Sunday, March 15, 2009

5 Easy Tips For Clearing Your Acne Pimples

5 Easy-To-Follow Acne Tips To Clear Your Skin!

Suffer from acne and don't know what to do? Well, you're not alone. Million of North Americans suffer from some form of acne skin problems. Acne is devastating because it strips the control from your life; you become a slave to the way your skin looks. Fortunately, you can take control of your acne problem with these 5 easy tips.

1. Honey
Get some organic honey and spread it over your face in a mask at least twice a week. You want to make sure that you get unpasteurized honey, as there are far more nutrients in unpasteurized honey. Honey (the unpasteurized variety) has proven antibacterial properties.

2. Facial Hygiene
It's Important to wash your face twice a day with acne-medicating soap. Get this soap from the skin section of any drugstore. Make sure the soap has sulfur in it -- sulfur helps clean out your pores and it kill bacteria! Make sure that you don't scrub too hard, otherwise you might irritate your skin and cause more breakouts. You should also exfoliate several times a week to remove dead skin cells on your face.

3. Keep Hair Off Face
Make sure your hair does not hang over and touch your brow and face. Hair has a lot of oil and bacteria in it which if it comes into contact with your skin can cause breakouts and pimples. You should also wash your hair after strenuous activities to remove excess oil from it.

4. Home Remedy Treatments for Acne
You want to make sure that you try out several of the home remedy treatments for acne out there. There are a whole of them and many people have found great success with these treatments. Even more, acne home remedy treatments use kitchen ingredients which are easily available and cheap!

5. Drink Lots of Water
Make sure to drink at least 8 cups of water a day. Increasing you uptake of water may clear up your acne or reduce the number of breakouts.

These are some quick, easy acne-fighting tips to follow in your quest to get rid of acne. It's important to maintain a strict -- almost religious -- regimen when treating acne. It's difficult to treat acne because there is often no single source to target! You have to combine different treatment strategies to get the maximum effect. But as long as you are taking a proactive stance towards acne, you stand a very good chance of clearing up your face from those pesky pimples.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Get Rid of Acne Scarring with Chemicle Peels

Get Rid of Acne with Chemical Peels

Thought you had to live with terrible acne scarring for the rest of your life? Well, you thought wrong! There are some very effective treatments for removing acne scars. For this post, I want to discuss what many people consider to be the most effective acne scarring treatment: the chemical peel.

What Exactly is the Chemical Peel?
If you suffer from acne scarring, it's your best friend. Chemical peels are sometimes called chemexfoliation -- doctor jargon. In English, this translates to mean "nasty smelling chemicals rubbed on your face to remove the damaged top layer of skin." Whew, what a mouthful to say. It's a very effective, non-surgical treatment for both active acne and acne scarring. Sort of your one-stop-cure-acne solution. Well actually, the chemical peel won't cure your acne. It will remove acne scars, yes, and it will radically improve your complexion if you have that signature florid skin associated with acne, but it won't actually heal your acne.

Some Info About the Chemical Peel
There are basically three kinds of chemical peels: light, medium, and deep. Well, I lied, there's actually a fourth: an over-the-counter chemical peel that you can apply yourself at home. This peel counts as a sort of "very light" chemical peel. Now, I'm sure you can pick out which chemical peel is the most effective.

If you said "Deep" than you win a prize. Well, just kidding, but I guess you can take the information I am giving away for free as a sort of prize. If you are looking to treat some serious acne scarring, consider the medium and deep chemical peels as the most effective. A light chemical peel will put a bit of "shine" back into your face -- you know, remove things like wrinkles, aging, acne redness, etc.

You can find spas and salons that offer light and medium chemical peel services. If you want a deep chemical peel though, you'll have to see a doctor, as only physicians are licensed to preform deep peels. Chemical peels are one of the more effective non-surgical acne cures you can pursue.


The Price

The over-the-counter, as expected, is the cheapest of the bunch, clocking in at about 30 bucks a treatment. The price can very slightly, but 30 dollars is a good estimate. Professional peels will cost anywhere from 100 dollars for the light peel to over a thousand dollars for the deep chemical peel. Keep in mind that you might need multiple treatments!

