Of course, in our modern civilization, we no longer need to process the willow bark ourselves. We can just buy the refined part of it, salicylic acid, over-the-counter. So, how does salicylic acid work as an acne treatment? Basically, it acts as a peeling agent, sloughing off the outer layers of the skin. As such, it helps to open pores and unplug follicles. An important point to note is that usage is preventive. In other words, you apply it to skin which is at risk of acne in order to prevent pimples from forming. Applying salicylic acid to your pimple after it forms is like locking the barn after the animals have run away. Once the pimple forms, you should be using something else like benzoyl peroxide or tea tree oil to get rid of it. Remember: apply salicylic acid continuously to prevent acne.

If salicylic acid is so good for acne prevention, why doesn’t everyone use it? Simple. It is known to irritate skin. A normal acne treatment regimen includes the use of non-oily moisturizer to soothe your skin after you apply the salicylic acid. Given this, it is better for you to be patient and careful and start at the 0.5% concentration of salicylic acid. Only if you do not get the effect you want should you slowly start raising the concentration. If you start at the upper end of 2%, you could find yourself in pain, much like the after effects of a bad sunburn. The key is regular use at lower concentrations. If 0.5% everyday causes redness, then reduce it to 0.5% every two days. If two days is too often, reduce accordingly, and so on, and so forth.

Despite its 3000-year old roots, not everyone can use salicylic acid, even if you only apply it on your skin. Apparently, pregnant women and children should avoid it due to the risk of Reye’s syndrome. Ditto for people who have kidney disease, liver disease, diabetes or poor circulation.

Anyway, here is the normal acne treatment regime using salicylic acid:

• Wash face with a gentle cleanser
• Gently pat your face dry with a clean towel (Do not rub your face dry. This will irritate your skin and possibly cause worse acne)
• Wait 5-10 minutes for your face to dry in air
• Apply salicylic acid cream or lotion over your face, avoiding the eyes and lips
• Wait for the cream or lotion to dry
• Apply non-oily moisturizer

There may be some differences depending on the brand of salicylic acid lotion or cream you use.

By Agnes Scott
http://www.website-articles.net/

Home acne remedies

Yes, home acne remedies are solutions to your tight budget. There are a lot of condiments from home that can be concocted as an acne cure. You do not have to burden yourself with the cost of expensive products that are available in the market. You just have to look within the four corners of your home and you will certainly find the right ingredients for your acne remedies.

• Baking soda. Combine baking soda with water and make a paste. This should be done before bedtime, applying it to surfaces affected with acne. Let the paste stand all night and rinse with water upon waking up. You will achieve best results just after one week of continuous usage.

• Olive Oil. Mix some olive oil with salt and just like baking soda with water, make a paste. Use the treatment daily for the first week then you could lower it down to two to three times a week afterwards.

• Lemon slices. Lemon slices could leave your skin blemish free and could take off dry skin. Apply it on the face two to three times a week and you will see best results.

Natural acne remedies

Aside from the above-mentioned acne remedies, there are other natural remedies you could resort to. Herbal preparations are nature’s way of granting our wish to have perfectly clear skin.

Herbs such as lemon balm, tansy and aloe vera may be used topically to the inflamed skin in order to get rid of the acne. Substances like kali bromium and sulphur lotion are also considered as natural remedies for acne. Take note, however, that these solutions may not be adequate enough to treat severe acne but they go very well for mild acne.

Other acne remedies

When you feel like home and natural acne remedies do not work, why not try assessing yourself as there are some factors that may trigger the existence of acne. For instance, you have overlooked your sleeping behavior and your diet. Try to be particular with your attitude at home and the way you handle yourself outside.

It pays to reflect and see what the underlying causes of acne are. Maybe you could start with building a routine for yourself like proper exercise, good nutrition, avoiding stress and getting enough sleep. These things are really the basics of life. You have to be particular with the benefits they could give.

By Ryan English
http://www.website-articles.net/

The trick is that not all tea tree oil is the same. First, we have to talk about the concentration. It is natural to think that using undiluted tea tree oil is good, because you can kill more bacteria faster. Unfortunately, Italian doctors have found that 6% of these patients suffer from skin irritation. Compared to this, only 1 in 725 patients using the 1% solution had allergic reactions.

A study published in the Oxford Journals showed that tea tree oil below 4% concentration will not kill bacteria effectively, so this is something you need to think about. The authors noted that hospitals which use the 4% to 5% concentrations as general antiseptics found tea tree oil to be very effective.

