How to Minimize, Prevent, and Treat Enlarged Pores and Blackheads

Enlarged pores and blackheads can be a very unsightly and can impact some’s self-esteem. However, understanding the causes along with proper products as well as some to stay away from can help to minimize, treat and prevent these issues, enabling you to get the smoother, brighter complexion you’ve always wanted. Now before we get into some of the tips, we think it is essential to understand some of the causes.

What Causes Enlarged Pores and Blackheads

Enlarged Clogged Pores: When the skin produces too much sebum oil it can mix with the dead skin cells in the pore. This oil becomes trapped by the dead skin cells and dirt which causes the skin to swell and the pore to become congested, forming a clogged and enlarged pore.

Blackheads

The reason your pores enlarge is to provide room for the oil to flow out. However, the oil can still become trapped. If this happens the oil and dirt can collect at the end of the pore, and when it is exposed to air it will oxidize forming, you guessed it, a BLACKHEAD!

Things That Can Cause Your Pores To Get Clogged

Aside from dead skin cells, if you have experienced enlarged pores and blackheads you probably have seen that some items can worsen the situation, and some may be culprits you are unaware of.  While there are quite a few things to stay away from, we compiled a list of the most common ones we see people expose themselves to daily.

Going To Bed With Your Makeup On

You see when we go to sleep we are renewing our body, mind and more, which includes the skin. Wearing makeup to bed prevents your skin from this renewal process. Which can contribute to clogging your pores and outbreaks.

Not Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes

Let's first start with the fact that our makeup brushes can harbor bacteria and dead skin cells, YUK, and who wants to put that on their skin, NOT US!  But, if you are NOT cleaning your makeup brushes regularly this is precisely what you are doing.

Properly washing and storing them can keep your face clean & healthy. Furthermore, cleaning your makeup brushes will ensure they remain in the best shape and increase longevity. Makeup brushes are just as essential as the makeup itself, so taking care of them is important. A solution to help alleviate this, it to use an antimicrobial makeup brush, like the Sonicblend. This makeup brush comes with built-in protection against microbial contamination, so the brushes stay cleaner, fresher longer.

Washing our face with bar soap: This soap usually contains harsh ingredients that can dry your skin. This drying soap pulls the water out of the surface creating the dead skin cell build up. 

A Dirty Pillow: You want to make sure that you are washing your pillows weekly.

Your Cell Phone: Think about where that bad boy has been and then you are putting this on your face. While you can’t always have your phone on speaker, keeping antimicrobial wipes (for your phone) close by is a must.

Excess Sweat: Not correctly cleaning after you have had a workout as sweat can cause your pores to clog.

Dehydration: When our skin is dehydrated from a lack of moisture your body makes it up by overproducing oil.

Tips To Help Prevent And Treat

At Michael Todd Beauty we have a wide range of products that can help prevent, maintain and treat.

Use Products that can help to absorb the oil. 

Manual Exfoliation

We recommend a sonic cleansing device, like our Soniclear Elite. This beauty tool uses sonic technology, up to 300 sonic movements per second (7X times better than hands alone) to gently and effectively buff away dead skin cells, while reviving tired skin, smoothing the appearance of fine lines & driving oxygen-rich blood to the skin's surface for a re-volumized look.

Ingrown hairs can also cause a pore to be clogged, and the Michael Todd Beauty Sonicsmooth is an ideal solution. Not only does this beauty tool remove unwanted facial hair it is also the world’s first true sonic dermaplaning system for home use. 

This device uses a specially designed Safety Edge and true state-of-the-art sonic technology operating at 258 sonic movements per second, working together to sonically plane the top layer of skin (exfoliation) while removing debris (build-up) and simultaneously removing Vellus Facial Hair (peach fuzz). The sonic frequencies help gently but effectively dislodge the barrier of dead, dull skin and debris in a way that a razor simply cannot.

The Total Refresher

We saved the best for last with the Michael Todd Beauty Total Refresher 3-in-1 skin rejuvenation beauty tool which performs three functions…

• Removes dead skin
• Polishes and refines the skin’s texture
• Tones and rehydrates

This at-home personal microdermabrasion system uses diamond encrusted tips and suction to gently but effectively rejuvenate for softer, smoother and more radiant skin. The Total Refresher is also a rehydrating mister so that you can pour your favorite toner into the reservoir and the Total Refresher transforms it into a hydrating mist which is ideal for after you microderm your skin.

Use oil-free products

Products that are heavy in oil can contribute to new blackheads. Therefore, you want to be choosing oil-free as products that contain oil can which can add to further blackheads. Hence, you want to select some noncomedogenic makeup, lotions, and sunscreens to avoid making your situation even worse.