My KP is actually getting better!! (routine + results)
Hey everyone! 20f here, I’ve been lurking in this sub for years and have battled pretty severe kp. I grew up having it and don’t remember a time without it. I’ve had people touch my arm and ask if i have goosebumps, or recently, someone looked at my arm and asked, very concerned, if I was okay because I had a r@sh ._.
I thought I had tried everything. I went vegan, gluten free, dairy free, tried the mediterranean diet, no sugar, gut health focused, but the KP didn’t budge. Doctors prescribed amlactin which seemed to make it worse even after 2+ months of consistent use. I tired cerave SA cream, exfoliating mitts, moroccan exfoliating glove, FAB kp bump eraser, vanicream lotion, and so, so much more, to no avail. I even tried the new smooth kp lotion with indigo, and while it did work quite well for parts I picked at, I still was covered with red, inflamed bumps. Maybe if i stuck with it I would’ve seen improvements, but eh, mistakes were made, which I’ll talk about soon.
Recently, my adhd mind has me set on getting baby smooth skin, so I’ve been doing some digging. I made a list of all the ingredients that worked for me, even a little bit, and researched what kp actually is and how it is treated and why the treatments work. I used this to help me start the routine that has made more of a difference than i’ve seen in YEARS. As you can see from my pics, things aren’t 100% perfect, but after a month (or 3 weeks, since I was on vacation for a week) the improvement in inflammation and texture is remarkable. I’m confident that I’ll be KP free in another couple months! Before i start, I will say i know this is a lot, but doing a combo of these things has helped my confidence greatly and made me feel better about my chicken skin. I only hope to help others who feel as defeated as I once did when none of these solutions worked. That said, I’m using these products daily and in a very organized way that i believe is the key to treating this condition.
Everyone’s skin is different and can handle different levels of exfoliation. For me, my skin is very very sensitive and I can only use low percentage exfoliants or use exfoliants less often (once a week ish). Even so, exfoliation is 100% needed to treat this condition, so finding a routine and products that don’t wreck your skin barrier is key. This is why it took me so long to treat mine, I had to find a way to exfoliate without inflaming. For so long I was using one or two of these products twice a day every day and it was making my skin worse because it wasn’t able to heal and i was continuously irritating it. Remember, balance is key, but try to exfoliate as much as possible without irritating your skin. If you notice your skin is irritated from a product, that DOES NOT mean the product is bad and shouldn’t be used at all. if you don’t notice irritation when you first use it, that’s a green flag. if you keep using it and notice irritation, you may just be using it too often. again, find balance and you will succeed in treating this. I made the mistake of discontinuing use of products because i thought my skin didn’t like them just to realize now I was simply overdoing it. if i would’ve scaled back my usage i probably would’ve seen results way sooner. and supporting your barrier when exfoliating and not exfoliating is also something that i ignored that would’ve made all the difference.
Before I start I want to give a short explanation on what I’ve learned about KP. It’s not acne, in any form. Treating it like acne will not help. It is a malfunction of the natural skin shedding process. Keratin sheds rapidly and the skin cannot keep up. It is comparable to psoriasis in my opinion (which i also have on my scalp), which I didn’t believe before, but know to be true after treating. I say this because it is a malfunction (not auto immune like psoriasis, but a gene mutation) that causes “plaques” or scales of dead skin, like psoriasis. This is why people have success with the sun and tanning (the sun treats psoriasis by slowing down the skin shedding process just like it helps kp because it slows down the skin shedding process). That statement is just a theory of mine and not a scientific fact but it makes sense to me. (I’m also aware that the sun camouflages KP to an extent, but I believe it actually treats the inflammation by slowing skin cell shedding, although I don’t recommend the sun as treatment because….cancer duh) This is why the Cerave psoriasis cream helped me a lot. When I first started using my routine and it started working, i literally saw the white callus plugs shedding from my hair follicles. A purge period is completely normal with this condition, especially if you had severe kp like me. the plugs were trapped under the skin and were able to be exfoliated out and the bumps flattened. I just wanted to point out that KP is a lot different from other skin conditions like acne because for a while i thought they were similar and should be treated the same.
Now. here is my list of ingredients I recommend getting in your skincare products to treat your KP effectively.
- zinc pyrithione
- zinc pyrithione is a common ingredient used in head and shoulders or anti dandruff shampoo. it is an antifungal and also ANTI-INFLAMMATORY
- I discovered this after using cerave anti dandruff shampoo as a body wash after it didn’t help my psoriasis on my scalp
- using cerave anti dandruff shampoo (cerave has more moisturizing ingredients than head and shoulders) as a body wash a couple times a week, i noticed the inflammation and redness went down significantly. i think i will get a moisturizing zinc bar from amazon next because i find the cerave shampoo to be a bit drying for my body, but its okay if i don’t use it everyday.
you do have to use it often, though, for it to really work
- niacinamide
- niacinamide has been my holy grail. it helps the skin heal, supports the skin barrier, provides redness relief, and vanishes blemishes
- i use the ordinary niacinamide + zinc for my face almost everyday and can’t live without it, for my body KP, i’ve found that cerave psoriasis cream is great to deliver this amazing ingredient
- ceramides
- these are what actually repair and build your skin barrier, if you aren’t using a lotion with ceramides, you’re missing out on healthy, radiant skin.
