Home remedies for acne: which ones have evidence

No home remedy for acne has strong evidence. Skinli checked 18 items that people keep in a kitchen or a medicine cabinet against medical sources. Two have a trial of their own in people with acne: a medical-grade honey product, which showed no clear benefit, and a 2 percent tea lotion made by researchers, which lowered counts of inflamed pimples in small trials. Eleven were never tested on acne in people. Six have a risk to skin that a source names. The answer is the same for home remedies for pimples and for natural acne remedies.

Skinli gives general education and is not a doctor. The sources are the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), the NHS, the NICE guideline for England, the FDA, product labels, MedlinePlus, the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and named studies. For most studies, Skinli read the published summaries only. No source gives a recipe, an amount or a time on the skin for any of these items on acne, so this guide gives none. Natural treatment in general, with tea tree oil and diet, is explained in how to get rid of acne naturally.

Do home remedies work for acne? What the main sources say

In this guide, an item works when a trial in people with acne counted fewer spots with the item than in a comparison group. The FDA rule for acne drugs uses the same measure, and defines an acne drug as "A drug product used to reduce the number of acne blemishes, acne pimples, blackheads, and whiteheads."

The medical bodies name a short list of drug ingredients for acne, and none of the 18 items is on it.

Source	What it names for acne
AAD, for a deep, painful pimple	"adapalene, azelaic acid, benzoyl peroxide, or salicylic acid", a warm, damp washcloth and a hydrocolloid patch (a pimple patch)
NHS acne page	"try acne treatments you put on your skin such as salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide"
NICE acne guideline for England	A 12-week course of a first treatment option. The first on its list is "a fixed combination of topical adapalene with topical benzoyl peroxide for any acne severity"
FDA rule for acne drugs sold without a prescription	Benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, sulfur, and sulfur combined with resorcinol

Topical means put on the skin, and a fixed combination is one product that contains both drugs.

The FDA rule sets which ingredients a store-bought acne drug may contain. Its list has six lines and five substances:

• "(a) Benzoyl peroxide, 2.5 to 10 percent."
• "(d) Salicylic acid, 0.5 to 2 percent."
• "(e) Sulfur, 3 to 10 percent."
• Resorcinol at 2 percent and resorcinol monoacetate at 3 percent, each allowed only together with sulfur at 3 to 8 percent.

Adapalene is a retinoid, a medicine related to vitamin A. It is absent from this rule, and the AAD says acne treatment that contains it is sold online and in stores.

Reviews of the trials agree with these lists.

• Cochrane, 2015. A review of complementary therapies, which are remedies outside standard medical care, included 35 studies with 3,227 participants. It found "a lack of evidence" to support herbal medicine for acne. Its summary names tea tree oil and none of the 18 items.
• Cochrane, 2024. An overview of 275 acne trials concluded: "We found no high-certainty evidence for the effects of any therapy included." That sentence applies to standard treatments too. For benzoyl peroxide, the overview found two trials in 1,012 people over 12 weeks and graded the certainty of their result as weak. Benzoyl peroxide still has trials of that size, a listing in the FDA rule and a guideline recommendation. No item in this guide has any of the three.
• A 2022 review of 34 trials reached a more positive conclusion on herbal medicine, and added that "more quality of evidence and standardized methodologies are needed to support their effectiveness and safety claims." Its summary names no plant.
• The NCCIH reports that the AAD's acne guideline found the data on herbal and other complementary therapies too limited to recommend them.

The AAD's acne pages name a maker of prescription acne drugs as their supporter.

