Barbara O'Neill addresses the colon in her lectures as the foundation of all other health — the organ whose proper function enables everything else to work correctly and whose dysfunction contributes to virtually every chronic condition including skin disease. She draws on the naturopathic tradition's view of the colon as the body's primary waste removal system, describing what happens to health when this system is congested or underperforming.
The Colon-Skin Connection
O'Neill teaches the connection between colon health and skin health in simple terms: when the colon is backed up with waste, that waste must go somewhere. The body's backup eliminative channels — including skin — take on the excess load. Skin conditions that appear without obvious external cause are often, in her teaching, signs of colonic congestion redirecting eliminative burden through skin.
She specifically connects constipation — which she defines as fewer than two to three bowel movements daily in a healthy person — to skin conditions including acne, eczema, body odor, and chronic skin dullness. The specific mechanism: when fecal matter remains in the colon longer than optimal, fermentation and putrefaction produce compounds that are absorbed through the colon wall into portal circulation, processed by the liver, and if the liver is also overwhelmed, excreted through skin.
This is not a metaphorical connection. The compounds produced by prolonged colonic fermentation — indoles, skatoles, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia — are measurably absorbed through the colon wall and appear in breath, sweat, and skin secretions when colonic transit time is slow. Body odor that is not resolved by any topical approach often resolves when colonic transit is improved.
O'Neill's Approach to Colon Health
Dietary fiber. She consistently emphasizes that adequate dietary fiber — from whole fruits, vegetables, and legumes rather than processed fiber supplements — provides the bulk that drives regular colonic transit. She distinguishes between soluble fiber (which feeds beneficial gut bacteria and slows transit appropriately) and insoluble fiber (which adds bulk and accelerates transit), recommending both from whole food sources.
Water. Her repeated teaching: fiber without water is like a broom without bristles. Adequate water intake is essential for fiber to create the soft, bulky stool that moves through the colon efficiently. She recommends drinking most of the day's water between meals rather than with meals to avoid diluting digestive enzymes.
Movement. Physical activity directly stimulates colonic motility through nerve activity and the physical compression and release of abdominal organs during movement. Sedentary lifestyle is a primary driver of constipation in her teaching.
Herbal colon support. For people with established constipation, she recommends gentle herbal support: senna for short-term use, cascara sagrada (which appears on Dr. Sebi's approved herb list as well), and psyllium husk as a gentle bulking agent. She cautions against long-term dependence on stimulant laxatives and emphasizes addressing root causes through diet and lifestyle.
Dr. Sebi on the Colon
Dr. Sebi's framework for colon health aligned with O'Neill's in its emphasis on mucus accumulation. He taught that the colon wall in most people on a conventional diet is lined with accumulated mucus and fecal plaque that reduces absorption of nutrients and increases absorption of toxins. His mucus-free alkaline diet was designed in part to allow this accumulated material to be cleared and for the colon to resume its proper function.
His herbal protocols included herbs for colon cleansing alongside the blood purification herbs: cascara sagrada for gentle colonic stimulation, bladderwrack for its mucilage content that supports healthy colon function, and the alkaline diet's elimination of mucus-forming foods to stop the accumulation that his cleansing herbs were clearing.
Skin Care During Colon Cleansing
When colon health improves through dietary change, herbal protocols, or both, skin often goes through a temporary clearing period as the body's overall eliminative capacity increases. O'Neill frames this as a positive sign — the skin is completing elimination that was previously backed up.
During this period, supportive natural skin care is important. Our Activated Charcoal Black Bar Soap supports the skin elimination process. Our Tea Tree Antibacterial Bar manages any bacterial component of increased skin elimination. And our 15-Stage Filtered Showerhead ensures the water used during this process doesn't add chemical burden back to skin that is actively working to clear.
Beyond Clean, Beyond Ordinary.