With skin being the largest organ in your body, it’s important to look after your skin without using harsh chemicals.
There are a ton of home remedies for acne which don’t entail using harsh chemicals and spending loads of money!
Not everyone suffers from acne, but if you’re one of the unlucky ones, I’ve no doubt you’ve tried many solutions.
Sometimes it’s not full blown acne, but small pimples. You can still get scars but, there’s a lot you can do to reduce and remove acne and pimple scars.
What Causes Acne
Acne, pimples and spots are caused when the hair follicles in the skin get blocked.
There are little glands, called sebaceous glands found near the surface of the skin. These glands produce oil to lubricate the skin and hair.
With acne, sebaceous glands produce too much oil (sebum) which mixes with dead skin and blocks the follicle. The normally harmless bacteria which lives on your skin then cause contamination of the blocked follicle producing spots, whiteheads and blackheads. 1
The most common time to get acne is during puberty.
This is thought to be triggered by increased levels of testosterone in both boys and girls. Increased levels of testosterone cause the gland to produce more sebum.
It is commonly thought this is the main cause of acne but, studies indicate that stress is can be the more dominant factor. 2
That’s all good and well, knowing what causes acne, but what can we do about it?
Home Remedies For Acne
How To Prevent Acne Pimples
Prevention is better than cure.
Keeping the skin clean is the first thing. Not with harsh chemicals but with gentle washes, scrubs and face masks.
There are many acne home remedies you can make yourself, easily and cheaply using simple kitchen ingredients.
There’s a great face mask you can make at home at the end of this article.
Oranges have great antibacterial properties and you can easily make a paste face cleanser from them.
Strawberries and honey are another good combination for making a facial cleanser. They’re commonly found in expensive, usually chemical laden facial products.
Simply mix 3 strawberries and 2 teaspoons of honey (link), mash together and leave on face for 20mns.
Rinse off with warm water and gently pat your face dry. Use this a couple of times a week for at least a month.
The most cost effective gentle facial scrub is that everyday wonderful ingredient, Bicarbonate/Baking of Soda!
To make the scrub, mix a ½ cup of the Bicarb with ⅛ cup of water. Massage the paste into your skin for about 5 mns. Rinse off with warm water and pat dry.
Using lemon juice as an astringent is a good way to keep those pimples down, it’s a natural exfoliant and skin whitener. Squeeze the lemon and use Q tips to dab it onto affected areas.
These are just a few ways you can help to keep your skin clean with everyday ingredients you’ll find in your store cupboard.
How To Get Rid Of Acne Scars
All the care in the world sometimes just doesn’t work and you end up with acne scars. There are things you can do to help reduce and remove acne scars that don’t include expensive treatments.
1.As mentioned above, lemon juice is a natural skin whitener so can be used to reduce lighten acne scars.
Mix equal parts of water and lemon juice and apply directly to acne scars avoiding the surrounding skin. After 15 to 25 minutes, wash the lemon juice off.
Lemon juice can dry your skin so moisturize after application.
Instead of lemon, you can use lime juice.
Take care when using lemon and lime on your skin. Don’t leave it on too long as it can burn.
Also make sure it’s rinsed off before going out in the sun, and wear sunscreen. Citrus juices allows UV radiation to damage your skin more easily as they contain Bergapten.
2.Back to the wonderful baking soda again. Gentle exfoliation with the paste (recipe above) can help reduce the redness of acne scars.
3.Honey is great on its own for helping to reduce the red marks that acne leaves behind because of the antibacterial properties. If you have sensitive skin, then honey is a good option as it has moisturizing properties and won’t dry your skin.
Pearl Powder (found in health food stores), a pinch added to the honey can be very effective.
Pearl Powder has been used down the ages as a cosmetic agent to lighten and beautify the skin.3
4. Use an ice cube! Yes, just wrap and ice cube in a cloth and hold against the affected area until the skin feels numb.
This soothes the inflamed skin and helps to reduce redness.
Making ice cubes out of green tea can also be effective as the green tea has anti inflammatory properties.4
5. Apple cider vinegar can help to reduce the appearance of red marks and scars.
Dilute the vinegar with water to half its strength and apply it to the affected area every day with a cotton wool until you see the scars begin to fade.
Top Tips For Acne Scars
- Patience! This is the most effective method and scars will eventually fade. Collagen will eventually fill the scarred areas of the skin.
- Turmeric powder applied to the affected area. With it’s antibiotic and anti inflammatory properties it can help heal pimples and scars on your face. For mixing you can either use water or lemon juice. Wash it after 15 mins with cold water.
- Potato juice can lighten skin and help reduces the scarring.
- Don’t pop the pimples! This just spread the bacteria and causes more breakouts.
- Drink lots of water! Keep your skin hydrated and healthy to help promote faster healing.
- Treat any scarring as quickly as possible. Any treatment will be more effective the earlier it is applied.
- Reduce stress levels! As mentioned above, stress can contribute to acne breakouts.
- Stress reducing methods are beyond the scope of this article, but a Google search will find lots of results.
Conclusion
There are many home remedies for acne, I’ve listed the ones I found most effective.
I’ve also included the ones where you’re more likely to have the ingredients already in your cupboard.
There are so many different skin types you need to find what works for you. Fortunately, all these natural acne treatments are cheap and easy to make.
As always, consult with your health professional.
If you’ve any tips and treatments you’ve used yourself effectively, share it in the comments below!
References