If you’ve got blemishes, you’ll try practically anything to get rid of them. From pimple creams to facials, prescription medications to your best friend’s “never fail” method, you’re just desperate to get rid of your bumps.
One home treatment that many of us have heard about is using toothpaste on your pimples. Sounds interesting, and it’d be great if it really worked!
Unfortunately, putting toothpaste on pimples doesn’t work to remove the bump. In fact, it’s actually a bad idea to put toothpaste anywhere on your skin and can make your blemish worse and cause irritation. But why?
Let’s dive in to understand what causes blemishes, why toothpaste -- and a few other weird pimple “hacks” -- don’t work, and what you can do to get rid of blemishes naturally and effectively.
What Causes Blemishes?
Blemishes are caused by an excess of your skin’s oil (sebum) mixing with dead skin cells, dirt, and other impurities clogging your pores. What causes your skin to produce excess oil and not just the right amount? There are several factors. Here are a few of the most common.
Hormones
Hormones regulate virtually every process in your body, including your skin’s oil production. During your monthly cycle, your hormone levels fluctuate, which can trigger your sebaceous glands to produce more oil.
When your oil glands produce more oil, your pores can clog and cause blemishes. If you aren’t taking care of your skin and giving it what it needs for every stage of your cycle, you’ll end up seeing more breakouts and bumps.
Heredity
Acne is largely hereditary. If one or both of your parents struggled with breakouts, chances are you might, too. That doesn’t mean you can’t do something about your blemishes. There are so many options available today that your parents didn’t have access to; you can treat your blemishes differently than your parents did.
The Wrong Products and Treatments
Sometimes we get breakouts because we choose the wrong products or use treatments that aren’t helpful. Many acne medications and over-the-counter treatments can be drying and cause increased skin sensitivity.
If you’re using the wrong products that don’t work synergistically with your skin, you could end up with breakouts. The best choice is to look for skin care products that are natural, botanically-based, and gentle on your skin, especially if you are prone to breakouts.
Why Most “Hacks” Don’t Work
The main reason why pimple hacks don’t work is that they usually involve products that aren’t designed for use on your skin. When you use a product that isn’t specifically designed to be used on your skin, you risk skin irritation, rashes, dryness, and even more bumps.
Let’s debunk a few pimple hacks and explain why they should just be avoided.
Toothpaste
You’ve heard it from your mom and your best friend, “Just put a little toothpaste on that pimple.” It’s a bad idea. So how did it even start? Let us explain.
Toothpaste once contained an ingredient called triclosan, which was thought to eliminate pimple-causing bacteria. Triclosan isn’t a skin-safe ingredient. In fact, it’s not even safe for toothpaste. It’s almost never used in toothpaste now because it’s been shown to affect thyroid levels.
What we’re left with is toothpaste that contains a lot of baking soda, which can be especially drying to the skin. The ingredients in toothpaste are formulated to kill bacteria in your mouth and clean the surfaces of your teeth.
Your skin is much more delicate than your teeth, and using toothpaste on your skin could irritate it and make your blemishes worse.
Hemorrhoid Cream
Not the sexiest DIY hack we’ve heard of, but still a super popular one. The idea is that the active ingredient in hemorrhoid cream that helps soothe irritation down below can help reduce the size of your pimples. It makes sense -- but it doesn’t work.
While the ingredients in hemorrhoid cream might shrink your bumps a little, it’s still not an effective option for getting rid of your blemishes. Hemorrhoid cream may help diminish some of the swelling you have with pimples, but it doesn’t help get rid of it.
The ingredients in hemorrhoid cream may actually clog your pores and make matters worse. Hemorrhoid creams usually contain petroleum, paraffin, and mineral oil. These ingredients aren’t good for your skin and are known pore-cloggers.
Sun Exposure
It’s often thought that sun exposure can help reduce acne. However, this is just another product of the rumor mill.
Getting sun on your face can cause your face to burn, which can make it red and make pimples less visible -- but that’s far from an actual remedy! Not only will your acne still be present, but you’ll also be adding sunburn damage to your skin woes.
Sun exposure is also very drying to your skin, which can trigger your sebaceous glands to produce more oil.
Sun exposure can actually make your breakouts worse, and the damage it does to your skin isn’t worth the few days of camouflage a sunburn will give you.
How To Get Rid of Blemishes the Right Way
Leave the toothpaste for your teeth, always wear your sunscreen, and read on to find out how to remove pimples safely and effectively --no hemorrhoid cream required!
To get rid of pimples, you have to treat the source. The source of skin blemishes is an excess of sebum, dead skin cells, and other external impurities.
Your skin may be overproducing sebum because it’s actually dry. When your skin is dehydrated, it sends a message to your sebaceous glands to produce more oil.
Here are a few foolproof ways to get rid of blemishes once they form and prevent them from starting.
Pimple Stickers
This blemish treatment is so effective you might just think it’s magic. Pimple stickers are small, adhesive stickers that you place over a pimple to help diminish them until they literally disappear.
How does it work? Pimple stickers use hydrocolloid cover technology to help draw out pus and oil from your blemishes, leaving the pore clean and your skin looking more clarified.
Rael’s pimple stickers are available in two different blemish-busting formulas.
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Invisible Spot Covers. Our Invisible Spot Covers work great for pimples that have already developed. Whiteheads and red, raised bumps need a special treatment, and our invisible spot covers are the solution.
Our invisible spot covers come in two different sizes -- one for single blemishes and one to cover areas that have more than one bump. Pimple stickers are clear and blend in with your skin tone, so no one knows you’re dealing with a bump except for you.
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Microcrystal Spot Cover. Microcrystal Spot Covers work great for under-the-skin bumps that haven’t erupted and probably won’t. Nothing is worse than large, cyst-like bumps under the skin. They’re painful, red, and if you mess with them, you only make the situation worse.
Keep your bump off-limits to your fingers by covering it with a Microcrystal Spot Cver. These patches are formulated with crystals that deliver powerful ingredients to help break down the bump and eliminate it.
Tea tree oil, willow tree bark, bacteria-busting totarol, and hyaluronic acid help eliminate pus, soothe the skin and erase bumps.
You can wear a pimple patch for as little as four hours; that’s all it takes to get rid of bumps and regain your confidence.
More Moisture
You might think giving your skin more moisture would be counterproductive for treating blemishes, but it’s actually a great way to make sure your skin is fully hydrated. When your skin is fully hydrated, your sebaceous glands won’t work as hard to produce so much oil.
Less oil equals fewer breakouts. The best way to deliver ultimate hydration? Try Rael’s Moisture Melt Snowballs. These supercharged skin treatments contain pure hyaluronic acid with zero fillers.
Hyaluronic acid is a natural humectant, which means it’s really good at helping your skin retain it’s natural moisture. Humectants help your skin retain water, which keeps your skin hydrated longer.
Our Moisture Melt Snowballs are proven to help hydrate your skin deeply for 100 hours. That’s 100 hours your sebaceous glands can get a mini-vacation and leave your skin clean and blemish-free.
The Bottom Line
There will always be some creative pimple remedy floating around the internet, but most of the time, they just don’t work. Worse than not working, they can actually make your skin worse. Using toothpaste on a pimple won’t help get rid of it, and the harsh ingredients in it can seriously irritate your skin and make your blemishes worse.
Rael is your go-to for holistic period care, and we’ve got all-natural solutions for getting rid of blemishes before they have the chance to ruin your day.
Sources:
Consumer Updates > 5 Things to Know About Triclosan (fda.gov)
Hemorrhoid cream has weird benefits for under-eye area (today.com)