How do we get rid of our blackheads? That's the question of the day....actually it's the question every day.
We get asked this a lot. And while its something that almost all of us want, we become disheartened cuz we don't think there is a real solution.
Well, we are here to give you some good news: there is.
If you are like us, you've spent many an evening picking at your face and lamenting over the never-ending appearance of blackheads (aka. comedones).
The problem with this is that it's often the only strategy used for comedones: to extract them manually.
While this is important to do so your pores don't stretch out, extractions will not prevent them from returning.
Side note: Yep, stretching and enlargement of pores can occur when they're overly full of dried sebum, cellular debris and environmental impurities (the basic contents of a blackhead).
To truly banish blackheads you need to increase your skin's overall hydration, support your internal wellness and get into the groove of proper exfoliation.
Steps in Banishing Blackheads:
Hydrate Your Skin
The most important thing to do is hydrating your skin.
No, don't avoid oil in fear of pore congestion - slather it on. Slather it on over a hydrating serum that replenishes your complexion with water.
It's not oil you need to fear when treating blackheads, it's dehydration. This is what causes our natural oil (sebum) to dry out and clog.
When our skin is hydrated, our sebum simply secretes and rolls over our complexions protecting it will a layer of moisture. When its dehydrated, our oils harden and become stuck in our pores, creating the little corks of comedones.
This is also why I have found
steaming good for blackheads. Not only do you sweat out pore impurities but the warm steam hydrates your skin on a deeper level.
Support Your Bod, Support Your Skin
For the same reason as above, hydrating internally is also important. We have seen major changes in the skin of clients when they increase water intake, decrease caffeine and alcohol and start eating a more hydrating diet.
We just mentioned hydrating from the inside out, and part of this is proper elimination because when we are constipated, this dries out our body and, in turn, your skin.
Exfoliate Gently Regularly and Intensely Occasionally
Regular peeling helps decrease the amount of debris and dead skin cells that accumulate in our pores. But it also encourages better circulation, which encourages collagen production (this increases hydration).
Along with this, exfoliation clears away the blockages that impedes absorption allowing us to truly benefit form our hydrating products.
We recommend exfoliating two to three times per week to maintain healthy, comedone-free skin. But we also advise more intense exfoliating treatments either monthly or seasonally.
A personal fav right is jet peel or aquabrasion. This is a microdermabrasion treatment using high pressure water. Like pressure washing. It works by blasting away cellular buildup but also infuses the skin with moisture while doing so. Its excellent for sensitive skin as the water is cooling, unlike other heating and irritating abrasions.
A treatment like this banishes blackheads in the short and long-term and helps to shrink pore-size.
Now, this isn't to say that after all this you will have poreless skin - alas, once your pores get enlarged from comedones, its difficult to completely erase any sign of having them. But we will say that we have seen pores look visibly smaller.
Still, less noticeable pores is a win in our opinion...and preventing buildup will help treat congested skin for realzies.
Image by Linh Ha via Unsplash
