Do It Yourself Skin Care Remedies

Do it Yourself skin care remedies, treatments and recipes seem to be all over the internet these days promising to help repair a variety of ailments in the skin. Although some do it yourself methods can be beneficial, a majority of them are not and often lead to burns, allergic reactions, breakouts, irritations or just no results at all. Here are a few that made our hair stand on end.

Baking Soda

Baking soda is a commonly misused household item for acne. The thinking behind using baking soda on acne is that it is known to reduce inflammation in the body, but unfortunately, this product is a highly alkaline chemical that creates more harm than good. It disrupts your skin’s pH balance and can cause severe dryness, and lead to more breakouts.

Toothpaste

Toothpaste is an age-old acne remedy that can create potential issues with the skin. Some individuals believe that spot treating with toothpaste will dry out pimples and shorten the life of a blemish. This is not the case, and in fact, toothpaste can be very irritating to the pores. It can also cause hyperpigmentation (dark spots) by attracting more melanin to the surface. Also, most brands of toothpaste on the market today contain pore-clogging ingredients such as carrageenan and sodium lauryl sulfate which can trigger a breakout. Benzoyl peroxide is a much more efficient and safe product. Its purpose is to kill bacteria, reduce redness, inflammation, and prevent the formation of new pimples.

Acetone

Acetone is a crazy new fad made popular by celebrities recently. This ingredient is not only toxic (and most commonly used to strip paint, remove nail polish, etc.) but it can also cause extreme irritation to the skin. The hope is that it will dry out the skin thereby killing the blemish. Acetone is a harsh product that can wreak havoc on the skin by disrupting the natural ph level and skin barrier. What’s the difference between acetone and a dab of battery acid? Not much.

Lemon Juice

Vitamin C is, in fact, great for preventing photoaging, lightening, UV damage protection, improving elasticity, and stimulating collagen production. Vitamin C is found in lemon juice, which is the thinking behind using it directly on the skin, but beware! Lemon juice is highly acidic and can be tremendously irritating to the skin as it disrupts the skin’s natural acid mantle. If prepared in a skin care formula properly, you can reap the many benefits it has to offer without causing harm to the skin. We love Clear Path Vitamin C serum, which is specially formulated to be gentle yet effective for all skin types.

Coconut Oil

This skin care fad has been around for a while. Once mainstream ‘do it yourself’ skin care enthusiasts found out coconut oil has antimicrobial and antibacterial benefits – they started rubbing it on their skin in hopes of transforming it. However, many of them experience negative consequences such as dull skin to severe acne eruptions. The reason why is because coconut oil rates a 4 out of 5 on the comedogenic scale which determines the likelihood of an ingredient clogging your pores.

Skip the skin care fads and learn how to safely clear acne without all the gimmicks and hype. Doesn’t it make sense to discover the root cause as to why you are breaking out and then make changes to create an acne free life? Clearing all stages and types of acne without drugs or lasers, it’s what we do successfully- every day.

For more information contact the ABQ Skin Care & Acne Clinic at 505.369.1680