suggested that the next time I go out to eat I should ask the chef to not put any garlic in my meal. It was that moment that I realized that garlic taken internally IS bad for your skin and I would try to avoid it at all costs.
You see, in Chinese Medicine it is said that acne is caused by too much heat and dampness in the body. So what we want to do essentially is cool our bodies down. Every time I visit the doctor he tells me to stop eating ‘hot’ foods. This doesn’t mean temperature, it means foods that create heat in your body. Like chili, garlic, onion, peppers, cinnamon etc. I once asked him how I could tell that a food is ‘hot’, and he told me to put a little bit on my tongue, and you will know if it’s a hot food. Err, I haven’t really tried this yet, but I am very disciplined with staying away from spicy foods, chillies, peppers, garlic and anything that is
Keep in mind that this doctor I respect a lot. He’s practiced conventional and natural medicine for over 35 years and he’s damn good at his job with a huge waiting list. So I listen to him!
If you’re wondering that perhaps I just have a garlic food allergy, you’re wrong. I later wondered this myself and went and got tested. The results were negative, I have no garlic allergy. So, garlic is just one of those acne aggravating foods.
Avoiding eating garlic
I don’t think you should ever have to avoid eating any foods 100%, I think this is just about impossible, and can make you sometimes antisocial and a little boring 
I do however now avoid garlic as much as I can. This means I never cook with it at home, and when I’m cooking with a friend at their house, I mention that I can’t eat garlic because it gives me pimples …and they always leave it out for me (how nice).
Eating out is a little harder and since I’m travelling now I’m eating out at least twice a day. All I do is make sure I don’t order anything that has ‘garlic’ in the description of the food. If what I’ve ordered comes out with a very garlic taste, then so be it. I’ve found it’s okay if I eat it every now and again, and as long as I don’t eat whole entire cloves like I did before.
Garlic used as a topical
This is a whole different thing altogether, and while I can’t speak with personal experience, I’ve read a lot of reviews in forums on the net, and I’ve even been emailed by a couple of my High on Health readers that say that garlic used as a topical has done great things for their skin.
My skin has become quite clear now, I have a few small reddish scars that are fading and one pimple on my cheek that’s on its way out. This is all great because I feel more confident in helping you all out when I’ve managed to completely clear my own skin, but at the same time I feel like I can’t experiment on myself anymore! So unfortunately I’ll have to go on others reviews of using garlic as a topical, and you may need to try it yourself. Just remember to start something new slowly, because even natural substances used on the skin can aggravate or cause cosmetic acne for some people. It’s better to start slowly than to freak your skin out by using too much at once.
How to use garlic in your skin care routine
Garlic is one of those magical foods that is naturally anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral …which is why it does so well on our skin. This is similar to the healing properties of apple cider vinegar and coconut oil.
I got an email from Susan, one of my blog readers the other day. Susan is awesome, she’s found her own acne cure which involves a few natural treatments that are working wonderfully for her. You can read her post here:
http://www.highonhealth.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25
I thought I’d share with you her garlic topical because it is working just so well for her.
Susan’s Garlic Mask / Spot Treatment
- 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 spoonful maluka honey
- a dash of turmeric powder or freshly grated turmeric
Combine ingredients then apply to freshly cleansed face directly onto acne and acne prone areas. Leave on your skin for 10 - 30 minutes then wash off with warm water. Apply a moisturizer.
Note: Please use turmeric with caution. It can stain the skin yellow if you use too much. If you have pale skin like me, please use only a very
There are a heap of other home recipes for masks and spot treatments on the web. All you need to do is a Google search So I guess garlic is both our friend and our foe! Fran Fran Kerr is the founding editor of High on Health. To cure your acne, sign up to Fran's FREE acne cure mini-course or download her latest how to guide, Eat Away Your Acne. But I’d like the sound of this one because Susan has had so much success with it.Related Articles
27 responses ↓
So taking garlic itself is bad, what about taking odorless garlic supplements?
I ask because I purchased the Acne Free in 3 Days thing and one of the things the guy recommended for maintenance after the 3 days was to take such supplements among other things of course.
It really depends on WHY you get acne. For Chris Gibson who wrote Acne Free in 3 Days, his acne was due to a Candida overgrowth, so garlic supplements would not affect his acne too much, just make him a little healthier.
