DIY Toner for Acne-Prone Skin

Homemade skin care products, like toners, can help you achieve clear skin while keeping it safe and staying on a small budget. Creating your own toner ensures that you will know exactly what the ingredients are. This is especially important for those who already experienced irritation, sensitivity, and acne breakouts after using various skin care products.

The skin has a natural pH balance that is slightly acidic, which helps protect it from the stressors in the environment. Harsh cleansers and soaps can disturb this balance and affect the skin negatively, causing dryness, acne, and irritation. Using a toner can help restore the skin’s pH level.

More often than not, store-bought toners contain ingredients that can irritate the skin and disrupt its natural balance. These irritants include alcohol, propylene glycol, mineral oil, glycerin, dyes, fragrance, and exfoliant. And if you’re lucky enough to find a toner without unwanted chemicals, you would usually need to pay a hefty price. If you don’t want to sacrifice your acne-prone skin from getting further irritated, and at the same time, you don’t want to blow your hard-earned cash for a facial toner – make homemade toner instead.

If you need a toner that can help reduce inflammation caused by acne, here are the toners you can use.

Diluted apple cider vinegar

Apple cider vinegar has antiseptic and antibacterial properties, and it can also help balance the pH of your skin. When used daily as a toner, it can help ward off bacteria and shed dead skin cells at the proper rate so pores won’t become blocked and the skin remains healthy. It’s the perfect solution for a person prone to oily skin, acne breakouts, and clogged pores.

Mix a part of apple cider vinegar into three parts of water. You can use tap water, but if you like, you can also use filtered or bottled water. Store it in a plastic container. Pour or spray the mixture onto a cotton pad or cotton ball, then use it to wipe over your entire face. Avoid the eye area and lips. You may feel a little tingling or burning, but it’s nothing compared to some alcohol-based toners and astringents. Let your face completely dry before applying your serums, creams, gels, lotions, and other skincare products you might use.

Every week or two, you can bump up the amount of ACV that you’re mixing by about 1/4, but make sure to do it gradually. After prolonged use, you may use undiluted ACV, but depending on your skin type and how sensitive you are, you may want to stick with a diluted mixture.

For treating acne scars, apple cider vinegar and water will work well. ACV is an astringent, which means it can kill bacteria. Mix a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and two tablespoons of distilled water, and apply it to your face as you would any toner.

Green tea + apple cider vinegar

Green tea has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that reduce redness and repair skin damage. When used alone, you can notice a decrease in inflammation within minutes of applying green tea to the skin. As a bonus, the antioxidants in green tea can also fight the aging process. Add it to apple cider vinegar, which gently exfoliates and restores the skin’s natural pH balance.

Mix a part of apple cider vinegar with three parts of strongly brewed green tea. Pour both ingredients in a jar or a glass spray bottle. Use a cotton ball to apply the toner to your face after cleansing or as often as desired. Let it dry, then apply moisturizer as usual. This toner can be stored in the refrigerator and can last for about two weeks.

While green tea and apple cider vinegar alone is enough to make a spectacular homemade toner, but you can also experiment by adding two to three drops of your favorite essential oil.