I have read coconut oil is good for kp so i stopped using my aha lotion and tried something only natural extra virgin coconut oil after all the raving about it. Every day while in the shower. First couple of days it was fine. Till i felt my legs that was starting to feel a bit to bumpy. ... Before starting the coconut oil regime i had NO BUMPS only the red dots. Now i have ingrown hairs that that got irritated and caused red bumps all over my legs and my ARMS that was completely kp free no red dots and no bumps are now bumpy again. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!PLus the red dots on my legs look redder when they were getting browner. Maybe coconut oil works for you guys BUT NOT FOR ME. Im now convinced that aha is the way for me. It exfoliates,smooth the skin and zaps the bumps.

Coconut oil

Yeah, the extra virgin organic coconut oil did not help me either. I had bought some the next day after reading the posts. Once again, I was hopeful and then let down. I used it for a few days following the methods recommended by some of the people posting success. It did not clear up my horribly KP-ridden arms, and it also caused bumps and ingrowns on my usually more or less problem free legs.

But I've been using the rest as an intensive hair conditioner and it's fabulous! (Good thing to do with the leftovers). Use enough to be able to massage into scalp mostly and rest of hair, wrap up into a shower cap, sit for an hour while watching tv or studying with heat (I have a heating "pad" designed for the head I ordered way back when for henna treatments), then get in the shower and gently shampoo it out twice with a moisturizing shampoo, and you may follow with your normal conditioner...
This treatment will leave your hair so soft and pretty and also your scalp feeling great!

My hair loves the oil too. Ill give your regime a try when i wash my hair. I normally just rub a tiny amount after i dry my hair instead of hair products.
Now i have to start all from over to smooth my skin out again.

You so lucky to have kp free legs I WISH. I was bump free so at least under the covers i would feel great ...We having a heat wave at the moment down here so i was gonna tan my legs to hide the red dots cause they were going light brown so it would have been invisible now i have to wait till i get rid of these bumps and ingrown hairs.

I don't think coconut helps in any way exfoliate dead skin like AHA's do. Did anyone say something like that?? In that case we are all so different...
I would only use coconut oil in addition to the AHA lotion for moisturizing purposes. I use it on my face and neck before going to bed. Makes my face smooth.

Claire, you hit it right on the nose with your point about coconut oil and AHA. After I had already posted coconut oil did not work for me, I read a post by Jonny, who said his skin felt much better after taking Omega-3 and using the oil.

Well, I took a good look at my arms, which were scaly and red and flaking from the glycolic and retin-a treatments I've been given them. I thought I would bust out the coconut oil to give in another chance and thoroughly but gently really massage it in to my arms to give them mositure. All I know is this morning they are so smooth! Still some redness and sensitivty from the other stuff, but this may be really promising. I figure I am going to keep up the retin-a every night, and start using the coconut oil more often (definitely not at the same time as the retin-a), and maybe cut back on the glycolic a little, since I may be over doing it. Maybe every other day. I'm using a 20%, so yes, my arms are taking a beating right now, but I am trying to target the deepest bumps and bring them to the surface before the weather warms up. The skin will tell you when to back off the chemical exfoliants so I will just have to be recpetive to that and not be too 100% regimented about this.

Keepingthefaith, have you thought about laser hair removal for your legs? I am going through it currently and can give you alot of info on it if you are interested. It is expensive and I found it pretty painful but I think this may be the nicest gift I have ever given myself.

hey Stella! you mentioned "laser hair remover" for legs? i was just wondering how that wud help with kp? ( esp bumps) i thought of gettin it done on my legs too but can u tell me if it'll help smooth out the bumps?
Thanks

~S

I'm having the same experience with EVCO. I started OP w/ sesame oil with great results (used for 4 wks.) but switched to EVCO (1 wk. now) and the bumps are back big time. I'm so bummed because I'm headed to the beach for a week (for the first time in years) to celebrate our anniversary tomorrow! Using spa gloves in the shower and extra AHA has helped, though. I guess I'll pack the AHA and sesame oil and hope for the best. Damn this persistent KP!

Stella

Yes that would be great since i wasn't blesssed with light invisible hair i got pitch black hair.PLus I think that laser might help my legs. Cause i dont have that hard white stuff filled bumps that other kp sufferers talk about. So maybe if i dont have hair growing out and irritating the skin it might clear up the dots completely.

How does it Work?


Miss arbs

If the bump is caused by your hair getting trapped or curled under the skin like mine i think that hair removal will help us not get bumps....BUT I WONDER ABOUT THOSE FREAKIN STUBBORN DOTS.

Maybe once the skin is no longer irritated and we keep using a aha lotion to regenerate the skin cells it will dissapear?

Sassa

Becareful with the aha if you going to be in the sun on the beach? But maybe a nice tan will help with the bumps? But DONT put the aha on when u on the beach that is just looking for trouble.

I have asked my Derm about laser hair removal...if it helps the kp (for the same reason: not to get ingrowns and bumps) and he said: "Don't waste your money. The kp will not go away by doing that..."
Anyway I dont trust him. If I had the money I would definitely laser my legs (I was "blessed" with a lot of hair .) and see what happens.
Unfortunately, I know it will grow back and you will have to have maintenance sessions every now and then.

How long should one wait before exposure to sun and after stopping the use of AHA?