How does tea tree oil stack up against laboratory-created chemicals for acne treatment? Doctors in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Australia compared 5% tea tree oil against 5% benzoyl peroxide. They concluded that both of them work – the difference being that benzoyl peroxide works faster, but 79% of their patients suffered side effects like itching, stinging, burning, and dryness. The patients using tea tree oil reported fewer complaints.

The next important point is the composition of your tea tree oil. Most companies extract their tea tree oil from Melaleuca alternifolia, but there are at least two other species of the tea tree plant – Melaleuca dissitiflora and Melaleuca linariifolia. In addition, how the oil is extracted also determines the composition. Fortunately, the international standard ISO 4730 (”Oil of Melaleuca, Terpinen-4-ol type”) specifies levels of 14 components which are needed to define the oil as “tea tree oil.” So before you buy your tea tree oil, you need to check for this certification.

Now, lets say you have your 5% tea tree oil, and it meets the ISO 4730 standard. You apply it but suffer an allergic reaction. Does this mean you cannot use tea tree oil? Not necessarily. Remember that the remaining 95% of the solution is probably some kind of solvent. Your reaction could be against the solvent rather than the tea tree oil. So, buck up and try a different brand with another solvent. Just because the manufacturer says the solvent they use is inactive or inert does not mean you cannot be allergic to it.

If you are not a chronic acne sufferer, is it worthwhile to keep a small bottle of tea tree oil in your home? The answer is definitely yes. You can extend the shelf-life by keeping it in your refrigerator. And the oil is useful for fungal infections and minor wounds. So you will definitely get some use out of it.

By Tim Newton
http://www.website-articles.net/

Being an inquisitive busybody, I decided to look into it. I looked on the internet. Read archived posts on forums and discussion boards. Poked around and stuck my nose where it wasn’t welcome. In the end, I found mainly positive results. One group reported that they washed their faces with extra virgin olive oil, then washed off the oil with soap. After one week, their acne became worse. Unfortunately, they did not give any more details than this. Personally, their report does not really make sense. If they washed off the olive oil, then at worst, there should be no effect, right?

Most of the successful cases reported three main ways of using olive oil for acne prevention. The first way is to use a cleanser based on olive oil. One small group of friends actually conducted their own experiment. They tested 3 different brands of olive oil cleanser: a cheap brand from their local departmental store, a high-end brand from an upscale boutique, and another high-end brand bought from a catalog. They found that the cheap brand caused more acne, but the two different expensive brands helped a great deal. Definitely looks like a case of you get what you pay for.

The second group of successful cases used this regimen:

• Wash with extra virgin olive oil – apply a small amount to the skin, rubbing gently with finger-tips in circular motions. You may notice some hard grainy things. These are actually disloged blackheads.
• Wash with glycerin soap bar – you can buy the orange-colored bars which Nutrogena sells, or use a generic brand

Some of them reported that after just a few days, they no longer wake up with oily faces. After just two weeks, they find fewer acne breakouts, and their skin has a healthy glow.

The third group of successes used extra virgin olive oil as a kind of facial masque.

• Rinse face in plain warm water.
• Massage a small amount of extra virgin olive oil into skin until all the oil has soaked in.
• Dab face with a clean linen cloth until it matts the oily look.

After half-an-hour, they notice the sebum being slowly pulled out of the pores on their nose and cheeks. After just one hour, they find that their skin glows very nicely, without being oily.

It seems that normal extra virgin olive oil works very nicely. You do not need to buy the more expensive organic version. I am more comfortable with the idea of using olive oil as a wash, much the same way as removing make-up. Overall, not a method you use to get rid of pimples but a potentially cheap and effective long-term method of acne prevention.

By Agnes Scott
http://www.website-articles.net/

Aloe vera first made inroads into the medical establishment in the mid-1930s, when it was used for burn treatments. It showed itself to be very effective in reducing inflammation and healing of wounds. As I understand it, the main reason its popularity waned was due to the widespread availability of cheap antibiotics (penicilin, discovered by Fleming in 1928, was only mass manufactured one decade later in the late 1930s), which doctors probably preferred as being more scientific.

When I first started suffering from severe teenage acne, my parents took me to a skin specialist. The treatment he prescribed worked — a combination of creams and an antibiotic. Unfortunately, the antibiotics had severe side-effects, making me nauseous and causing me gastric problems. He then switched me to another antibiotic with lesser side-effects, but also less effectiveness. In the end, I could not tolerate this state of affairs and dropped the entire idea of medical treatment for my acne.

If only I had thought of using aloe vera for my teenage acne treatment, I would be so much better off today. Would it have cured my acne? No, I seriously doubt it. My teenage acne was too severe. But the aloe vera would have been free. The plants my mother brought home were quite hardy and easy to grow. This, plus the fact that aloe vera has practically no side-effects, meant that I could have been slathering aloe vera pulp on to my face three or four times a day.

