Clogged Pores 😭

[ILOVEMYDOGGO567]

I dont know what kind of skin I have! Any suggestions? Also, what can I do to unclog pores? Do pore strips work?! Thank you!!

[WinglessOne]

@ILOVEMYDOGGO567   If your skin looks or feels oily everywhere, or gets more oily everywhere throughout the day, then you have oily skin. If your skin’s dry everywhere, sometimes to the point where you get dry patches, then you have dry skin. If your skin’s neither too oily nor too dry, then it’s balanced. If you have a combo of those things (example: my skin’s very oily on and around my nose; my forehead leans dry in winter and oily in summer; and the rest of my skin is quite dry), then you have combo skin. 

Pore strips don’t work on any type of acne, including blackheads. Some folks who see lots of little black dots on their nose think they have blackheads, but those dots might be over-productive sebaceous filaments* instead. When sebaceous filaments produce too much sebum, they’re more noticeable on skin. By contrast, blackheads are a type of acne called open comedones. They look black because the acne bump’s ruptured and air has oxidized the gunk inside (bacteria, excess dead skin cells, sebum). A pore strip can remove excess sebum from a sebaceous filament, but it’s not meant to dislodge a true blackhead plug. 

*Sebaceous filaments are tiny tubes that look like little hairs. When our bodies produce sebum (our skin’s natural oils), it runs along sebaceous filaments up to the surface of our skin. Sebaceous filaments are a natural and normal feature of human skin; we all have them. Sebaceous filaments aren’t acne. 

Something that works on both sebaceous filaments and blackheads—and some other types of acne—is salicylic acid, a type of BHA (beta hydroxy acid). This ingredient gets down into pores and degunks ‘em. You can try a leave-on product like The INKEY List Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA) Blemish + Blackhead Serum 1 oz/ 30 mL or Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant , or a rinse-off product like CeraVe Acne Control Cleanser, The INKEY List Salicylic Acid Cleanser, or The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Masque. Whichever product you choose, start by using salicylic acid a couple times a week for a few weeks to see how your skin tolerates it. Then you can increase usage if you want; some folks can safely use BHA daily, but others can’t because BHA can be drying. Do you already use a BHA product? 

[lmaster]

@ILOVEMYDOGGO567 nose strips will remove black heads, The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Resurfacing + Exfoliating Peeling Solution 1 oz/ 30 mL innisfree Volcanic AHA Pore Clearing Clay Mask 3.38 oz/ 100 mL DERMAFLASH DERMAPORE Ultrasonic Pore Extractor & Serum Infuser