Acne.org Products
sasch12,
I use Epsom Salts topically as a stress reliever/relaxant (magnesium oil alternative), but not on my face. I know some on this site have claimed they cured their acne using Epsom Salts...
I no longer have to wash my face since I started using the green tea toner. I saw immediate results in the health of my skin using the green tea. I am at the point where I wouldn't dream of not using it twice a day. For me, it's essential. I only have occassional active acne but have large pores, some scarring, and some clogged pores. Recently I started using a 1% salicylic acid toner and a yogurt mask a few times a week to address these issues.
Earlier in this thread I posted links to studies that showed how topical use of a 2% green tea lotion is as effective as Benzoyl Peroxide, that it helps protect against sun damage, and helps skin cells regenerate.
Why not try green tea on just a section of your face and see how it responds?
Unfortunately, I'm not sure it is possible to find a routine that we can stick with, as it seems like everyone has the problem of their skin adapting to a routine so we end up having to switch it around a bit, and sometimes a lot. It's frustrating.
So true.....i have been using this a few days and completely stopped the epsom salt masks and those little red bumps on my jaw line are going away (so maybe it WAS irritation). I am experimenting with washing with water only in am and my cleanser in pm. The issue with this toner is my face feels dry afterwords - not painfully so but it is dry. OFG recommended waiting a week to see how my skin adapts. I think moisturizers are making my acne worse and the more natural ones (jojoba, aloe) also make my acne worse. what's a girl to do. BTW, i am still breaking out and i don't expect this to stop it but at least it has simplified my routine.
this is making me break out 
i dont know why. im using berts bees all natural cleanser followed by this using my hands every morning and before i go to bed. i noticed i was breaking out so i added a sea salt and apple cider vinegar mask for 10 min to help but its about the same. what do i do? ive been drinking green tea citrus by lipton and i dont drink dairy or anything except at school which is low fat chocolate milk and disgusting.
You're applying this toner with your hands? I say don't. I haven't touched my face since I started using this which might partly be why it worked so well. Plus make sure it doesn't all just drip off your face.
How long have you been using this and what were you using before?
This might have something to do with the PH level since gingergirl posted earlier about it being kind of high and that was with loose tea and apparently the bleached teabags can make it go even higher. So definitely use loose tea, take it out of the teabags first and then add about 1/8 tsp of lemon juice.
i used x out before this. ive been using this for 2 weeks or so and was told to use my hands instead of cotton balls. i add acv to bring down the ph. i think it was 1/4 a teaspoon or something. i just use the regular green tea bags. 16 and let them boil.
It's a quarter teaspoon of sea salt and if you want to add ACV then it's a few drops. Have you tried just the green tea and sea salt? How did that go? Maybe even the small amount of ACV is too much for your skin
Also - have you ever used that burts bees cleanser before and if so, did you have any reaction/break outs then? Because if you've just started that cleanser at the same time as starting this toner it'll be hard to tell which one is 'causing' the breakout.
I don't know anything about the burts bees cleansers but maybe you should check the ingredients in it - often things marketed as 'natural' etc still have chemicals or preservatives that may not be the best for our skin.
If you've stopped consuming dairy apart from at school, you way as well give it up there too right? just in case that's enough to bring on any break out
And I think it would be fine to use your hands to apply the toner, provided they are clean and you are being gentle when you apply it to your face.
Hope it works out for you 🙂
i used x out before this. ive been using this for 2 weeks or so and was told to use my hands instead of cotton balls. i add acv to bring down the ph. i think it was 1/4 a teaspoon or something. i just use the regular green tea bags. 16 and let them boil.
It's a quarter teaspoon of sea salt and if you want to add ACV then it's a few drops. Have you tried just the green tea and sea salt? How did that go? Maybe even the small amount of ACV is too much for your skin
Also - have you ever used that burts bees cleanser before and if so, did you have any reaction/break outs then? Because if you've just started that cleanser at the same time as starting this toner it'll be hard to tell which one is 'causing' the breakout.
I don't know anything about the burts bees cleansers but maybe you should check the ingredients in it - often things marketed as 'natural' etc still have chemicals or preservatives that may not be the best for our skin.
If you've stopped consuming dairy apart from at school, you way as well give it up there too right? just in case that's enough to bring on any break out
And I think it would be fine to use your hands to apply the toner, provided they are clean and you are being gentle when you apply it to your face.
Hope it works out for you
theres nothing else to drink at school. also i didnt use the berts bees cleanser before so it could be this. im going to give it a week or two more though. i read how much acv to put in somewhere one here.
