Will the sea buckthorn soap help if it's not mites? since I don't have insurance for the test, would it hurt to try it?

I'm not a Dr. BUT sea buckthorn soap and oils should not _hurt_ per se unless you are allergic to them. They might not help if you don't need what's in them. They seem to me like a very good Fatty Acid supplement to take internally since they have Vts A and E included. Topically I think it's a very good oil but at the price, I mix it into my almond oil blends. - bd

almond oil blends? I eat terribly. I wonder, should I try the capsules? Any suggestions as to where to get them or the oil? and if the oil how do it take it?

Hi venloe00, The almond oil blends I'm talking about are for topical, skin care use only. Like Trader Joe's Lavender Body Oil or some massage oil blends you might get at a "health food" store. Also Palmer's Cocoa Butter Body Oil may not have almond oil but is fairly good sesame oil base, imho, but their other products are not necessarily easy on sensitive or KP skin.
Since your profile says you're 13, odds are you probably do eat terribly if you're in the US. I can't speak for elsewhere really.
I don't think it would be appropriate for me to make many recommendations specifically to you...
Do you have any adult who knows you pretty well and how mild or severe your KP is with whom you can talk about your diet and vitamins and such? and if so, run these ideas by them...
1 - take a multi-vite. I don't know what's appropriate for a growing teenager, probably easy enough to ask your family Dr. or a school nutritionist?
2 - eat at least one vitamin A rich food daily, two if possible - a big handful of "baby" carrots, a peach, spinach or greens, a mango. If you can't start there, some carrot juice blends are more tolerable for some people, I drink Vruit sometimes.
3 - take an appropriate amount of flax oil or EFA (essential fatty acid) supplement for your age. I know A friend's 13 yr old started taking cod liver oil and is having fewer allergy problems and higher energy levels, don't know if he has KP. Cod Liver oil is also a possible oil supplement but watch out for high mercury levels, bottles are marked if they filter or select for low levels.
4 - No sodas, colas, _anything_ with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Use real maple syrup on pancakes or real fruit.
5 - Choose whole wheat and whole grain items as much as possible. Kashi makes some very yummy cereals that are not so processed as other brands.
Good luck with all of this. My first thought was really at your age, you may be able to do a lot for your skin with simple diet changes, you may not have the slow metabolisms and scarring that old ladies like I have! If you try pretty hard you can probably eat well about 80% of the time.
And, yes, sea buckthorn oil is available as a capsule supplement. It is a good source of Vitamins A and E as well as fatty acids. If after a couple of months of trying the above and you have no luck, you could find it on ebay or onlynaturaloils.com or do a google search for it.
bd

Dietary guidelines, includes specific stuff for teenagers:
Dietary Guidelines: Build a Healthy Base

plus I wish I had known about mild salicylic acid cleaners when I was a teenager. Like Clean and Clear and generic versions of it.

bunnyday-I'm 44, not 13. Does that change any advice you've given? If I was to try to fight it internally, would you say buckthorn oil or flaxseed oil would be better? And isn't almond oil "oily" to use on your skin? doesn't it get on your clothes?

Thanks for clearing that up! It changes my approach with you certainly as you're an adult and responsible for yourself, whereas I didn't want to recommend an expensive oil to someone who might get great benefit from small dietary changes.
I'd still recommend the dietary stuff if it seems like you don't do those things yet. Just to support your skin.
The body oils can get on clothes if you don't rub them in or if you throw your clothes on too quickly. But I've never had a grease stain on my clothes from the moisturizers I use, I do get oil stains from cooking oil spattering on me some times.
I'm 43 and I still use "clean & Clear" but just because it's mild and has salicylic acid in it, plus I seem to be fighting perimenopausal acne the last couple years.
I have been taking sea buckthorn capsules, 4 a day (they're small) for the last almost 2 weeks. I had a minor herx reaction - small welts, some big ingrown hair plugs pushing out and - but not as big as I might have had last spring before I started taking flax/fish oil blend. There has been some improvement in skin tone on me. So, I can't speak for seabuck entirely yet really as I have not been taking them 6 weeks. I do expect good results. I am also taking flaxseed oil - 1200mg, twice a day. well, i try to take em twice a day... The essential fatty acid profile of the two is somewhat different. If you do start taking one or both and you haven't had proper fatty acid intake for a while, or ever, be prepared for some possible changes. The oil pulling community talk about something called a herxheimer reaction
Herxheimer reaction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
which is a legit medical term but regarding antibiotics not oils. So i use it in the sense that you might get skin reactions, or tinges of pain, or headaches for a day or two as your body absorbs the good stuff (example: ever quit coffee or caffeine consumption? I get headaches for a few days as my body readjusts to not having it.) Then look for improvements over a course of 6 weeks to 2 months, the length of time it takes our skin to turn over I guess... so yeah, if your diet is shyte and you want to give seabuck a chance, it has vits A and E and good EFAs, give it a go. you can be another test case along with me.

me again... I thought of three caveats:
1 - I wouldn't put on silk clothes right after putting oil on my skin. My usual wardrobe is jeans or khakis and cotton shirts and I don't have issues with those but don't know about other materials.
2 - don't ever take more than the recommended dose of codliver oil. I'd probably stay a bit under the dose if I took it cause its vit A can accumulate in the body. Since it is an animal source of vitamin A, too much can be toxic, deadly, to humans.
3 - also don't over dose on seabuckthorn oil if you take it - its vitamin A is fine but it also has E. Vitamin E can act as an anticoagulant and may increase the risk of bleeding problems. so, more is not necessarily better.
ok, hopefuly I don't think of even MORE I think I should say. sorry if it's too muuch info, I can't help myself, think it would be irresponsible not to mention those last 2 things. - bd