If you don’t want to go to a specialist for chemical peels, you can purchase over-the-counter chemical peels from a drugstore. Note that these home chemical peels are very light peels and won’t have the effectiveness of the light, medium, or deep peel. But if you are just looking for a quick way to invigorate your skin, or reduce some of the redness caused by light acne, over-the-counter chemical peels are certainly an option to consider. Plus, they’re cheap, always a good thing in the world of skin products. It’s also possible to find spas and salons who can give professional light (and maybe medium) peels. Beauticians, besides giving makeup tips, can apply light and medium chemical peels as well. If you want a more serious chemical peel, you have to go to the doctor to get it done. Consider the deep chemical peel if you have some serious acne scars – it’s a very effective facial scar treatment. Light and medium peels can be used to treat mild cases of acne, but in the case that you have a severe acne problem, you should see a dermatologist for a recommendation – do not go out and purchase an over-the-counter peel to treat your acne problem.

What's Involved
The facial chemical peel is not a painful process, though you may feel a bit of a stinging and some slight tingling of the face. The session lasts for about an 45 minutes. Keep in mind that you may require multiple sessions. It typically takes about a week to heal and during this time your skin may redden and flake. Try to avoid putting on makeup or suntanning -- your skin is healing and you don't want to do anything to irritate or extend the healing process.

There you have it, the chemical peel. If you really are tired of having acne scars and/or red welts on your face, then consider the chemical peel. Of course, you should first make an appointment with a dermatologist before getting a peel -- you don't want to inadvertently damage your skin. If you have really sever acne (cystic acne), a chemical peel could be too harsh for your skin -- talk to a dermatologist first. Getting rid of acne scarring is not easy, but the chemical peel is an option you should consider.

Monday, March 9, 2009

How to Get Rid of Acne Fast

How to Get Rid of Acne Fast

Sometimes, you just want to get rid of those pimples as fast as possible. Acne outbreaks always seem to occur at the worst possible moment: right before that big date, job interview, or other life altering event. So what can you do to minimize that big old ugly zit? Well, you've come to the right place. Read these five tips to help get rid of acne fast. Now, I'm not saying if you follow these tips all of your acne will vanish overnight -- getting rid of acne can be a lengthy process, BUT you can certainly do some quick "fixing" to banish that troublesome pimple!

1. Blemish Spot Treatment

Head to your local drugstore for some over-the-counter spot treatment medicine. These powerful creams deliver some serious benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid -- proven acne-fighting ingredients. You'll have to find what works best for you though as some skin reacts better to certain medicines. If you only have a limited amount of time to choose, try topical medicines containing benzoyle peroxide first. Some of these spot treatment medications can be left on overnight, while others are skin-colored to help mask that blemish while fighting it!
If over-the-counter stuff doesn't suit your fancy, you can give some acne home remedy spot treatments a shot. There are some great natural ointments for scars you can use such as Vitamin E. If you want to treat your acne itself, you can rub some tea tree oil onto the blemish a couple times a day. Tea tree oil helps reduce swelling and fights any infection you may have in your pores. Some people claim tea tree oil is as effective as benzoyle peroxide! You can also try putting some toothpaste on before going to bed and leave it on while you sleep. This has been known to reduce swelling and dry out pimples.
The key with spot treatments is to not over apply the medicine. It's tempting, I know. But if you do, you'll end up with flaky, irritated skin.

2. Hide the Blemish

If your spot treatments aren't as effective as you'd like, try a sulfur mask. Sulfur has long been used to clean and unclog pores -- it also helps to reduce inflammation of the skin. Old style sulfur masks had an unpleasant sulfuric tinge, but the new generation of sulfuric masks do not. You can find inexpensive sulfur masks at your local drugstore. Depending on the type of sulfur mask you use, you either leave it on overnight for some serious treatment or wash it off after a few minutes. Make sure you read the instructions -- you don't want to end up with dry and irritated skin from leaving the mask on too long!


