Popular supplements for hormonal acne tested

Wondering which of the many supplements for hormonal acne will actually help? There are so many that it can be easy to lose track of the newest and latest ones.

During my experiments to heal my own hormonal acne, I tried many of those hormonal acne supplements. Today I want to share my experiences with you. Spoiler: You really shouldn’t take one of them during a certain week of the month!

Related: I beat hormonal acne: My 6 powerful little secrets
Related: Are your hair vitamins causing hair loss?

Disclosure: Some of the links below are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Shatavari for acne – my favorite of the supplements for hormonal acne

ORGANIC INDIA Shatavari Herbal Supplement – Supports Hormonal Balance, Immune and Inflammatory Response, Vegan, Gluten-Free, USDA Organic, Supports Reproductive Health – 90 Capsules

Shatavari has been used in Ayurvedic medicine forever to treat all kinds of female woes. So naturally, it was one of the first supplements for hormonal acne I tried.

I have been taking one capsule of Shatavari* for my acne every day for months now and everything is going perfectly well. My skin has been healing and together with all the other things I did to beat hormonal acne, it seems to work!

I also tried skipping it for a while, but that didn’t seem to go so great. Some symptoms came back.

So my conclusion is similar to what you find in research: Shatavari seems to be awesome!

ORGANIC INDIA Shatavari Herbal Supplement – Supports Hormonal Balance, Immune and Inflammatory Response, Vegan, Gluten-Free, USDA Organic, Supports Reproductive Health – 90 Capsules

Banyan Botanicals Organic Shatavari Powder – Asparagus racemosus – Ayurvedic Herb for Vata & Pitta, Balanced Female Hormones, Energy, Vitality & More* – 1/2lb. ­– Non-GMO Sustainably Sourced Vegan FFL

Himalaya Organic Shatavari for PMS, Menstrual Cramp Relief, Menopause Support, and Women’s Health, 1,300 mg, 60 Caplets, 1 Month Supply

It contains steroidal saponins, like fenugreek, but without the smell. It’s a weak estrogen, meaning that it stimulates estrogen production in people who do not make enough hormones themselves. Or it provides a small estrogen support for people whose ovaries no longer produce hormones. Think menopause.

If you are producing too much estrogen a larger dose of shatavari should help with the symptoms by blocking the receptors. However, this may also cause a further increase in estrogen production.

You can get Shatavari capsules here*!

Omega-3 for hormonal acne

Arazo Nutrition Wild Caught Omega 3 Fish Oil – 120 Soft Gels – 4,080mg High EPA 1200mg DHA 900mg Lemon Flavor Burpless Softgels

Omega-3* is pretty much good for anything, if you read a little bit about it. A big advantage for hormonal acne is the fact that Omega-3 reduces inflammation.

Regarding hormones, Omega-3 works like shatavari. It contains lignans, an estrogen-like chemical. It makes sense to use several of these weak estrogens. Combining them should help provide a baseline of signaling similar to estrogen. Meaning that your body thinks it has enough “real” estrogen, even when it doesn’t.

I have been taking Omega-3 regularly since I decided to finally get rid of my hormonal acne once and for all. And what can I say?

If you are not sure which supplements for hormonal acne to try, don’t skip this one! Even if you don’t want to take Omega-3 for hormonal acne, take it anyways. It has countless benefits for many other areas of your life, too.

You can get Omega-3 here*!

Chasteberry for acne

NOW Supplements, Chaste Berry Vitex Extract 300 mg with Dong Quai, Women’s Health*, 90 Veg Capsules

Chasteberry or vitex is one of the first supplements that come to mind when we talk about anything hormone related. It seems like it gets recommended for each and every hormonal imbalance a woman might have.

Unfortunately chasteberry* did not work at all for me. It did the opposite: my whole cycle got completely out of whack!

This does not mean at all that chaste berry can’t work for your acne. But it is important to understand how it works.

Chasteberry lowers all sex hormones which would be counterproductive for anyone with hormonal acne due to low hormone production.

If the acne comes from high hormone production such as puberty, for example, chasteberry should help.

Of course, always see a doctor first and get her approval before you start experimenting!

You can find chasteberry here*!

Related: The amazing health benefits of ginger for menstruation

Maca for hormonal acne

Nutricost Maca Root (Lepidium meyenii) 750mg, 180 Capsules, 180 Servings

Maca* is one of those supplements for hormonal acne that got very trendy in the last years. Even though it is not entirely clear how and if it works on hormones, it gets recommended a lot.

Just like with chasteberry I personally do not have good experiences with Maca at all. The same thing happened. Instead of getting healthier skin, I rather started getting very irregular and painful cycles.

Does Maca cause acne? I’m not sure.

What I do know is that it might help or seriously make your hormones worse.

So until we know a little better how Maca works and what effect it has on our bodies, I will stay away from it.

If you still want to, you can buy Maca here*!

Saw Palmetto for hormonal acne

Now Foods Saw Palmetto Extract 320 mg – 90 Softgels (Pack of 2) – 180 Total Softgels

If you, like me, see a great improvement from drinking spearmint tea, you should give saw palmetto* a shot! It works very similarly in suppressing androgens by muting your androgen receptors.

It also reduces androgens up to 40 percent. This again will stimulate hormone production, which will be mostly estrogen, further rebalancing your hormones in your favor.

Saw palmetto is NOT for you if you have an estrogen dominance!

As with all the other supplements listed here, please consult a professional about which hormonal imbalance causes your acne before you experiment with the supplements.

Get saw palmetto here*!

