Acne Relief

Posts Tagged ‘acne home remedies’

Your journey of getting rid of acne should begin with that old saying we’ve all heard our entire lives; “you are what you eat!”

What you put into your body not only provides the sustenance you need to live but it is also a reflection of your existence both literally and figuratively. It comes through in the shine of your hair and the glow of your skin. What you put into your mouth not only says something about who you are, but it affects the way you look and how you will look and feel tomorrow. In your fight to get rid of your acne this is probably the one area where you have total control yet it’s probably the least advanced. Let’s change that right now.

Starting immediately, commit yourself in your fight to getting rid of acne by declaring that you will drink lots of water and introduce a varied assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables into your daily diet.

Water cleanses and refreshes your body. It flushes toxins from your system and is essential for your overall health. Not enough water and the toxins build up which can result in breakouts. If you don’t get enough water you can actually poison yourself in your own metabolic waste. Eight to ten glasses a day should be enough to promote clear skin.

An intelligent, balanced diet goes a long way in helping you get rid of acne, but did you know that there are certain foods that produce a powerful punch of acne ridding vitamins and mineral

Vitamin A is essential for healthy skin and found in abundance in dairy products and liver. It’s also found in carrots and cantaloupe as well as oatmeal, sweet potato and pumpkin .

Vitamin B is necessary to maintain an optimal metabolism. Several excellent sources are avocados, eggs and green leafy vegetables.

Vitamin C is necessary for you to maintain healthy collagen levels. Collagen is a structural protein in the skin. Without this protein your skin would simply fall apart. Excellent sources in your fight to get rid of acne are strawberries, citrus fruits, green peas and tomatoes.

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps slow the aging process and slow the oxidative damages to your body. Excellent sources are nuts, seeds, vegetables and liver oil.

Finally Zinc. Use Zinc to boost your immune system and promote optimal health. It is necessary for the function of over 300 enzymes responsible for biological processes too numerous to mention and talk about here. Excellent sources for you fight in getting rid of acne are: turkey, port, seafood (especially oysters) as well as whole grain breads and cereals.

Pay attention to the foods you put into your body and you will be rewarded in your efforts to get rid of your acne with clear skin.

Acne is a problem just about everybody “faces” in their lifetime. The desire for clear skin drives a billion dollar industry and people are willing to do anything or pay any price to achieve clear, beautiful skin. I’m someone who’s always thought it’s possible to find a home remedy for just about anything right in your own home or garden; kitchen or medicine cabinet.

Why pay money for something you probably already have sitting in a cabinet or under a sink? Even better, you can probably find the ingredients you need growing in your garden or that of friends.

Interestingly enough, there are probably just as many home remedies for acne as there are acne products lining the shelves of the local drug and discount stores. When you start to learn more about the actual ingredients that actively fight acne and its causes you begin to see they are usually very in-expensive, easy to procure and a natural approach to you fight with acne.

When comparing home remedies to those remedies you will find in the drug store or your local discount store, you will come to see the difference between them regarding the results you will see is minimal. You may even find home remedies rival those of prescription medications in some situations. They will certainly cost you a lot less time and money.

One of the first things to realize is that skin is relatively sensitive and responds quickly to stimulation. Many times people will actually aggravate skin break outs by using harsh medications, scrubs and cleansers. The gentle approach is always best. If you’re not careful, not only will you make a bad situation worse, you will often create new problems. Also it’s always best to find the gentlest approach, using the least amount of medicine to achieve a good result.

One of the best home remedies for breakouts is a product most of us already have in our home. We normally use it to treat minor cuts or abrasions and some people mix it with baking soda as a way of whitening their teeth. I’m speaking of course of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is one of the best treatments and preventative treatments of acne. It acts as an astringent, a bleaching agent, and a drying agent. Not to be confused with Benzoyl Peroxide, which is also a very good preventative and an excellent tool in the fight against acne, Hydrogen Peroxide is much cheaper and accessible to everyone.

Witch hazel is another home remedy which used to be in everybody’s home at one time. It acts as an excellent astringent and works to fight the bacteria which help cause breakouts. Witch hazel is also an excellent help if you have sunburn and want to sooth the pain. Keep a bottle in the refrigerator and apply liberally to a cloth or paper towels then drape lightly over affected skin. You will gain instant relief. Witch Hazel also helps ease problems with swelling so if you have a particularly irritated skin breakout witch hazel may be the way to go.

