Natural remedies for those embarrassing skin blemishes

It's a well-known — yet surprising — fact that the skin is the largest organ in our body. But because it's usually not chiefly responsible for our good health, people often ignore it in order to simply keep track of their digestive system, their heart or their lungs. But unhealthy skin can have significant consequences on not only your physical health, but also your self-esteem. Here's a few examples of skin blemishes and how to deal with them in natural ways.

Reader's Digest has several excellent suggestions for homemade acne treatments, if you don't trust chemical products. Green tea is one of them: Use a cup of tea (not hot) as a face wash or place teabags over the desired areas. Chamomile tea is also useful. You could also try combining 1/2 cup of honey with 1 cup of oatmeal for a sweet 30-minute face mask. Lastly, another face mask you could try is one that combines 2 tablespoons of chopped mint, 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt, and 2 tablespoons of powdered oatmeal.

If you thought acne was bad, try having warts on a regular basis. While acne flare-ups usually only last a few days, you can be stuck with warts for months. Here's a few ideas to make that process go faster: Apply a cotton ball soaked in apple cider vinegar to the area and keep it there with a bandage, Healthy Tips Source suggests. Oddly enough, doing the same with a banana peel (the fleshy white part up against the wart) is also recommended. This last one is a little stranger still: Suffocating your warts by covering them in duct tape for six days. After six days, wash and then rub them with a pumice stone, then repeat for another six days.

A bit of a variant on skin blemishes, black and dark spots (not to be confused with blackheads) are an embarrassing ailment nonetheless. Top 10 Home Remedies recommends applying a cotton ball soaked in lemon juice to your dark spots, then washing it off when dry. Placing a slice of potato on your dark spots for a few minutes can also help. A more exotic suggestion is to apply the pulp of a ripe papaya to your dark spot for 20 minutes.

Simple Household Tips suggests grinding up four garlic cloves into a paste and keeping it applied to your skin tag with a bandage. Blending fig stems into a juice and applying that can also help. Finally, a mixture of coconut oil and oregano oil (about five and three drops respectively) can dry out your skin tag and help it fall off.

Did you know about any of these tips? Let us know of any other remedies you're aware of and share this information with your friends.