Ana of Watsonville, Calif. is thrilled that finally, she can wear a ponytail. Or tuck her hair behind her ears and show off a new pair of earrings. Since she’s been a young teenager, she’s struggled with a skin condition that left the skin on her head and scalp looking red, raw and feeling tight. One other symptom was especially problematic—flaking.

“When I was a teenager, people would notice it and comment that I had dandruff flakes showing. And I’d explain that this is a skin condition, not dandruff on my shirt. My skin could get tight and itchy, too. If I scratched at it, it would bleed.”

“I developed psoriasis when I was about 13 or 14 and at first, my mom thought that all the dry skin behind my ears was from me not washing my hair thoroughly enough or that dried hair spray was causing the problem. But it also developed other places besides the ears, like on my scalp, on my forearms, and spots on my chest and back. So I went to the dermatologist.”

The doctor’s treatment was not pleasant. “I had to buy tar shampoos and ointments that were prescribed. One ointment had a steroid in it and that provided a little relief but I didn’t want to stay on a steroid forever. And these products smelled awful. They were also expensive, since my insurance didn’t cover it.”

Believe it or not, later on, her best solution was pregnancy. “While I was pregnant, the psoriasis really cleared up on my scalp. So my doctor thought that maybe the prenatal vitamins were providing something in them that was working for me, something I was lacking.” After she had her baby, Ana continued taking the prenatal vitamins, hoping that provided the answer. Unfortunately, the psoriasis returned. “My doctor actually joked that maybe I should just stay pregnant all the time. I said ‘no thank you’ to that.”

Ana’s long-term solution involved camouflaging her psoriasis with her hairstyle; covering the spots that showed on her head with her hair and wearing long sleeves to cover my forearms. After graduating from Beauty College, she became a store manager for a company that sells products directly to professional stylists. That’s when she began hearing a lot about different products from the manufacturers’ representatives who came in and held workshops on their particular brands.

“I kept hearing from various product experts at the store that their brand works on psoriasis. Then I’d try it and it wouldn’t work, so I became skeptical. And I admit that I was still skeptical when Tom Porter , the founder of Malibu Wellness came in and held a workshop about Total Oxidation Management and using Zinc C Serum and Sensitive Skin Moisturizer. He kept saying, ‘You have to try it,” and he actually came over with a bottle of Zinc c Serum and had me put it on my skin right then and there. So I started using it. Right away, there was less flakiness. The area that used to be bright pink—now you see the real color of my skin. It’s not pink anymore. My family was the first to notice it. My mom said, ‘What happened to the psoriasis on your forehead?’ She thought I was using a new kind of camouflage.”

Ana’s results after just three months have answered her initial skepticism. “I’m very thrilled and impressed. This actually works! I’ve been ‘In the Mode’ now for three months and you should see the condition of my psoriasis, or should I say ‘try to see it’ because it is amazing! I’m no longer ashamed of letting people see my forehead and forearms. I am also exposing my ears now, because that’s the other place that was so bad. I’m able to show off my ear lobes and my skin doesn’t feel dry and irritated, either. It feels very soft. I will stay ‘In the Malibu Mode’ for life.”

The reason Ana probably had no skin conditions while she was pregnant likely goes back to the early research on Total Oxidation Management  when it was found that the body retains its high concentration of Vitamin C during pregnancy rather than it being excreted. So now, instead of living in a pregnant mode, Ana can live in the Malibu Mode and find relief for the rest of her life.