Home remedies for pimples and acne: what was tested, item by item

Item	What was tested on acne	Main risk a source names
Honey	One trial of a medical-grade honey product, in 136 people. No clear benefit	Skin reactions in both groups of the trial
Aloe vera	Aloe gel, always together with tretinoin (a prescription acne drug) or inside a mixed cream	NCCIH: occasional burning, itching, rash and eczema
Turmeric	Curcumin in a gel with clove oil, and in a pill with an enzyme. Turmeric powder is untested	NCCIH: hives or itching
Green tea	A 2 percent tea lotion in small trials, and extract pills in one trial. Tea bags are untested	NCCIH: liver injury in some people who took extract pills
Garlic	Never tested	NCCIH: severe skin irritation and chemical burns from raw garlic
Lemon juice	Never tested	AAD: a blistering rash or painful swelling after citrus juice and sunlight
Baking soda	Never tested	AAD: irritation. Box label: overdried skin
Coconut oil	Never tested in people. One of its fats was tested in a dish and on mice	NICE and the AAD: avoid oil-based products
Salt water	Never tested	AAD: extra washing and scrubbing irritate skin
Castor oil	Never tested itself. One study of an adapalene gel that contained a changed form of the oil	Allergy rash, which a 2026 review calls rare
Jojoba oil	A clay mask with jojoba oil, in one study with no comparison group	None named for the oil
Rosehip oil	Never tested in people	None reported in the summaries read
Rubbing alcohol	Never tested	AAD and MedlinePlus: it dries skin
Hydrogen peroxide	A 1 percent cream sold outside the United States. The 3 percent bottle is untested	Wound studies: harm to skin cells in a dish
Aspirin mask	Never tested	Tablet label: allergic reaction
Petroleum jelly	Never tested on faces with acne	AAD: breakouts in some acne-prone people. A 2024 review disagrees
Antibiotic ointment	Never tested	AAD: allergy rash and antibiotic resistance
Hydrocortisone cream	Never tested alone on a pimple. Two old trials of acne creams that contained it	MedlinePlus: acne as a side effect. AAD: a rash around the mouth after long use

Never tested means that the searches run for this hub on PubMed, the US database of medical papers, found no study of the item on acne in people.

Items from the kitchen

Honey. In the one trial, from 2016, 136 people washed with an antibacterial soap for 12 weeks, and half also used a medical-grade kanuka honey product. At 12 weeks, 4 of 53 people in the honey group and 1 of 53 in the soap-only group reached the target for improvement, a difference that could be due to chance. The maker of the product paid for the trial. No trial tested honey from a kitchen jar. See honey for acne.

Aloe vera. The NCCIH says: "Two small studies suggest that topical application of aloe gel, in combination with other forms of treatment, may improve acne." No trial had a group that used aloe alone. The AAD lists aloe as a light moisturizing ingredient in masks for oily or acne-prone skin. See aloe vera for acne.

Turmeric. No trial tested turmeric powder or paste. Two small studies from 2025 used curcumin, the main active part of turmeric. In one, 31 people used a gel that also contained clove oil. In the other, all 50 people used standard acne drugs, and one group added a pill that contained curcumin and an enzyme. See turmeric for acne.

Green tea. One research group tested a 2 percent tea lotion in two small trials. In the 2006 trial, which 49 people finished, a good response was recorded in 64 percent of the tea group and 20.8 percent of the comparison group. A trial of extract pills found "no significant differences between groups for total lesion counts." A lesion is a spot. No trial used tea bags on skin. See green tea for acne.

Garlic. The NCCIH says fresh raw garlic on skin "can cause severe skin irritation and chemical burns." A 2026 review collected 18 case reports of garlic burns published since 2000. In most of them, garlic stayed on the skin for a long time or under a cover. See garlic for acne.

Lemon juice. The AAD says citrus juice on skin can react with sunlight and "can cause a blistering rash or painful swelling." In a 2022 survey of 1,571 acne patients at clinics in Turkey, "66.37% of the patients reported having used lemon juice." The survey measured no result. See lemon juice for acne.

Baking soda. The AAD names baking soda as an ingredient of toothpaste and says: "None of these ingredients fight acne, but they can irritate or harm your skin." The box label lists two skin uses, both for itch, and warns that "soaking too long may overdry skin". See baking soda for acne.

Coconut oil. NICE says people with acne should "avoid oil-based and comedogenic preparations". Comedogenic means able to clog pores. In laboratory studies, lauric acid, one of the fats in coconut oil, stopped the growth of the acne bacterium in a dish. No person was treated. See coconut oil for acne.

Salt water. A 2021 review of salt solution in skin medicine says: "In dermatology, no large studies investigated the benefits of saline." Saline is salt dissolved in water. The salt studies that exist used Dead Sea salt or sea water on dry, eczema-prone or irritated skin. See salt water for acne.

