Wait what? Sulfur is one of the best natural skin care solutions for acne? Can that really be true?

Believe it or not, sulfur has been used for centuries as a natural ingredient to cure and combat acne. Sulfur might just be one of the best natural remedies for healing acne scars and preventing breakouts, especially those with oily skin types. Here’s the how’s and whys.

A little history on Sulfur in cosmetics and beauty

Sulfur has been documented as a skin treatment as early as ancient Roman and ancient Egyptian times. In ancient Rome, sulfur was used in their bathhouses to treat acne prone skin, because yes, even back then us humans suffered from acne and desired to get rid of it’s bacteria once and for all. In ancient Egypt sulfur (also spelled sulphur) was used in salves to treat skin conditions like eczema.There are even traces of sulfur being used in ancient Chinese medicine as a treatment for various skin conditions. 

In what ways does sulfur help treat acne?

Typically, acne-prone skin produces an excess amount of sebum, your body’s natural oil supply produced by the sebaceous glands. When this excess oil builds up, clogs the pores and meets P. acnes bacteria trapped in the skin, we break out. Sulfur works at drying up the excess oil building up on the skin and clogging the pores. For this reason, sulfur is a fantastic ingredient for those with oily-prone skin types. Additionally, sulfur is antibacterial, which helps break down and remove the P acnes bacteria nestling over the top layer of the skin. 

Sulfur not only works at drying out excess sebum oil from the pores, but it also encourages the top layer of the skin to peel off. Sulfur is a keratolytic which helps remove dead skin cells lying on the outermost layer of the skin. This means, sulfur can help heal and remove blackheads, scarring and acne from the skin. 

What are other skin conditions that Sulfur can treat?

Whenever trying out a new product, especially natural products that are meant to be applied directly to your face, we always recommend trying a skin patch test first. Besides for treating acne, many use sulfur to treat eczema, rosacea, and even dandruff. It can also be used to treat body acne and scabies. It also works at smoothing out the uneven skin tones caused by years of acne and scarring. 

If you have extremely sensitive skin though, we don't recommend trying a sulfur based skin product on your face, since it may be too strong for your skin type. Again, sulfur can be great for treating skin conditions like rosacea and eczema because it helps remove the dead skin cells from the top layer of the skin. Very often, in the case of rosacea and eczema, the dead skin cells on the top layer is what gives the skin a rough looking texture and red spots. Sulfur also acts as an anti-inflammatory so it usually doesn’t cause the skin to flare up. 

Final Thoughts on Sulfur

Sulfur is one of the best solutions for those with oily acne prone skin types. The cleansing and detoxifying powers of sulfur is exactly why Vonetta Cosmetics has created a Zit Zapping Gel that is based on sulfur and other gentle ingredients that will break down oil and remove bacteria from the skin. And it should come as no surprise that sulfur is listed as one of the main ingredients in Vonetta Cosmetics’ Oil/Acne Mask. And last, but certainly not least, you can find sulfur listed as an active ingredient in the beloved TRUTH BAR which was carefully crafted to give your skin a deep clean, giving you that spa-like feeling from the comfort of your own home! 

Have you been experiencing acne in the last months or years and wondering how to treat it? Reach out to us, we’d love to hear your story and help in any way we can!