How to get rid of acne? No matter what people say about inner beauty, in this day and age outer beauty is just as important as the inner one. Sadly for some of us, the outer beauty of the face is marred by the formation of acne. This terrible skin condition haunts most of us during our teens and eases up once we hit the 20s. However, these are only a small portion of the ever so blessed people for whom such a skin condition eases up. For many, this condition lasts even when they approach their 30s and at times even their forties.
This terrible skin condition is easily identified by the flaming red pimples that form on the face. On days it gets irritated it becomes an angry red pimple that is ready to burst. We tend to try everything there is in the market to make our skin blemishes, but the more we try such chemicals, the angrier the acne seems to be getting. So what could you possibly do to avoid this condition and get your skin back to normal? Well, you can read on to find out more about how this condition occurs and how best you can take care of it.
Causes of Acne – Everything Triggers The Acne
This condition is caused by the inflammation or the infection of the sebaceous glands that are found beneath the skin. These glands are usually known as the fat glands that provide the necessary oils to protect the skin from dehydrating.
Sadly, the gland that comes in handy to protect the skin also becomes our nemesis. Most people always think that it is just one problem that leads to this condition, however, what they tend to forget is that one factor may not be the only cause.
It is proven that bad facial hygiene can lead to this condition. When such hygiene is coupled with bad diet, then the condition becomes even worse. What most people do not know is that even touching the acne often will inflame it further and the bacteria on our hands can infect the acne. So the causes are various, sometime it could just be the diet, but at most times it involves various other factors too.
If you are pregnant, then acnes outbreak is one that is very common. Do not use any products that you get over the counter to help deal with it. To be on the safe side, let your doctor tell you what to do and use.
How to Get Rid of Acne Fast?
1.) Get Rid of Acne With Regular Exercise
If you really need to get rid of the acne on your face, then it is time to make some changes to your lifestyle. The very first change that needs to come about is to inculcate the habit of exercising regularly. It is proven that exercising regularly will help your body reduce the stress levels by releasing endorphins. While such exercise makes you sweat, the endorphins work wonders by reducing the production of oil in your skin. It also helps by bringing out the toxins and the excess oils from within your body through the sweat pores. If you suffer from acne on your face, as well as your upper torso, then a rigorous workout for at least 30 minutes each day is necessary.
2.) Keep Your Hands Away to Get Rid of Acne
One of the best remedies to reduce the outbreak of acne would be to keep your hands away from your face. If you pay attention, your hands always subconsciously drift to your face when you are engrossed very much into something. You either would be picking out the dried scab or checking the amount of inflammation on your face. At times, you would even try popping the pimple or try squeezing the zit out. All of these, if you did not know, only make things harder for your face. You need to remember that your hands come into contact with things that are not always clean. When you touch your face with the same hands, you tend to transfer the dirt, bacteria and germs from the surface of the item to your face. This in-turn leads to an outbreak of a fresh batch of acne or leads to the existing ones infecting very badly.
3.) Clean Your Skin Often to Get Rid of Acne
One of the most important things that you need to remember to get rid of acne would be to keep your skin clean. If the acne outbreak is limited to your face then washing your face with clean water and a mild soap is necessary. But if the outbreak is all over the upper torso, then showering often would help curb it. Water and mild soap would remove the excess oil on your skin and would also kill germs and bacteria that tend to build up over time. Always make it a point to keep washing your face with just plain water if necessary. In just a week you would see a major difference in your skin.
4.) Change Your Diet to Get Rid of Acne
It is proven that your diet can also be a major cause for your acne outbreak. Junk food or food that is deep fried and rich in trans-fat is one of the major causes of acne. The more of such oil and fat accumulates in your body, more frequent become the acne outbreak. Hence, you will have to change your diet that consists of more fresh foods in it. Yes, I know it is difficult to say no to fast and deliciously deep fried food, but if you need your skin to clear up then you need to make this sacrifice. All fresh fruits and vegetables are filled with anti-oxidants that will help clean your body from within and cleanses your skin soon.
5.) Sleep and Relax Well to Get Rid of Acne
Sleep is the best remedy that is available for any bodily ailments and also very true when it comes to get rid of acne. When you sleep for a minimum of eight hours each day and take regular naps, it first helps to reduce the stress levels. Such reduced stress levels help secrete endorphins that enables various bodily functions. Also, the reduction of the stress levels leads to lesser sebum production in your skin, thus cutting down the outbreak of acne. Most importantly, an eight hours sleep would help your body and your skin to rejuvenate. It helps your body shed the old dead skin and replenish it with new skin.
