Ah, yes, the ol’ acne desperation. If you’ve ever gotten a massive breakout before or you just live your life dealing with a constant barrage of cystic zits and whiteheads, you’re probably all too familiar with acne desperation—the mind-numbing, heart-racing panic that comes with feeling absolutely helpless and out of control over your own skin. I, for one, am currently queen of acne desperation as I deal with a patch of hormonal zits on my chin, and I would French-kiss a subway rat if someone told me it could give me clear skin (without, you know, giving me the modern-day bubonic plague).
So when one of my coworkers recently lamented her own acne struggles, telling me she once got so desperate to fix her cystic zits in college that she slathered pee on her face, I didn’t even question the thought process or the ew factor—I just asked if it worked. And because I’m sure half of you are more than willing to do a whole lot worse for good skin, I went ahead and investigated this beautiful little story to find out how it ended, starting with...
WTF?! Pee?
“I want to say that pee was not my first choice in acne treatments,” says Christina* (*who asked that her name be changed to protect her privacy and also to pay homage to her childhood idol, Christina Aguilera, who has probably not put pee on her face). “I had such terrible cystic acne in college, and I had tried every over-the-counter product, every antibiotic and oral medication, every prescription topical cream, and I would sit on Google, crying, trying to find any possible treatment that might work.”
And that’s when she found an online community of people who “swore” by putting pee on their acne to treat it. “I was so grossed out by the idea, but I was also so, so desperate, so I decided to just try it,” says Christina. “I peed on a Q-tip like a pregnancy test, then wiped it all over my cheeks where my acne was. I fully remember looking at myself in the mirror while I was doing it, like, This is what it’s come to, this is what I’m doing. I just remember it being really warm and my cheek feeling warm and everything smelling like...pee.” Yeah, that checks out.
Did the pee work??
I mean, this is what we’re all here for, right? “All the sites said that the smell goes away when it dries and that I should be applying the pee every day for the best results, but I just...couldn’t,” says Christina. “I did it before bed, and I slept with it and tried to give it a fair chance, but in the morning, my skin looked the exact same. I think I was hoping for a magic bullet, something that would make a huge difference and make the pee worth it, but everything looked the same and I just couldn’t do it again,” she says.
Okay, understandable. Buuut what if she had continued slathering pee on her face for a few weeks? Or a month? Or a year? Would she have cleared her acne and transformed her skin had she just stuck with it? “What? No,” said a very bewildered Mona Gohara, MD, dermatologist and associate clinical professor at Yale University. “I have no problem with urine itself—it’s sterile—but what that urine comes out of definitely isn’t,” she says. “So you’re introducing a host of issues and bacteria by putting your urine on your face.”
So where the hell did this whole urine theory come from? Well, from the dark corners of the internet but also from history: It’s called urine therapy, and it’s been a staple in alternative medicine since the early ages. And it kind of, sort of makes sense as to why. “Urine is high in urea, which is a natural exfoliant that helps soften skin and break down the top layer of skin cells,” says Dr. Gohara. Basically, it acts in the same way as salicylic acid, glycolic acid, and lactic acid—“all of which are safer and more effective and don’t carry the possible risk of, you know, E. coli,” she adds.
Should we all put pee on our faces?!
If you’re looking for the TL;DR here, then no, we should not all try putting pee on our faces. If, says Dr. Gohara, you could somehow catheter yourself (don’t?) to get that sterile urine from its source and if urine were the be-all and end-all and none of the other alpha or beta hydroxy acids already existed and were proven to be effective, then fine. Go dunk your face in pee. “But even then, there isn’t really a legit scientific reason as to why urine would be superior to anything else.”
So if you are dealing with acne that just won’t go away, know that there are always options (really, even if you’re in the depths of acne desperation), including retinoids, prescription topicals and orals, and, yes, even Accutane, which isn’t as scary as you’ve been led to believe. So to tide you and your skin over before you make that derm appointment, try one of these pee-free acne products, below, and save the urine for, uh, whatever else you do with it. IDK YOUR LIFE.
The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution
Use this 2 percent salicylic acid serum all over or as a spot treatment to keep pores clear of acne-causing sebum and dead skin cells.
Differin Adapalene Gel 0.1% Acne Treatment
This retinoid gel treats acne in two ways: 1. It boosts cell turnover to keep pores clear and 2. It reduces inflammation associated with breakouts. It's strong though, so use it only every three days for the first few months.
Peter Thomas Roth Therapeutic Sulfur Masque
10 percent sulfur in this mask deep-cleans pores, absorbs excess oil, and eliminates bacteria. For best results, apply it on clean skin for 10 minutes twice a week.
BP is gold when it comes to killing acne-causing bacteria. It's used here in a 2.5 percent concentration, which is is proven to be as effective as higher doses—just less irritating.
Chloe Metzger is the deputy beauty director at Cosmopolitan, overseeing the editorial content and growth strategy of the hair, makeup, and skin space on digital, while also obsessively writing about the best hair products for every hair type (curly girl here; whattup), and the skincare routines that really, truly work (follow her on Instagram to see behind-the-scenes pics of that magazine life). She brings nearly a decade of writing and editing expertise, and her work has appeared in Allure, Health, Fitness, Marie Claire, StyleCaster, and Parents. She also has an unhealthy adoration for Tom Hanks and would like to please meet him one day, if you could arrange that. Thanks.
