An ounce of prevention is, as the saying goes, worth a pound of cure, so keeping acne scars at bay means doing your level best to prevent having acne in the first place. Acne home remedies can help, especially if you can’t afford costly commercially made preparations and prescription drugs, or if you simply don’t trust chemically produced treatments.
If you opt for acne home remedies, the careful treatment of acne and allowing sufficient time for natural healing of it are the best possible ways to prevent future scarring after the sore has healed completely. The first approach is to be patient; the body in general takes approximately two weeks to heal from a wound, and no matter what term you use, be that “zit” or “pimple” or “blackhead” or “acne”, the body views such things as sores or wounds, and assembles its defense systems to heal them. There is no significant way to rush the process, even if you happen to have a hot date in a day or two. Nature doesn’t care; the healing process, even when you use acne home remedies, will take about 14 days.
Let’s talk about prevention before we address the best acne home remedies and healing. Living a healthy lifestyle is good for you holistically, but it’s also an excellent mode of prevention for the things that trigger acne. Although acne, as opposed to occasional pimples, is mostly hereditary, the heavy intake of sugars and fats can make it worse. While the sun’s rays are known to cause cancer, a light dose of sunshine can feed your body Vitamin D (good for skin!) the natural way and help to dry out the sores from acne. And be sure to drink ample amounts of water to keep your skin healthy from the inside out.
Getting a zit on your face is one thing; a serious outbreak of acne is quite another, the latter often being long term. Real acne mostly occurs during the early teenage years, just when you’re at the peak of trying to accept your personal appearance and impress potential dates. It’s not fair! Adult acne does occur, and seemingly more often in women (hormones and menopause seem to be the culprits), but it seldom lasts as many years as the teenage scourge, and is usually limited to a few nasty, deep zits that resist treatment.
There are a number of options for acne home remedies if you do get a breakout or have a longer term problem with acne. Here are a few suggestions:
- Use freshly squeezed lemon juice as an astringent; be careful not to let it touch any open sores, or it will sting badly! Put a few drops on a cotton ball (make sure it’s 100% natural cotton and not a cotton/polyester or other blend) and dab — don’t rub! — the acne.
- Avoid the use of heavy creams and lotions, and this includes foundation make-up. While it may cover your acne, it imbeds chemicals and often fats in your already sensitive skin, sometimes clogging pores that need to breathe to heal.
- Another excellent natural astringent is tea. Brew a pot of black tea (it works better than orange pekoe for this purpose), let it cool to room temperature and dab it on the acne sores.
- While this may sound odd, diaper rash creams are effective acne home remedies! Two excellent choices are both German-based and widely available. Commonly used Penaten cream is the one that’s easiest to find in drug stores and supermarkets, inexpensive and reasonably effective. An even better version is called Waleda Baby Calendula Diaper Care. A bit upscale in price, it’s worth every extra cent spent; it is available through most natural food and health stores. It might seem odd at first applying diaper rash cream to your face, but its zinc oxide formula really works!
- Refreshing and helpful in treating acne, too, is bottled mineral water. Purchase a small atomizer (like a perfume spray bottle) at the local dollar store and fill it with mineral water, such as San Pellegrino or Perrier (plain, not flavored). Spray it liberally on your acne breakout. It feels great in hot summer weather, too, especially if you store it in the refrigerator.
Some people swear by the application of extra virgin olive oil to treat acne. An equal number claim that it exacerbates the problem. Will it work for you? Try it on a small, preferably not obvious, place, and see which group your skin fits. If it works, then buy the best quality oil you can afford and apply it daily, about half an hour before you shower. One of the best acne home remedies is to keep your skin as clean and oil-free as possible, so be sure to wash or shower every day.