6.) Hydrate Regularly to Get Rid of Acne
Make sure that you drink a lot of water every day to get rid of acne. You might have heard that 8 glasses of water are enough for survival. Sadly, you are not trying to survive, but want to live a healthy life. In a day, try drinking at least 4 to 5 liters of water. This would help your body remain hydrated and also help in flushing out the toxins in your body either via sweat or via urine. Drinking lots of water would also help in metabolizing body fat and flushing it out of your system. This would not only help you shed your weight but also help to get rid of acne really soon.
7.) Use Clean Clothes and Beddings to Get Rid of Acne
Another important factor that leads to the inflammation of acne would be unclean clothes or pillow cases. When it comes to your clothes, you have to wear fresh clothes everyday and perhaps try changing them after eight hours of use. In the case of your bed sheets and pillow cases, change them once every three days to avoid infection.
Clothing and beddings tend to absorb the sweat, oil and germs and retains them. So after a nice shower, if you tend to wear the same clothes again, you would transfer the grime and germs back onto your skin. So always make certain that you change your clothes after 1 day and the beddings once every 3 days. While doing your laundry, let the final rinse be with an antiseptic liquid.
8.) Careful With Your Makeup to Get Rid of Acne
When applying makeup always make certain that the products that you buy are oil-free. In the market currently, you can easily find makeup that is not only oil-free, but also ones that are 100% natural. If in doubt, ask the store assistants for help to locate the best makeup that will not irritate the acne. Before going to bed, make certain that you remove all the makeup from your face. This would enable your skin to breathe better while you sleep.
Use a good cleanser to remove such makeup and complete the ritual by washing your face well with warm water and a good antiseptic soap to ensure that there is not even a small bit of makeup left to irritate your acne.
9.) Sunscreen Protection to Get Rid of Acne
Before you leave your house, always make it a point to wear a sunscreen. When getting a sunscreen, make sure it is in a cream form. Do not step out the moment you have applied it, rather wait for 20 minutes so that your skin has enough time to absorb the cream and the cream has enough time to do its work.
The UV-A radiation from the sun does not only irritate your acne, but studies have proven that it is also one of the major reasons for the outbreak of skin cancer. Hence, wear a sunscreen cream with SPF 30 or higher to help protect your skin from acne irritation and from skin cancer.
10.) Avoid Hair Color to Get Rid of Acne
Hair color, is one item that you have to avoid if you do not wish to have an acne outbreak. If you already have acne then your chances of inflaming it is very high. The chemicals in the hair color are known to burn your skin, which is why all products have the mandatory twenty four hour skin tests that you need to undergo before applying the product onto your hair.
Hair color is not that great a problem for people with no skin ailments. However, people with acne need to be extra careful. The fume from the chemicals is dangerous to your skin, but worse is the unnoticed drip of the hair color that can burn your acne, aggravate the rest and leave an everlasting scar on your face.
11.) Avoid Certain Items to Get Rid of Acne
It is a common belief that using lemon juice, rind of a lemon, baking soda and even toothpaste can actually help reduce the outbreak of acne or at times it is believed to get rid of acne completely. Sadly, these are just myths that tend to do more harm to your skin than help it. The fluoride in your toothpaste is a poison if used excessively. With an acne outbreak your skin has blood vessels that are open and can easily carry the fluoride around.
Similarly, citric acid is also known to cause irritation of the skin. Such irritation will aggravate the acne and leave blemishes on the skin, which can never be removed. Walnut shell scrubs, plastic micro beads and even apricot scrubs are also bad for your acne. So even if somebody swears that these items can help clean acne, just don’t pay any attention to their words.
12.) Facial Peels to Get Rid of Acne
Getting a facial peel or a facial at the spa can really help to get rid of acne. The facial peels, that are available with your dermatologist, destroy dead cells and acne causing agents. The acids found in the gel-based skin peel can remove and flush out the unwanted oils, and dead skin on your face. With time it can also help all the acne and the scars easily.
A facial at the spa would consist of cleansing, rehydrating with masks and the use of tools that can help extract acne. However, if you are not comfortable having it done by a beautician, then a dermatologist can also help you with this treatment.
13.) Light Based Treatments to Get Rid of Acne
You can also look for light based skin treatments that can be done by your dermatologist to get rid of acne. Laser and colored light treatments are some common treatments available for acne reduction and removal.
In a laser treatment, a strongly concentrated light probe is set on your acne. This treatment would help dry glands that secrete excess oil and with repetitive treatment, kill it. This medical procedure is painful, but will help to get rid of acne permanently.
