How to Cure Acne

In order to cure acne you must find out what works for your skin. Skincare products out there will treat your acne, thus curing it. How to find what cures your acne is all about the ingredients in your skincare products, from drugstore to high-end brands. First you have to figure out what kind of skin you have either oily, dry, or combo. Finding referrals from your doctors and friends that have the same skin as you can help point you in the right direction. However, everybody’s skin is different so finding a cure is really through trial and error.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acne treatment
• Cleanser
• Moisturizer
• Sunscreen

Acne Treatments

1. There are so many different acne treatments out there, picking one off the shelves can be stressful. Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA) or salicylic acid, Benzyl Peroxide, Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA), Sulfur and Retin-A are just a few of the acne treatments that help cure your acne.

2. BHA should have a balanced pH of 3 to 3.5. AHA should have a balanced pH of 3 to 4. Any higher and the products will not be as effective, any lower and they will irritate your skin. BHA is a deep exfoliate for killing bacteria, white heads and blackheads. Benzyl Peroxide is just for killing bacteria and really should be used as a spot treatment. AHA is for surface exfoliating, but it may work for your acne too, since it renews and unclogs your skin. AHA also exfoliates more gently than the manual exfoliating scrubs for many people. I have oily very acne prone skin and BHA never worked for me, but AHA did.

3. 
   Massage soap on your face for 30 seconds before rinsing

   Sulfur is a good acne treatment. If you have tried everything else you may want to try this! There are sulfur clay mask and sulfur spot treatments. Try one, it worked for my acne. Prescription retin-A works the best for curing acne, since it is the strongest. If you can only use drugstore then retinal Hyde is stronger than retinol! If an ingredient is high on the ingredient list, the more effective it may be in curing your acne.

4. Wash your face only two times a day, over washing can aggravate acne even more. Use a gentle cleanser, medicated cleansers often do not do much, since the medication is not on your skin for very long.

5. Moisturize when needed. I do not believe in buying expensive upper-end moisturizers. Most moisturizers are all the same, they just moisturize. Oily skin really does not need moisturizer, you sunscreen in the morning is enough.

6. Sunscreen can actually help to cure acne faster, because the skin is protected from the sun’s harsh rays. You want a sunscreen that blocks UVB and UVA rays, not all sunscreens have good UVA protection, if any at all! UVA rays causes aging, UVB rays causes sunburns. In order to find the most protective sunscreen it is very important to read a sunscreen’s active ingredients. Physical sunscreens should have titanium dioxide and zinc oxide for UVA. Chemical sunscreens should have Avobenzone in it for UVA, also make sure that there is no octinoxate, it destabilizes the Avobenzone. Just think of it like, octinoxate. Try to find a sunscreen where the active ingredients have high percentages, the higher the more protection from the sun.

Tips & Warnings

• Give a product one month before you toss it, your skin takes that long to adjust.
• Apply ½ teaspoon of sunscreen to your face and neck in order to get the full SPF 15 or SPF 30 protection.
• Chocolate does NOT cause acne so eat some, especially the dark, which has good antioxidants for the skin.
• Do not touch or pick your face, it will cause more acne
• Try not to stress to much. Stress does not cause acne, but it can aggravate it
• Do not try all these new products at once, because then you will not know what broke you out
• One skincare product at a time, give it a month before bringing in another product