Tea tree oil is a pale yellow to nearly clear oil extracted from the leaves of the melaleuca alternifolia plant in Australia.
Its history is long, as for centuries, Aboriginals along the East coast crushed the leaves into a paste and dressed wounds with it, to prevent bacterial infection. Later, the oils were extracted from the leaves and used against a sore throat or cough.
Today, tea tree oil is still a staple of the cupboards of most natural remedy lovers. Its antibacterial properties against diseases like athlete’s foot and dermatitis are legendary…
…and luckily for us, it’s a highly underrated treatment for acne.
In this article, you can discover the top 10 tea tree oil brands for acne, but today, we will discuss its precise benefits in full.
Tea tree oil is supported by an avalanche of evidence
Firstly, we have this February 2015 review from the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, which compiled several scientific studies performed between 2005 and 2014. Overall, products infused with tea tree oil slashed acne lesions by at least 23.7% and up to 62.1%.
Look at these specific studies:
STUDY ONE: a double blind experiment from 2007 which gathered 60 patients with mild to moderate acne. They were randomly divided into two groups of 30, and given either a placebo or 5% tea tree oil gel. Both the total lesions count (TLC) index and the acne severity index (ASI) were used.
There were no significant differences in age, gender, nationality and other demographic characteristics. Nevertheless, after 45 days, the tea tree oil patients enjoyed a far faster reduction in acne.
Tea tree oil gel was 3.55 times and 5.75 times more effective than placebo at reducing TLC and ASI. The scientists concluded that “topical 5% tea tree oil is an effective treatment for mild to moderate acne vulgaris”.
STUDY TWO – in a 2002 experiment, 27 patients were injected with the immune agent histamine, to induce inflammation in the skin. After 20 minutes, 21 patients received 100% tea tree oil with the other 6 receiving paraffin oil.
Paraffin failed to calm the redness and swelling, but tea tree oil succeeded within 10 minutes. That’s good news, because acne is an inflammatory disease at its root.
Then you have the user reviews to consider. On acne.org, tea tree oil gets a user score of 4.1/5 and 87% of users would recommend it to a friend.
It’s true that that user reviews for acne products can be tainted by overoptimistic ideas, and businesses simply planting the stories to gain publicity and sales. Nevertheless, it’s a promising sign, and most of the acne stories feel genuine. Some epic tales include…
- A reduced lifespan of acne; tea tree oil dry out active pimples out successfully.
- Acne which went away after 24 hours of exposure.
- A “giant, angry pimple” calmed down massively overnight.
- Clearing angry acne when nothing else worked.
The consensus is clear – tea tree oil is superb at calming down the most aggressive acne.
Beats BP, without the side effects!
That’s not all either. According to a 1990 study, 5% tea tree oil killed acne just as effectively as 5% benzoyl peroxide treatments, like Oxy-5 and Benzac AC.
That’s a similar concentration to BP creams in the shops. According to the study, tea tree oil clears acne more slowly, but BP is significantly more irritating to the face. When applied twice daily for 45 days, tea tree oil reduced several acne symptoms, including acne severity.
Read Annihilate Your Acne – learn how to clear your skin permanently
Benzoyl Peroxide is hyped as the be all and end all of acne treatments but its side effects are notorious: burning of the skin, redness, peeling, and in the long term, more acne. Benzoyl Peroxide works by blasting p.acnes cells (acne bacteria) with free radicals to destroy them. Unfortunately, this also inflames your skin, and funnels you down the road to clogged pores.
BP is basically the nuclear weapon of topical treatments. Tea tree oil also has a few side effects, including…
- Dryness.
- Itching.
- Redness.
- Burning.
- Sticking.
The dangers are actually similar to Benzoyl Peroxide, but far milder, according to studies. Individual allergic reactions can happen, as can stronger reactions among sensitive skin. Tea tree oil is highly toxic when ingested; its skills include indigestion, cramps, pain and even hallucinations.
However, tea tree oil is only an acne danger in the sensitive, whereas with BP, it’s a game of Russian roulette every time. Tea tree oil is also safer than many natural treatments, like apple cider vinegar.
The acne science behind tea tree
Tea tree oil has endless compounds, and roughly 10 of potent medicinal power have been identified so far. The most famous is Terpinen 4-ol, a terpene antioxidant which in nature, is only found in sizeable quantities in tea tree oil and nutmeg.
Terpinen 4-ol is the main acne saviour. It reduces pimples in two ways, the first of which is wiping out acne bacteria.
Many of tea tree oil’s famous attributes come from its antibacterial powers, such as disinfecting wounds. Terpinen 4-ol can inhibit endless strains, and according to this study, it wages war on Staphylococcus aureus, s. epidermidis, and propionibacterium acnes (acne bacteria) specifically. They concluded that “This study supports the use of tea-tree oil in the treatment of acne“. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Apply tea tree oil, and your acne bacteria will be crippled, preventing the pore from growing more inflamed. Your immune system will no longer target and assault p.acnes, spreading chaos everywhere.
