4 Tested Home Remedies for Hyperpigmentation Acne (Before & After Pics)

It’s extremely confusing for someone who has radically changed their diet by increasing my greens to be affected by horrible breakouts. Green smoothies are supposed to give you clear, glowing skin!

However I think I can safely say that as wonderful as coconut oil is in my diet, in my deep conditioner and on my skin in general, I need to keep it away from my face. I have developed horrible breakouts but thankfully these home remedies for hyperpigmentation acne has come to my rescue and I can fully recommend them to you. 

No Coconut Oil For My Face

The real before image is actually a little worse, but I wasn’t about to put that online.

When I just went natural and started using coconut oil in my hair, I noticed my skin was breaking out often. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was since I was experimenting with so many new products. My thinking at the time was that it was just my heavy hand.

Eventually, I eliminated coconut oil from my sealing oil mixture because I felt it was making my hair trashy. I decided that I would use it in my deep conditioner and then rinse it out instead.

My face issues slowed and cleared away and I went back to having normal skin. I was always acne-prone, I break out every month thanks to mother nature but it was never anything major. Of course, my slow behind still didn’t quite make the connection.

The Source of my Breakout, Revealed

Fast forward a few months when I made a batch of whipped shea butter with coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil and some essential oils to use as a body butter. I decided to try it out as a sealant for my ends since the ingredients are all great on natural hair.

Immediately I started breaking out horribly again but I still didn’t realise that it was the coconut oil that was the culprit. For weeks, huge craters came up on my face and left the most horrid scars and I just couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on.

I was ready to run to a derma for some antibiotics and some strong chemicals. But I’d already made the commitment to this natural beauty and healthy eating lifestyle. Natural ingredients are touted to help with these issues but when your face is going awry, you want to get rid of it quickly and natural ingredients take a while.

If you’re going the natural products route, make sure you know and understand that you have to be committed and stick with a regimen. I’ve never been able to stick with a face routine, try as I may. I like to just pump some soap out of a store-bought face wash in the shower and go.

However, I decided to tuck in my pride and tackle this issue naturally. By process of elimination, I finally realized that the shea mix was what was different in my routine so it had to go.

I still use it on my skin as a body butter and it helps with munchkin’s eczema but not near my face. I was left with this breakout on my face that was still coming fast and furious. What to use to wash my face with. I thought about revisiting black soap, but honestly, it dries my face out so much that I wasn’t convinced that it was the answer.

It didn’t do that great a job of keeping acne at bay than any other soap I had used before. Of course now I realise that most black soap lists coconut oil as an ingredient so clearly that’s why I didn’t like it much.

I’d read about oil cleansing a couple times well but thought it would be too time-consuming for me to truly stick with it.

Oil Cleansing

I googled and read a few more articles and decided to try. This one did it for me and so I went out and got a few face towels to make this easier. Here’s a video on other oil cleansing methods, I tailored it to suit my needs.

I use the oils mentioned as I already had them on hand and liked the fact that no additional purchase was necessary for me. I already have olive, castor, lavender and tea tree oils on hand as I use them on my hair and skin. I simply mixed a batch up and massaged it into my face each night, followed by a very warm moist white rag to remove the dirt and excess oil and help with exfoliation.

It’s been going fantastic and I use this same mix now as a sealant for my hair ends after spraying with water and using some leave-in conditioner. Have I mentioned how much I love double duty products?

Natural Home Remedies for Dark Spots

Armed with a new face cleansing routine, I started to look at ways to help my face deal with the dark spots that the acne had left behind. A tweet flew across my timeline about turmeric being great for the face. Again, something I already had on hand as I use turmeric almost weekly in my curry dishes.

It’s touted as one of those super healing spices, cancer-prevention and anti-inflammation is mentioned often. So off I went to research again. This article touted some great claims and so, while I wasn’t convinced, I decided it couldn’t hurt to try.

Turmeric Mask for Dark Spots

Yogurt, honey and lemon are all ingredients said to help with exfoliation, bringing new skin to life and getting rid of old, sad, scarred skin so I added a few dashes of turmeric in a yogurt, honey, lemon and oat flour paste to use as a mask. I’ve been using this mask 2-3 times weekly for about 3 weeks now.

I need to remember to keep it away from my eyebrows, I hear it helps to stop hair growth. Great for my moustache -__- not so great for my eyebrows.

We’ll see if this is really so. The final thing I decided to add to the regimen, hoping I’m not pushing my skin too far here but, a sugar scrub. Scrubs are a great way to help skin to shed dead cells and bring new skin to the surface.

Sugar Scrubs

Now that the unending streak of huge craters and mountains have stopped from forming on my face and I’m left with the aftermath, I’m trying to bring my best skin out.

One tablespoon brown sugar, half tablespoon olive oil. That’s it simply. This one I do only once a week as brown sugar can be very rough on the skin and the turmeric oat mask is already exfoliating.

Lemon or Green Tea Toner

One last thought, the acid in a lemon on its own is apparently a great exfoliant. It has to be a fresh cut lemon as the acid degrades almost immediately. Simple cut a lime or lemon and rub it on your face, wait 15 minutes and rinse off.

Of course you could squeeze the juice out and mix it with a little honey as well to lessen the acidic effects of the lemon. Honey is a great facial moisturizer and is anti-microbial so will help to keep the skin clear.

The acid from the lemon helps to lighten dark spots and bring new skin cells to surface. A little of what Vybz Kartel was trying to do but this is a much gentler way. (You probably won’t get that reference if you’re not Jamaican/Caribbean)

A green tea toner will do wonders as well. I wrote about my DIY green tea toner with thyme and ACV here.

It’s been about 3 weeks since I’ve begun tackling this issue head-on and I’m seeing some progress. Now to keep it up and reveal even, gorgeous, glowing skin. I’m very motivated by my skin so far!

What do you use to keep acne at bay? And do you have your own natural dark spot remedies? Let’s hear in the comments!

I’ve provided some links in the body of this post, but I encourage you to google and do your own research on all suggested remedies so you may determine the best option for you, should you decide to try a more natural face regimen.

Some images from Depositphotos. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.