How to Cure Your Acne With a 100% Natural Cleansing Regime

You know an acne sufferer’s bathroom cabinet when you see it: overflowing with half used tubes, tubs, lotions and potions, all of them bought in hope and abandoned after they failed to deliver clean, beautiful skin. Acne does more than damage the appearance of facial skin, it damages self confidence, too. Unfortunately cosmetic companies prey on those who feel bad about the way they look and the result is piles of money wasted on creams and products that do even less than nothing. The fact is, even though we tend to view acne as something that needs to be banished with strong chemicals and a firm hand, acne-prone skin is much more delicate and fragile than “normal” skin. In the end, harsh chemicals and over-cleansing can cause even more acne in the long run.

Enter natural remedies. If you’ve had limited success with pharmaceutical preparations, consider taking a more gentle, more natural approach to healing your skin. The regime outlined below uses ingredients you can find at a supermarket for a reasonable price. Don’t let that fool you though – consistent use will result in a dramatically improved skin that is soft, clean and glowing with health.

You’ll Need:

A Jar of raw, organic honey (Manuka honey is the best choice, if you can find it)

Avocado oil

Plenty of soft, clean face cloths

Witch Hazel (Make sure that is’s pure and undiluted)

Honey Cleansing – The Method:

To reduce your acne over the course of a month or so, you can try “oil cleansing” and honey cleansing – a simple way to care for your skin using natural ingredients. In the morning, you’ll cleanse with honey, and in the evening with avocado oil.

To start with honey cleansing, simply wet your face with warm water. You can use this technique on other parts of your body too, if you suffer from acne there. Use as you would any other face wash, massaging the honey in small circles over your skin.

Honey is a natural antibacterial and antimicrobial agent, and, when mixed with water, produces a tiny amount of hydrogen peroxide. It is this that is believed to give honey its acne fighting properties. Honey has a slight lightening effect and so is also great for gradually reducing the appearance of freckles, age spots and, conveniently, acne scarring.

To finish, apply a thin layer of witch hazel, either in a spritzy bottle or with a cotton ball. After this had dried, use your normal moisturizer, or, if you would like to go all natural, try aloe vera gel or other paraben and preservative free moisturizer.

Part Two – Oil cleansing

The next step is oil cleansing, which is done at night. The reason for this is that oil cleansing will remove the day’s make up, but honey will not, so it’s best to use oil cleansing in the evenings and honey in the mornings, after your face is already make-up free.

If you are new to oil cleansing you may be horrified at the prospect of putting even more oil on an already oily face. After all, don’t other acne products promise to be oil free? Well, it can be difficult to take the leap of faith, but the logic is this: acne is caused in part by excess oil on the skin. What dissolves oil better than anything else? Oil. If you use a natural and moisturizing oil to wash off the excess sebum from your skin, you achieve a deeper and yet more gentle clean. You’ll believe this the first time you try oil cleansing and discover, counterintuitively, that is leaves your skin feeling a little taut and dry.

So how do you “oil cleanse”?

First, give yourself a good 5 – 10 minutes – this will take a while. Turn the tap on as hot as you can and while you wait for it warm up, pour a spoonful of oil into your hands and massage onto your face. Concentrate on areas that you have blocked pores, blackheads, oiliness or pimples. Take your time and really massage the oil in.

After the tap water is very, very hot – think so hot that you can just barely stand it – wet your facecloth under the stream and immediately apply it to your face, patting over the oil and capturing the steam. The moment the face cloth cools a little, dip it under the water again and repeat. At this point, don’t scrub and wipe, just continue to apply the hot towel to your skin and pat down.

After a few times, you can wipe off the remainder of the oil from your face, making sure you don’t forget any along the hairline. If you like, give yourself a final splash of cold water. Pat dry with a clean towel.

And that’s it! You don’t need to apply any moisturizer after you oil cleanse; simply go to bed and notice how lovely your skin feels in the morning.

You may come across other oil cleansing methods, but the above is one of the simplest and quickest ways to make use of natural ingredients to treat acne. Some have found that other oils, such as grapeseed oil or even olive oil, are also useful – experiment to find one you like, or consider blending a few.

As for honey cleansing, you’ll find you need very little day to day and will start to notice the effects within a week or two. Be careful not to get water inside the honey jar as this could spoil it – instead use a spoon and seal it tightly to prevent any moisture getting inside.

In time, your acne will lessen and previous scars and discoloration will also fade. You’ll eventually marvel at the fact that you had the secret to softer, clearer skin sitting in your kitchen all along.