You’ve probably tried consulting with your skincare specialist, had been prescribed strong meds, perhaps even tried prescription steroids but still to no avail.
Now, you’ve decided to go all-natural and turn to remedies.
How about turmeric for acne? Find out more about how this remedy works right here.
What Causes Acne?
To get rid of acne, you have to understand its triggers. Here’s one point men and women with acne-challenged skin tend to forget when they’re seeking the right treatment to clear their inflamed skin.
Listed below are common acne triggers, including habits that cause acne:
Marked Changes In Hormone Levels:
- This is what makes acne common among adolescent boys and girls and acne after menopause common among women.
- Your hormones keep the ideal balance in your system.
- Changes in just one hormone resulting from many reasons including chronic stress, poor diet, or anxiety can destroy that balance.
- It then affects otherwise normal and healthy organ functions, including that which is the largest of them all — your skin.
Chronic Stress:
- Stress is good but, only when it is short-lived.
- It teaches you to become more resilient and innovative in finding creative solutions to the most pressing problems that you are facing.
- When it becomes the norm, however, your hormones, which act as your body’s natural switches, become adversely affected.
- Add to that prolonged elevated heart rates, tensed muscles, and the sudden spike in testosterone levels which cause sebum production to increase which, in turn, clogs your pores, making your skin more favorable to the growth and proliferation of acne-causing bacteria.
Improper Skin Care Practices.
- For one, a skincare regimen that fails to draw out impurities from your pores is enough to trigger an acne breakout.
- Add to that, poorly formulated products with harsh and comedogenic ingredients and you got yourself a skin disaster waiting to happen.
Environmental Stressors:
- Smoke, dust, heat, and pollution — all of these can trigger an infection that can blow up into a breakout.
- The primary mechanism for infecting your skin due to these factors is clogged pores.
- However, changing weather conditions can also cause your skin to make certain adjustments, such as producing more oil when the atmosphere is dry and hot. This is the major cause of acne during summer.
Unhealthy lifestyle And Bad Habits:
- Before you start preoccupying yourself about how to treat acne with turmeric or, whether double cleansing with coconut oil will be good to clear up your breakout, it is imperative that you closely examine how you’ve been living your life.
- Observe what’s in your regular diet. To clear acne, you need fewer fats, less processed foods, more antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, and more fresh fruits and veggies.
- You should also get at least 7 hours of sleep night after night to give your body sufficient time to facilitate repairs and to regenerate.
- If you’ve been smoking, you’ve been exposing yourself, including your skin, to toxic chemicals that aren’t just blocking your pores with smoke and ash, but also compromising the proper functioning of your organs and natural mechanisms, most especially that concerning blood pressure and circulation.
- If you want to clear up your skin, cleaning up your bad habits and unhealthy lifestyle will be a great place to start.
Related: Acne Treatments that Really Work
Is Turmeric Good For Acne Prone Skin?
To answer that question, it is imperative for you to have an idea of what is inside turmeric that has made it a go-to herbal medicine for many centuries past.
Traditional uses of turmeric include as spice and flavor for dishes, but also as a therapeutic medicine for the relief of arthritis, muscles and joint pains, stomach aches, liver and kidney diseases, and even skin infections and, recently, even for skin cancers.
According to a study summarizing the traditional and modern uses of turmeric, turmeric has been demonstrated by several studies to have the following natural properties: “antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antioxidant, antiseptic, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, radioprotective, and digestive activities”.
Curcumin is the primary component of turmeric to which most of these healing properties have been alluded to.
It also contains other curcuminoids and also volatile oils that further contribute to turmeric’s medicinal uses.
However, based on a review made by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), although there is a dearth of studies claiming to have demonstrated the medicinal and therapeutic properties of turmeric, there has yet to be a piece of compelling evidence to prove its anti-inflammatory benefits, where using turmeric for acne will fall under.
Still, modern-day medicinal uses of turmeric appear to be for anti-inflammatory purposes.
So, can turmeric cure acne?
First of all, you must already know that an acne is a form of skin inflammation caused by a bacterial infection, that of p. acnes.
Second, you know that to get rid of the manifested swelling and redness, you need to fight the inflammation and calm your skin. Right? There are several studies that have shown that turmeric performs better than your aspirin and ibuprofen, and can even completely heal inflammation, What’s the deal? You have to eat it to unlock turmeric’s benefits for acne.
How Can You Use Turmeric To Clear Your Skin Of Acne?
There are many ways that you can try to make turmeric work in favor of your clear, blemish-free skin. Listed below are just some of the many possible uses of turmeric for acne along with some of the best acne recipes that you can prepare at home:
Eating turmeric for acne has also been a widely used remedy for relieving skin of acne and other associated diseases and forms of inflammation.
Use turmeric to sauté your favorite chicken breast or lean meat pieces such as part of a curry dish.
You can also add minced pieces to your cup of tea or, make it into a tea of its own.
You can even snack on tiny bite-size pieces.