For those people like me, where anything sets the skin off, like hormones, stress, the wrong products ..then this is because we have too much heat and dampness in our body, so foods like garlic need to be avoided.
If you have acne from Candida, you can probably take garlic tablets safely
If you’re worried, you can also just try the tablets and see if it makes a difference to your skin. If it doesn’t flare it up, then great ..go for it.
In the end, my acne seems at this moment in time to be generally caused by my now oily skin because its getting warming and to do with my general way of life in what I eat, drink and how I take care of my skin in general. Where as I guess before when I was younger, it was a hormonal thing mainly with what I just said above more so as a extra influence that made it go from bad to worse.
So with that, would you think taking garlic be fine for me?
Because really at this point, I figure if I get a good diet and have a nice skin care routine then I will be fine skin wise as I have seemed to grow out of the teenage hormonal variety.
If you don’t have Candida then garlic may flare up your acne, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine.
If you love your garlic I’d do a test and see how your skin responds. To REALLY test it out you could eat a heap of it, and see what happens. It’s not going to give you cystic acne or anything, it just makes my skin look a little angrier, more red and induces pimples. Remember - everybody is different though
If you do try it, let me know how it goes!
Thing is, I never been a garlic person or even a “hot foods” person for the most part. In fact I think I have never taken any garlic or at least not too much, and the same goes for “hot foods” as well in general except for that I do like my chili occasionally.
So I doubt “hot foods” are the cause or a major contributing factor in my acne as there generally not apart of my diet really.
But I will see what it does and report back here. As negative effects happen quite fast, it luckily won’t take long to figure out if it hurts me or not.
I used raw garlic on some spots once. It is quite irritating and I read you should only leave it on for 5 minutes. I think it may have helped dry up the pimples a little. But I really found it too irritating. And I think you meant ma*N*uka honey
I’ve tried that too on spots but it didn’t do anything for me and was so sticky as an overnight treatment! I like mixing honey in my clay masks though. It keeps them from getting to dry and uncomfortable. One thing that has worked really well for me is Black African Soap. I use a bar from a brand now available at Target - they are really good organic products and the bars are only $5 
Also I have been putting sea salt (you can get it at a grocery store like Trader Joe’s) on my face sometimes after cleansing, then washing it off after a few minutes. That seems to really help problem skin too.
Hi, I just wanted to post something about Garlic. Garlic is one of the best things out there for killing bacteria (naturally with the help of a doctor), its natural and your white blood cells don’t become immune to it, unlike man-made anti-bionics. However, it does act as a antibiotic, this is why when you eat garlic meaning a lot of it, you should always help your body by drinking a probiotic drink like : cultured milk or kefir/ yogurt. Products like this replace the good bacteria that garlic( big amounts of it) or antibiotics kill in your body. I was thinking that maybe thats why some people get bad break-outs after eating it. So, I hope I didn’t make anyone confused.
ps…on another topic drinking culture milk can also help witih yeast infections….:)
oh now I love garlic -.-
But thanks for this intersting article, I’m going to test out if the garlic meals are effecting my skin. And I’m going to try out the spot treatment, sice I’m still searching for an effective one.
I noticed garlic aggravated my skin as well. I would eat garlic the night before and all of a sudden little pimples would become cyst like and when they popped they smelled like garlic.
Same goes for spicy stuff including cinnamon.
Thanks for the advice. Now I need a garlic detox where do I get that
This is really interesting because my skin is never clear for more than a few days! Yes I’m chinese and you know we use lots of garlic in our cooking. And I adore spicy food! There’s so many delicious asian food with spices in them.. Oh my. But this is a good advice Fran! I’ll abstain from these ingredients for 2 weeks and see how it goes. Thanks!
Garlic - I loove!!!!!!!!1
But it does aggravate the skin, likewise ‘hot’ emotions : anger, fear.
It is a ‘hot’ food but also can cause indigestion, and probably that is also why we get pimples !
If you want use garlic as a ‘medicine’ , because it is a truly amazing anti-micro, anti-fungal, anti - bacteria food, but you don’t want to use regular garlic, I would suggest experiment with a wonderful product : Kyolic Aged Extract. The exclusive aging process eliminates garlic odor and harsh side effects as : indigestion.
It posses all the best qualities of garlic.
http://www.kyolic.com/
All the best!
