Description

How to Use Sulfur to Treat Acne
Cleansing-routine
Foaming sulfur can help moisturize the skin and kill acne bacteria.
The smelly mineral once known as brimstone was for centuries the most popular treatment for acne. Sulfur can kill acne bacteria, but it is definitely not for everyone. There is one skin, type, however, that responds especially well to sulfur foams.

Summary:

Sulfur has been used to treat acne and other kinds of inflammation of the skin for thousands of years.
Foaming sulfur kills acne bacteria and moisturizes the skin.
Many people who have acne on Asian skin respond well to the combination of foaming sulfur in the morning and topical tretinoin at night.
If you have fair skin, foaming sulfur treatment will probably may pimples “come to a head” so that they drain quickly.
If you have dark, oily skin, foaming sulfur treatment will probably shrink pimples and help blackheads fall out of their own.
Always test a dot of sulfur product on the skin of your forearm to make sure you are not allergic to it before putting it on your face.
Don’t get sulfur on clothes or jewelry.
Don’t use sulfur products that contain fragrances to cover up the sulfur smell. The fragrance can cause irritation that cancels out the benefits of the sulfur.
Sulfur for Treating Infections

From ancient times through the eighteenth century, sulfur was used as a fumigant to fight “vapors” that were thought to cause disease. Tossed on a open flame, yellow sulfur released noxious fumes that can kill bacteria, parasites, and people. As early as 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians used a salve made with sulfur to treat both acne and eczema, and Traditional Chinese Medicine was using sulfur in skin care before the reign of the Yellow Emperor, some 2,200 years ago.

Sulfur is still used to treat acne. Since the 1950’s, sulfur has been available in the form of a 5% sulfur foam that is applied directly to broken skin. The foam also contains 10% sodium sulfacetamide to make the product emollient without clogging pores and moisturizing to the skin. The product kills acne bacteria fast while it softens the skin.

The drawback to sulfur foams is that they smell bad. And when they are mixed with fragrance to make the product smell good, the result is reddening and irritation of both healthy skin and acne-affected skin.