1. Easy Turmeric Face Mask For Acne
Preparing turmeric into a face mask might not be the most enticing all-natural concoction to put on your face simply because of its curcumin content which turns any turmeric paste into a yellow-orange hue.
The color also may not come off of your skin very easily.
Anyhow, if it’s clear skin that you’re after then, here are 8 recipes that you can try to give your acne-challenged skin a boost and a shot at becoming blemish-free once and for all.
Simply prepare turmeric into a paste and mix it with the other ingredients mentioned. Always spread the turmeric mixture over freshly cleansed skin.
Leave on for 15 to 20 minutes before rinsing off with lukewarm water. No need to use a cleanser to rinse off. Follow through with a moisturizer to help immediately restore your skin’s ideal moisture. Repeat the routine once up to thrice weekly depending on your skin’s tolerance. Here are the recipes:
- Turmeric And Oatmeal Mask For Acne:
This recipe is best when you have swollen bumps and reddish skin, and when your skin is further exacerbated by inflamed skin conditions like rosacea, eczema or, psoriasis.
- Turmeric With Honey For Treating Acne:
Honey also has natural antibacterial properties and also boasts of a powerful humectant capability. This recipe is, therefore, best for treating sore skin or drier types of acne-challenged skin.
- Turmeric With Coconut Oil To Cure Acne.
Skin beset by other congenital or hyper-sensitive skin conditions can benefit from this concoction.Use virgin coconut oil for a purer mixture.
Make sure to rinse well after masking to ensure that coconut oil does not clog your pores.
- Turmeric With Olive Oil To Treat Acne:
If you have large pores and worry that coconut oil might cause your skin to go on an oil production overdrive, olive oil can be a viable alternative.
Olive oil also contains rich amounts of antioxidants[1] that help revitalize and protect your skin from future damage.
- Lemon And Turmeric For Acne Scars:
A natural astringent, lemon, when added to turmeric, can improve the appearance of dark marks left behind by acne scars.
An added benefit includes natural skin toning properties that tighten your pores and smoothen out your skin.
- Turmeric And Sandalwood For Acne:
Sandalwood’s naturally antibacterial and rehydrating properties can help improve the overall appearance of your skin.
Older skin plagued by adult acne can benefit from the triple advantage offered by this concoction.
- Turmeric And Yogurt Mask For Acne:
Regular exfoliation is a top recommendation for relieving your skin of acne.
Yogurt naturally contains lactic acid, an alpha-hydroxy acid, that lifts and eliminates dead skin cells to prevent these from clogging your pores and, along with it, acne-causing bacteria.
Lactic acid is generally considered a great way to exfoliate hypersensitive and reactive skin types.
- Turmeric And Aloe Vera Mask For Acne.
If your skin has been taking plenty of beating from acne, acne scars, and tiny holes on your skin have appeared, this mask will boost your skin’s natural healing and repair mechanisms with the help of aloe vera.
2. Turmeric Soaps
Here’s a great anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-rich liquid face and body wash to help relieve your skin from inflammation caused by acne:
- Green Tea and Turmeric Face and Body Wash.
- Things you’ll need: green tea powder, turmeric powder, coconut oil[2]
, olive oil, and honey (optional) - Mix all ingredients in. Stir to incorporate everything together. Pour into an opaque bottle and enjoy
3. Turmeric For Skin Care
Based on authoritative advice provided by the NCCIH:
Turmeric in amounts tested for health purposes is generally considered safe when taken by mouth or applied to the skin.
High doses or long-term use of turmeric may cause gastrointestinal problems.
Again, turmeric has been used for centuries, both ingested and as a topical solution.
However, some people may manifest adverse reactions to turmeric.
If it is your first time using it, make sure to try a small amount first and observe before taking a full dose or, before spreading it over a larger area of your skin.
Related: How To Get Rid Of Depressed Acne Scars Quickly And Naturally
FAQ’s:
Que: Does turmeric remove acne?
Ans: Yes, turmeric powder helps in treating pimples by removing excess oil and destroying the bacteria due to its antimicrobial properties.
Que: Can turmeric cause pimples?
Ans: Yes, overdosing your skin with turmeric can cause acne.
Que: Is turmeric face mask good for acne?
Ans: Yes, turmeric face mask to help reduce acne and any resulting scars.
Que: Does turmeric clear dark spots?
Ans: Yes, it reduces dark spots on the skin.
Conclusion
Turmeric has proven its usefulness in traditional medicine and for therapeutic purposes.
There’s certainly a basis for why men and women have been turning to turmeric for countless ailments over several centuries past.
No less than scientifically conducted studies are confirming the pharmacological value of turmeric.
In the case of your acne-challenged skin, if your hope for clearer, blemish-free skin was already hanging by a thread, should you turn to turmeric to treat your acne? The evidence is complete.
A very long tradition of turmeric use for skincare could be another proof of effectiveness.
Still, in the end, it all boils down to how your skin responds to turmeric as an acne treatment.
Keep in mind that even though turmeric is derived from natural origins, there’s always a possibility for adverse reaction and so it is in your best interest to proceed with caution.