Editor's note: Barbara O'Neill and Dr. Sebi were not licensed medical practitioners. Fasting isn't safe for everyone — see the cautions below — and this article is not medical advice.
Both Barbara O'Neill and Dr. Sebi recommended fasting, and O'Neill connects it to autophagy, the cellular recycling process. Here's what's established, what's extrapolated, and who should stay away from it.
Who Should Not Fast Without Medical Supervision
This belongs first, not last:
- Anyone taking insulin or other diabetes medication — fasting can drop blood sugar dangerously low unless medication is adjusted by a doctor.
- Anyone pregnant or breastfeeding.
- Children and teenagers.
- Anyone with a history of disordered eating.
- Anyone underweight, or taking blood pressure or heart medication.
Water-only and extended fasts carry more risk than skipping breakfast. If you take any prescription medication, talk to your doctor first.
What Fasting Actually Does
Autophagy is real. Yoshinori Ohsumi won the 2016 Nobel Prize for work on autophagy, the process by which cells break down and recycle their own damaged components, and fasting is one trigger for it. What's less settled is how much that translates into visible skin improvement in people — most of the detailed work has been in cells and animals, not in human skin.
Inflammation drops. Fasting lowers several inflammatory markers, and since inflammation drives conditions like acne and eczema, that's a plausible route to clearer skin.
Insulin sensitivity improves. Better insulin sensitivity can reduce the hormonal signal that drives oil production, which is why some people see acne improve.
What O'Neill and Dr. Sebi Add
O'Neill frames fasting as relieving the body's "eliminative burden," and Dr. Sebi taught that water fasting allowed the deepest cellular cleansing. Those are their frameworks, not established physiology. The body doesn't store a backlog of waste that fasting releases through skin.
About Showering During a Fast
A common claim is that hot water opens pores so toxins can escape. Pores don't open and close — they're not muscles — and skin doesn't excrete meaningful amounts of toxins. Warm water softens the oil in them, which is all that's happening.
A Straight Answer About Our Soap
Our bars are soap: they clean. They don't draw toxins out of your skin, and no soap does. Browse our bar soaps.
Beyond Clean, Beyond Ordinary.