Disclaimer and Important:

If you are sensitive or has allergy to aspirin, please do not attempt to do this DIY mask. If you are unsure if you have any allergy to aspirin, please do consult your GP or family members and check/ask if there's any family history regarding aspiring allergy too.

Also, aspirin contains a little bit of salicylic acid, an ingredient present in store-bought acne products. It can be harsh and over-drying if your skin is of the sensitive variety, hence never leave this mask on your face for too long.

And lastly, please do not attempt to get a sun-tan right after using this DIY mask on your face as salicylic acid being present in aspirin can increase sensitivity on your skin when exposed to the sun.

Use this only once or twice a week!

So, I'm sure all of us have come across different variations of this DIY mask that is mostly used on acne busting. It can be as simple as the regular aspiring-honey version, or just slightly complicated (read: more ingredients) ones that includes aspirin-honey-lemon, aspirin-honey and olive oil or aspirin-honey and apple cider. But enough of the mass ingredients one, lest you all get a big headache trying to get ingredients just for a mask you may probably use once or twice weekly.

For today's Weekend DIY, I'm going to just focus on the plain old but simple Aspirin Honey DIY Mask that has been touted to bust those nasty, pesky and irritating acne on your's (and my) precious face. We all know that aspirin relieves pain rather well, so it's no surprise that aspirin used as an ingredient in a DIY mask can actually help to relieve some pain and redness caused by acne. Honey is also good for our skin in that it helps our skin retain moisture, is a good antiseptic ingredient and also helps promote new tissue growth.

And best of all, you can actually use this as a facial exfoliator, blackhead exfoliator as well as a acne busting mask. All at the same time! It also reduces free radicals and help reverse damage done to your skin by these free radicals too. And at the same time, improve blood circulation which in turn ensures beautiful skin.

But before we start, let's take a look at the main ingredients that are needed to make this mask.

First of all, you need aspirin tablets. If you are just using this for 1 or 2 acne spots, just 1 tablet is enough. But if you are intending to make it into a DIY mask, grab at least 6-8 aspirin tablets. Preferably those that aren't coated with anything on the surface. Just do not exceed more than 8 aspirin tablets, no matter how tempting it seems.

Next, you need 1 teaspoon of water. Tap water is fine too. But if you are using this for 1-2 acne spots, reduce to a few drops of water instead.

Then, you need honey for it in order to make this mask turn into a smooth and creamy consistency. Try to use pure honey, best recommended for better results.

Crush the aspirin tablets into powder form. It doesn't have to be really powdery, as you can use this as an exfoliator at the same time.

Mix the crushed and almost powdery aspirin tablets, a few drops to 1 teaspoon of water and a teaspoon of honey and mix well together. Again, exercise precaution when adding in the water. You don't want the mask to become too watery and runny. A batter-like consistency is better as it prevents excessive dripping and ensures the mask stays on your face as much as possible.

Once you get the consistency of cake batter, apply this mask to your clean face. Start by slowly exfoliating on specific areas with blackheads first, before slowly applying it to your face as a whole. [NOTE: I tend to have acne breakouts on the lower half of my face, just starting below my eye bags. Hence, I mostly and only apply this on the surface of my skin from under my eyebags onwards!]

As this mask won't dry that fast, there's no need to literally wait too long for it to dry off. As soon as the mask starts feeling sticky on your face (roughly 7-15 minutes later), you can wash it off already. Leave it on your face too long and your skin will feel rather dry to the touch. Not good!

And as mentioned previously, this will not get rid of facial acne totally. But what it can do for you is to relieve the redness and pain that comes with acne that is almost close to ripe. I'm sure most of us are aware of the redness that acne caused, which actually helps bring unwanted attention to your face, whether you like it or not. And at the same time, facial acne can sometimes hurt when you accidentally brushed your face with your fingers, which makes you cringe in pain. Well, this alleviates the pain because aspirin is used as one of the main ingredients in this mask.

The multi-million dollar question. What if you are just one of the lucky few who doesn't have much acne on your face, but suffer from bacne (a.k.a back acne)? Yes, you can also use it to treat your bacne too. Repeat the mixing instructions as stated above, and gently exfoliate your back as much as you possibly can. Leave it for a few minutes (roughly 7-15 minutes) or until it turns sticky. Then wash it off your back and pat dry. Also, repeat once or twice weekly only as you do not want your back to turn really dry from excessive usage too.

VERDICT:

Overall Thoughts: It definitely does help to decrease the pain caused when my acne turns angry red. And after using this at least twice a week, although my acne is stubborn, it actually looked less red and felt less painful to the touch.