How would this have helped me?

• The aloe vera would reduce the inflammation of the pimples and promote healing. There would be less scarring.
• There would be fewer pimples. Pimples come from whiteheads and blackheads which become infected and inflamed. The aloe vera would reduce this inflammation and reduce the chance of whiteheads and blackheads turning into pimples.
• Reduce whiteheads and blackheads. Both of these problems tend to arise when your skin becomes irritated. Aloe vera soothes the skin and would help to reduce the likelihood of whiteheads and blackheads appearing.

Aloe vera is easy to use. Just take the leaf and squeeze the juice and pulp onto your pimples. If you want more convenience, you can pulp the entire leaf in a blender. Store the pulp into an air-tight container in your refrigerator and it is ready for use anytime. Nowadays, you do not need to grow your own aloe vera plants. You can buy the cheap gels, creams and lotions from the pharmacy or local convenience store. Of course, you do need to check the ingredients. After all, commercially produced aloe vera products need to be placed in some kind of medium, and the extra additives like preservatives and scents may not agree with you.

By Agnes Scott
http://www.website-articles.net/

Tea Tree Oil Kills Bacteria

When you use tea tree oil for adult acne, it doesn’t work on your blemishes the way other common ingredients in acne medications work. Tea tree oil kills bacteria, and bacteria play a role in the formation of acne blemishes on your skin. Ingredients in over-the-counter medications for acne such as salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide can kill bacteria, but they also clean the pores of excessive oil. The reason that some people elect to use tea tree oil to treat their acne instead of the normal over-the-counter medications is that it is a pure substance rather than chemical-based.

Potential Side Effects

Using tea tree oil for adult acne can be very beneficial, but you should not make the mistake of thinking that because it is natural it is right for everyone. Some people who have used tea tree oil topically on their skin have reported developing rashes or sensitivity. This does not mean that tea tree oil is too harsh to put on the skin; it simply means that it is derived from a plant to which some people might be moderately to severely allergic.

Use Sparingly to Start

The best way to start out using tea tree oil is to create a cleanser with it. You can combine ingredients for the wash such as lemon juice and glycerin, and add a few drops of tea tree oil. Wash your face thoroughly and then rinse it just as thoroughly. If you do not have any adverse reactions to the wash, try using a very small amount of diluted tea tree oil once a day on your face and then following it up with your normal moisturizer. Try this for a few days, and if your skin seems to tolerate it then you can use it twice a day.

Using tea tree oil for adult acne can work very well when you use it as part of your overall acne-fighting regimen. It is especially appealing to people who prefer a natural acne treatment. But it is important to remember that natural does not necessarily mean safe. If you would like to try tea tree oil, start slowly to ensure you have no adverse reactions and discontinue use at the first sign of a problem.

By Carrie Balli
http://www.website-articles.net/

I do not much care why green tea works. What matters to me is how to use it to prevent acne and get rid of acne. The simplest and cheapest way I have learned is to buy those cheap green tea bags. The boxes come with 25, 50 or even 100 tea bags of made in China green tea. First, you brew the tea, which is a fancy way of saying drop the tea bag in a cup of boiling water and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes. Drink the tea as soon as possible, to prevent any loss of important nutrients to the air. Then slather the tea bag all over your face. Make sure to get the residue evenly over every inch of skin. If you can do this 2 or 3 times everyday, you will soon see an improvement in your skin complexion.

You want to be careful, though. Some green tea seem to contain caffeine, especially the cheap brands. If you drink too much of this type, you could find yourself lying awake at night with insomnia. You may want to consider supplementing your cheap tea bags with another more expensive brand which does not contain caffeine. You also want to be careful to buy plain green tea. I have found quite a lot of brands which scent their green tea with jasmine or some other fragrant herb. If it is real jasmine, it should be fine. But the cheap teas may use an artificial jasmine scent, which may not be good for you.

Some people have gone to the extent of breaking open the used tea bag and applying the green tea leaves as a masque on their pimples. They report very good results – the redness of the skin around the pimple seems to disappear very quickly, and the pimple itself dries up quite fast as well. You probably will not be able to do this if you are working or schooling, but your evenings and weekends at home ought to help you quite a lot.

I personally prefer the powdered Japanese green tea. The brands normally sold seem to be caffeine-free, so I can drink it as often as I want to. It is easy to make – just put a small scoop into a cup of near-boiling water, stir it and drink it all up. No need to wait. The only downsides are that these brands are more expensive, I need to urinate more often, and I do not have a used tea bag to apply on my pimples.

