Acne home remedies have been around for ages, and they range from the silly to the surprisingly effective. Home acne cures are not a replacement for medications like salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide and will not give you the same results. But, zits don't keep regular hours, and if you feel one starting late at night, sometimes you have to get creative. No spot treatment---either commercial medications or acne home cures---will completely cure a pimple overnight. But, it is possible you can reduce the swelling and redness and speed the healing.
Step 1
Squeeze some fresh lemon juice onto a clean cotton ball and hold it on the zit for 10 to 15 seconds. Let the juice dry without rinsing it off. This may sting, but it should dry up the zit, as lemon juice is a known astringent. Dilute the lemon juice with an equal amount of filtered water if the stinging is too sharp.
Step 2
Wrap an ice cube in a clean wash cloth and press it gently to the pimple. Ice helps reduce swelling and numb the discomfort of a new zit. Leave it there until the cloth soaks through, and then move the ice to a dry part of the wash cloth and repeat. The Ayurvedic Medicine website recommends that you do this before bed and cautions that it seems to work best on pimples that have not yet formed a head.
Step 3
Apply a small spot of toothpaste---the paste kind, not a gel---to a clean cotton swab and dab it on the pimple. This home remedy has been around since at least the 1950s and is based on the belief that the mint, alcohol and triclosan in toothpaste will dry up zits and kill bacteria. In reality, the amounts of these ingredients are probably too small to affect the pimple, so most experts assume that there is a placebo effect at work. Apply the toothpaste before bed and don't wash it off until the morning. Use toothpaste as a spot treatment only; never as a mask.
Step 4
Soak a chamomile tea bag in hot water for five minutes and then let it cool. Squeeze out the excess liquid and apply the tea bag to your pimple. Chamomile is both antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, so is useful for cleaning and soothing irritated skin.
Tips and Warnings
- Avoid touching your face with your hands, as this can transfer bacteria that can lead to zits.
- Never pop or pick at a pimple or you can cause a scar.
Things You'll Need
- Fresh lemons
- Cotton balls
- Filtered water (optional)
- Ice cubes
- Clean wash cloth
- Toothpaste
- Cotton swabs
- Chamomile tea bag
- Hot water
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