Another home remedy in aiding the fight against acne is good old H2O. Water is one of the best things you can use in your fight against acne. We all know humans are mainly made up of water and our bodies are in constant need of hydration. If you’re experiencing problems with skin breakouts try drinking double the amount of the daily recommended quantity. Simply doing that will help flush your system and hydrate your skin which will aid tremendously in your fight against acne. You should see results almost immediately.

Go ahead. Open your kitchen cabinets and find a home remedy that will help in your battle to get rid of acne.

It could not have been more than five minutes after I posted best way to get rid of acne, that I received an email from my friend Clark who was writing to tell me about chocolate as an acne treatment. Since it wasn’t a good time for me and Clark is somewhat of a practical joker I didn’t pay much attention and put it off to the side to take a look at later. Clark lives in Hershey Pennsylvania so my first thought was this is his way to boost chocolate sales in a downturned market. Well today I finally around to following up (actually it totally slipped my mind) and clicked on some links in the email that takes me to information for a company in England called Frutel’s. I poked around some of the company literature and sure enough they are pitching chocolate as a way to get rid of acne.

Let me preface myself here. I am by nature a very critical person. It probably started when I was a little kid and took thinks apart for no other reason than to put them back together. As I got older and started to see things through more educated eyes, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I was living in a world where people were constantly selling and being sold to. When I developed acne issues I got a front row seat on the consumer roller coaster.

Initially I thought I’d go to the doctor and bada bing I would get rid of my acne. When the results were unsatisfactory to say the least the Doc tinkered around with some more pills and potions, told me to lay off the fried foods and candy and my mom and dad were now making the doctor’s car payments. It was starting to appear the doctor was not trying to cure my acne as much as setting me up on the acne product purchase plan. I just wanted to let you know a little something before I get back to the Willie Wonka acne chocolate bar.

From a promotional advertising point of view I love the idea of a chocolate as a way to get rid of acne. With the exception of all fried foods, I can think of no other food that is more associated with the cause of acne than chocolate. To take that perception and twist it as a way to get rid of acne is brilliant in my humble opinion. I also can appreciate what appears to be their company philosophy that acne has to be treated from the inside out. Pimples and zits are the symptoms of an out of whack hormonal and dietary system. Acne isn’t the problem it is the result. The question becomes whether adding vitamins and minerals to chocolate is the solution.

While chocolate will not cause acne I am at a loss to find its nutrition specific acne fighting benefit. Without getting all technical on its molecular structure and its nutritional value there really isn’t a specific reason to include this food per the discussion of this post. While I grant eating chocolate has a certain emotional and euphoric benefit it would appear that in the case of getting rid of acne, its main reason for being are promotional and commercial. The other aspect of these products is vitamin and mineral supplements. While vitamin and mineral deficiencies can and do causes hormonal change as well as a host other problems. Is it really necessary to put it in chocolate and charge a premium? Can’t I just run down to the corner and grab the latest Flintstone chewable’ and be done with it. Also I would be interested in how the heat in the processing of this chocolate delectable affects their potency.

All in all it seems to me to be a big waste of time and money. The best way to get rid of acne is to get your vitamins and minerals by eating a healthy diet. If you want chocolate there is always the Hershey bar.

Last night a dear friend of mine called to thank me for helping her 15 year old get rid of her bacne. She had called about 3 weeks ago because her poor child was getting teased pretty well by the other kids and mom was at her wits end. For you guys that may not know, bacne is just a slang name for back acne or back zits, pimples or whatever you may want to call them. While it is really no different than any other type of body acne, it’s probably more severe and cystic in nature. This can make them especially difficult to get rid of. I know because I have firsthand experience with it.

You see, a great deal of my teen acne issues revolved around bacne. While I got a good dose of face acne I also had a good face treatment in my arsenals that actually keep my face blemishes to a minimum. But those back zits, well that was a different story.

None of the pills or potions that my dermatologist prescribed (today it’s most likely tetracycline or minocycline) and suggested offered any relief. And it was the same negative response with the topical ointments and washes (Retin-A, benzoyl peroxide etal.). So there I was left to fend for myself. It took me awhile, but sure enough after some trial and error with various acne fighting solutions I stumbled upon a bacne natural treatment that worked for me many years ago which I was more than happy to impart to my friends 15 year old and now I guess I’ll relay to you.

Because the back is difficult for most people to reach by themselves you should invest in a long handled very soft bristled brush. This brush is used to exfoliate your back once or twice a week with a sugar scrub. If you want or feel you need to get a tad more aggressive, you can do a salt scrub, but don’t go nuts. When you are not exfoliating to remove dead skin wrapping your face clothing around the brush and using castile soap or your favorite acne cleanser makes an excellent every day cleansing instrument for your back or your whole body for that matter.