For those who can eat the garlic, be careful you do not get caried away with it. It makes you’re blood pressure go down, and you will get very sleepy.
i’ve had wonderful results with garlic. I used the
SUPERVIRAGON that the “health renegade” guy mentioned in one of the videos Fran posted.
It cleared up my cystic acne and bumps that
were just sitting under my skin. I maintain my
clear skin with a healthy low sugar, noninflammatory food diet, skin vitamins and the SUPERVIRAGON.
by the way the SUPERVIRAGON is not only garlic,
its a mixture of onions, garlic, and other ingredients that i cant recall at this moment. But check it out and see for yourself if you’d also benefit from this mixure.
By the grace of God I found this, so thanks Fran for your post, all of them help me understand my former problem with acne!
Hey Fran, last night I tried a mixture of garlic juice, organic honey, and tumeric for a spot treatmeant with pretty good results. But later today I had lots of those spots of acne that are filled with that white stuff, and I had to squeeze them because I cannot stand the way they look or feel. So now I have a honey, tumeric, and lavender oil mixture on my face, I’m not sure how it’s going to work though. So I’m wondering what kind of acne is it when there is a pretty big bump filled with white stuff, under and above the surface. I get them all the time as well as white heads and black heads and my acne is soooo bad all the time. I eat pretty good and only beleive natural is the way to go, but I’m so frustersted with my face I am tempted to try BP again.
Hi Mia, sounds like your concoction has started to draw stuff out which is a good thing. The pimple you’ve described sounds a lot like an inflammation ..just leave it alone, keep putting a spot treatment on it and it will go away very soon.
Whiteheads and blackheads are a little different, they’re comedonal acne so need to be treated a little differently. Try using Paula’s Choice 2% BHA ..do a search in my blog because I’ve written a few articles about it
I’m not sure I can get paula’s choice although it does sound very cool. I’m pretty young so I can’t buy stuff, so I have to use what I have. But I guess I can live with black and white heads, there not so bad.
I didn’t think I had cystic acne, but I guess I do. It’s very annoying having to deal with acne at such a young age, and I’m not sure why have it soooo bad because I am doing everying right, other than having that picking your face issue. Which I am really trying to stop cause my face is always better when I don’t pick at my face.
I’ve already come to the conclusion that one diet will work wonders for one person yet not make a slight difference to another.
What diets have you done that actually worked for you?
How long did you keep it up? (Yes I’m assuming you gave up at some point)
I’ve done many diets in my life and each time I gave up keeping it going for various reasons.
One does stand out though and that’s the cabbage soup diet. It is meant to cleanse your body of all the bad foods you’ve had and should only be done for one week since it is not a diet for life. I can say it really worked. My mum and I did it (I think 10 years ago) She lost about 3 kg in that week and looked no different in her appearance. I, on the other hand lost nothing, yet I looked great.
In a nut shell the diet consists of having a certain recipe for cabbage soup which you can eat as much as you want the entire week, and every day you eat something else (can’t remember the list though..)
How about you?
Hi aldolopur, my basic diet is explained in my book - http://www.eatawayyouracne.com
I don’t like to do intensive diets. I prefer to gradually incorporate healthy foods into what I’d normally eat. For example I’m now eating a lot of quinoa instead of rice and bread, simply because it’s a lot easier for the body to digest. And I’m choose pineapple, blueberry and green apples as my fruit of choice because these are the least sweet of fruits that Iike and are accessible to me.
But you’re very right about the one diet not working for everyone. Many factors need to be considered, including food intolerances and allergies, general health and well being, blood type, genetics and even what food you were brought up on.
An interesting read. I’ve read about garlic before and how some people claim it’s a poison and other say it distrupts the brainwaves etc.
I don’t suffer from acne but I do suffer with a form of dermatitis and have done for a number of years. I don’t know what causes it, but I do eat a lot of garlic and spices.
Do you think that garlic could be a contributor to my dermatitis?
Garlic is considered toxic. Pilots can’t take garlic because their attention is affected by it.
It’s also not good for spiritual practices. Bhudist and Hindus don’t eat it.
According to ayurveda acne is sign of a “pitta” disorder (too much “fire”), so things like garlic, chilies, citrics (except lemon), wheat…will agravate pitta. Cooling things will balance it, like bitter food, sweet food (NOT SUGAR)… you can do some research. It’s very interesting.