And you don't like to drink water at school right? hmm how about making homemade ice teas or something? I don't know how you'd do that - so you could look to google to find out. I'd suggest getting used to drinking water anyway... maybe others here will have better suggestions.
Yeah I think you should give it a while longer. I think this toner is slowly working for me. Can't tell if it will do wonders but I'm just being patient with it.
theres nothing else to drink at school. also i didnt use the berts bees cleanser before so it could be this. im going to give it a week or two more though. i read how much acv to put in somewhere one here.
In regards to the cleanser jonathan, burt's bees was somewhat recently bought out by Clorox. Yes that's right, the same company that makes Clorox bleach. Many people have noticed unwanted changes to formulas like the milk and honey lotion, and many others. Like Lilly said, just because it has a burt's bees label doesn't mean it won't contain things that are too harsh for skin.
I'd experiment with a homemade cleanser. I've posted a few links to recipes in this thread, but i can post them again for you. Like i've said before, i don't even use a cleanser. And lately, as in the past couple weeks, i've been soaking in sea salt water baths for 30-40 minutes to experiment with that method. All i've been doing is pouring the sea salt water over my head repeatedly for the 30 minutes and that is all i do for cleansing. If you need to exfoliate you can use a baby tooth brush or baby hair brush while doing this, but after you've soaked for around 15 minutes.
But that's if you go the soaking route
I'd definitely give homemade cleansers a try if you go the cleanser route. That way you have control over everything that goes on your face. And can't you bring your own drink in your backpack to school? I'd ditch milk altogether. Especially sugar loaded chocolate milk. And everything processed, as well as everything containing sugar needs to go Jonathan. Sorry, but these are sacrifices you have to make if you are trying to battle your acne from all directions. No junk food
Can this help my acne? Strictly whiteheads.....
Hey guys, I've had these little skin colored bumps for quite sometime and I want to finally deal with them, the pics are below but when I squeeze them out its like a string of puss, not very liquidy, just a long string of puss. Some that are on my chin are seriously impossible to get out and there isn't even an opening, and she i try to squeeze them out I just end up scarring my chin up even more. Ive tried just about everything from BP 10%, Salicylic Wash 2%, exfoliaters, and I'm currently doing 20% Salicylic Peels, I've done 3 of them in the past 2 weeks and haven't seen really any improvement except for the blackheads on my nose. I'm hoping someone has his problem and they know how to fix it..... Thanks.
walshy,
If those are closed comedones, you may want to check out this thread, especially starting at message #25. Miritextiles talks about getting rid of closed comedones with salicylic acid and hemp oil. http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/316415-benzoyl-peroxide-salicylic-acid-or-tea-tree-oil/page__st__20
Then there is this discussion about those bumps on another thread: http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/309992-how-do-i-get-rid-of-these-tiny-bumps-on-my-cheeks-that-when-i-popped-them-a-string-of-pus-comes-out-of-them/
this is making me break out
i dont know why. im using berts bees all natural cleanser followed by this using my hands every morning and before i go to bed. i noticed i was breaking out so i added a sea salt and apple cider vinegar mask for 10 min to help but its about the same. what do i do? ive been drinking green tea citrus by lipton and i dont drink dairy or anything except at school which is low fat chocolate milk and disgusting.
Johnathon,
My son is 15 and he doesn't drink at school either, although he does drink a lot at home. He happens to love water because it is filtered and I keep two Fiji bottles full of it in the refrigerator. It's so much better cold! Anyway, I just had a discussion with him that he just has to find a way to drink at school, even if it's a small bottle of something that goes in his back pack. He complains that all the drinks at school are really expensive and the fountain water is awful.
Also, my son tried the Burt's Bees Facial cleanser (with willow bark), and it did him no favors. I tried it too and was not impressed.
Next time you mix up a batch of green tea toner, why not make it with just plain tea? This will provide you with a base from which you can experiment by pouring out 1/4 cup and adding ACV or lemon or any other additions others have mentioned. You need to experiment to see what works best for you. Just remember this: Distilled water has a pH of 6.0. Tap water is between 7.0 and 8.0. Each drop (I use an eyedropper) of AC or lemon added to 1/4 cup of tea will lower the pH by .5. (for example, you need 2 drops to lower the pH from 7.0 to 6.0). If you use distilled water you are so close to the skin's approximate 5.5 that you don't REALLY have to worry about lowering the pH unless your skin is really sensitive.
The other thing is that you may want to dilute the mixture a bit at the beginning and gradually work your way up to a stronger solution. Or you may be better off sticking with the diluted version. You really need to experiment a bit.