- these are especially helpful when exfoliating regularly and really help to add extra moisture to your skin
- i use the vanicream enhanced moisturizer, eucerin roughness relief cream, as well as the cerave psoriasis cream
- hyraulonic acid
- this one is another one i use on the daily, it makes your skin able to absorb 50x more moisture than without
- it’s a humectant that supports the barrier and keeps skin healthy
- i’m pretty sure the cerave psoriasis cream has this ingredient, and i know for a fact the vanicream enhanced lotion has this.
- urea
- urea is another humectant that draws moisture into the skin. lots of “roughness relief” lotions and creams have it.
- higher percentages are used to moisturize and exfoliate callused and cracked feet.
it is highly moisturizing.
- i use this in the eucerin roughness relief cream and the cerave psoriasis cream
i also like to use a higher percentage urea cream (40% urea) every other week as a “mask” i leave on my kp for an hour, then gently exfoliate in the shower with an african net sponge and some gentle body wash
- remember to apply this to DAMP skin to maximize benefits (it will lock in all the water and soften the bumps)
- lactic acid
- this is the one that i thought would never work, but turned out to be pretty great. small percentages of lactic acid are simply there to help moisturize skin. higher percentages (5 or above) are used to exfoliate the SURFACE LAYER of skin. it’s great for gently exfoliating, but higher percentages (12-15 percent) always ruin my skin barrier and make me incredibly itchy and irritated.
- i’ve been using amlactin daily 12 percent once every other week to get rid of the bottle before i buy the amlactin 5 percent body serum to layer under my lotion.
i will be able to use the body serum more often than the amlactin 12 percent lotion and it will hopefully not irritate my skin
- i’ve used smooth kp lotion before and it has a little bit of lactic acid (one time i tried to pop a kp bump and it was super inflamed and when i put this lotion on the next day the bump was GONE, so take with that what you will; that never happened with amlactin, ugh)
- glycolic acid
- this is one i haven’t used enough to say it works for sure (i know it works for thousands of others though) the percentages i used must have been too much for my skin and just inflamed the kp more
- glycolic acid is very similar to lactic acid though, where it exfoliates the top layers of skin and brightens
- i recently got the inkey list glycolic acid stick and used it a few times so far with perceived success. i experienced too much irritation and dryness from the ordinary glycolic acid toner so i discontinued use shortly after trying that out. hopefully this will work out better. i want to use the inkey list stick once a week ish since it is also a high percentage exfoliant and don’t want to use it too much and ruin my progress
- salicylic acid
- this one is by far the best ingredient for kp (imo). it is a natural anti inflammatory ingredient that also gets deep into the pores and exfoliates the DEEP layers of skin.
- i tried the cerave sa cream and didn’t like it before, i actually hadn’t liked any salicylic acid products before. that is until i tried the cerave psoriasis cream.
- i bought this cream on a whim when i was desperate to find a lotion that worked.
i was skeptical at first but realized i could apply it twice or even three times a day with ZERO irritation and it calmed down my redness TREMENDOUSLY
- i did notice the first couple weeks of using, my kp spots were purging. there were little white plugs coming out of my skin, when usually it’s just a thick red or white scaly bump
- after this phase, my kp has flattened dramatically, and they feel so so so much more smoother
i had never tried the sa cream long enough to notice this difference, now the cerave psoriasis cream is my best friend (more moisturizing than cerave sa cream beacuse it has urea and other more moisturizing ingredients, more expensive too, but worth it)
- hair removal cream
- i saw this one awhile back on the sub and decided to try it out
- i had been using the flamingo gentle hair removal cream on my bikini area and armpits since i always got bad razor burn and ingrown hairs when shaving (works great for these areas if you deal with these issues btw)
- i decided to use this on my arms and legs as well to see if it would do anything
- the cream works by breaking down the KERATIN in your hair follicle. since kp is literally extra production and buildup of keratin in the hair follicles, it literally exfoliates and disintegrates the kp (at least that’s what i believe) either way it exfoliates the top layer of skin/hair keratin)
- i use it about once a week now and use the scraper after having it on for 5-10 min and then use my african net sponge to gently exfoliate in the shower and cerave psoriasis cream right after and when i tell you this is when i started noticing a difference.
my thick scaled arms actually started to get exfoliated!!
