Hello @MBeauty55 ! My “holy grail recommendation” is to see a dermatologist (if you can) for skin diagnosis and personalized treatment options. Aside from that, the usual blackhead treatments are: Retinoid - this vitamin A family includes tretinoin (available only by prescription in the US), adapalene, retinaldehyde, and retinol. Of those 4, the first 2 are FDA approved for acne treatment. Adapalene’s available OTC in the US as Differin Gel, La Roche-Posay Effaclar Adapalene Gel, and a few other brands. You’ll find Differin and LRP at your local drug store or Target. Be sure to start slooowly with adapalene: use it just 1-2 times a week (never twice on the same day) for a while, then increase to 2-3 times a week, and keep gradually increasing frequency like that. Retinoids in general can be very irritating, so you don’t wanna start off using it daily. You might notice lots of new acne pop up during the first month of use; that’s probably “purging,” as retinoids speed up your skin cell turnover cycle; think of it as adapalene evicting crud from your pores. Make sure you have a good moisturizer on hand, because adapalene can also be drying. Salicylic acid (BHA) - gets down into your pores to degunk ‘em. If you’ve already tried 2% salicylic acid (not “willow bark extract” which won’t do the same thing as SA), it might just need an acne-fighting partner (like adapalene and/or the next ingredient I’ll list). SA’s a reliable go-to for several types of acne. Benzoyl peroxide - if your skin will tolerate it, this can be very helpful for blackheads. I recommend trying it in cleanser form: at your drugstore/Target, look for PanOxyl 4% Acne Wash. (Also comes in 10% strength but you might not need that.) Or consider The INKEY List SuperSolutions 5% Benzoyl Peroxide Cleanser Acne Solution 5 oz / 150 mL (another cleanser). You can wash with either of those once a day—maybe start off using it just a couple days a week at first—and then apply BHA. If you want to try all three of those, consider using adapalene at night and the other two (benzoyl peroxide and BHA) in the morning. That’s a good way to reduce irritation. You might also wanna pick one (I’d start with adapalene), use it for a while, then introduce a second one (I’d probably pick salicylic acid) and use it alongside adapalene for a while, and finally add the third to the party. You mentioned having tried masks, so I didn’t mention clay masks. But that’s another option to consider. Definitely don’t use pore strips: they do nothing for blackheads. If strips pull up gunk from your nose, those aren’t blackheads, they’re sebaceous filaments—and you can’t permanently remove those because they’re a natural function of human skin (they bring sebum up onto the skin surface). If that’s what you have instead of true blackheads, then ignore my 1st and 3rd bullets up there and just stick with BHA. 😉

TopicalsFaded Serum for Dark Spots & Discolorationis sooooo good and its not super damamging to the skin its a little bit on the pricier side but its so worth it, topicals is really good at curating products for problems like these.

Thank u for ur help🫶🏻🫶🏻💞

The Nars pot concealer is fantastic for going over acne and acne scars since it doesn't cling to dry patches. Other than that my experience has been that a glowy base (think Flawless Filter/Halo Glow filter) does a good job at reflecting light off of dark spots and texture. A lot of folks with oily/acne prone skin tend to be scared of glow but i promise it works. Also in my case I get moderate to severe acne right on the cheeks so I usually avoid cream blush formulas since they're hard to blend without lifting my base off my acne. I like powders instead since I can gently layer them on. You can get good products that do these things at any price point but the Nars concealer is unmatched and worth the price.

It's positive that you've found some relief with products containing salicylic acid and glycolic acid. In addition to these treatments, you might want to consider consulting a dermatologist for personalized advice and potentially exploring other treatment options, such as topical or oral medications, to help manage your acne and prevent scarring more effectively.

Try the caudalie one for sure since it is natural ingrediants it won’t be irritating to your skin and it is 62x more effective than any other regular vitamin c so it is more powerful and it will help minimize the scars quicker! I really love mine I go thru so many bottles a year.

Hi! So I love using peace outs dark spot patches, there so good! And also Sulfur is really good I recommend the one form De La Cruz, you can’t get it at Sephora but I got mine off Amazon! Also niacinamide is very good for post acne spots, just make sure it isn’t more then 5% if your starting off.hope this helped!!