Light treatment on the other is less painful but will take longer than the laser treatment. Here different colored lights are used to first kill the bacteria that accumulate on your facial skin. With the bacteria out of the way, the skin is regularly cleansed thus reducing the acne and clearing it up over time.
14.) Sand it Down to Get Rid of Acne
This does not mean that you have to sand your face down every day either with real sand or with sand paper. Rather, you would have to get in touch with your dermatologist to undergo a micro-dermal abrasion. This treatment is similar to using a sand paper to smooth out the surface of any object. Thankfully, you do not have to take a sand paper to your face. Your dermatologist will have tools that would slowly work on your skin to grind away the dead skin and infection-causing bacteria or germs from your face. Such a treatment, over time, will not only remove acne completely, but will also smooth your skin to make it look naturally smooth.
15.) Prescription Drugs to Get Rid of Acne
You can alternatively ask your dermatologist for a prescription medicine that will help to get rid of acne. However, you would have to be careful not to overtake such medicines above the prescribed dosage since it will have certain undesirable side-effects. If the side effects persist, you have to discontinue the usage of such medicines immediately and seek professional help.
Your dermatologist either might prescribe birth control pills that are tweaked for you or will put you on a dose of accutane if your acne is intense. Please beware that either form of the medication will have an effect on your body so make certain that you take such drugs only if your doctor advises you to.
16.) pH Balanced Cleanser to Get Rid of Acne
You could also try a face wash regimen to get rid of acne. First, you need to understand that the excess oils on your skin need to be removed and the acne causing bacteria have to be killed along with it. This can be done by washing your face at least twice with a cleanser that has a pH level of 5.5. You have to do this once in the morning and once before you go to bed.
We all have a busy schedule and we all have tiring ends to a day, but giving in to such reasons and not following the regimen would only take you back to square one, a face full of acne. So if you need to have clear and acne-free skin, then you have to cleanse your face every day with a pH balanced cleanser.
17.) Oils to Get Rid of Acne
For so long you have read how acne is caused by excessive oil production in your skin. Here you are going to see how certain oils can actually be good for your skin and help to get rid of acne easily. Almond oil, grape seed oil and castor oil are some of the oils that are known to provide the best protection for your skin from acne ailments. Grape seed and olive oil are also a healthier option to cook with. They are also really good at cleaning the makeup off your face.
If you are looking for oil that can clean makeup and act as an anti-bacterial and a germicide, then a bottle of neem leaf or tea tree oil will do the trick. All of these oils can easily be found in any Asian stores. Just rub them gently into your skin before you use the pH balanced cleanser. Before you use such oils, always make it appoint to dilute it a bit so that it does not burn your skin.
18.) Chemical Exfoliation to Get Rid of Acne
You can also use some chemical exfoliates to remove dead skin and acne causing bacteria. Though chemical exfoliates are available in the market, however, at times, you can just make one at home. One of the easiest exfoliates that you can make is given here.
- The easiest would be to take a little water and dissolve an aspirin tablet to make a smooth paste.
- Apply this paste on the acne or the reddened zit to reduce the irritation and to heal the acne itself.
- The salicylic acid found in aspirin actually helps reducing the inflammation and with time get rid of acne.
- Alternatively, you can also use BHA as an exfoliate to help remove acne. BHA is known to contain salicylic acid.
- It usually comes with a pH content that is between 3 and 4 thus making it gentle for your skin.
- Using a BHA would generally make the acne to dry really soon.
- As a result, the area around the acne is also prone to getting dry and flaky. Don’t be alarmed by such end results, since they are a normal process that leads to the healing of acnes.
19.) Natural Exfoliates to Get Rid of Acne
- There are two really good natural remedies for exfoliating your skin and cleansing any acne found on it. The first would be to use honey.
- Take a spoon of honey and gently rub it on the acne and other areas of the face.
- With time you will see that the acne has reduced.
- The pH in honey is similar to the BHA thus ranging between 3 and 4. Such a balance makes honey ideal to be used since it is gentle on your skin and helps to get rid of acne as well.
- You can also consider using oatmeal to exfoliate your skin.
- Unlike the hard shells and skins of walnuts and apricots, oatmeal becomes a lot softer and does not damage your skin like the other items.
- You can mix oatmeal with honey to make a paste, apply it on your skin and leave it for 30 minutes.
- At this time, the honey would have worked its magic and the oatmeal when washed off, would work well in removing dead skin cells and killing the bacteria causing acne.