I have had two treatments so far on my whole body. I am what is considered a good candidate because I have alot of thick dark hair on light skin. Prices depend on how much you are getting done. Since I am getting my entire legs done, buttocks, girly area, armpits, and a little on my torso, face, and the few random dark ones on my upper arms (where my kp is), I am paying $550 per session. The session lasts a couple of hours and I have to take something strong to tolerate the laser for that long.

You are not to be doing any kind of tanning before or in between treatments, and it is advised not to consume too much beta carotene which also adds color to skin pigment. (so I am really at my palest right now!). Treatments are every 6 weeks and it is necessary to have several treatments, like 6 give or take a couple, to eliminate all the hair since it grows in phases. Also, you are not supposed to use any chemical or physical exfoliants a few days pre and post treatment.

The first few days after treatment I experienced red inflamed bumps that itched. Then as it heals, you will see what looks like hair growing under the skin. But they are just black dots of dead hair that hasn't worked its way out yet. After a couple of weeks, you will for another couple of weeks experience what it is like to have smooth legs and not have to shave for days! it is a wonderful feeling!

The tech said that laser hair removal can help with KP some because you are killing the hair that gets clogged.

I have lighter thinner hair on my arms than my legs. Besides the few random very dark ones, I wonder if the laser will really help me there because it really only zaps the dark ones, and I think my kp bumps have light hairs in them also.

I consider the bumps and dots on my arm true kp. But my legs would always get horrible bumps and ingrowns too, but I am not sure if that was true kp or irritation because my skin is too sensitive to handle all that thick stubble and regrowth all the time. I really think the laser is going to help my legs stay smooth tremendously. I can tell during the "smooth phase" in between treatments how COMFORTABLE my legs feel. I probably had not been that comfortable in my own skin there since before puberty. So, I think if you can afford it, go for it.

Like I said, I have completed only two treatments. But I can already tell that some of the hair is gone for good. I failed to mention that I have had a total of 3 treatments on my face and belly, and the hair seems to not come back at all now!

I may not do all 6 treatments this season because I do not want to hide my legs all summer to keep them out of the sun and to hide the post treatment irritation and the black dot effect that follows a couple of weeks after. Plus I really need a little color on my legs tohelp hide all the small veins. (Lord is it complicated being a woman! Men have no idea what we have to contend with.) So I think I will do one more in February and then resume the other 3 treatments in the autumn. I will ask my tech next treatment if taking such a break will affect my results in the long run.

So, I guess I would recommend finding a good tech, getting as much info as you can, saving some money, and then starting maybe in the fall when you can commit to a few months of keeping your legs covered and tan free. If your leg KP is so bad that you cover them all summer anyways and it is making you miserable, then maybe get started right away.

My aunt who has kp too was by my place on Saturday wearing a shorts and tank top. The first thing i noticed was that i couldnt see any of her kp anywhere. All the time while she was there i kept telling myself just ask her how she got her skin looking so good. But i was so scared. The reason being we never spoke about our kp skin ever! I just always noticed it when her skin was exposed. so i didnt know if she'd be offended by me asking 'so what happened to all those spots' Her skin looks darker so i wonder if it not just a dark tan that is hiding the spots. I dont know. I wish i just asked.

Damn laser hair removal IS very expensive.

As for the sun and aha. On all aha products they say either to avoid the sun or to always wear high spf.

this question is for anyone who knows about the AHA stuff, i purchased the DCL AHA 20% lotion it comes in a 4 oz bottle, and since i ve got KP all over my body i used it all up in like 2 weeks! im not sure if i saw any results since it takes a few months of non-stop use to see a change well anways i just ordered 2 more but somewhere on this forum i saw sumone mentioned how the glycolic acid isnt good for dark skinned people (im orginally frm south asia) and that it could cause pigmentation.and scarring?.omg that stuff scared me lol im not sure how much of it is true but if can some one please tell me if the AHA 20% lotion can be used for dark skinned people? without any serious side-effects? a.k.a pigmentation, scarring etc.. Thank u so much

miss arbs i have never used DCL 20% only Neostrata 15% plus so i can only speak of my experience with that aha lotion. My skin tone is olive to brown.And if you from south asia our skin colour i think would be similar. I never found the Neostrata affect my pigmentation and it never scarred my skin.

The 15% was the first aha lotion i ever used and was scared about the potency but i was desperate for something to work. At first i never saw the improvement but MY skin never got irritated and it never burned so i thought ok my skin is ok with this stuff on it. ( Everyones skin sensitivity differs )So i continued using it cause i thought i spent so much money on a bottle of lotion just use it up. So i continued for about a month then ended up going away camping where my arms was exposed to the fresh air and sunlight and when i returned from the weekend away my arms ended up being very smooth. i never used the aha lotion on the camp.My legs that wasnt exposed still had kp but no more bumps. So the aha smoothed down the bumps and i ended up with only the red dots. So i continued using it and the dots started in certain places looked like it was fading. It wasnt bright red but more brown in colour.

I was getting very excited about the smoothness of my skin it felt really good jut my legs didnt visually look great so i quit the aha to use the coconut oil only because i heard its good for kp and i felt maybe i should rather use something natural than put chemicals like the aha on my skin.But the coconut oil caused bumpy skin again. It caused ingrown hair that got irritated so now i got red bumpy skin plus my arms that was looking and feeling good has gotten little hairs all coiled under these bumps.

I want to go up to 20% but they dont stock DCL here.

Miss arbs i cant tell you if its good or bad for your skin cause we are all different instead of us telling you rather listen to what your skin tells you.