Clean Up Blackheads
Clean Up Blackheads
December 9, 2009
Those tiny little black dots on your nose and cheeks can be a real pain and can make your skin look dull or dirty.
But squeezing them can cause scarring and skin damage. So here are a few tips and home remedies to help you get rid of those nasty black little specs.
What exactly is a blackhead?
Blackheads are actually open comedones. This simply means a zit with no skin over it. Those whitehead zits in your skin are closed comedones. The blackheads are pores with a wider than normal opening; which get plugged up with dead skin cells or sebum, an oil your skin secretes.
When the pore gets clogged, it still continues to secrete oil which is why the pimple or blackhead continues to grow. The black color actually comes from oxidation of the dead skin cells and oil meeting the air.
Blackheads do not only appear on your face, but also on any area with a large number of sebaceous glands such as your back and your chest.
Although popping them may seem like a quick and easy solution, it can actually harm your skin and cause more blackheads by squeezing bacteria and pore clogging gunk deeper into your skin. Here are some home remedies to eliminate them from your life without having to go crab man on your face.
Begin by using an oatmeal or almond face mask. Simply mix together a soft paste using either fine oatmeal or almond powder with rosewater. If you find the paste is not sticky enough, mix in a small amount of honey. Then simply dampen your face with a steaming towel and rub the mixture on. Let it stand for 15 minutes and rinse.
Once a day for a week rub bitter guard on your face. This will peel them right out. For stubborn blackheads, add 1 teaspoon of Epsom salt and 3 drops of iodine to ΒΌ cup of boiling water. Once cool enough to use, dab onto the trouble spots with a cotton ball. This will loosen the blackhead enough to be gently popped out.
Gently dab a cotton ball in lemon juice and apply it to the blackheads 3 times a day. It will dry up the blackheads. The only caution is that the lemon juice may irritate or dry out the skin.
Begin by washing your skin gently with an exfoliating wash to remove any dead skin or oil. Then steam your skin with boiling water or extremely hot tap water (steam; do not stick your face in the water). This will open the pores. Next, apply a clay or seaweed clay mask to absorb the oil in the skin. Leave it on for ten minutes and then rinse with warm water. Pat dry.
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