I usually drink tea with my breakfast, immediately after lunch and immediately after dinner. Whatever the green tea is doing inside my body seems to be good. Whenever I have the chance to drink it regularly, my skin seems to be remarkably clear and healthy. When I am not able to drink green tea regularly, my complexion tends to be more spotty.

By Agnes Scott
http://www.website-articles.net/

Mother Nature made the human body to be pretty robust. You can survive in quite a wide range of unfriendly environments, living an intense lifestyle, without any immediate problems. However, you can’t run away from the side-effects forever. Sooner rather than later, the problems start showing up – acne, constipation, slowed reflexes, slower healing from wounds, etc.

People living in rural communities rarely get problems like acne. Most of them eat healthy food. They usually drink enough water and eat sufficient fruits and vegetables. They also don’t over-eat meat and greasy foods. Basically, if you eat following the classical food guide pyramid (created by the USDA in 1992), you are less likely to suffer from severe acne. To be honest, this guide is overly simplistic and flawed – it is not the most effective healthy eating guide. That honor goes to the Healthy Eating Pyramid created by Harvard Medical School. Studies have shown that men who follow the more sophisticated eating guide by Harvard reduce their risk of suffering a major chronic disease by 20%. Women gain an improvement of 11%.

Why Is Water Important In Acne Care Treatment?

70% of our bodies is made of water. This water is critical to move nutrients from our digestive system to the cells which need them. This includes our skin cells. If our skin does not get enough nutrients, then it may not be strong enough to fight off the bacteria which causes acne. Water plays another important role – it moves the waste products from our cells to our kidneys for purification. This prevents the build-up of toxic waste in our cells (including our skin cells). When we don’t drink enough water, our skin will not get enough nutrients, and becomes soaked in toxic waste products, so we are more likely to get pimples.

Fruits And Vegetables For Natural Acne Skin Care

I like to eat meat myself, so I’m not going to try and persuade you to go vegetarian. But if you suffer from acne, you may want to try adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet. They do two important things for you:

• Provide vitamins and nutrients not found in meat. One famous example is Vitamin C which can only be found in fruits and vegetables – you need this for both general health and healthy skin.
• Provide fiber which helps your digestive system to work better. Good digestion helps you to absorb more nutrients from your food, which is always a good thing.

For a long time, I ate one serving of vegetables with my lunch. Together with lots of water, moderate rest and light exercise, this seemed to be sufficient for me. Then I started growing older…

Among other problems, I started getting more acne breakouts. When I added two slices of fruit to my dinner, my acne went into remission again.

Following the Food Guide Pyramid (or Healthy Eating Pyramid) and eating a more healthy diet will not guarantee acne-free skin. However, because most people who suffer from acne (like myself) eat very low quality diets, making the effort to eat more healthy meals will often show good results. Remember that the health of your internal organs is often reflected in your skin.

By Agnes Scott
http://www.website-articles.net/

While it is easy to find acne treatments, locating the treatment product that is right for you can give you a headache. It can be irritating to go through all those different types of acne treatment products. And how do you know which product will work for your skin?

You can simplify this search and get the product that you need much quicker. However, the place to start your acne treatment search is not with the products.

The place to start is with your skin. In order to determine the best treatment for your acne, you need to know your skin type. There are three basic skin types, the most common of which is combination skin.

Oily Skin

Oily skin is typically shiny and attracts dirt and dust. This grit causes blackheads. Oily skin also generally has larger pores, and is coarse to the touch. Very oily skin does not require you to use any moisturizer at all, but it does require a good face wash and cleanser. You can also use alcohol-based products to help dry out your skin.

Dry Skin

Dry skin looks dry and often flakes. Dry skin can also be more sensitive to sun, wind and cold. This skin is usually less prone to acne. To treat dry skin, use moisturizers that will lubricate your skin. Also, avoid products containing alcohol, as alcohol will dry your skin even more.

Combination Skin

Combination skin is what most people have, where the oily T-zone comes into play. (The T-Zone is the zone made horizontally by your forehead, and vertically by your nose and chin.) This type of skin usually requires products that are specifically for combination skin.

Normal to Oily: Oily skin in the T-Zone, normal skin on the cheeks

Dry to Oily: Dry skin on the cheeks, oily skin in the T-Zone

After you find out what type of skin you have, finding the right product will become much easier. Reading more about the difference skin types will help you understand your skin, and how it reacts. Work with this knowledge to identify the products that are right for your face.

By Elizabeth Radisson
http://www.website-articles.net/