Plant oils: castor, jojoba and rosehip

The advice on oils applies to all three. NICE tells people with acne to avoid oil-based products, and the AAD says: "Use oil-free skin care products and cosmetics." No source read for this hub gives a pore-clogging rating number for any oil. In a 2013 study of 19 adults, olive oil on the forearm for 4 weeks weakened the outer layer of the skin, and the authors wrote that their findings "challenge the unfounded belief that all natural oils are beneficial for the skin".

Castor oil. US stores sell castor oil as a laxative. A 2026 review found one acne study, of an adapalene gel in which a chemically changed form of the oil was a helper ingredient. See castor oil for acne.

Jojoba oil. In the one study, from 2012, people used a clay mask with jojoba oil for 6 weeks, and 133 of them returned complete spot counts. The summary reports "A 54% mean reduction in total lesion count", and the study had no comparison group. See jojoba oil for acne.

Rosehip oil. The one record found is a 2025 laboratory study of a gel that also contained retinol and black seed oil. No person was treated. See rosehip oil for acne.

Items from the medicine cabinet

Each of these six products has a Drug Facts label, the label printed on US store-bought drugs, and none of the labels read for this hub lists acne or pimples among its uses.

Rubbing alcohol. The label use is first aid for minor cuts, scrapes and burns. The AAD tells people with acne to avoid "rubbing alcohol, and anything else that can dry out your skin." See rubbing alcohol for acne.

Hydrogen peroxide. The bottle in a US home is a 3 percent solution, and no trial tested it on acne. The trials that exist used a different product, a 1 percent cream made to stay stable and sold as a medicine outside the United States. In the 2003 trial of 60 patients, inflamed spots fell by 58 percent with the cream and by 61 percent with a benzoyl peroxide gel. The first author worked at the company that made the cream. See hydrogen peroxide for acne.

Aspirin. Aspirin and salicylic acid, the acne ingredient, are two medicines. MedlinePlus puts them in different drug classes, and of the two, the FDA rule lists salicylic acid. No study tested crushed aspirin on acne, and the tablet label warns of allergic reactions. See aspirin mask for acne.

Petroleum jelly. Vaseline is a brand name of petroleum jelly, and the sources disagree about it. The AAD's patient page says: "Avoid putting petroleum jelly on your face if you are acne-prone, as this may cause breakouts in some people." A 2024 review in the AAD's own journal describes its data as "dispelling misconceptions about petrolatum use around oxygen and as a cause of acne." Petrolatum is the medical name. Skinli read only the summary of that review, which gives no figures. See the guide to petroleum jelly and acne.

Antibiotic ointment. Neosporin is a brand name of a triple antibiotic ointment. Its label lists one use, first aid for minor cuts, scrapes and burns. The antibiotics that the AAD and the NHS name for acne are different drugs, sold by prescription. NICE lists "monotherapy with a topical antibiotic", an antibiotic on the skin used alone, among the treatments that should not be used for acne. See the guide to antibiotic ointment on a pimple.

Hydrocortisone cream. The label is for itch and says "other uses of this product should be only under the advice and supervision of a doctor". The NHS lists "acne or rosacea" among the conditions in which the cream may not be suitable, and MedlinePlus lists acne among its side effects. No AAD page read for this hub mentions cortisone cream for a pimple. The steroid injection that a dermatologist gives into a deep pimple is a different treatment. See hydrocortisone on a pimple.

Tea tree oil, ice, toothpaste, sulfur and zinc have their own guides

• Tea tree oil. The NCCIH says: "There's not enough rigorous research to recommend topical tea tree oil or bee venom therapy for acne." See tea tree oil for acne.
• Ice. The AAD says: "Relieve pain with ice." See ice on a pimple.
• Toothpaste. The AAD line quoted under baking soda is its answer on toothpaste. See toothpaste on a pimple.
• Sulfur. Sulfur is on the FDA list above, so it is a store-bought acne drug. See sulfur for acne.
• Zinc. The NCCIH says of the trials of zinc taken by mouth for acne that "some have shown efficacy over placebo, while others did not." A placebo is a pill with no drug in it. See zinc for acne.

Marks and scars left by acne are explained in home remedies for acne scars.

The risks that repeat across home remedies

Irritation. The AAD says: "Anytime you irritate your skin, you risk getting more acne."

