It is evident that complete removal of blackheads is never an easy task, it involves a lengthy process which calls for a lot of care. First things first, let us begin by discussing the meaning of blackheads before we get down to their causes and how you can remove them:
What are blackheads?
They are types of acne, acne refers to a composition of keratinocytes, lipid secreted by sebaceous glands, and metabolites of acne propionate that clog the opening of skin follicles. When formed, the sebum mixture is white, hence called whiteheads. However, when the skin breaks and exposes the whiteheads to the air, then the top is oxidized to black, which becomes blackheads. It is the most common type of skin problem, whereby a majority of people do suffer from the blackheads.
What cause blackheads?
We all hate blackheads, but few know why blackheads occur. The main reasons that cause blackheads:
Excessive oil secretion
Pore blockage
Pore blockage is another critical cause of blackhead formation, which is generally affected by abnormal keratin metabolism, and the discharge of excess sebum from the follicle cannot be smooth. Factors such as incoordination of life, hormone secretion, seasonal change, and other factors usually affect the metabolism of your horny cells. So you should go to bed on time and get up early, do daily skin cleaning, this will promote your horny metabolism.
Dust in the air, etc.
Blackheads form through the oxidation of open grease by air, which means that as long as there is the chemical effect of oxidation, blackheads are inevitable, and likewise lowers the chances for complete eradication of blackheads. Besides, the more air pollution, the more the emission of oil, and consequently, the more the formation of blackheads.
Improper use of cosmetics or cosmetic residues
Long-term use of cosmetics, such as isolation cream, BB cream, among others, tends to form granular substances. If the cleaning is not thorough, in the long run, those particles lodge themselves into the pores, which raise the probability of producing blackheads.
In a day to day life, the majority of the people will have the probability of having blackheads. Failure to treat them on time enhances the likelihood of causing damage to the skin.
How to get rid of blackheads?
We can consider the following approaches to succeed in blackhead removal:
Control of sebaceous secretion
The first thing to prevent blackheads is to clean the excess oil of the skin and control the balance of water and oil. If you are sensitive or acne skin, you can choose a milder shampoo, which helps remove excess grease and keratin. Daily skin cleaning, combined with oil-controlled products, such as salicylic acid together with its derivatives, dipotassium glycyrrhizinate, nicotinamide, and so on, can properly suppress facial oil, improve skin quality, and clear pores. Of course, you should also remember that you should not clean the skin excessively; otherwise, it will hurt the damaged skin or increase the possibility of skin inflammation, which is not conducive to the removal of blackheads
Applying a cleansing mask:
The primary purpose of the cleansing mask is to take away excess grease and remove extra cutin, but if you have a severe acne problem or your skin barrier is damaged, or you are sensitive skin and dry skin, it is not recommended to use it.
Proper usage of acid-containing products:
Be careful to use acid products, if you are a first-time user, your skin is either sensitive or dry, then you shouldn’t use them on your own; you should seek the guidance of a doctor. You can maintain or achieve healthy skin from the use of low concentrations of products (salicylic acid is recommended to start at 1% concentration, almond acid is recommended to start with less than 10% concentration).
Vitamin B:
If you have an oil-prone skin, you can appropriately supplement it with vitamin B; it can regulate oily skin problems.
Sunscreen
Ultraviolet rays not only sunburn and tan your skin but also stimulate your skin to secrete more oil and make skin inelastic resulting in large pores, so it calls for a proper approach to the sun protection. UVB (short wave ultraviolet B) is the strongest between 10:00 am to 2:00 pm or 3:00 pm in summer, and UVA (long wave ultraviolet A) intensity is dominant throughout the day. In addition to using a sunscreen with a high protective coefficient, you should avoid going out in this period as much as you can.
Now, let’s talk about specific ways to remove the blackhead.
The methods are as follows:
Jojoba oil + facial cleanser
Although jojoba is called oil, the texture is thin. Your skin may feel a little oily but not greasy, like water. Jojoba oil is very mild and does not irritate the skin. The composition of the jojoba oil is closer to sebum so that it can dissolve with sebum, and its permeability is good, can make lipid smaller, thus loosening blackhead (the essence of blackheads is the lipid blocked in hair follicle tube).
How to use:
• Gently massage the skin with jojoba oil for 3 minutes for 5 minutes. You can use it 2 to 3 times a week; you do not have to use it frequently.
• After jojoba oil massages finish, you can cleanse your skin with facial cleanser. It can help remove the loose blackhead. Also, you can choose a soap base or amino acid facial cleanser.
• If your skin is more sensitive and not very oily, then it is recommended to use an amino acid facial cleanse.
• If your skin is oilier and more tolerant, then you can use a soap-based facial cleanser, with jojoba oil, your face will not be dry.
Although this method helps to dissolve the lipid, it can’t remove your blackheads instantly, it calls for your persistence, and the blackhead will be improved. But in case you want to get rid of the blackheads altogether, it is difficult.
Cleansing Mask
Regular application of cleansing mask helps to soften horniness, promote natural exfoliation of keratin around the follicle mouth, and avoid clogging the pores. Similarly, it helps to minimize the presence of blackheads. You’d better choose a mud-like cleaning mask, which absorbs excess grease on your face much better and plays a perfect cleaning role. Apply it once in a week.
