12 Proven Natural Remedies for Acne

i read a piece by anne louise gettleman, a leading nutritionist from the US about her experience with acne. when she was at uni in the 70s she was a big advocate of vegetarian diets and was on one herself. she soon developed symptoms of bad acne, an overactive mind and tired body and hair loss. this is because veg diets are high in copper and low in zinc. copper and zinc are antagonistic to each other and when one rises the other falls. upon discovering that this was the underlying cause of her symptoms, she went back to an animal based diet, her energy came back, her acne cleared up and her hair became full again. too little zinc can cause acne.

I have used a compress made of chopped fresh parsley steeped in hot water. It heals existing pimples quickly and drastically reduces redness.

Something that works great for my skin is to open one capsule of acidophilus in a small amount of lukewarm filtered (non-chlorine) water and drink it down. Do this 3x/day preferably before meals. This friendly bacteria helps to heal the digestive system which in turn has an amazing effect on the skin. This remedy is a little more expensive but it better addresses the underlying problem.

Zinc oxide cream: This is very inexpensive and it should be somewhere near the band aids and neosporin section at the store. Just dab on heads at night and in the morning they are dried up. If they're small then the zinc oxide will draw out more pus resulting in it being bigger than before you put it on. Just use the creme again and it will dry up the whitehead.

Zinc ointment or commonly known as diaper rash cream is very healing. It is good for bringing up whitehead as well as for getting spots to heal faster. Apply at night as you don't want to walk around with white stuff on your face. As you sleep the zinc cream will help spots heal. Diaper rash cream or zinc ointment can vary in zinc content from 15-37%. I use the brand with the highest content I could find and it is worth the price difference.

I started drinking 10 glasses of water/day, for no reason other than I had started exercising regularly and I wanted to be healthy. About 3 weeks into this regime, I noticed my acne had completely disappeared, I had not been using anything topically for my acne at this time nor did I change my diet besides the drastic increase in water intake. Another bonus was, my regularly dry skin is now as soft as a baby's (even my hands!) and I don't have to use lotion at all--even after shaving my legs. When you first start drinking lots of water you are in the bathroom quite often--including in the middle of the night. This subsides after a week or two--your bladder becomes accustomed to the increase and adjusts. I learned the easiest way to drink 10 glasses of water/day is to drink out of two of the 1 liter water bottles or 4 of the smaller size (20 fl. oz.) bottles. For economy, I refill mine. I also try to drink 1 liter by noon and the second liter by 4 p.m. (So I'm not in the bathroom at 1 a.m.) I recently read an article by a doctor in Connecticut that said drinking that amount of water will reduce allergy symptoms, constipation and some other common ailments, (including acne and dry skin). Her article also mentioned that drinking juice takes away water from our bodies because the sugar level in the juice is higher than that of our blood so water is supplied from our body to our gut to dilute the juice. (In other words, it takes away water, rather than adds to it.) I regularly don't drink anything besides water --I'm never thirsty! Her article also said that you can count as one of your 10 glasses of water an herbal tea or a glass of 1/3 juice with 2/3 water.

STEAM your face by boiling water and putting your face over it carefully, then wash with cold water after. the hot steam opens the pores and the cold water kills the germs.

Boil water until its steamy hot, then take it off the burner and take a rag and dip it in the water (not the whole rag, just the end) and place it on the affected area, it may burn, but it works! I did it and so have a lot of my friends, just don't burn yourself!

You write that iodine can be a cure or assist in clearing up acne. I find it just the opposite. It makes my skin break out terribly. I take it for my thyroid currently. I also had to take it as a teen for thyroid problems. Although years and years apart, I find it still very much causes me to break out.

According to the ancient Egyptians, fresh strawberries (when eaten) help acne. So do wetted strawberry leaves applied on the face topically.

I mixed 2 large straberries and 1/2 a peeled orange together mashed up. I then put it in the freezer until it was a block (usually put it in overnight). The small block should be wrapped in a cloth or towel and put on the affected area. This should be repeated 2 or 3 times per week and then you should notice a difference.

In a blender, liquify a peeled cucumber. Apply the juice to problem areas. Also drink four or five cups of cucumber juice daily for a week. Doing so is said to purify the blood and lymphatic system, resulting in clearer skin.

To reduce pimple redness, apply toothpaste (yes, toothpaste!) so it covers the pimple. Wipe/rinse off after a couple minutes, and the redness should decrease a little while after.

Wet some of a paper towel with warm water and shake some salt on it and put the salt over a pimple if it stings, it's working.

Nutmeg and honey works great and cures acne.

Use three tablespoons of OJ to one tablespoon of honey leave on for 30 mins. Take a shower and wash it off, it's very sticky. Works within one to two weeks for back and chest acne, havent tried it on the face yet.

I have had acne for years - was geting worse till I saw a site w. info on B5 for acne - B5 helped my acne.. About B5 - I'm not sure how/why it works - I take about 3,000 mg/day. But, it can cause hair loss - remedied by taking L-LYSINE (1,ooo mg), BIOTIN (1,ooo mg) and I also take Alpha Lipoic Acid 300mg.The B5 worked immediately for me- strange.