Acne Products

All puns aside, a big pimple that’s front-and-center on your face can cause havoc on both your self-esteem and your social life. However, if it’s an isolated occurrence (meaning, you don’t have widespread acne), it’s usually much easier to kill than mass-breakouts.

You know the story—the teenage girl, standing in the mirror in her prom dress—and, horrors! She just noticed that big, red hideous pimple on her cheek. As far as she is concerned, it’s basically the end of the world. You, along with our teen subject here, have plenty of options on how to annihilate that eye-soar.

• Toothpaste. Did you know that a dab of toothpaste–applied to a zit or big pimple–can dry, cleanse and sooth pimples? You do now; just apply a few dabs to the bugger, let it soak into the zit for a few hours and rinse it off.
• Many drugstores and supermarkets sell “sulfur masks”. They’re just what they sound like—they are worn whilst you sleep, and work to mitigate acne.
• Another technique to try involves the use of an ice cube, a speck of toothpaste and a speck of egg-whites. Use a mixture of the toothpaste and egg-whites to dry the pimple, then, apply the ice for a few minutes to reduce swelling and further dry out and heal.
• Use an unscented, acne-fighting cream or lotion on the spot after you have washed it with gentle soap.
• You can use concealor, but it’s only good for masking the problem of course. Nevertheless, make sure it contains no comedogenics and no oil.
• Try a fresh garlic clove. After you’ve cleaned the spot, lightly rub a clove of garlic on that unsightly big pimple. Garlic is well-known for its antibacterial, anti-toxic cleansing abilities.

If this pimple contains any pus, it’s usually ok to pop it. However, special care has to be taken to avoid additional contamination and inflammation. Under no circumstances do you use your fingernails to pop zits; just imagine a pool of dirt, bacteria, oil and soot—that’s what is under your nails.

Instead, use a sterile needle to extrude unsightly pus. Make certain that there is no excess “runoff”, as any falling pus will likely produce yet another zit. Dab it with a clean, damp cloth and apply an ice cube for a minute or two.
Your last-line of defense lies in a couple of other techniques. One of these uses alcohol. Half of a teaspoon of alcohol, applied to the big pimple, will help to reduce redness and counteract inflammation.

The other method uses aspirin. And no—you’re not taking them orally this time. With a couple of crushed aspirins, mixed with a tiny speck of water to make a paste, apply your solution evenly to the zit.

If that doesn’t produce results, you can even try natural lime juice to the beast that just won’t die. Notice the word “natural”, though—as in, from an actual lime.

If trying all of these techniques still yields no success, then your only weapon is time. Time, coupled with a few of these methods that you prefer, is the only thing that’ll heal it in this case.