After you’ve tried dozens of products, acne tips, and even LED masks, you still want to give the DIY lifestyle a try. Good for you! Sometimes, it’s OK to rely on what Mother Nature gives us, organic elements with pure nourishing, antioxidant, or healing properties for the skin. And here I mean soothing and calming ingredients, not something that’d destroy your skins’ barrier, like baking soda or lemon. I know you’ve heard they might be good for acne, but truly, they’re not — myths busted.
Related: What You Actually Need to Control Acne: The Easy & Smart Way
Baking soda can alter your skin’s pH and disrupt the skin’s protective oil barrier. This can make you prone to breakouts and infections, considering your skin may be stripped. As a rule of thumb, the topical lemon application can irritate your skin, make it dry or red since it’s extremely acidic. So these two are definitely a no, no.
Ready to give these do-it-yourself acne masks a try? These recipes need only easy-to-find ingredients and are as safe as even derms approve them!
Cucumber Cooling Face Pack
Ingredients:
- One cucumber
- One tablespoon of corn or sugar
- One tablespoon of honey
How to make it
Mash the cucumber (with its peel), add the corn/sugar and honey, mix well and apply it to your face for 10 minutes.
Benefits
Cucumber has skincare benefits, including vitamin C and caffeic acid, a combo that fights to reduce inflamed or irritated skin. It also adds a lot of hydration to your skin due to its high water content. The peel itself contains silica, which firms up sagging skin, while honey has an antimicrobial effect, most likely to kill bacteria. Of course, corn and sugar are used as efficient and healthy scrubs.
Smoothing Tea Tree Oil Mask
Ingredients:
- Two teaspoons of tea tree oil
- One tablespoon of honey (Manuka honey preferably)
- One tablespoon of yogurt
How to make it
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Distribute a thin layer over clean skin, let it sit for 10 mins and don’t forget to hydrate your skin after rinsing it off.
Benefits
The MVP here is tea tree oil. With its anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties, it helps calm active acne while prevents new acne from forming. Raw honey speeds up the skin cells’ healing process, thanks to its exfoliating properties, while yogurt is rich in zinc and helps restore your skin’s natural barrier.
Cinnamon Face Pack
Ingredients
- Two tablespoons of honey
- One teaspoon of cinnamon
How to make it
Apply the mixed ingredients to your face or to individual blemishes. Rinse after 30 minutes.
Benefits
Cinnamon is antimicrobial and can kill or suppress some of the microbes, being also a powerful astringent. Astringents help to shrink pores, which can make the skin appear smoother and evener. A review found that cinnamon has antimicrobial properties as well as wound-healing traits. The researchers also suggested that cinnamon may have anti-aging qualities for the skin — a great deal!
Aloe Vera Acne Mask
Ingredients
- A leaf of Aloe Vera
- 2 drops of tea tree oil
- 2 drops of sparkling water
How to make it
Use aloe vera as a base, add 2-3 drops of sparkling water and the tea tree oil before carefully applying the mixture to your face. Rinse off after about two minutes and moisture your skin well.
Benefits
Enzymes, minerals, vitamins, fatty acids are just a few compounds that aloe vera contains. Plus, it acts as an anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant agent, boosting blood flow in the skin while helping to kill bacteria. Its leaves are widely used to soothe skin that has been burned or irritated and are often applied to treat acne. No need for too much introduction, tea tree is a well-known acne-fighting ingredient with antibacterial activity.
Mask With Healing Turmeric
Ingredients
- One teaspoon of turmeric powder
- Few drops of sparkling water
- One teaspoon of honey
- One teaspoon of milk or yogurt
How to make it
Mix all the ingredients and when you get a paste-like consistency, apply it to your face. Rinse it off after no more than ten minutes; otherwise, the turmeric will turn your skin yellow — been there, done that.
Benefits
Turmeric is well known to reduce acne and any resulting scars. The anti-inflammatory qualities can target your pores, calm the skin and redness, minimize the appearance of scarring, brighten skin, and even help fight acne. Curcumin in turmeric has strong antimicrobial properties, and this is why it’s an excellent piece to do a mask for acne. Turmeric is also considered an antioxidant, a wonder-ingredient for your skin.
Other great ingredients for acne masks found in your kitchen
Since your goal is to fight the perfect natural addition to your skincare routine, here are two other common ingredients (super powerful-packed) used for fighting acne.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Known for its ability to kill many types of bacteria and viruses, the organic acids like acetic, citric, lactic found in apple cider vinegar may help kill acne-causing bacteria. The acids in it remove the damaged outer layers of the skin and promote regeneration. But pay attention, applying apple cider vinegar directly to the skin can cause skin damage and burns, especially for those with sensitive skin or open wounds. Being strongly acidic by nature is very likely to damage your skin if it’s not used in small amounts and diluted with water.
Oatmeal
An oatmeal mask is an effective remedy when it comes to treating several skin conditions, like eczema, rashes, acne, and inflammation. That’s because oat contains zinc, known to reduce inflammation and aid in killing the acne-causing bacteria. Rich in saponins, defined by their high cleansing properties, oat helps to soak up the excess oil from the skin that may trigger acne. Numerous studies have confirmed their beneficial effects — oatmeal contains both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, thanks to which it’s a fantastic ingredient for sensitive, acne-prone skin.
6 Best Acne Masks in 2021
For the moments you’re in a rush and don’t have time to prep your DIY mask, here are a few great products. Designed for your concern, oily skin, acne, and scars, promise, you’ll love them!
Rael Acne Skin Treatment
Not a mask, but these patches are made with high-grade hydro-colloid, adhering directly to the skin and extract impurities. Invisible so you can feel confident wearing them, these healing patches calm, flatten, and soothe your skin miraculously.
Clinique Oil-Control Cleansing Mask
With salicylic acid, aloe vera, algae, and kaolin clay, this mask helps heal and prevent your breakouts while keeping your skin shine-free. The formula goes deep into your pores, unclogging them, revealing smoother skin with each application.
The Body Shop Night Mask
Let this mask work while you sleep for better skin when you wake up. Infused with tea tree, salicylic acid, aloe vera, and zinc, it purifies your skin, making it feel refreshed and imperfections-free. And it’s vegan!
Vichy Mineral Pore Purifying Clay Mask
This is what you need to absorb sebum and impurities and soothe your skin at the same time. Made with kaolin, bentonite clays, aloe vera, and mays starch, it helps restore your skin at its best after each use.
Clinique All About Clean Mask
Within five minutes, this mask acts like a detoxifier for your skin, removing pollution, excess oil, and impurities. Formulated with bamboo charcoal and kaolin clay, it delivers highly detoxifying properties for refreshed skin. After all, Clinique always deliver the best and you can’t go wrong with this mask!
Chantecaille Detox Clay Mask
The natural formula assures your skin the necessary nutrients to purify your skin while absorbing oil and keeping it nourished. Kaolin, honey, rosemary, mushrooms, orange peel, and jasmine flower are just a few of the ingredients that’ll keep your skin healthy and free of toxins.
