Blemishes, pimples, zits, pustules treatment

Blemishes, pimples, zits, pustules — whatever you want to call them, they are unsightly and always seem to rear their ugly heads at the most inopportune moment, don’t they? Like right before you have to give a major presentation or have your picture taken! A blemish is considered a primary skin lesion, a structural change in the tissue, and it can develop on anyone’s skin and on any part of the body. A single blemish, or a few, as happens with mild acne, is caused by a chronic inflammatory disorder of the skin, usually related to over-active sebaceous glands during adolescence, but blemishes can occur at any age due to hormonal fluctuations, dietary indiscretions, excessive exposure to sunshine, chronic stress, constipation, and poor hygiene and lifestyle habits.

Blemishes are not just reserved for teens, sad to say. “Adult acne” is common these days and tends to appear after 35 years of age, most often in women — just when you thought you’d outgrown it!

A blemish forms when the follicle, which contains the hair root and secretes sebum onto the surface of the skin, becomes clogged with oil, excess dead cells, and bacteria. Depending on the degree of infection that forms, it can swell and will occasionally rupture, allowing the debris to escape into the surrounding dermis — or midlayer of the skin — resulting in irritation and inflammation. The body’s “anti-infection soldiers,” the white blood cells, rush in to fight against the bacteria, creating pus, a sticky, creamy-yellowish secretion. Thus you have the beginning of a pimple, which appears as an inflamed, red or blue-red lump.

When the pus-filled follicle ruptures near the surface of the skin, it is not so serious and will generally heal rapidly without leaving a permanent mark. However, remember what your mother said: “Don’t pick your face!” When pimples are pinched or squeezed, the infectious material can spread deep into surrounding tissues, potentially resulting in painful cysts that take a long time to reach the surface and heal — damaging tissue and leaving scars and hyperpigmentation in their wake.

I can’t stress this enough: It is of the utmost importance that your bowels move on a regular basis. Chronic constipation forces the body to reabsorb into the bloodstream toxins that would otherwise have been eliminated, thus leaving those toxins searching for another way to exit the body, frequently via your skin. A high-fiber diet that includes plenty of water or herb tea is recommended for bowel health.

To prevent blemishes from progressing to more than just an aesthetic annoyance, try the formulas below to help soothe, cool, and heal these minor skin lesions.

CHAMOMILE  CLEAR SKIN ELIXIR

Don’t be afraid of applying an oil to oily skin. It just has to be the right oil, and jojoba oil (a wax ester) is so chemically similar to sebum that it won’t exacerbate an already oily condition but instead will aid in oxygenating, properly moisturizing, and clearing the skin. This elixir helps balance problem skin resulting from overactive sebaceous glands. The combination of essential oils produces an antiseptic formula specifically designed to calm the skin, counteracting redness and inflammation. It also aids in normalizing dry areas, improves sluggish circulation, and stimulates new cell formation. This formula can be used on oily, blemished, acneic, combination, or normal skin.

Note: This is an aromatherapeutically concentrated formula, so use only by the drop as directed.

6 drops German chamomile essential oil
5 drops spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia) or lavender (L. angustifolia) essential oil
5 drops tea tree essential oil 2 drops clove essential oil
2 drops lemon essential oil 2 drops myrrh essential oil
2 tablespoons jojoba base oil

EQUIPMENT: Dropper, dark glass bottle with dropper top or screw cap PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus 24 hours to synergize

YIELD:
Approximately 2 tablespoons STORAGE: Store at room temperature, away from heat and light; use within 2 years

APPLICATION:
2 times per day Add the German chamomile, lavender, tea tree, clove, lemon, and myrrh essential oils drop by drop directly into a storage bottle. Add the jojoba base oil. Screw the top on the bottle and shake vigorously for 2 minutes to blend. Label the bottle and place in a dark location that’s between 60° and 80°F for 24 hours so that the oils can synergize.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Shake well before each use. In the morning and evening, after cleansing, apply the appropriate toner, astringent, or herbal hydrosol to your skin. While your skin is still damp, lightly massage 3 to 5 drops of the elixir into your skin, beginning with the chest, moving to the throat, and then the face, using upward, outward, circular strokes. Apply to shoulders and back as well, if needed. Wait 5 minutes before applying sunscreen, additional moisturizer, or makeup. The elixir can also be applied by the drop to individual blemishes after swabbing them with astringent or toner to remove excess oil. Witch Hazel and Yarrow Astringent (next page) is perfect for this purpose.

Bonus Apply this elixir by the drop to help heal cuts, scrapes, bruises, boils, rashes, insect stings and bites, infected ingrown hairs, minor burns, or any minor to moderate infection of the skin.

FRENCH LAVENDER DROPS: SERIOUS BLEMISH TREATMENT

I occasionally use lavender essential oil “neat” or undiluted to ward off infection, ease a tension headache, or dry up blemishes, cystic acne, or cold sores. I can almost guarantee that applying this essential oil blend directly to a blemish will reduce the blemish in size by at least 50 percent within 24 hours! The blend fights bacterial proliferation, eases inflammation and redness, and aids in skin cell regeneration. I recommend using these herbal drops to treat hormonal or adult acne that tends to develop after age 35, especially along the jawline. Adult acne is notorious for leaving red “stains” or hyperpigmentation marks on the skin that can take up to 6 months to fade. With the application of these concentrated herbal drops at the first sign of a blemish breakout, the resultant stains are a thing of the past, or at least greatly minimized. Remember — don’t pick your blemishes!

Note: This is an aromatherapeutically concentrated formula, so use only by the drop as directed.

2 drops rosemary (chemotype verbenon) essential oil
2 drops tea tree or niaouli essential oil
2 drops thyme (chemotype linalool) essential oil
1 drop German chamomile essential oil 1 tablespoon lavender essential oil

EQUIPMENT: Dropper, dark glass bottle with dropper top or screw cap PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus 24 hours to synergize

YIELD: Approximately 1 tablespoon

STORAGE: Store at room temperature, away from heat and light; use within 2 years

APPLICATION:
2 times per day Add the rosemary, tea tree, thyme, and German chamomile essential oils drop by drop directly into a storage bottle. Add the lavender essential oil. Screw the top on the bottle and shake vigorously for 2 minutes to blend. Label the bottle and place in a dark location that’s between 60° and 80°F for 24 hours so that the oils can synergize.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Shake well before each use. In the morning and evening, after cleansing the affected blemish or blemished area, apply the appropriate toner, astringent, or herbal hydrosol to your skin. Pat dry. Apply 1 drop to each blemish, and gently tap it into the skin and surrounding area.

Bonus
This is highly potent herbal medicine with a gentle touch! Apply it by the drop to cuts, scrapes, punctures, burns, bug bites and stings, boils, bedsores and skin ulcers, blisters, ingrown toenails, and ingrown hairs.