[NonContro]

After a decade of struggle with skin conditions, what works for me:

- Eliminate all foods that contain added sugar, including milk (lactose)

- Have cold/lukewarm showers, every 2nd day

- Use a rough washcloth and Nivea Sensitive Men's facewash

- Occasionally use anti-dandruff Ketaconazole shampoo, but otherwise a 'natural' shampoo and conditioner without Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

- Wash face each night before bed with warm water. Use the washcloth once, then wash in 95c water

- Change bedsheets every 5 days, wash pillows and quilts every ~2 months (all on hot)

- Moisturise face after shower with beard oil. Water-based moisturisers don't last.

- Minimise ejaculation instances, to conserve zinc and other minerals

[kongolongo]

Not sure about the ejaculation point. Especially with zinc, the amounts released from ejaculation are far less than the rda and the same is also true with the other trace minerals present in semen. Even if we account for multiple ejaculations per day, diet contributes much more to any possible mineral imbalances than ejaculation could. You really can't out ejaculate even just a single day worth of zinc rda food intake. At ~3% of the rda per ejaculation that's ~33 ejaculations.

[hnacct0310304]

It's about the overall system. If the man has a full sack, his body won't be utilizing its top-notch resources to replenish itself, making sure it is always at-the-ready. Once restocked, the resources devoted to that unique assembly line can be applied to repair and enhance operations.

Having to arm that legion of competitive swimmers is an energetic undertaking of no small measure and no small importance -- quite the opposite, actually. That is why fasting and exercise are effective ways to tamp down one's sexual impulses. Well, avoiding stimulation (visual and otherwise) can also help tame our more primal energies.

[[[ Also, the GP failed to mention exercising and avoiding the consumption of refined oils as other ways to keep the skin less clogged and infected. ]]]

Regardless, semen retention is a way for a man to keep his body burning less quickly through our molecular environment, both internally and externally. The old Taoist texts (IIRC) teach 60 or 80 drops of blood are required to produce a drop of semen, and some significant amount of food to create a drop of blood. Stem the loss and the pipeline backs up, in a good way, so long as the man doesn't become an unbearable ahole, but that's related to self-control via self-evolution of the ego combined with the amount of stimulation they must/choose-to endure.

[chownie]

From what I can tell there's no evidence that the testicles produce any faster when emptied compared to full. Is that a thing?

[dillondoyle]

You had me until the last one ;)

Does anyone have science on specifically sugar? I find that correlation too (only with lots of cheap candy/bad greasy food), but feels kind of Goop-like bs. what is the mechanism for that to affect bacteria on the face?

[Sunspark]

I present to you honey. Honey never goes bad, it has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties and for this reason is why it also helps with wound healing.

[dillondoyle]

and i've read allergies too! I buy like a couple pounds of these every few months it's so good: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006MWDFUC/

[Sunspark]

I like raw honey, but I don't think it does much for allergies. However, I can tell you that bee pollen does do something. If you try pollen you have to start very early in the season (like Feb-Mar early) with 1 grain and then increasing the count from there.

Whether honey or bee pollen, if being used for allergies, you should be using product from your local area, not imported from far away and especially not another country with completely different flora.

[D1CA1890]

Anecdotal, but switching the honey I used in my morning oatmeal to a locally-farmed raw variety really did seem to help quite a bit with my seasonal allergies.

A qualifier on that statement is that the seasonal allergies started when I moved 1000 miles to a very different part of the country. It may just have been acclimation, but I don't plan on switching back to the other types of honey to test if the symptoms return.

It's not entirely gone, some years are nothing and some are light. Nothing is ever are terrible as the first few years were, though.

[plexman]

I believe that the authority in sugar is DR. Robert Lustig. He has a great book called Fat Chance, there he explains in details how sugar is a toxin and correlates with a plethora of diseases. Great read from a true hero that saved many obese kids during his practice.

[Sunspark]

Sugar is more than that, it's also an addictive drug. Try quitting sugar and see how far you get.

[tleb_]

With so many solutions, how could you be sure each one has an important role?

[hunterb123]

Basically all these things keep the oil off your face, your skin healthy, and your pores closed.

[plexman]

Ketoconazole blocks hormone steroid synthesis and reduces testosterone levels.

[morsch]

When used externally?

[plexman]

"Ketoconazole is not absorbed systemically after topical administration..." [1]

It does not mean that it's not absorbed.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3280211/

[TrevorJ]

I found that switching to simply using water for bathing most of my body did wonders. Skin feels clean, rarely if ever is it dry or oily. Took a couple weeks to adjust. everyone is different though, YMMV.

[Bellamy]

Fucking brilliant.

[imwillofficial]

Thank you for this. A well thought out response.