Highlights
- What is Skin Purging?
- How Purging Manifests in Different Skin Dosha Types
- General Ayurveda Tips for Getting You through the Purging Phase
- The Bottom Line
So, you’ve decided to switch to natural face care—great choice! But before you start expecting that radiant glow overnight, here’s something you should know: your skin may purge first.
What is Skin Purging?
If you’ve started using Face Chai natural skincare, you may notice your skin reacting at first. You might wonder, *“Why does my skin seem to be getting worse when Face Chai is supposed to help?”* Don’t worry—this is completely normal!
Skin cells generally renew themselves every 28 days, although it may take up to 40 days for dryer skin. Speeding up that skin cell turnover is great for shedding dead, dull skin, releasing impurities, decongesting pores, smoothing skin texture and evening out skin tone. All feel good things that natural and bioactive ingredients with Acids or Vitamin C, A and E will do.
Skin purging is your skin’s natural reaction to these ingredients. While you may think that your skin care product is the reason your skin is reacting, that’s not actually it. Truth is that those problems—increased breakouts, dryness, redness, or irritation—were already there in the first place. The skin purge event just accelerated the process.
The bad news is it’s going to look and feel like hell while your skin rides this out. Be patient! Purging usually lasts up to four weeks as your skin detoxifies, renews and adjusts. The good news is It's not forever and the pay off is huge! You just laid the first foundational block to having healthy skin for life.
How Purging Manifests in Different Ayurveda Skin Dosha Types
In Ayurveda, skin types are associated with the three doshas: Kapha, Vata, and Pitta. Each dosha has its own response to purging:
1. Increased Breakouts in Oily Kapha Skin
Kapha skin is naturally oily, making it more prone to clogged pores, infections, and breakouts. When you introduce natural, bioactive ingredients into your skincare routine—especially those that accelerate cell turnover—you might notice more breakouts than usual. But why does this happen?
Bioactive ingredients like salicylic acid (found in White Willow Bark), Vitamin C (in Red Raspberry Oil and Green Tea), and Vitamin E (in Jojoba Oil) work by speeding up the skin’s natural renewal process. As the upper layer of dead skin sheds away, fresh new skin cells emerge. However, this process also brings any underlying acne to the surface more quickly. This means that breakouts that would have surfaced gradually over the next few weeks may appear all at once.
During purging, you may notice an increase in pimples, whiteheads, blackheads, pustules, or cysts, especially in the areas where you typically break out. The silver lining? These blemishes tend to heal faster than regular breakouts, making way for healthier, clearer skin in the long run.
What to do
- Be patient and try not to pick because it could lead to more infection, irritiaton or scarring.
- Simplify your routine for a few days. Use Face Chai’s Facial Oils on its own for a few days for oil cleansing and overnight moisturizing. This will help rebalance oil production and bring your skin back from the acne edge. Once your breakout is settling down, pay attention to your skin's reactions and slowly add the other components back over the next few days, one at a time.
- Have hot steamy showers to help your pores clear, especially after working out, as sweat can trigger acne.
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Incorporate bitter (bitter melon, dandelion leaf), astringent (Pomegranates, apples berries), light and dry veggies (broccoli, leafy greens) into your diet to help control your skin's oil production from the inside, out. Avoid sweet, sour,oily, salty and processed foods.
2. Dryness, Flaking, and Peeling in Dry Vata Skin
Vata skin is naturally dry and delicate, making it more susceptible to flaking, peeling, and tightness. During purging, the skin sheds dead cells at a faster rate, especially when using ingredients rich in Vitamin A and E—such as Sunflower Seed Oil, Shea Butter, and Rice Bran Oil—which help accelerate cell turnover while providing deep nourishment.
However, by the time Vata skin reaches this stage in the Purge, it’s can get extremely dehydrated, appearing as dry, peeling skin, tightness, and even cracking or bleeding**. What it truly needs is gentle exfoliation to remove all the dead skin that has surfaced, followed by deep moisture and hydration to restore balance and protect the skin barrier.
What to do
- Use gentle exfoliation at the cleansing stage: Face Chai’s mask grains can be a great way to lightly exfoliate and remove dead skin cells.
- Follow up with Hydrating Mist. Let the Mist dry on your face so that your skin soaks it all.
- Now follow up with Moisturizing or Facial Oils to lock in moisture. Or use them both by adding Face Chai’s facial oils to your Moisturizing for extra hydration and protection. Just listen to your skin, let it be your guide. Don’t assume the products aren’t working. Your skin is in the middle of adjusting and you are nourishing it all the way there. Reapply as often as your skin needs.
- Nourish your skin from the inside with warm, grounding foods like Avocados, nuts, and cooked vegetables. That means it's time to break out your cold weather comfort foods like soups, stews, curries, oatmeal, mashed potatoes and other cooked veggies. Don’t be shy about adding some good fats to your diet–like ghee, avocado or olive oil. And definitely hydrate with warm herbal teas while curled up with a good book or Netflix.
3. Redness and Irritation in Combination Pitta Skin
Pitta skin is typically warm and soft, with a balanced texture. It’s the baby bear of ayurveda Skin types—not too dry, not too oily, just right. But when purging, it will go a little Kapha (breakout) and it will go a little Vata (dry and itchy). Then in a fiery expression all its own, it is prone to redness, inflammation and pimply breakouts while purging.
To get through skin purging, Pitta skin requires cooling and gentle, calming care to avoid irritation and maintain its health in a sustained way.
What to do
The goal is to cool things down.
- Use Face Chai’s Hydrating Spritz more frequently through the day to calm and cool your skin. Let Hibiscus, Aloe and Rose water work their astringent, soothing, cooling magic.
- Use Creamy Wash for Gentle Cleansing to avoid further irritation. The Aloe Vera in it is quite soothing and repairing. If that is too much for your skin, try using the Facial Oils for Oil Cleansing
- Keep your skin nourished and protected with Moisturizing or Facial Oils, for their cooling and antiinflammatory ingredients.
- Shield your face from the sun with a hat, or a parasol, and have cool showers.
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incorporate sweet, bitter and astringent tastes into your diet. Add cooling, hydrating fruits and veggies (melons, cucumber, grapes); and Leafy greens (spinach and kale). Stay hydrated with coconut water and herbal teas like chamomile or mint. Avoid spicy, sour, salty and oily foods.
General Ayurvedic Tips for Supporting Skin Purging
No matter your dosha, here are some Ayurvedic principles to help you navigate the purging process:
✔ Stick to a consistent daily set of practices. Ayurveda emphasizes daily rituals (Dinacharya). Keeping a stable skincare ritual helps your skin adjust more easily. At the same time, listen to your skin, be gentle with it and give it a break, as needed.
✔ Support detoxification naturally. Drink warm water with lemon in the morning, 20 minutes before your first meal. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and drink lots of water and supporting herbal teas
✔ Practice stress management. High stress can worsen breakouts. Try yoga, meditation, or deep breathing exercises to keep stress levels in check.
✔ Get enough sleep. Your skin regenerates at night, so prioritize getting 7-9 hours of restful sleep.
The Bottom Line
Switching to natural skincare, like Face Chai, means embracing "slow beauty". It's a life long self-care journey, not a quick fix. Purging is a sign that your skin is adjusting, detoxifying, and ultimately healing into its balanced state. Stay patient and listen to your skin. Support its changes using one or all of the Face Chai Steps; and with Ayurveda practices—like eating for your Dosha and relieving stress. That healthy, radiant glow you’re wanting? It's already yours—just give it time to shine!
Have you experienced skin purging? Share your journey in the comments below!