Acid
The principle behind the use of salicylic and fruit acids for blackhead removal is their release of cutin, which loosens and makes blackheads easily removable. Also, it can help the smooth discharge of grease, and therefore, this method can’t remove blackheads directly; it only plays a minor role in blackheads removal. Salicylic acid is a fat-soluble component that can penetrate well into hair follicles to dissolve hardened lipids to eliminate blackheads and whiteheads and clear the pore secretion channels.
Blackheads Striper
It is a commonly used method blackheads removal, and the principle is that blackheads are pulled out by adhesion. Its role is only for the harder blackheads, those soft blackheads you can’t pull out.
Besides this method doing the job partially, it also damages pores and skin barriers; the repeated pull tends to enlarge your pores, and its long-term application destroys the integrity of your skin barrier. Like an acne needle, it requires external force. Not only is the lipid in the hair follicle torn off, but also the normal keratinocytes and intercellular fats that protect the skin.
Therefore, you shouldn’t exaggerate the frequency of use, and the components that converge large pores and moisturizing products must be washed off after use. Also, most nasal stripers mainly contain water, film-forming agents and kaolin clay, bentonite clay, and so on. With the help of a film-forming agent, water can soak the epidermis until the cuticular layer softens, and then adsorb the blackheads on the face through kaolin clay and other components.
Cleansing oil and cream
Usually, to make cleansing oil completely emulsified, cleansing oil is added to a powerful surfactant. It is only suitable for the rapid completion of makeup removal procedures and not for long-term massage. Besides, it is easy to cause skin inflammation and excessive drying. Cleansing oil and cream have an auxiliary effect on removing blackheads but not recommended for long-term massage.
You need to note that it works well on dry skin; cleansing oil and cream contain a lot of oily ingredients. Therefore, for oily skins, they still tend to be too thick after use and consequently require thorough cleaning.
Acne needle
Generally, this physical method of removing blackheads is a bit challenging when it comes to squeezing out the blackheads without floating them out first. If the angle and intensity of the tip of an acne needle are not perfect, then it is prone to damaging the skin and leaving acne marks and scars. It is advisable that as an auxiliary means, after floating the blackhead through the blackhead export solution or cleansing mask, then you need to scrape it off with the acne needle gently. Through the acne needle press, you can extrude the stubborn blackheads.
Medical/beauty
Commonly, it is in the form of needle clearing and laser. Kindly adhere to the doctor’s advice, in your regular hospital or professional beauty salon to succeed.
F.A.Q
Q: Can the excessive application of skin care products on my face lead to blackhead formation?
A: It depends on the skin texture of everyone’s skin and the skin care products you choose. It is advisable to avoid using some skin care products with oil ingredients, especially oily skin, too much oil will stimulate the secretion of sebum, so that more sebum secretions accumulate in the pores, increasing the chance of blackheads appearing.
Q: Can the facial cleansing brush help remove blackheads?
A: The use of the ordinary soft brush to clean the face can play a light cleaning effect, but it has no way to remove fatty particles in the pores. You can try using an ultrasonic facial cleansing brush twice a week to break or loosen particles that clog pores; it can help remove blackheads and assist in the emergence of closed acne.
Q: What is the difference between blackhead and whitehead?
A: Actually, the difference between blackhead and whitehead is whether there is an opening in the pores. The whiteheads form when the pores fail to open, sebum secretion is not oxidized and appears white. On the other hand, blackheads occur when the pores open but are not entirely occluded, and then sebum secretion comes into contact with the air and oxidized to black. When the blackhead is squeezed out, it is not black, but yellow and white, the appearance of black is due to the principle of refraction caused by the illusion.
Q: Does squeezing the blackhead with bare hands worsen the blackhead? Does it enlarge the pores?
A: Sincerely, use of hands to pick out blackheads does not necessarily aggravate blackhead problems. Sometimes blackheads get worse because of excessive pressure applied when picking them out; it results in inflammation of the skin and formation of scars. Therefore, there is no problem with proper extrusion; the most important thing is to remember to do an excellent job of cleaning and disinfection before and after extrusion. It is wrong to say that using the hand to squeeze the blackhead will make the pores larger (you can either be born with larger or smaller pores, and the size of hair follicles also determines the pore size), and it will not make the pores larger by hand extrusion. But also avoid using the hand to squeeze the blackhead; after all, the hands might contain a lot of bacteria.
Q: Is it effective to use scrub products to remove blackheads? Does it harm the pores? If the cleaning is not thorough, will the scrub that remains on the face form a blackhead?
A: It just takes a considerable amount of strength, and the scrub doesn’t hurt your skin. The use of scrub products for blackhead removal once a week can effectively remove grease and dead skin. On the contrary, in case the use of scrub products is too frequent or too intense, it stimulates the skin’s oil secretion, causing the blackhead to become more serious. You have to bear in mind that failure to wash off the products thoroughly does not mean that the scrub left on the face becomes blackheads; that is because as soon as the skin dries, the sand falls off on its own. Or during the oil secretion, the sand in the pores will also be pushed out.
