Treat Acne & Other Skin Conditions With Banana Peels!

Adult acne is a nasty thing. Just when you thought you’d put those
awkward teenage years behind you, you wake up one morning in your mid to
late twenties, and there it is: a ginormous, inflamed, middle
school-esque pimple staring back at you from your forehead…or your
nose…or your chin… Or all of the above – ewww…

Whether you’ve done your time with teenage acne or not, seeing it
again during your adult years is not fun – and I’m speaking from
personal experience! I’ve tried everything, from pills, to creams, to
Proactiv-type products. Nothing worked, at least not for long.
Fortunately for me, the problem fixed itself on its own and I now only
battle the random breakout here and there.





My younger cousin is now going through the same thing, so for the
past few months, I’ve made it my mission to find something that would
help her. I didn’t want her to go down the same path as I did with
pills, creams, etc. Now that I have this blog, I knew it was my duty to
help her find a natural, chemical-free alternative to the steroid-laden
pills and creams that are prescribed at the conventional dermatologist’s
office.



Lo and behold, this link about using banana peels
randomly crossed my path one night, and I sent it to my cousin and
never thought about it again. A few weeks later, on our visit down to
Florida, I noticed her skin looked much better and her acne scars were
starting to fade. Imagine my surprise when she told me she’d been using
the banana peels trick and loved it!

She even jokingly informed me that she’s become the “banana-nazi” so
to speak, making sure no one throws away banana peels in her presence
LOL

The steps are very simple:

• Take a small piece of banana peel and rub it on the affected area for a few minutes until the inside of the peel turns brown.
• As it dries, your skin will absorb the vitamins and nutrients in the
  peel. I leave it on for about 30 mins. and then wash it off with warm
  water. At night, I just leave it on overnight, then wash off in the
  morning.
• Do this 3 times a day, and in a few days, you’ll notice results!

Even if you don’t have actual pimples on your skin, this trick can also help reduce acne scars
from old breakouts. That’s where I come in: I used this on some old
scars around my chin and jaw line and really noticed results within a
couple days!

I’m not brave enough to share before/after pictures for the world to
see, but the original poster graciously did this for us in her follow-up post. Just seeing those pictures was reason enough for me to try it and to send the link to my cousin!

If you’re looking to do away with commercial products and harsh
chemicals on your skin, I urge you to give this a try. It’s totally
worth a shot: what’s the worst that can happen – you get some banana on
your face for a couple days? Totally worth the risk

So Why Does This Work?

Banana peels are chock-full of antioxidants, including lutein, which may help protect the skin against sun damage. They also contain esterified fatty acids, which have actually been isolated and incorporated into a patented lotion (Exorex lotion) used to treat eczema and psoriasis!

Some extra notes and other uses

• Banana peels can also be used to treat warts as
  well! Just tape a piece of the peel to cover the wart, leave on
  overnight, and remove in the morning. Continue with nightly treatments
  until wart is gone.
• To stop the itch from bug bites and poison ivy, rub banana peels on the affected area – no more itching!
• Banana peels may also help with hemorrhoids because of the sugar content, which helps them shrink.
• Reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by rubbing banana peels on your skin, which helps to tighten and tone the skin.
• Psoriasis sufferers may also find relief by rubbing banana peels on the affected areas, and may see results within a few days or weeks.
• Banana peels contain lots of potassium, and the antioxidant, lutein.
• Use ripe banana peels, to ensure the best results!
  And make sure they’re fresh; you don’t want to use an old peel that’s
  been lying on the counter for a few hours. (So yes, you may have to
  recruit some scheduled banana eaters for you ;) 

How To Save the Banana Peels

There’s been lots of questions and ideas regarding how to save the
peel to use it for subsequent treatments, so you’re not eating several
bananas per day. And a reader (Hi Alison!) was kind enough to share her
technique, which works great:

ive fine tuned my technique to cutting a portion of the
skin from the banana at a time- just a shallow incision around a section
big enough to do my face with, then peel off and use. That way it all
stays in tact and 1 banana can go 1 or 2 days depending on size. The
fruit gets exposed to the air but still good in a smoothie at the end on
the day!