Wear loose fitting cotton garments whenever possible. If you don’t believe that tight fitting clothing and sweating are a cause of bacne, talk to some football players and ask them about forehead acne from tight fitting helmets and chest and bacne from shoulder pads. I saw it first hand with my son when he played football. So lay off the spandex and other tight fitting clothing that don’t allow your skin to breath.

You guys know how I feel about pimple popping. Don’t do it. I almost didn’t bother to even bring this up because the back is that one place that’s just about impossible for someone to do any self zit popping. But with all the You Tube acne video’s that I’ve seen on the net there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of accomplices willing to have at those nasty pimples wherever they may be. Besides bacne has a nasty habit of leaving scars and while they may not be as noticeable to you like face acne scars would be. A pitted and scared back is not a pleasant sight.

Now, here’s the secret to my bacne remedy. In a spray bottle mix 2 ounces of vinegar to 6 ounces of water and approx 1/32 of an ounce of tea tree oil. And after every shower spray a light mist over your back. While I have no scientific explanation why this acne home remedy works, I can say. It worked wonders for me, my friend’s 15 year old and my own son. Everyone reported their bacne was gone in 2 weeks.

Life sure can be a funny thing. When I started this “getting rid of acne” info blog, which has now taken on more of an acne community sounding board, I would have bet you dollars to donuts that my very first post would have been something about teen acne. I mean really, if I am honest with myself, kids and teenagers were and are where my passion has been all along. When I think how acne affected my teenage years and how fast the world changes today. It breaks my heart picturing what teens with acne must go through.

The heads of kids in high school have to be spinning like a top, social pressures that come at them from all angles on top of a relentless sophisticated media/advertising behemoth that pitches those manipulated images of who the cool kids are. And they can sell you anything you need to be cool too. Should you happen to be prone to acne they have just the right teen acne treatment to take you to nirvana.

But somehow life just got away from me and the acne topics that seemed appropriate at the time just got my attention while teenage acne issues got put on a back shelf. I could always justify to myself that as long as I was staying on topic I didn’t need to get age specific.

But a couple of days ago my conscience got the better of me and I had made a determination that come hell or high water I was going to write something about teen acne. But when I sat down to bang it out on the keyboard, I had nothing. Well maybe a little more than nothing but it wasn’t anything new. It was the same old tripe that you can find on a thousand sites about teen acne treatments and cures for teenage acne that are nothing more than jump pages to retailers. So what’s a person to do?

Well it occurred to me since I am some years removed from my teen years and hanging out at high school football games and pep rallies would be too embarrassing. I would just find a teenager and let them tell me about their view of teen acne.

So what follows is a response from a 17 year old boy. He is a junior in high school and since he wishes to remain anonymous. I’ll just say he is an attractive doll. The question I put to his is “tell me about teen acne”, that was it, nothing more nothing less.

Here’s his reply;

I’m 17 and was asked the other day what my take on teen acne was. It took some time for me to think about, but I think I have finally come up with a response to the question. I dislike it, greatly. Although I do not have severe breakouts with acne, I still have problem areas from time to time. My worst problem area is my forehead. Every now and again my forehead will break out, either due to stress from school or the things I have been eating or not eating. Even when the pimples and blemishes cease I still always seem to have a constant problem with black heads there. I hate blackheads! I have tried absolutely everything known to man to rid my face of this pest, but alas I haven’t come across a remedy for the situation. From my experience with them I found that they seem to become immune to whatever regimen I use. For a while I used a mix of a prescription ointment I had had and a Clearasil brand spot remover (I would mix the both of them in the palm of my hand). It worked for about a week until the blackheads came back in stronger force, not to mention that my forehead had become dried out and flakey. So to remedy the dry skin, I reverted to bar soap and a moisturizer, and then after that I would make sure to wipe away and excess oil in hopes to keep my pores from clogging. Alas this helped my skin. My skin was back to normal, nice and smooth, but during the course of the week my black heads stayed. So my point is this. If anyone knows of or can come up with a black head annihilating regimen please share it. The world will thank, I know I will.

Well there you have it kids, a teenage perspective on teen acne. After reading what he had to say I realized high school and kids really haven’t changed that much. Oh sure, they have game boy, X box, cell phones and instant messaging. But they are really the same kids that we were. Learning who they are. I realize I don’t need to go back to high school to remember teen acne. I lived it and have the acne scars to prove. I think teen acne better watch out; cause if I have anything to say about it will soon be relegated to the dust bin of history.