My Favorite Natural Spot Treatments

Pimples aren’t fun. That’s a given. Thankfully, there a few tricks that we can employ to make pimples a little less severe and a lot more manageable.

Before I dive into my favorite natural spot treatments, I want to preface this post by saying that spot treatments are not an acne solution. In the vasty majority of cases, pimples and acne are caused internally and topical solutions while maybe helpful, are more of a bandaid than a solution. Having said that, at the end of the day, pimples happen. I should probably write a post at some point about what not to do when you get a pimple, but for now, these are the tips and products I’ve found to be the most successful at spot treating pesky pimples and acne.

Ice

Ice is my first line of defense when I feel a pimple coming in. Wrapped once in a paper towel, I will apply two full ice cubes to the spot. After I apply the ice cubes, I will cover it in Alitura & Apple Cider Vinegar. (More on that below). I find this combination is the best at preventing a pimple from getting super inflamed. Sometimes it’s just made them less severe, other times it’s prevented them from getting any bigger. Either way, it’s become my go-to strategy because it’s worked better than anything else so far!

Alitura + Apple Cider Vinegar

The Alitura clay face mask combined with raw apple cider vinegar has long been a regular part of my skincare routine. When my acne was really bad, I did this mask every three days. It worked so well at calming down my inflamed skin and always helped with scarring and the overall appearance of my skin. (You can get the full “recipe” for this mask in this post). Although I’ve been using this as a mask forever, only recently did I discover that it also makes a great spot treatment. Combined with ice, this is my favorite thing for stopping a pimple in it’s tracks. If I have an open wound, aka a picked pimple, I like to apply the Alitura mask with a bit of water. It works at calming the spot and drawing out impurities, but it’s a little less intense for an open wound. I’ve worn this spot treatment overnight, but be warned, it can crumble off your face while you sleep and be a little irritating.

Raw Manuka Honey

Did you know that Manuka Honey is from the same plant as tea tree? It’s no wonder this stuff is extremely anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. It’s extremely soothing to pimples, especially so on open wounds. It’s a little sticky, so although you could wear this overnight, it’s not exactly pleasant. I love putting honey on spots I don’t want to touch because it’s so sticky and I avoid touching my skin.

Dessert Essence Blemish Touch Stick

Tea tree oil is really the magic ingredient in this product. It also contains great ingredient like witch hazel and rosewood, but I’m mostly a fan of the tea tree oil. The reason I like this product as opposed to just straight up tea tree oil is that it’s a little less harsh and drying. Not only that, but it’s so much easier to apply in this handy little stick than anything else. If I do apply tea tree oil, I like to dilute it with a little hemp oil which serves as a carrier oil and makes it a little less harsh on your skin. Tea tree on it’s own can be really drying and might irritate the pimple even more.

Beautycounter Charcoal Mask

I would say by far, this is the best overnight spot treatment. Charcoal is great at drawing things to the surface so if you feel that something is just below the surface that you want to draw up, this is a great solution. Because this mask dries completely and doesn’t chip off like the clay mask, it’s great to sleep with and gives the treatment extra time to work. Of course, it’s fantastic as an all over face mask too!