Home Remedies for Acne

Beautiful skin is something all people wish to acquire. A clear, glowing, healthy complexion gives us confidence, teens and adults alike. Unfortunately many of us spend hundreds of dollars on expensive products that don't deliver the promise of a flawless face. They work for awhile, until you build up a tolerance to the product, and have to spend even more money to find another. The product may not work at all, and sometimes even makes your acne worse.

The best kind of acne remedy is a natural remedy. Most of these can be found at home right in your pantry.

It's no secret that honey is beneficial to health, companies use it in shampoos, lotions, and skin care products. Honey has natural anti-oxidant and inflammatory properties that protect your skin from UV rays and aids the epidermis in regeneration and skin cell turnover. It is also a powerful moisturizer and cleaning agent, as it retains moisture, and absorbs impurities in the skin. Honey can also help keep your lips from getting dry and chapped.

Before you go out and buy the first bottle of honey you see, you need to find the right kind of honey. Organic, raw, unprocessed honey is the type you're looking for. I recommend Clover Honey, even veterinarians use it to heal flesh wounds on animals. You can use honey by itself, or you can mix it with other ingredients such as sugar, brown sugar, and aspirin.

Aspirin for your skin? Yep, that's right! Aspirin contains salic acid, or Beta Hydroxy Acid which has anti-inflammatory properties. It causes the dead cells on the epidermis to come unstuck, allowing new cells to grow. BHA improves wrinkles, hyper pigmentation, and acne. Salic acid penetrates deep into the pours, clearing out dirt, oil, and impurities. The downside is that after using aspirin, your skin becomes more vulnerable to sunlight. Studies have also shown that aspirin is linked to a reduction in risk of cancer and stroke in women.

When using aspirin, make sure you are using the uncoated kind. All you need to do is take two or three aspirin at the most, put them in a bowl and let them soak in 1-2 tea spoons of water. After they dissolve mix the aspirin in with some honey and apply it onto your face. Leave it there for about 15 minutes. When you wash it off your skin should feel softer, smoother, and look clearer.

Australian Aboriginals used tea tree oil to heal cuts, rashes, burns, and infections. Tea tree oil has antimicrobial properties and contains terpenoids, which are an anti fungal and antiseptic. You can apply it topically to lesions and it will kill the skin dwelling acne found on your face.

When you fall on your knee or sprain your ankle, the first thing you usually do is put ice on it to bring down the swelling, right? Surprise, surprise! You can do exactly the same thing with your acne! Those of us who get nodules and cystic types of acne know that it is quite painful. The infection is deep down inside of the poor, far too deep to pop (which is a bad idea anyway) and extremely painful. The white blood cells in our bodies are rushing to the area in order to fight off infection, causing an inflammatory response that makes the pimple tender to the touch. More often than not these types of zits leave an ugly purple scar.

Usually you can feel them coming in before they even begin to show because they cause so much discomfort. Before this pimple rears it's ugly head get yourself an ice cube and wrap it in a paper towel. Press the ice cube to the area at a pressure that is comfortable enough for you and leave it there for about 15 minutes. The swelling should decrease significantly and the pain should be minimal.

Some people find this method counter productive, saying that it slows down the healing process because the pores shrink, leaving the dirt and infection trapped inside. Your body will eventually reabsorb it though, and the reduction of inflammation should significantly reduce the size of the scar left behind. I can definitely tell you it will help with the irritation, discomfort, and embarrassment of having a mountain sized nodule on your face, if anything.

These are only a few ways you can treat acne. If you're looking to reduce scars, check out my Fruit of the Earth Vitamin E Oil review and my hub on different types of facial masks. Good luck.