20.) Clay Masks to Get Rid of Acne
You can also consider using clay masks that are available in the market to get rid of acne. The latest skin beneficial clay mask would be ones that have minerals that curb the production of oil on your skin. A clay mask that has such minerals is not going to be enough for you to fight the acne. You would have to look for a clay mask that has either salicylic acid or sulphur in it. These acids are known to be bacteria and germ killing agents. When you apply a face mask with either sulphur or salicylic acid in it, you would have to leave the mask on at least for 30 minutes.
This would not only remove the excess oil on your face, but all stop more oil from being produced and also help in killing the germs and bacteria causing acne.
21.) Cleanse, Tone & Moisturize to Get Rid of Acne
This three step daily-routine is a must if you wish to keep acne at bay. Every day before you go to bed always follow this three step regimen. When you cleanse your skin, make sure you use a cleanser that has anti-bacterial property. This would not only cleanse your skin of grime, dirt and make up, but would also help in killing all the bacteria and germs on your skin.
After you use the cleanser, never forget to use a toner. A toner helps your skin to tone-up or simply put, it helps your skin to close its pores. This would stop your skin from excreting more oil when you sleep and would also ensure that the germs do not get into the pores to affect you later.
To end the regimen, you have to use a moisturizer before hitting the sack. Acne outbreaks are very common amongst people with oily skin, but with the use of a cleanser and a toner, your skin has now become dry. Your body will immediately react to it by producing more oil! Hence, use a moisturizer to prevent your body from doing this.
22.) Facial Wipes and Sheets to Get Rid of Acne
If you check with your nearest pharmacist, you will also find facial wipes that can come in handy as an acne treatment. Look for such wipes that come with an anti-bacterial gel on it. Every time you need to clean your face, but can’t find a facet, you can use these wipes to clean your face and freshen it up. Alternatively, there are also anti-acne facial sheet available in the market. All you have to do is place these sheets on your face for 30 minutes and then wipe your face clean with it. Make sure that you use, such facial sheets not more than thrice a week.
23.) Homemade Face Masks to Get Rid of Acne
- If you have a lot of time on hand, then you can make a homemade face mask to help clean the acne on your face.
- You would need one large cucumber, half a cup of oatmeal and two tablespoons of honey to make this mask.
- All you have to do, is put all these ingredients in a blender and blend it to a very smooth paste.
- Transfer it to an airtight jar and leave it in the fridge for later use.
- Whenever you wish to use this mask, you just need to pop it out of the refrigerator and apply it on your face.
- Leave the mask on for 30 minutes and wash it clean to get rid of acne.
- The cucumber in the paste would help soothe your skin while the honey works as an antibacterial.
- The oatmeal would work as a gentle exfoliate to remove dead skin cells and the bacteria from your face.
24.) Peroxides to Get Rid of Acne
You can also look for products that have benzoyl peroxide in it to get rid of acne. Such medicated products are available at any pharmacist and can be found in the form of lotions and soaps. Do not take a cream since it will have oil contents in it, thus making it difficult for your skin to fight acne. If you have chosen a soap with benzoyl peroxide, wet the acne prone area and apply the lather only on that area. This will help kill that germs, remove the dead skills and also replenish the area with new skin cells. If you are using a lotion, then make it a point to apply the lotion only on the acne and not over areas that do not have it.
You can also use hydrogen peroxide to fight acne. Hydrogen peroxide is known to be one of the best anti-bacterial available in the market. Make sure that you dilute the solution in water before you wash your face with it.
25.) Retinoid to Get Rid of Acne
Retinoid is handed out as a prescription drug in the United States. Your dermatologist should be able to give you a prescription to get this drug, but before you start using it, let your dermatologist tell you how to use and if it is the best answer for your acne problem. If your dermatologist thinks that this could lead to you having severe side effects, then ask for an alternative that he would find to be the best for you.
This drug is known to contain Vitamin A in high concentration which would help in cleaning the pores on your skin effectively. It is also known to cleanse the grime and dirt that gets accumulated in the pores. When buying retinoid, do not buy one that says is like retinoid. Such “like-retinoid” products never do anything to help your skin.
26.) Azelaic Acids to Get Rid of Acne
This azelaic acid is found in abundance in barley and wheat. It is one of the best known antibacterial which can help kill the acne-causing bacteria on your face or body. You can either make a paste with wheat or barley to make a natural homemade remedy to get rid of acne. You can also look for an over the counter product that has azelaic acids. Wheat or barley paste mixed with honey will work wonders to get rid of acne and cleaning up the dark-spots.
This acid is also known to make your skin lighter thus removing any dark spots or scars that were left behind by acne in the past.