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Also, while terpinen 4-ol is the best researched one, two other tea tree oil compounds called alpha-terpineol and alpha-pinene inhibited p.acnes just as excellently. Better, so did several unidentified compounds.
The testimonials speak for themselves – who knows what other beneficial substances are lurking in there?
Just review the other abilities of tea tree oil: it’s famous for treating atopic dermatitis, ringworm, and athlete’s foot, all of which are connected to bacterial growth. The dentists and surgeons of the 1920s used it for sterilising wounds and infections. This remedy can even inhibit the dreaded Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureas (MRSA), a resistant microorganism which infects scores of hospital patients yearly.
It’s clear that tea tree oil is an antibacterial juggernaut, just like raw honey or blue light devices.
Tea tree oil has localised anti-inflammatory powers
As for the second power then? It’s soothing inflammation.
Firstly, in the 2002 study above, tea tree oil already got busy reducing histamine, the main inflammatory chemical behind allergic reactions like redness and swelling.
Then there’s this 2000 study which tested terpinen 4-ol specifically, when applied topically to human cells. TNF alpha, IL-1beta and IL-8, some of the worst chemicals for inflaming your acne, all fell by 50%. Two other compounds, a-terpineol and 1,8-cineole, were examined, but terpinen 4-ol was the most anti-inflammatory. The gigantic 50% reduction was achieved after 40 hours of exposure, so you could easily achieve good results after just ten hours in bed at night.
A 2014 study tested tea tree oil on inflammatory villains like IL-6 once again, and the results were nearly identical.
To cure acne, it’s vital to learn the dietary tricks which restrain your immune system; which lower the inflammation across your entire body. However, lowering skinflammation directly is also wise, and terpinen 4-ol is excellent at doing that.
How to use tea tree oil
What’s important, however, is to control your dosage to avoid side effects. All tea tree oil contains varying amounts of a skin irritant called 8–cineole which some skin types react particularly badly to. These rashes are usually mild and itchy, but can develop into blisters.
Occasionally, this compound causes serious allergic reactions. Such reactions aren’t common, but slather tons of oil on yourself and they will be. Normally, tea tree oil is highly anti-inflammatory, but it’s the exact opposite if you go overboard. Treat this powerful natural substance with respect!
Firstly then, you should use a small amount, because that’ll get the job done anyway.
Secondly, the internet is littered with stories where acne patients tried applying tea tree oil to their entire skin, to prevent breakouts altogether. They were shocked to wake up to rashes and in some cases, painful blisters. Some people even “grew” acne in areas where they’d never had it before.
Therefore, the ultimate strategy is to only apply tea tree oil to individual red and swollen pimples. Lowering inflammation and suppressing p.acnes bacteria is where tea tree oil shines, not as a general skin enhancer. It’s no good for skin tone anyway, but it’s great for reducing redness and swelling, and doing that fast.
The rule is thus: tea tree oil is best as an acne killing tool, whereas for acne prevention, you need something milder like jojoba oil, grapeseed oil or sea buckthorn oil.
The best tea tree oil product for acne
- “Tea tree oil may be included as the active therapeutic agent or at lower levels that are unlikely to have therapeutic benefit but instead serve to increase the appeal or marketability of the product.”
In other words, a bottle boasting of “natural Australian tea tree” is often designed to enrich not your skin, but rather the manufacturer’s bank account. Additionally, many creams and cleansers are simply too weak; the comparison study with Benzoyl Peroxide found that 5% concentration was necessary for skinprovements. Some tea tree oils aren’t even extracted from the correct subspecies, and allergies are another risk to consider.
Therefore, here’s how you can make your tea tree oil unstoppable against acne:
Buy a pure, 100%, organic bottle. Simply buy raw, undiluted tea tree oil. You’ll know exactly what you’re getting, and won’t be caught out by creams and soaps with only minuscule quantities. Using full 100% strength is a recipe for irritation, so it’s best to dilute the solution in water first, and then apply to a cotton puff. An organic certification will guarantee purity, and organic bottles are often richer in terpinen 4-ol too.
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Buy a dark bottle. This prevents sunlight from oxidising the oil. When exposed to light, terpinen 4-ol rapidly breaks down and becomes useless for acne. The oil loses its anti-inflammatory powers, and worse, light increases a hydrocarbon called para-cymene, a known skin irritant. Oxidised tea tree oil causes more allergic reactions (the same is true for lavender oil).
