Dos and Don’ts of Using Apple Cider Vinegar for Acne Treatment

It can feel like you’re on a never ending quest sometimes; if you’re one of millions of people trying to fix their skin and get rid of acne, you know what it’s like. Try this, try that, every new product means new hope – and new disappointment. Well, my friends, if you still haven’t tried Apple Cider Vinegar, we have great news for you: it works!

You can drink it, or use it directly on your skin as a toner or apply it topically where needed. It is crazy healthy, and will do wanders for your skin either way.

What are the benefits

Regular use of ACV will make your skin clear of acne and, more importantly for the long run, it will allow you to control the PH levels of your skin. There are numerous cases of people who claim that the use of apple cider vinegar has made their skin tone perfect, because it softens and exfoliates the skin and, apart from acne removal, it also reduces red marks and scars visibility. And this goes for both drinking it, and for applying it as a toner.

Before you jump on it, proceed with caution

Apple cider vinegar is, obviously, vinegar – therefore, it contains acids, one of them being AHA. You have probably heard about it, it has been all over the commercials for cosmetic products for two decades now. It means that it works, yes, but it also means that you have to be careful when using it. In apple cider vinegar, especially in the organic ACV, concentration of AHA is too high for you to apply or to drink without diluting it in water or in something else (green tea, for example, is a fantastic anti-oxidant, and the combination of Apple Cider Vinegar and green tea will probably get you a winner). Some people manage to use it undiluted, but we seriously don’t recommend it.

Now, don’t get too alarmed: the natural PH of your skin is acidic, ideally around 5.5; for your reference, the concentrated, undiluted ACV has a PH of 3. So yes, it is acid, but acid is what your skin needs, just don’t take it too far.

Especially if your skin is sensitive, you should start with smaller concentration of ACV in water (or in green tea), 1:10 is probably too safe to see any significant changes, but you want to be sure – it’s your face after all. If you would rather start a bit more aggressively, don’t make your mix stronger than 1:5, and test it under your chin first – if there are no changes after 15 minutes, you’re good to go.

The same goes for drinking solutions: it can be too strong for your stomach, so start cautiously. After a while, when your skin and/or your stomach get used to it, you can increase the concentration of ACV in the mix.

Negatives of using ACV

There aren’t many, but you should know them too. First of all, it smells and tastes really bad, especially the organic form. Diluting it helps a bit, but doesn’t neutralize all of it, so if you’re drinking it, try drinking in shots and taking some honey or taking pure water right afterwards; if you’re applying it topically, then do it the moment you get up in the morning – this way you will give the smell more time to disappear.

If you start applying more concentrated solution to your face, be prepared that the fumes will burn your eyes (much like the onions do). To be completely on the safe side, you can add some baking soda into the solution, to neutralize the acid (but not too much).

Basically, it will depend on your organism. In most cases of cystic acne, apple cider vinegar has proven to be extremely helpful; in some, there were no changes, and a small number of people have reported that their skin just got irritated after the application of ACV toner, but these were usually the cases of application of too aggressive mixture. Chances are that, if you start with caution and find the ratio of ACV and water that perfectly suits your skin needs, this will be the last acne remedy you will ever need.

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