A rash from something on the skin. Doctors call this contact dermatitis. The AAD says that even skin care products sold as natural or clean can cause a skin reaction. The FDA gives a kitchen example: "cumin oil is safe in food, but can cause the skin to blister."

Sun reaction and burns. Citrus juice on skin can react with sunlight, blister and leave darker patches, and this reaction needs no allergy. Raw garlic has published burn cases, and the 2026 review found that the deeper burns often needed surgery.

Drying. The AAD says: "Dry skin is irritated skin." It explains what follows: "When your skin becomes dry, your body makes more oil. The extra oil can clog your pores, which may lead to more breakouts." Rubbing alcohol is the item the AAD names for drying, and the baking soda box warns of overdried skin.

Allergy and antibiotic resistance. In a 2025 analysis of 70 studies, 6.4 percent of adults in North America who had skin allergy tests were allergic to neomycin, one of the drugs in the ointment. All of them were already being tested for a skin problem. The AAD, citing the CDC, says "more than half of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are not needed". Skinli did not open the CDC page.

Steroid effects. The AAD describes perioral dermatitis, a rash around the mouth that looks like acne: "Many people develop this rash when they apply a corticosteroid medicine to their skin for too long." Hydrocortisone is a corticosteroid, a type of steroid medicine. No study has measured one or two days of the cream on one pimple.

How to test a new product on a small area first

The AAD's page on testing skin care products gives these steps:

1. "Apply the product to a test spot twice daily for seven to 10 days."
2. Choose a spot where the product will stay on, "such as the underside of your arm or the bend of your elbow."
3. If no reaction such as red, itchy or swollen skin appears after seven to 10 days, the AAD says the product can be used.
4. "If you develop a skin reaction, gently wash the product off as soon as possible, and don't use it again."

The page is written for finished skin care products. The reactions it tests for are red, itchy or swollen skin.

For a face mask, the AAD adds: "Immediately wash off a facial mask if you feel itching, burning, or stinging. This could be a sign of skin irritation or an allergy." Skinli's guide on how to patch test a new skincare product explains each step.

What to use from a store shelf today

The AAD says: "Many people can control their acne by following these skin care tips and using acne treatment that they can buy without a prescription."

Ingredient	What the AAD says it does	Strength in the FDA rule
Benzoyl peroxide	"Benzoyl peroxide: This active ingredient reduces acne-causing bacteria on your skin."	2.5 to 10 percent
Salicylic acid	"Salicylic acid eases inflammation and unclogs pores"	0.5 to 2 percent
Adapalene	"Retinoids, such as adapalene gel, unclog pores and reduce oiliness"	Absent from the rule

Adapalene 0.1 percent gel and benzoyl peroxide 2.5 percent are the two gels in Skinli's own plan, and both are sold without a prescription. The plan starts with a free acne score from a photo at /analyze.

The FDA rule sets the directions that these store-bought drugs print. The label tells the user to "cover the entire affected area with a thin layer one to three times daily", starting with one application a day. It also warns that "skin irritation and dryness is more likely to occur if you use another topical acne medication at the same time."

The AAD says: "You want to use a product for 6 to 8 weeks. It takes that long to see some improvement." Skinli's own guides say skin needs 8 to 12 weeks to change. The guide to over-the-counter acne treatments compares the options, and the guide to benzoyl peroxide explains strengths and side effects.

When to see a doctor

After a reaction to a home item. Wash the item off and stop using it. See a doctor for blisters or a burn after garlic, and for blisters, painful swelling or dark patches after lemon juice and sun. Get medical help right away for hives, swelling of the face, wheezing or trouble breathing after aspirin or antibiotic ointment.

For the acne itself. The NHS says to see a GP, which is a family doctor, if "you've tried treating it yourself but it's not getting better", or if "you have lots of spots, or the spots are deep, painful or causing scars". The AAD says: "If you don't see results in 4 to 6 weeks, a dermatologist can help you clear your skin."

For deep, painful lumps. Cysts and nodules are the deep lumps of severe acne, and they can leave scars. The AAD says: "A dermatologist can prescribe stronger medicine and perform treatments to treat your nodular or cystic acne." The guide on severe acne and when to see a dermatologist explains what happens at a visit.

In pregnancy. The AAD says: "If you're pregnant or trying to get pregnant, consult a dermatologist before treating acne on your own."