3. Ice the Blemish

For some really quick treatment, use ice to bring down any swelling. This will also decrease the redness around the blemish. Don't touch the ice directly to the blemish. You should wrap it in tissue or plastic first. It's best to use this technique if you are in a quick fix (right before you head to that interview, date, etc). But it's there if you need it, and best, it's free!


4. Zap the Blemish

If you have money to burn, you can visit an esthetician. The esthetician will zap the blemish with a high frequency current (using a sort of electric rode), thus killing the bacteria that is causing the infection. No, it's painless, though you will feel a bit of a tingle. In a few hours you will see a reduction in the size of the blemish. This is very effective, but pricey solution. You can opt to buy a Zeno device, which is a sort of personal version of what the esthetician uses.

5. Acne Injections

If you have a serious cystic breakout, you should consider a cortisone injection. Note that you have to visit a dermatologist first, however. This solution is injected directly into the blemish and within a day or two, the swelling will be drastically reduced. You can use makeup and foundation to do the rest. Note this process will be at least a day or so, so it's best to do this the afternoon before your big event.

These fast acne treatments will help reduce your blemish. However, if you are looking for some more long-term solutions for how to get rid of acne, check out some of the other pimple-fighting advice on this blog.

Kitchen Acne Home Remedies

Effective Kitchen Acne Home Remedies

To eliminate Acne, you need to fight with all the tools at your disposal. The first solution people turn to are over-the-counter acne medicines and off-the-shelf pimple creams. However, in my experience, these are not really effective means of fighting acne. They tend to dry out your skin are expensive. If you have sensitive skin, topical acne medicines cause a lot of irritation and inflammation of your skin. Fortunately there are some alternative methods of eliminating your acne: acne kitchen home remedies.

Sometimes, it's the contents of your kitchen that prove most effective against that breakout of zits. Cucumbers, lemons, vinegar, tomatoes, herbs...all these kitchen items can be used as effective acne treatments. If you want to know how to get rid of acne, you’ll have to put some work in to try different things. But, it can be done! When you try some of these zit-busting home remedies, it's important that you keep to a two week regimen. Trying something for a couple days only, will not provide results. If your regimen is not effective after two weeks, try a different home remedy regimen. Keep on doing so until you find one that works for you.


Fruits & Vegetable Acne Home Remedies

Fruit and vegetables are powerful means of fighting pimples. You can apply certain fruits and vegetables to problem areas as a daily regimen. Strawberry leaves held to the face, orange juice face washing, lemon juice mixed with rose water, lime juice applied to the skin, sliced cucumbers applied to the face-- all of these are often used as home remedies. Cucumbers are a very popular acne home remedy. You can mash them into a pulp or juice them. You can then apply the paste to your face. Cucumbers are particularly refreshing and do not dry out the face. Eating your daily quantity of fruit may also help to reduce blemishes. Mix together carrot and cucumber juice and drink two glasses a day -- you fight acne from within. Another kitchen item to consider is garlic -- if you can stand the smell. Garlic has powerful anti-bacterial properties. Apply mashed garlic to your pimples. Papaya is another good bet. Mash it up into a paste and apply it to your skin twice a day for an effective acne treatment. Who said tomatoes are only good on pizza? Mash them up into a puree and wash your face in it -- this is particularly effective if you have oily skin.

Herbal Acne Home Remedies
There are a good many acne herbal home remedies to try out. Most of these are readily purchasable either dried or fresh. Prepare them just like you would tea (mix them in hot water), let the hot liquid cool, then use a cotton ball to dab them onto your face. Or you can create a paste by blending them with water and mashing the result into a paste. Apply the past to problem areas and leave on for several minutes before rinsing off. You can use the following kitchen herbs: basil, mint, parsley, chamomile, rosemary, and birch leaves. Herbs are a great way to fight pimples. They are cheap, easy to acquire, and won’t irritate your skin.


