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Treatment to help calm inflamed skin

If you are in a vicious circle with over-the-counter (OTC) acne products that you suspect are making your skin worse, you can break the cycle without expensive products. Here is what to do.
 
1. For three to five days, cleanse your skin only with distilled witch hazel. A beautician advised me to use this years ago, and it is gentle and safe. You can get it from any chemist/pharmacy – a 200ml bottle costs about £2/$3. Use cotton wool soaked with witch hazel to wipe the skin gently until the cotton wool comes away clean. If you wear make up, don’t worry – just use more witch hazel and cotton wool until your skin is clean.

Witch Hazel

Extract of witch hazel bark and leaves is used in aftershave and for treating bruises and insect bites

Drink plenty of water

2. Moisturise and soothe your skin with a pure aloe vera gel (this should contain no perfumes, colours or other ingredients). You can get this from health food stores or pharmacies.

3. Treat inflamed spots directly with a little pure tea tree oil (also available cheaply from pharmacies and health food stores) dabbed on with a cotton bud.

4. Make sure you drink plenty of water – at least two litres a day. This can include tea, mild coffee, milk, juices and soft drinks, but not strong coffee or alcoholic drinks.
 Aloe Vera
Aloe vera, also known as the Medicinal Aloe, is a species of succulent plant that probably originated in Northern Africa, Madagascar and the Arabian peninsula

Calming Regime

After three to five days, assess whether your skin feels better. If you were having a reaction to the proprietary acne products you were using before, the chances are that it will be feeling calmer and looking much improved.

You can continue with this regime as long as you like or find other products that suit your skin (more on suitable products for sensitive skin later) but if a new OTC acne product makes your skin inflamed again, you would do well to stop using it and return to this calming regime.
 Tea Tree
Tea tree oil or melaleuca oil is taken from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia. It is a clear to very pale golden colour with a fresh camphoraceous odor
 
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