Perform an allergy test. The end goal with tea tree oil is to make your acne less red and inflamed. If your skin is especially sensitive to para-cymene or 8-cnineole, then the opposite could happen. Therefore, it’s smart to dilute some tea tree oil with water and dab a small quantity on your arm or hand. If your skin suddenly reddens and rashes, then you’re an unlucky soul whose skin cannot tolerate tea tree oil. If not, then you’re good to go.
Check the concentration of terpinen 4-ol. These days, any company worth its salt analyses their tea tree oil in a laboratory and displays the terpinin-4-ol percentage on the bottle. Since that’s the main antibacterial compound, you should always check the percentage. Quantities range from 10% to 45%, but 30% or more is the key. It a bottle doesn’t display the percentage then that’s your sign to run fast, and run far away. You could also experiment with higher and lower percentages, like 30% versus 45%.
Get the finest from Australia. The real tea tree plant grows in Australia. Check the bottle or sales page for “sourced from Australia”, or something similar.
A product which fulfils all those requirements is this Eden’s Garden Tea Tree Oil (amazon link). The bottle is dark and the oil is pure, so you can dilute it and apply to acne however you please.
For 10 excellent tea tree oil products, which are the best available and free from synthetic imitations, read this article.
Conclusion – tea tree oil is a great topical acne treatment
Tea tree oil is a natural acne treatment that seems to work excellently. It thrashes BP, as despite being slower to calm pimples, it’s far less likely to backfire and cause new acne.
5% tea tree oil is supposedly optimal, but as with any acne treatment, it’s a great idea to experiment. Your skin might be stronger against its compounds, allowing you to enjoy more powerful acne benefits without the rashes or blisters that others would experience. Who knows?
Regardless, if you find the sweet spot, then tea tree oil is one of the better topical acne treatments you could use. Other great options are grapeseed oil and sea buckthorn oil.
Of course, topical treatments will never succeed alone, because acne starts inside the body. You have to change your diet and lifestyle.
However, tea tree oil is an excellent short term solution, for desperately calming an angry pimple on the night of a hot date or important business meeting.
Lemongrass oil: an even stronger antibacterial remedy
This remedy is a distillation of the leaves and stems of the lemongrass plant, a 6 foot high clump of lemon-scented grass which grows in tropical climates.
In traditional Sri Lankan and Indian villages, lemongrass tea is known as fever tea, since that’s what they drink it for, but its reputation all changed back in 2007 with this excellent antibacterial study. 22 essential oils were tested, and while kaffir lime leaf inhibited p.acnes bacteria most strongly, lemongrass oil and citronella oil started working at the lowest concentrations, at just 0.125%.
Is there an explanation? Possibly, because citral, the signature component of lemongrass oil, whose content is about 75%, can also inhibit Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans. The oils were tested on five p.acnes substrains (there’s thousands overall), and each was strongly inhibited.
Lemongrass oil actually beat tea tree oil, scoring 35.8 vs 16.2. Out of the 22 essential oils, tea tree oil ranked in 7th, while the feeblest two were black pepper oil and canaga abs oil. Citronella oil also scored well, which is backed up by other studies.
Lemongrass oil has no direct studies on acne, but suppressing p.acnes is bound to be beneficial…
…and there’s one more promising power. Lemongrass oil is particularly skilful at inhibiting neutrophils on the skin’s surface, a pro-inflammatory agent which releases bursts of destabilising free radicals.
In this article, I praised lavender oil’s little known anti-neutrophil powers, with most people being distracted with its exaggerated irritating potential. However, in this study, lemongrass oil was the strongest among 10 essential oils for inhibiting the neutrophils stimulated by other pro-inflammatory chemicals.
Lemongrass oil required concentrations of just 0.00625%, while the runners up, geranium oil and spearmint oil, required 0.013% and 0.016% respectively.
Are your pimples constantly red and inflamed? Is your skin dull, and devoid of health and glow, even if your acne isn’t too bad? Too many free radicals from too many neutrophils might be why. In fact, increasing neutrophils might be why the bipolar medication lithium causes acne constantly.
Lemongrass oil can put an end to this madness, potentially with only a couple of drops added to grapeseed oil.
Lemongrass oil isn’t proven to cure acne, but it slays two of the biggest problems behind it. Lemongrass oil might be the most promising obscure essential oil in the world today. Doubtlessly, some ancient villagers in India have used it to clear their acne before, a brief discovery which the history books didn’t know about and never will.
Be cautious if you try it, since all essential oils are concentrated and powerful, but there’s no unique risk with lemongrass oil. A great brand is this Plant Therapy Lemongrass Essential Oil (amazon link), which is steam distilled and comes in a protective glass bottle, to keep the oil fresh. Plant Therapy is also a brand I recommend for tea tree oil, and that’s because they’re a highly trustworthy, purity-obsessed essential oil company.
NEXT: forget creams and moisturisers – discover the ultimate acne-clearing diet
Thanks for reading!