Hello,
I just want to share my story. First of all, Garlic is the ultimate cure all! And I have been taking raw garlic every other day for most of my life, preventing colds, flus and much more. I quit taking it after I read this and my acne got worse! I spoke with a friend of the family who is a very good Chinese medicine practitioner. She told me that in my case I should eat garlic! Because unlike most acne sufferers who have too much heat, I am actually too cold and dry! My skin is very dry, despite the acne and oil, I am also cold when everyone else is fine. So I got back to my raw garlic and I do look a lot better! I have been experimenting with it as a topical treatment, seems to help. Thank you!
i think this depends on you personal composition/source of your acne. When i was in high school id have bad breakouts og acne on the chin and nose area which when treated topically ended up looking like chemical burns. well i got a bad case of bronchitis and my father mad a puree off garlic with a bit of pumpkin and to offset the taste. well this is all i ate for a while and after week and a half and i was sweating garlic pooping garlic, even my pee smelled like garlic . I wasnt so social but at the end of the second week my skin LITERALLY looked like a baby’s, you couldnt see a SINGLE pore. My dad said it was the antoxidant in the garlic. i thought it was the semi liquid diet but ive done that without the garlic multiple times while fasting and the only time i have the skin result is with the garlic. i never tried it topically since its worked well otherwise but i think i will try this mask.
thanks alot
[...] It’s unfortunate because I know how healing both onion and garlic can be to the body. I wrote an article about garlic over a year ago now and it’s an article that’s referred to a lot from the readers of this blog. Check it out if you want to learn more about why I don’t like to eat garlic - Is Garlic A Friend Or Foe For Your Skin? [...]
I really hope whoever suffers from moderate to bad acne finds my blog!! I have tried every product including bp sa differin antibiotics birth control accutane everything and my acne has always come back, so stubborn!!! Just like me:) well a week ago I read an article about the healing benifits of honey when used directly as a mask on the face. Also, my mom is a firm believer in garlic and has always told me about how bacteria cant survive with garlic.. SO i decided to mix the two and create a mask for my skin. I chopped up 2n cloves and put a mask of honey on my face and then put the garlic all over my face and left it on for about 45min. I have been doing this every day since because of the amazing results!! Instantly my skin felt more moisturized and the next morning I had less zits. A week ago my skin had been inflamed for the passed 3 months and I mean zits everywhere!! I almost have completely clear skin, and I had to share this amazing little combo!! I hope u just try it if you are suffering!!!
Hey Fran,
Since you gave a small list of “hot” foods, could you give me a list of some “cold” foods?
Thanks!
I really need help. I struggling with acne. Pretty much anything sets it off, lack of sleep, the food I eat, stress, etc. I generally stay away from foods like cheese, butter, mayo, jam, peanut butter, peanuts, french vanilla coffee, regular coffee, hot chocolate, milk (canned milk ok), and pretty much anything with too much oil, sugar, salt, etc. Yet I still break out and my face is full of scars. I’m A 21 year old female and my acne problem started about two years ago. Could it be hormones? I barely got pimples prior to that, but I always stayed away from those food then as well. And when I would get pimples they would be small ones and would go away on their own a few days later. But now regardless of whether I eat them or not, I get them. And the ones I get are the big cysts-like pimples. I had a really bad episode a year ago where they appeared in clusters on my chin and left and right jaws (and I’m still trying to clear the scars) and they took awhile to go away. I couldn’t pop them, and didn’t want to anyway as they would leave marks. But eventually after a month or so I was above to get them to be softer and popped them a bit with q-tips wo get the gunk out. I broke out in those and surrounding areas a few times after that. Now, not so much, they seem to just appear anywhere on my face now, but mostly still on my chins and sometimes on or near the jaw. I cook with a lot of spices: curry, garlic powder, black pepper, red pepper, cumin, but I doubt these have anything to do with it. Do you have any advice for me? You were talking about heat and dampness, can you explain more about that? Could that be my problem? Should I look into taking pills? I’ve heard of Perfect Skin pills, do you know if those are any good? I’m trying to find the root cause of these pimples. Or is my immune system weak or something?
hie i had acne but funny it was only on one side i rubbed garlic on the affected area and after a day the acne became worse i used my towel for scrubing cause i was scared the skin started peeling off and the part is very dry please help i am confused cant even think straight im engaged and my wedding day is only a few weeks aways i cant face my fiance i have lost confidence please i need your as soon as possible
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