Many people are turning to home remedies for acne for a couple of reasons:

(1) Home remedies are often consider more natural, and hence safer, than prescription or over-the-counter acne treatments. Benzoyl Peroxide is in almost all acne medications and is considered harsh on the skin by many.

Quick Facts on Benzoyl Peroxide

• Pure Benzoyl Peroxide is considered highly flammable and should be handled with care. Luckily you aren't putting the pure stuff on your face when you are using most acne treatments
• In 1976 an experiment was performed and 75% of the individuals involved experienced some contact sensitization to the peroxide
• Benzoyl Peroxide is also used to bleach hair!

Home remedies for acne don't have any benzoyl peroxide in them and they usuall avoid other harsher chemicals.

(2) Home remedies are usually less expensive

In High School I tried everything possible on my face (including accutane and Pro-Active). Accutane can be really expensive depending on whether or not your insurance will foot part or all of the bill. Pro-Active can also be a little expensive (around $40 a month until the day you die). For most people if they saved $40 a month at 12% until the day they died, they would be millionaries.

If you search online for home remedies you are going to come up with an unbelievably long list of exotic options that sound like they may work. I really think that some people are just making up some of these ideas. A home remedy you might hear on the Internet might go something like this: Ff you mix lemon leaves from a Koala tree with a spine-thorned cactus from the top of Mt. Kilamanjaro your acne will be cured. Trust me, my brother's friend does this twice a day and his skin is excellent. Don't fall for these scams. Look for something that is practical and affordable. Below are some excellent home remedies.

Oatmeal: Simply warm the oatmeal how you normally would (leaving out the milk and sugar of course). Wait for the oatmeal to cool until it is luke warm. At this point apply it to your face and wait for the outside edges to dry. Then rinse it off and you're done! Doing this every day might be a stretch, but doing it every once in a while can be fun and healthy for your skin.

Avocado: Mix avocados with some water and form a rather thick paste. Rub the avocados on your face gently and then let it remain for a while (at least 15 minutes). The truth is I don't usually worry too much about leaving avocados on for long because they seem to lack harsh chemicals. Rinse the paste off and dab your face dry.

Eat More Carrots: I'm not sure what it is about carrots, but a lot of people report that eating more carrots or carrot juice (never tried it, doesn't sound good) really helps their acne. Of course it might be these same people claiming that carrots cured the blind man.

Watch How Drinking Milk Affects You: Over the years there have been mixed reports on whether or not milk causes acne. Some reports seem to provide conclusive evidence that it does, while other reports seem to show that there is no correlation. My suggestions is to monitor your milk drinking habits and see if you have breakouts after drinking the milk.

Head and Shoulders: I normally wouldn't include this in my home remedies for acne list, but a lot of people seem to think it works. I think it is at least worth a try, especially if you are already using Head & Shoulders as your shampoo. The best thing about this option is that it will probably take you about 30 seconds in the shower. The worst is that it probably just as harsh on your skin as some of the other acne remedies out there.