Here’s a summary of all the ingredients i recommend for kp:
- zinc pyrithione 1-2%
- niacinamide
- ceramides
- hyraulonic acid
- urea 10-20%
- urea 40%
- lactic acid
- glycolic acid
- salicylic acid
- hair removal cream
I know this seems like a lot, but try and find products with a combination of these ingredients! Most products already have a combo of these, so find one that works well for you! I’m basically using every type of exfoliant right now, but not experiencing irritation due to the way I rotate them. I currently use 3-4 different lotions in a week (cerave psoriasis, eucerin roughness relief, urea 40%, and vanicream enhanced lotion). I use two soaps (zinc soap and regular vanicream body wash). Then I use the inkey list glycolic stick, and amlactin every other week when i feel my skin can handle it. I could be using less products overall, but want to tackle my KP before summer and before a wedding I’m attending in a few months. Don’t forget to wear sunscreen when using any exfoliating product regularly.
The products i recommend are:
- zinc pyrithione soap (one with added moisturizing ingredients) ( don’t use daily)
- cerave psoriasis cream
- vanicream enhanced lotion OR any fragrance free cream/lotion with ceramides
- oukeya urea cream 40% unscented with niacinamide
- eucerin roughness relief cream (in the tub)
- inkey list glycolic stick
- flamingo hair removal cream
- amlactin bright and smooth 5 percent body serum (haven’t used but next on my list)
- any amlactin product, really, just use with caution as some of their products are very high strength
- smooth kp lotion (I would be using this more but I have too many other products that I know are working; might switch one of my lotions out to this eventually)
Here is an example of how I use these products:
————————————-
Monday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: hair removal cream + gentle scrub with african net sponge + cerave psoriasis cream
Tuesday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: eucerin roughness relief cream
Wednesday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: Zinc soap (leave on for 3-5 minutes) + vanicream enhanced lotion
thursday:
- morning: cerave psoriasis cream
- night: zinc soap + cerave psoriasis cream
friday:
- morning: vanicream enhanced lotion
- night: glycolic acid stick
sat:
- morning: vanicream enhanced lotion
- night: vanicream enhanced lotion
sunday:
- morning: vanicream enhanced lotion
- night: zinc soap + vanicream enhanced lotion
——————————————-
Then, the next week, instead of glycolic acid on Friday, I would do the urea 40% mask, and the week after do amlactin. I will also use one of these three in place of the hair removal cream if I’m not up for it that week.
Some other things I recommend doing/changing to help your KP:
- try to moisturize twice to three times daily on KP spots. the more, the better. for me, using the cerave psoriasis cream was gentle enough to use on the same day as higher exfoliation days (ie. put on cerave psoriasis cream in the morning and glycolic stick at night) if i want to rest from exfoliation i use the vanicream enhanced lotion.
- don’t be shy with the amount of lotion you use. i know it can be a sensory nightmare, but the more the better.
- DONT take hot showers (destroys natural skin barrier and dries out skin, making KP worse)
- only use moisturizing products, even exfoliation products and body soaps; anytime i’ve used a body soap or lotion that didn’t have moisturizing ingredients, my kp got worse (amlactin daily lotion dries out my skin!!) i’ve found the vanicream body wash to be a great non drying body wash that cleans without stripping my skin
- not blasting the air in the car or the house. i live in a super dry climate so i’m already dry as a bone as it is, adding air flow only dries out the skin even more, use a humidifier if possible!
- although diet change didn’t cure my kp, it sure did help a bit with inflammation and rate at which my kp appeared. eating healthier and more omega 3’s and fruits and veggies will always benefit your skin, i personally try to eat gluten, dairy, sugar, and egg free due to my psoriasis, but don’t stress about it either because stress will make everything worse too
- DONT PICK AT IT, just don’t, it will never help, it will only scar and take longer to go away and make it look way worse than it is
- controversial: don’t wash your kp spots with soap every time you shower, even with moisturizing soaps. i found washing my arms and legs every other to every three days to be the best. before you come for me, I do wash every other part of my body and I don’t work outside, I wear pants and long sleeves a lot so my body isn’t even exposed to outside air, so washing it everyday IS excessive and WILL dry out your skin and make it worse. I find doing this helps to keep my natural oils and skin barrier healthy and undisturbed.
- to add to that, i only wash with my african net sponge maybe once or twice a week. i use my hands to apply soap every other time i wash my arms and legs. i already chemically exfoliate to some degree almost everyday, so physically exfoliating that often would be too much
- lastly, a bit of a hypocritical statement after my last two points, but doing a deep physical exfoliation with a morrocan kessa glove and morrocan black soap once a month or less, has seemingly helped. you can look up a morrocan exfoliation tutorial on reddit or youtube or tiktok. although it made most of my skin baby soft, this didn’t help my kp at first, but doing this combined with everything else i’ve been doing has worked. make sure your skin barrier is healthy before doing this and don’t chemically exfoliate 24 hours before or after doing it.
I think that concludes everything!
TLDR
I’ve had KP all my life and recently found products and a routine that supports my kp type, skin type, and lifestyle. I’ve been able to reduce my KP dramatically in one month’s time with this routine, even though i’ve been using these same products for years with no results. The main things I recommend are balancing exfoliation with hydration (there are a million ways to do this but I achieved this by using lower percentage (less harsh) exfoliants more often and using higher percentage exfoliants (more harsh) less often while making sure to support my skin barrier and hydration every single step of the way). I really hope this helps someone!