A few weeks ago when I was digging around for a post to “revive” from way in the depths of Crunchy Betty, my first thought was a very, very old post titled 27 Quick and Crunchy Home Remedies for Pimples. It’s a great post, full of fun little ideas for when you have a giant monster on your face and want to treat it quickly. I even used several of the ideas in the Simple Pimple Remedies section of Food on Your Face for Acne and Oily Skin.
There’s just one problem with it.
The picture I used to accompany that post is horrendous. Terrible. Horrifying. I have no idea what I was thinking at the time, and the only excuse I have is that I was a new blogger and thought “different” was cool. Well, that was very different. And the opposite of cool, which is technically warm.
So it was kind of like a creepy clown that’s been baked in the oven at 125 degrees for about 3 minutes. Yes. That’s exactly what it was like.
I will not post that picture here, because by gosh and all, I don’t want it haunting me for the rest of my blogforsaken life.
So, when I realized I couldn’t “revive” that post as is, I thought, “I’ll take a few new pictures for it.” And then I thought, “WAIT! I’ll pick out my 9 favorite, easiest, most effective remedies and just make a picture post.” And so I did. Funny how you get things done when you decide you’re actually going to do them.
So here you go. My 9 favorite Pretty Simple Pimple Home Remedies. Perfect for looking at, remembering, and pinning to Pinterest if you need extra help with the memory jogging. (To wit, nothing was more horrifying than seeing people pin that terrible picture with the post mentioned above. Let’s do it right this time.) Also, for those of you who’ve been telling me to get a Pinterest button, I HAVE ONE. It’s right there, kinda tiny, at the top left hand side of the post. Check it.
9 Pretty Simple Pimple Home Remedies
I’m not going to spend a lot of time typing between these, but I do want to note – many of these are remedies for a single, terrifying pimple and shouldn’t be used over your whole face. They should also not be used to excess (more than once or twice a day), or you’ll end up with some dry patches. Everything in moderation, lovelies.
Also, let it be known that these are not ranked by my personal favorites. They’re ranked by the order in which I edited the pictures. It made sense to me.
Now that I’ve told you these aren’t ranked in order of my favorites, I will tell you that #1 is my favorite. But I also like to combine it with #7 (lavender or tea tree essential oil). Without fail, making a tiny clay mask with a bit of water and a drop of one of those essential oils treats my beastly pimple overnight. And if it’s not gone overnight, it’s gone within two or three days.
Kinda magic.
Also? Redmond clay is my new favorite clay. Just in case you’re not sure what kind to buy. Any bentonite or cosmetic clay would work just fine and dandy, though.
While I don’t think you should go using apple cider vinegar undiluted over your entire face, swabbing a bit of it on a raging zit is a different story. Again, don’t go crazy and continuously treat any part of your skin with undiluted ACV. Just once or twice a day on a single blemish is plenty.
Don’t rinse it off, unless you really feel like you need to.
This one comes as no surprise, right?
Fresh lemon juice is best, but if you have to use bottled, that’ll do. Just please remember that lemon juice makes your skin photosensitive (meaning, the sun could do some damage), so don’t go out into the daylight with lemon juice all over your face.
This is a great treatment to do at night. Because there’s no sun. At night. As far as I know.
Now here’s a brand spankin’ new idea. Mustard on a pimple.
See, mustard contains natural salicylic acid, which I’m sure you’ve heard does wonders for pimples and acne. But mustard also has plenty of vitamin C, omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, and zinc, all of which are great for your skin.
For an extra treat, instead of using bottled mustard, add about 1/8 of a tsp mustard powder to 1 tsp unfiltered honey and stir well. Use this as a tiny little pimple mask. Wash it off after about 15 minutes.
Ah. Another one of my all-time favorites. You can also use these ice cubes as a cooling, antiinflammatory treatment for days when you have puffy eyes. Sooooo soothing.
I like to freeze the green tea leaves in with the ice cubes, but you don’t have to do that if you prefer not to. It does make for messier thawing.
Also, did you know that hot water freezes faster than cold water? True story. So don’t be afraid to pop your strong green tea into the freezer (in ice cube trays) while it’s still steamy. And keep a few of these ice cubes around at all times – you never know when one might come in handy!
Tomatoes. They’re astringent and superbly high in antioxidants. There are even stories dotting the internet of how tomato facial masks have helped heal acne scars (I don’t know anything about this first hand, though, so grain of salt).
If you have an unsightly eruption and an extra tomato handy, cut it open and rub some of the juice on the offensive area once or twice a day. (Again, a reminder, while it may be okay to use straight tomato juice all OVER your face once a week or so, excessive use could cause some icky dryness, so stick to just treating your single pimples with this idea. Otherwise, dilute, dilute, dilute. And use sparingly.)
Generally, I don’t think you should use undiluted essential oils on your skin. But common thought is that both lavender and tea tree essential oils are okay to use “neat,” if they are used rarely (otherwise, you could end up with an itchy reaction) and only to address a specific problem.
Translated: Don’t go rubbing essential oils, without diluting them, all over your skin. But a drop of lavender or tea tree on an uncomfortably large pimple might be all the pimple remedy you’ll need.
For the record, I do use straight lavender or tea tree on blemishes every so often, and they do work extremely well. (Caveat, of course, is that not everything works for everyone the same way …)
I have to be honest here, this one is not my favorite. Mainly because you don’t want to waste an entire egg just to put a dab or three of the egg white on your face.
So, here’s my official recommendation: If you find yourself making eggs and you happen to have a few pimples, swipe your fingertip inside the egg shell to pick up some of the gooey white (after you’ve poured out your egg for what you’re cooking) and dab that on the affected areas.
You can leave this on for as long as you’d like. Boost the treatment by dabbing on lemon juice first, letting that dry, and then covering it with the egg white.
Now, now. Don’t turn your nose up at this idea.
Just because garlic’s stinky doesn’t mean it’s not fantastalastically packed with antimicrobial and healing properties.
Smush a little bit of garlic juice on your pimple and leave it on as long as you’d like. Just stay over there while you do it. No need to come any closer … really …
