The Truth About Pore Strips and Blackheads

This shortcut will lead you in circles. Learn more about pore strips and blackheads!

Blackheads 101 (a mini crash course, because understanding them will set you free!):

• The oil our skin naturally makes combined with our own sweat is our skin’s first line of defense against harmful bacteria and plays a huge role in hydrating our skin and preventing blackheads. Pore Strips and blackheads do not go together. Most skin products we use strip away and suppress too much of this wonderful, beneficial, and natural oil. If this oil can’t travel successfully through our pore canals to be released onto our skin’s surface, it will get stuck underneath, collecting bacteria and eventually becoming blackheads or whiteheads. There are a million reasons to love this mysterious and important film of natural oil and sweat duo called your skin’s acid mantle. We are wise to learn everything about what you need to know about your skin’s natural barrier function. Understanding why we must love our skin’s acid mantle will go a long way in winning this war on blackheads.
  
• The most common reason this oil becomes trapped is chronic topical dehydration. A clogged pore is sometimes simply sebaceous fillaments but often underneath a tiny infection occurrs and our body sends white blood cells to attack. Often being trapped for months and sometimes even years, the surface area of the clogged pore will oxidize when exposed to air, turning it black. Blackheads are only black on the surface; they are white or yellow just underneath the tip that has been exposed to air.
  
• Removing a small portion of these small chronic blackheads is possible with sticky tape and strips, however, they will ALWAYS come back and the entire pocket of congestion is rarely fully removed. The underlying cause of our skin’s chronic dehydration must be addressed in order to permanently resolve the clogging and buildup in our pore canals in the first place. Blackheads and whiteheads are signs of thirsty skin that can result not only in long-term skin texture issues, but more importantly, can lead to the formation of possible precursor lesions for skin cancer when neglected over time.

• Professional extractions are the best way to remove blackheads initially but increasing water levels and restoring barrier will keep them away permanently.

Two very common mistakes that people make in an effort to combat blackheads and congestion is to use clay masks and withhold moisturizers from our skin. I know that there are countless conventional skincare products out there that promote these stratagies and perpetuate these old skin misunderstandings. Learn why clay masks will not detox your skin and will even encourage blackheads. Another reason that the war on blackheads is being lost is because many skin professionals and consumers alike believe in the the myth of comedogenic ingredients. These are ingredients that are falsely believed to clog our pores. Withholding these healthy lipids, fats, oils from our skin will effectly cause our skin to develope blackheads.

The moral of this blackhead story…educate yourself in what you might be doing that is sabatoging your efforts in reducing and preventing blackheads. Locate a skin professional who is a master extractor and can help with the instant, permanent, and complete removal of blackheads and congestion when combined with the right home-care routine. Politely decline conventional acne and blackhead treatments. Find out how to encourage self cleansing skin that naturally never gets clogged in the first place with this proper care. Learn how to hydrate your skin, restore its barrier daily to unclog your pores and enjoy clear skin and pores every single day. I promise you that you will get better results and not miss that box of pore strips one bit.

All this to say that contrary to popular belief, blackheads are not the result of poor hygiene, and, in fact, excessive scrubbing, pore strips or squeezing in an attempt to remove blackheads can actually make the problem worse.