I wish I could recommend a cleanser. My son has given up on them and so have I, but you could consider using diluted ACV or salt water as a cleanser, rinse, then apply the plain toner. This smells awful, but you can even wash your face with plain yogurt...I have found that it is very powerful (it's lactic acid), even more so as a mask and it doesn't smell when it dries on your skin. You can leave it on for half an hour, an hour or even overnight. Use nonfat if your skin is oily, whole milk if it is dry, and lowfat if it is in-between. I have only used non-fat Fage Greek yogurt so far and I really like the results. It has a pH of 5.5 which is nice. (Search the web for "yogurt mask acne" to find reviews.)
Hope that helps!
So, I thought this would be a good addition to my own regimen, and made a strong batch of green tea last night. I used loose organic gunpowder green tea and the tea came out a sort of dark amber color. I haven't added any salt yet, I just put the tea in a glass bottle and put it in the fridge. This morning it looks kinda opaqe and cloudy. Is this normal?
So, I thought this would be a good addition to my own regimen, and made a strong batch of green tea last night. I used loose organic gunpowder green tea and the tea came out a sort of dark amber color. I haven't added any salt yet, I just put the tea in a glass bottle and put it in the fridge. This morning it looks kinda opaqe and cloudy. Is this normal?
That is exactly what happens to the straight green and white teas that I brew in high concentration. I asked a while back if others had that experience but didn't get a reply. We brew black iced tea quite often and keep it in the refrigerator and it stays clear, so I assume it's just the green and whites that turn opaque when refrigerated. Or maybe it's the high concentration.
So, I thought this would be a good addition to my own regimen, and made a strong batch of green tea last night. I used loose organic gunpowder green tea and the tea came out a sort of dark amber color. I haven't added any salt yet, I just put the tea in a glass bottle and put it in the fridge. This morning it looks kinda opaqe and cloudy. Is this normal?
That is exactly what happens to the straight green and white teas that I brew in high concentration. I asked a while back if others had that experience but didn't get a reply. We brew black iced tea quite often and keep it in the refrigerator and it stays clear, so I assume it's just the green and whites that turn opaque when refrigerated. Or maybe it's the high concentration.
ok, thanks. If you're still having success using cloudy green tea, than I won't be scared to use it, lol. I did rub some of the spent leaves on my face last night (didn't want to waste them) and noticed less reddness this morning so I'm hopeful.
We can wash our face through out the day right?
I wash my face as normal - once in the morning when I wake up and then once at night.
You really don't want to be washing your face more than twice a day. Anything more than that can be too irritating for your skin and just make things worse.
Never in a million years would i think my skin would get this bad.....sigh. Not only am i dealing with large inflamed, garden variety pimples, my chin has exploded with over 20 + small red pimples. It makes my chin/mouth are look like i have an ever growing rash.
Don't know what is going on. The pimples don't appear to be healing and the ones that do go away leave marks that look rashy as well.
ACV even diluted seems to prolong redness and maybe irritate my skin (i went bright red this morning). Will diluting this with green tea help with things (no salt included).
How would i make that toner?
I'm thinking that even the small amount of ACV that I added in my last batch may be causing slight irritation to my skin. I've noticed tiny whiteheads all over. I can't be sure though as my diet has been pretty bad and sugar filled lately. I'll finish this batch of toner while fixing up my diet and then see what happens. I'll probably go back to just the green tea and sea salt though.
Just wanted to chime in here about homemade cleansers; definitely the way to go! A couple of my favorites are plain oatmeal, and milk and honey cleanser. The way you use oatmeal is to take about a tablespoon of plain organic oats in your palm, then clench your fist and run your fist under warm water (letting the water seep through your fingers) until the oatmeal in your hand is thoroughly saturated. Then open your fist and squeeze the "milk" of the oatmeal out into your other hand and onto your face. This alone will work great but you can also use the saturated oatmeal along with the milk. You can make the milk and honey cleanser by mixing equal parts of honey and milk. The only downside to this is that you have to make it fresh everyday, but it's a little more heavy duty than oatmeal.
On a side note, does anybody know if I can change my username on here??? I got married last year and it's not a huuuge deal... but still... lol
hey guys..... i'm doing okay with my home made bitter gourd tea + clindamycin toner (although still am breaking out...coz my period came late and everything.....the inevitable aarrggghhhh)
went back to my derm for my accutane prescription......... just wanna ask you guys what's better a chemical peel or just a home made scrub like pure baking soda scrub????