Other Household Pimple Home Remedies

Items used for cooking can also be used as acne treatments. Sea salt, baking soda, sugar (brown) can be used as exfoliants. Note that you do not want to exfoliate if your skins is inflamed – doing so will just cause more inflammation. Vinegar, like orange and lime juice, can be used against acne. The acidity kills the bacteria and also removes oil from your skin. I don’t suggest using it if your skin is inflamed though as the sting will be pretty bad. If this is the case, mix it up with some water. You can also try Aloe Vera to treat acne – it’s also good for oil skin. Rub some Aloe Vera over problem areas and leave on for 10 minutes before washing off. Honey, which contains many beneficial enzymes, can be used to sooth inflamed skin. Use it as a paste and after leaving it on for a while, wash it off. If you don’t mind a sticky face, use pure egg whites to make a mask and leave it on for several minutes. The egg whites will absorb impurities trapped in your pores. Like all home remedies for acne, you need to make sure you stick to a strict regimen for maximum results.

There are literally dozens of acne home remedies to try out. It’s important that you keep being persistent when trying to eliminate acne. If one treatment doesn’t work (give it a couple weeks), then switch to something else. It may take a while to find a treatment that’s effective, but kjavascript:void(0)eep at it and you eventually will.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

How To Get Rid of Pimples

Five Tips on How To Get Rid of Pimples

Tired of suffering from pimple breakouts and looking for some help? You've come to the right place. Here are some tips to treating and getting rid of pimples.

It's important to know as much as possible about acne, every little bit of information may help you win the battle against acne. You may have to use a combination of unconventional treatments with over-the-shelve acne medicines to get rid of pimples. If you want to get rid of your pimples, you are going to have to try a variety of different strategies and techniques, so it's important to keep an open mend; you never know what might work! Every person's skin reacts differently so you may find that some acne strategies work for some people and not for others. Here are five suggestions to follow on how to get rid of pimples. I suggest you follow them all just to be sure.

As has been stated, everyone's skin is different and different treatments and medications have different levels of effectiveness. Acne can from a variety of different factors: diet, genetics, stress, air quality, etc. Many people assume diet is the main culprit behind pimple outbreaks, but heredity traits also play a big part. So how to get rid of acne?

The number one tip
is to wash your face regularly. People who wash their face regularly, but it's the easiest and sometimes most effective pimple treatment you can preform. You don't want to wash your face too often as you may dry out your skin. However, if you suffer from pimple breakouts and are not regularly washing your face, DO SO. You may find this is all you need to clear up your complexion.

You need to keep in mind that acne skin care is a process, not an individual treatment. The treatments, as a whole, can be combined into something effective.

As far as individual treatments go, you should make a point to choose the right soap. It's a good idea to use a mild, non-comedogenic soap. This special type of soap will not clog your pores as regular soap might. You might want to exfoliate your face several times a week. This cleans dead skins from your face and may help reduce blemishes and reduce both pimples and blackheads.

The second tip you should follow is to drink more water. You should be drinking at least 8 cups of water a day. If your body is properly hydrated, it can more easily flush out toxins. You may find increasing your water intake decreases your pimple breakouts.

The third tip is to change your diet. Try to eliminate fatty foods. These include fried foods, acidic foods (corn, alcohol, pop, etc). If it's tough changing your diet, try making small changes at first then slowly increase the level of change over time.

The fourth tip is to use home remedies. You may find some of these remedies very effective or not effective at all -- but there are a lot of different remedies you can try out. If one does work, try another one. Eventually, you might find a home remedy that works. Getting rid of pimples takes perseverance, but keep on trying things and you'll find a solution.

The fifth tip is to make sure any medicine you use does not irritate your skin. Some medicine may initially dry your skin out for a few days; however, if your skin continues to be irritated, discontinue the product. You should also make sure your you don't have an acid diet -- too much acidly has been known to cause outbreaks.

Follow these simple tips to help get rid of pimples and gain that sought-after clear completion. It's important to keep persevering in your quest to get rid of your pimple. The more weapons you have at your disposable, the better your chances are of treating your acne.