Related: Hyaluronic acid and acne – What you need to know

Milk Thistle for hormonal acne

Puritan’s Pride Milk Thistle 4:1 Extract 1000 Mg (Silymarin) Softgels,for Liver Support ,180 Count

Milk Thistle* is one of the supposed miracle supplements for hormonal acne. It contains silymarin, which has been proven to significantly reduce lesions in acne sufferers.

As an extra bonus, silymarin is supposed to help protect the liver from toxicity. It does that by stopping the metabolism of some toxins.

This means that the kidneys will have to make up for it. Good for the liver, but not the first thing to use if you have kidney problems.

I have to admit that this is the one supplement that I didn’t thoroughly test. Not because it did anything bad to me.

I simply didn’t see a big difference from it and I also disliked the taste of the tea. (I didn’t have capsules, but drank milk thistle tea for a while.)

Buddha Teas Organic Milk Thistle Tea – OU Kosher, USDA Organic, CCOF Organic, 18 Bleach-Free Tea Bags

The Republic of Tea Organic Milk Thistle SUPERHERB Tea Bags, Tin of 36 Tea Bags

FGO Organic Milk Thistle Tea, Eco-Conscious Tea Bags, 100 Count, Packaging May Vary (Pack of 1)

As some people report incredible results with it, I wanted to mention it here anyway.

Buy Milk Thistle here*!

Vitamin D3 & hormonal acne

Amazon Brand – Solimo Vitamin D3 125 mcg (5000 IU), 150 Softgels, Five Month Supply (Packaging may vary)

I had a serious lack of vitamin D a couple of years back. Naturally, I had to take high doses of it to get back to normal levels.

During that time, everything seemed to get much, much better! I was happier, slept better, finally had an appetite again and life was fun again.

So, of course, I wanted to make sure to not go back into a deficiency again. Even more so, because a lack of vitamin D will lower hormone production in general.

This shifts the ratio of active hormones in the favor of androgens and against estrogen. Do you know what that means?

Yeah… Hormonal acne!

So I kept taking lower doses of Vitamin D3* during the winter. (I live in the northern hemisphere and definitely do not get any vitamin D from the sun. Other than on sunny days in April till September.)

But soon I started noticing weird breakouts when I took Vitamin D3 that would disappear when I didn’t take it.

You might know that vitamin D is actually a hormon, not a vitamin. And it plays a role in making testosterone.

Obviously, you do not want to increase your male hormones during that time of the cycle in which your female hormones are declining anyway. This means not taking vitamin D during the second half of your cycle!

Other than that, it is a great supplement and has many health benefits.

Find a Vitamin D supplement here*!

Zinc + Vitamin C as a supplement for acne

Viva Naturals Sambucus Elderberry with Vitamin C and Zinc for Adults – 5 in 1 Sambucus Black Elderberry Capsules with Vitamin D3 5000 IU, Elderberry Immune Support Supplement 2 Months Supply Pills

Zinc and vitamin c* are very often recommended when people ask about supplements for hormonal acne. Or acne in general.

Like with any other supplement getting zinc and vitamin C from food sources would be preferable to taking pills. And if you follow a healthy diet like for example Dr. Gregers Daily Dozen, chances are that you don’t really need more of them.

I have to say though that taking a zinc and vitamin C* supplement during my healing phase helped me clear up inflammation much quicker. I attribute that to the wound healing skills of the duo. So while not everyone might need these vitamins for hormonal acne, they did work well for me!

Be careful about higher doses! If you go too high, zinc can raise testosterone and reduce estrogen levels. As I said above: ideally you get all you need from your diet. And any deficiencies need to be checked with your doctor anyway.

Get a zinc and vitamin C supplement here*!

Ginger & hormonal acne

NOW Supplements, Ginger Root Extract 250 mg, Temporary Relief of Upset Stomach*, Digestive Support*, 90 Veg Capsules

Ok, wait, let me quickly go to the kitchen and make myself a ginger tea!

I was hesitant if to include ginger in the list of supplements for hormonal acne. Not because it isn’t great – it certainly is. But I don’t really see it as a supplement. Rather as a food.

Why it made the list anyways? Two reasons:

a) It is really beneficial! It is anti-inflammatory, reduces sebum production and increases estrogen production. (Again, if you have estrogen dominance: not for you! For me it is great.)

b) Some people really do not like the taste of ginger at all. Not in a tea, not in food, nada. For those people, a ginger supplement* instead of having to eat it could be a godsend.

I can clearly tell a difference in my skin from eating ginger regularly and wholeheartedly recommend it!

Oh, and by the way, ginger has some amazing benefits for menstruation as well!

Get ginger capsules here*!

Kurkuma as a supplement for acne

Turmeric Curcumin with Black Pepper Extract 1500mg – High Absorption Ultra Potent Turmeric Supplement with 95% Curcuminoids and BioPerine – Non GMO Turmeric Capsules for Joint Support – 90 Capsules

All the things I just said about ginger as a food or supplement could be repeated about Kurkuma. Don’t worry, I will not say it again.

Instead, let’s skip directly to why Kurkuma* deserves a mention among the supplements for hormonal acne.

It has anti-inflammatory properties, which in itself is already very good for anyone suffering from acne. But it also helps in balancing your hormones.

How great is a food that can help with the source of your acne AND the healing at the same time?

Pretty great, I would say!

So now it’s your turn! Which supplements for hormonal acne have you tested? Did I forget any important ones? Let me know in the comments.

And if this was in any way helpful to you, please share it, so others can benefit as well. Thank you!

*These links are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.