Despite being well over 15 years removed from the prime of my experience with puberty, my body recently decided to give me a quick blast from the past. I woke up one morning this weekend to find the tip of my nose glowing with the grace of an oh so lovely and sizeable red pimple.
Key points
Thankfully (from one perspective) I didn’t have any hot dates lined up for the weekend, but it still was not something I was overly enthused about discovering. Wanting to nip it in the bud ASAP, I quickly did some research on both the life cycle of a pimple and natural remedies to expedite its death.
Of the many options that the internet provided, three in particular stood out and I decided to put them each to the test. Now, just a few days later, my once honking pimple is pretty well gone with just a barely visible mark still present.
Here are the 3 best pimple killing solutions I tested and am now happy to share with you:
1. Lemon Juice
My personal favourite of the 3 solutions is lemon juice. All that it requires is simply squeezing a few drops of lemon onto a cotton pad, and then holding the dampened part of the pad against your pimple for 15 minutes.
The acidity of the lemon may cause the pimple to burn a bit, especially if you couldn’t resist popping it and it is now an open wound (which I would never suggest). However, that same acidity is what will clean and dry out the affected area.
Once the 15 minutes is up, simply wash your face with water. I found that both times I did this not only did the redness of the pimple soon decrease, but the affected skin quickly dried and pealed itself closer to health.
If you don’t have any fresh lemons in the house and instead only have lemon juice, that too can apparently work just as effectively.
2. Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil is regularly affiliated with skin treatment, and is often one of the key ingredients in most “natural” acne solutions on the market. It should come as no surprise then that it also has healing potential when topically applied to an unwanted blemish.
For this solution, I would first wash my hands to ensure they are clean, place a drop or two of tea tree oil on my finger and then apply it directly to the affected area, letting it sit for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes were up, I would then wash my face with water.
3. Apple Cider Vinegar
Organic raw apple cider vinegar (ACV) is a flat out powerhouse when it comes to so many areas of our life. Don’t believe me? Check out this article I put together in January of this year outlining over 15 ways that ACV can improve your livelihood.
While diluted ACV makes for a great facial toner, it turns out it can also be quite effective in treating a pimple. Simply place a single drop of it on the affected area and let it sit for approximately 15 minutes before washing it off with water.
The ACV should help to reduce redness while decreasing the size of the pimple.
NOTE: Keep in mind that I am not a dermatologist or any form of a healthcare practitioner. I’m sharing these solutions based on my own experience as an end user. Please be sure to do your research and/ or consult with a trusted professional before incorporating any of these or any other potential treatments into your life.
The Conscious Side to Treatment
While some of you may see this as complete nonsense, I believe that another integral part to the healing process is our conscious perspective towards it. The more we vilify the pimple, the more likely it is to persist on our skin.
As unpleasant as the sight of the pimple was to me, I knew that getting upset would serve no purpose in helping it to disappear. Rather than getting worked up, I calmly looked into potential solutions giving my body a relaxed rather than stressed environment to address the issue as effectively as possible.
