Home Remedies for Acne

Everyday kitchen ingredients for acne!

It's always good to have a few home remedies for acne you can count on in emergencies. After all, you don't always have a chance to go to the store when you have a sudden acne flareup. Home treatments are often just as good as the expensive stuff on store shelves.

Personally, I prefer the use of ingredients in their natural form. By using the contents of your cabinets and fridge, you can do a surprisingly good job of eliminating your acne. You can have fun with it too!

Acne is caused by a bacteria, Propionibacterium acnes, that thrives on excess oil and dead skin on the face of an acne sufferer.

When you hit teen years and under certain other conditions, hormones cause your sebum (oil) glands to go into overdrive, and your skin cells also start cycling faster, dead skin sloughing off faster than your body can shed it. The dead skin is caught by the excess oil, and it slides over your face, where the pores traps it.

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Dead skin and oil accumulates and blocks the pore, causing the oil inside to back up and swell the follicle beneath. The acne bacteria, which lives on everyone's skin, moves in and starts feasting.

It's not the bacterium that causes the swelling and inflammation, though; that's your immune system fighting back.

There are four things you can attack when you try to use home remedies for acne:

• Enlarged pores
• Backed up pores
• Excess oil and skin
• The bacterium Propionibacterium acnes

Try this effective daily regimen for mild acne breakouts

1. Start by working with the backed up pores, opening them in order to ensure that the excess oil underneath is washed away later.

You can open them with heat, or by using a mint wash, or both (though this may burn a little). For heat, lay a damp washcloth as hot as you can stand across the area you need to cleanse for about ten minutes, or stay in a very hot steamy shower for fifteen minutes.

A mint wash can be prepared in several ways; using 1 tsp peppermint oil in ½ cup cool water, or crushing a few mint Altoids very fine and putting them in just enough distilled water to dissolve them, will do it.

If you're in a pinch, you can even use a menthol-based mouthwash, provided it doesn't have alcohol in it. Apply these by dabbing over your face with a cottonball; never rub!

2. Now you want to clean off the dead skin and oil, while also killing the acne bacteria.

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There are several things you can do to accomplish this. Don't use soap, or anything that will dry your skin out.

Instead, use plain water, or use a non-soap face wash or cold cream. Yes, it doesn't seem to make sense to add more oil to your already oily skin; however, the oil in a cold cream will help dissolve your skin's excess oil and wash away cleanly, while not stimulating your skin to produce more oil, as a drying soap would.

Once you're finished, rinse very well with warm water, then cool water to close the pores, no scrubbing at any time. Pat dry.

3. Kill any excess bacteria.

Crush one or two aspirin tablets (not ibuprofen or any other painkiller, but only aspirin) and dissolve them in a half-cup of water. Apply to face with a cotton ball.

Learn to make your own aspirin mask here.

This daily regimen should clear most moderate to mild acne outbreaks quickly, and keep them clear. Provided your face doesn't dry from this, you can go through it twice a day, but no more. It is imperative that your face doesn't dry out!

Learn more home remedies for acne scars.

Home Remedies for Acne: Blackhead Removal

These particular ingredients are great for removing blackheads and other impurities. For thorough information on this type of acne and specific advice on eliminating blackheads, check out the Removing Blackheads Guide.

Oatmeal is particularly good for blackheads and other acne. Oatmeal contains terpinen-4-ol which is responsible for anti-microbial activity, and is the same active ingredient found in tea tree oil. Use it to cleanse your face by mixing it with water and spreading it over your face. As a mask you can leave it on your face for about 15 minutes before rinsing it off with cold water.

Almond is also good for blackheads. It is a great emollient which softens and smoothes the skin. Almond oil contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and some E. It helps the skin to balance loss and absorption of moisture. Make a paste with it and use it as a cleanser.

Other Home Remedies for Acne

Aloe Vera is a great remedy for acne. The gel from its cactus-like leaves has medicinal properties that disinfect while they heal at the same time. Aloe is also good for healing scars.

Read about aloe vera juice benefits or aloe vera juice for detoxification to combat acne.

Aromatherapy Skin Care is a great, natural home remedy for acne. Click here for some tips on effective aromatherapy skin care.

Flaxseed Oil is a fantastic ingredient that helps fight acne from within. It contains essential fatty acids as its primary healing properties. Flaxseed oil is known to treat a variety of medical conditions and should be a part of your regular diet.

Salt kills bacteria. That’s why it was used to clean wounds in olden days, and why we use it to gargle our throats when they’re sore. Wash your face twice a day in warm salty water to leave it oil free and squeaky clean.

Lemon juice remedy is one of few home remedies for acne that also works for scars. From my own experience, using lemon juice helped my scars disappear quickly and controlled my moderate acne.

Lemon juice is a citric acid and belongs to the group of Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) that slough off dead skin, promote elasticity of the skin, and encourage new skin cell growth. Dab some juice onto the affected areas and wash off after 2 minutes or leave on over night or underneath makeup. Look for improvements after 2 weeks.

Ground orange peel has limonene as a component, which acts an anti-bacterial, or anti-fungal agent. Limonene (oil extracted from citrus peel) is actually chemically produced for household cleaning agents. Grind the orange peel with some water and apply it to your face.

Ice helps to reduce or slow the redness or inflammation of a pimple, but hasn’t been proven to reduce acne. Hold an ice cube to your zit until you can’t stand the coldness any longer. Or put the cube in a plastic bag and hold against your face.

Yes, sometimes home remedies for acne are found right in your kitchen!

Vitamin C skin care can be used orally or topically for treatment. It is an all natural ingredient that can be used on all types of skin.

A few more home remedies for acne

There are a number of acne remedies you can make in your own home with natural ingredients.

If you have a bad pimple, put a dab of white toothpaste on it and leave it overnight. If this doesn't work, you can use a little triple antibiotic ointment or a zinc-based baby rash ointment.

Get a little sunshine every day, exposing your affected areas; the ultraviolet light won't hurt you if you just get a little, and it will help kill the bacteria.

Do not start taking megadoses of vitamin A because you think it will mimic Retin-a – it won't, and it could make you sick.

Do not squeeze, pop, or otherwise mess with pimples, other than cleaning and applying medications. Avoid touching your face too.

And if your acne does not improve with this regimen, talk to a doctor. There are treatments for most of what you are suffering through, and a good doctor can help you cure your acne forever.

Got a question about home remedies? Ask it here!

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