Acne is a rite of passage for many of us during our teenage years. If there is a hot party coming up, graduation, or job interview, we can almost guarantee there will be a new crop of spots before the weekend. While it’s not really possible to cure acne overnight, there are a few tricks that can be put to good use to limit the damage.

Prevention is Always the Best Medicine

If you currently have clear skin, you might not worry about acne until it is too late. Pimples do not just happen on their own. They are the cumulative effect of hormonal changes and hygiene. While you cannot control your hormones, there are some really simple ways to prevent pimples from ever happening in the first place. To help prevent an outbreak, follow these simple rules.

• Try to learn not to touch your face, especially with hands that need washing. They add invisible dirt to the oil already present, helping to form spots.
• Keep a regular regime of washing, or cleansing, moisturizing, and drying your face very gently.
• Try to drink a lot of water, to cool your system down.
• Always remove make up before sleeping. Nothing is worse for your skin than old make up, left on overnight, so keep some gentle wet wipes near your bed, if you tend to come home exhausted, and forget to remove it.

If you follow these tips, and are still unlucky enough to find yourself with a big pimple a few days before a big event, here are some tips that can help you temporarily get rid of acne overnight.

One popular “overnight” solution for acne is to apply toothpaste to the spot, using a cotton bud, in small amounts. Leave for as long as you can, preferably overnight. Remember to protect your pillows with an old towel, because the strong mint may bleach some of the color from it. This quick fix has its roots in traditional herbal medicine. Mint oil is a “green” or cooling herb, and spots come from too much heat in the blood, so the green properties take away the redness. The anti-septic properties from mint help to heal the spot. For those with very sensitive skin, toothpaste may be too harsh, so try a patch test by putting a tiny amount of toothpaste on an area of the face that is not very noticeable, leave for 10 minutes, and see if a strong reaction occurs. If nothing happens, still be cautious and use a smaller blob on the spot. It may sting a little, but the improvement can well be worth it!

If that spot has to be popped, try letting the professionals do it. If there is at least 24 hours before your big date, dinner or interview, run off to see your favorite technician, and watch carefully. She will know how to do the least damage to your skin, while making the blemish less visible. Cover up any remaining redness with a good concealer, making sure the blemish has enough time while you are at home, uncovered; to get the fresh air it needs to heal.

It’s not just the most popular sports injury treatment; it can actually help solve spot problems, too. Try putting an ice pack, or just one cube, wrapped in a small towel, on the affected area. Leave for 10 minutes and repeat 2 to 3 times a day. This works much like the mint cure, so it’s particularly good for very red and irritated spots.

Keeping hair off the face, by wearing a bandana, will help to heal spots near the hairline. Try wearing a cover on the hair, or tying it back, as it brushes the face while asleep. Consider loosing that fringe, especially if your hair tends to be oily. Hair touching the face is a big cause of spots, because it traps dirt from the environment. Oily hair is often washed every day, so the hair follicles work extra hard to produce more. Try leaving an extra day between shampoos, if a cut is not an option. It will gradually cut down on the amount of oil your hair produces, as if by magic.