by Lisa Parris

Created on: December 31, 2008

You can use your own wee to get rid of pimples.And no, I'm not just taking the piss

Urine therapy is the use of your own urine to treat ailments.

Disgusting?

Yup. But effective.

Urine is both antiviral and antibacterial. It is ideal for treating wounds and abrasions of all kinds: athlete's foot, fungal infections, rashes, and our old friend, Acne. For the purpose of this article, that's what we're going to focus on, even though there are loads of people out there guzzling this stuff like it was single malt scotch.

For treatment of acne:

- Collect urine in mid-stream. Go a bit, stop, then catch the rest in a small, dark bottle. Put a lid on tightly. Store in a cool location, away from direct sunlight.

- New or old urine can be used for topical applications. But, older urine has a higher concentration of ammonia, making it more effective against skin disorders and rashes. Urine from 3-4 days ago is considered old.

- Soak a small cotton ball and press onto the affected area. (That would be the big red zit on your chin) I know what you're thinking but that's pee and you're talking about my face here! Do you want to get rid of your acne or not? Pat or massage it lightly into the affected area, making sure that the area is well saturated.

- Discard the old cotton ball, and saturate another clean one with urine and re-apply, lightly patting and soaking the affected area.

- Continue to reapply in this manner for 10 minutes.

- Wait 20 minutes. Rinse off.

- Repeat. Do this at least twice a day. Three times is better.

You should see an improvement in redness immediately and an overall reduction in your acne in about two weeksbut you have to be consistent.

Obvious pluses

It's free

It works- on mild to moderate cases, and improves severe ones

Minuses

Duh, it's pee.

It smells.

This whole idea may seem unorthodox and revolutionary, but it's actually very old medicine. Urine Therapy has been used for centuries in both the East and the West. More than 3 million Chinese drink their urine every morning in the belief that it is good for their health. But you don't need to go that for acne treatment. One of the primary ingredients in urine is Urea, which is found in many expensive face creams. That's what we're after here. The ingredient that makes it effective, without the high price tag.

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