BLEMISHES

Hi,
There was another similar thread late last year, so I'll just repost what I previously wrote there:

Hey ladies,

I've been really focusing on tackling this problem
since last fall, and found some great info out there that might help
you, too.

A little background: At age 12 for some reason I
decided to try Noxzema and overnight turned my face skin from flawless
into an inflamed, oozing nightmare. By painful trial-and-error I pretty
much narrowed it down to anything with cocktail of chemical
ingredients, especially active ingredients that tingle or have
immediate results (acids, etc.). Since then I've only been able to use
very gentle products on my face and body. Other than that my skin was
lovely. Then about 6 years ago I started getting irregular breakouts,
and since have been searching for natural ways to get rid of it.

Because
of my sensitivity to chemicals, I haven't been able to try many of the
most popular remedies like ProActiv, peroxides and acids (on the whole
this is a blessing), which has meant very slow progress. However, in
the past few months I have learned that there are probably multiple
sources to my acne, which has helped me not throw out good products and
solutions that only provide results after long-term use, as well as
pass up others that I know won't treat the source of my individual acne
problem.

To help figure out one source of my breakouts, I read about facial diagnosis; here's a good quick overview. While it's probably better to see a naturopath, or Ayurvedic or
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner for thorough and
accurate diagnosis, I can't afford it at the moment so this chart
helps. Because my pimples tend to pop up in the same places, I was able
to determine I have some digestive issues (which I already knew, but
didn't ever link to my pimples).

Last year I found a website
called High on Health (http://www.highonhealth.org) that chronicles a
woman's battle for the past 3 years to get rid of her cystic acne
(caused by stress, candida, and product overload) using natural
methods. She's rather obsessive about skin and natural health (in a
likable way), which is great for us since she documents all of her
research, product trial-and-error, and offers some pretty balanced
information and advice. While she consistently says that there is no one miracle product or solution that will work for everyone,
she highly recommends a couple of particular natural products and has a
list of no-nos (like no squeezing or picking). I would try to ignore
the product recommendations until you have read the information about
determining the source of your acne.
From there you can search her site for more information about remedies
for your particular problem, be it reducing the number of products you use (overload), stress,
balancing hormones or candida overgrowth, or identifying possible food
allergies. She is currently on a raw-foods and detoxing/colon cleanse
kick, but again she doesn't necessarily think this will work for
everyone. She also has a free video guide (10 short ones) to healing
your acne through health (http://www.the-clearest-skin-ever.com/) that
has some good information on topics such as scar fading with natural
products (you can download PDFs of the transcripts so that you don't
have to take notes or watch the videos again later). She also sells an
"Eat Away Your Acne Guide", but from feedback in the forums there I
decided not to purchase it because it's really best for people who have
no knowledge about how different foods impact your health. I think
people like curlyamazon and KinkyShea probably wouldn't benefit from
the Eat Away Your Acne guide. This site has helped me start working on
balancing my hormones (and reducing stress at key times in my menstrual
cycle) and candida overgrowth, which I'm sure I have since I've taken
antibiotics every few years for one thing or another since I was 12
(yep, I was prescribed tetracycline and erythromycin for my Noxzema
disaster, which ultimately has caused another disaster!). Thank
goodness I'm allergic to most of them, so I can break the cycle!

Lastly, in the transitioning forum I posted about pore-clogging, comedogenic ingredients in your skin and hair care (go here: http://www.curlynikki.forumotion.com/general-f3/acne-at-the-hairline-t2093.htm). Compare the ingredients of your current products to the ones on this
list, and if the comedogenicity rating of any of the first ten
ingredients is 3 or higher then pass up the product. This helped me
completely eliminate very annoying clogged pores on my back, and you'd be surprised what products have them. For example, Herbal Essence's Hello Hydration has ingredients that gave me hairline pimples!

Sorry for the long post, guys, but HTH!

I think that lately I've gotten my acne under control, but I still struggle with its battle wounds (aka the scars). I use Aveeno's Clear Complexion Cleanser every morning. I then use witch hazel pads as an astringent (even though I'm not as committed to it as I should be). I then use Ambi's Mark Minimizer (again, not as committed), and then cover up with a sunscreen.

Idk if I see a huge difference. I always check out acne.org for their advice, and what I found out from that website is that people with darker skin tones are more likely to suffer from post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. What's really important to deal with hyperpigmentation from acne is to use sunscreen to prevent your marks from getting darker. You can check out this site for more info: http://www.acne.org/spots-from-acne.html

Although they don't list it explicitly, you can see from the recommended treatments on acne.org that refraining from picking the blemish and exfoliation (chemical or physical) are useful since hyperpigmentation is temporary scarring of the upper layers of skin. I used hydroquinone for a couple of months a few years ago before I woke up and thought "WHAT exactly am I putting on my skin?!" I've found that lemon works well applied directly to spots (I do it at night with a cotton swab, it's when my face is "rejuvenating" anyway), and am sure exfoliation has been helping with circulation and renewal of skin cells. I think it makes sense to refrain from exfoliation if you have any new emerging pimples (I just avoid exfoliating the spot), so you don't further irritate the blemish.

If you'd rather stay away from products with synthetic ingredients or expensive treatments, then here are some natural techniques and products for helping to reduce hyperpigmentation:

Treating Acne Pigmentation Scars With Natural Products
from The Clearest Skin Ever
This is a compilation of natural acne scars treatments you can try yourself at home. Please note that these treatments are only for pigmentation scars, which is that discoloration of the skin (pink, red or brown depending on the color of your skin).

1. Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is one of the most common at home remedies for treating pigmentation acne scars because it can lighten the skin (and hair!). To use, simply apply freshly squeezed lemon juice to your scars daily. Leave on for 15 minutes then wash off with water.

2. Emu Oil
This is an oil that is extracted from the fat glands of emus - so not a good one for
vegetarians! Works quite well and is non-comedogenic so safe to use on the skin. More easily available in Australia, so Internationals may need to check online.

3.Manuka Oil
Stronger than manuka honey so wonderful at healing acne and acne pigmentation scars. Hard to find in stores so look online locally to you.

4.Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera wonʼt lighten the skin but it will reduce redness and inflammation caused by scarring. The best way to use aloe is to apply it straight from the plant. So cut a leaf off, and dap the gel inside directly to your skin.

5.Neem Oil
In my opinion Neem is a product that is definitely not used enough! Neem is a wonderful natural anti-bacterial and can be applied directly to acne scars for treatment.

6.Exfoliation
Exfoliation of the skin is another way to help speed up the natural healing process of your hyperpigmentation scars. Exfoliation simply removes any dead skin cells and encourages new healthy skin cells to grow. This means new healthy scar free skin cells!

There are many natural ways to exfoliate your skin if you donʼt want to buy a store bought product. The easiest way is to mix baking-soda or oatmeal into your cleanser, filtered water or something luxurious like honey or yogurt.

Remember - pigmentation acne scars WILL fade with time so patience is the key!