Regardless if you have relatively good skin or not, you may still be experiencing blackheads and clogged pores. Unfortunately, this is fairly normal, plus our busy lives can cause these skin problems to get progressively worse. If your pores are getting clogged out of the blue, some of the acne causes can be aging, stress, hormones, diet, and using the wrong methods or acne products in your skincare and healthcare routine.
Table of Contents
- Causes Of Blocked Pores On Your Face, Neck & Chest
- Best Ways To Unclog Pores Without Damaging Your Skin
- Best Natural Acne Remedies to Shrink your Pores At Home
- Treat Pesky Blackheads on Your Nose, Chin and Forehead
- Exfoliate Your Skin To Treat Clogged Pores & Blackheads At Home
- Why Your Pores May Still Be Clogged Even After You Exfoliate
It’s so tough to find the right skincare routine that is natural and won’t irritate your skin or make your pores more clogged. Certain topical acne solutions have acids that can make them worse, so you have to be careful.
It can be really tempting to pop those dirty looking blackheads. But, don’t do it! This can lead to widening your pores, more trapped dirt and acne scarring. Dermaplaning is another trend that can absolutely wreck your skin. Chemical skin peels can overly strip or thin the skin, if you overdo them.
Truth be told, the simpler the clogged pore treatment - the better you will feel. It’s individual but working on your skin barrier, introducing a natural skincare routine, plus a healthy lifestyle can work miracles for oily, dry or combination skin.
Here are some tips to unclog your pores and help your skin texture without harming your skin by widening your pores or acne scarring your face.
Causes Of Blocked Pores On Your Face, Neck & Chest
Clogged pores happen when dead skin cells, along with dirt and excess oils build up inside. This causes enlarged pores, blackheads and other acne breakouts. Hard white heads sticking out of the skin are typically plugs in the pores. They can happen because of sebum or keratin, both of which are normally found on your skin. When it blocks pores and gets exposed to the air, it can harden and causes clogged pores.
Let's talk about some things that cause clogged pores that you probably don't even consider.
- Your cell phone - it goes straight from the bottom of your purse to your cheek. Tip: you should clean your phone with an antibacterial wipe daily.
- Your Pillowcase - this one is a no-brainer. Tip: wash it once a week.
- Your Hands - even the most diligent handwasher can't prevent the amount of times our hands touch our faces. Tip: try not to rest your chin in your palm.
Best Ways To Unclog Pores Without Damaging Your Skin
Before you spend lots of money on the expensive brand products with a long list of ingredients you can't pronounce or spend hours dermaplaning and possibly thinning your protective skin layer with unnatural methods, you should consider natural home remedies for healing acne.
Use natural acne remedies and products (lovingly batch crafted with your health in mind) listed in this blog to shrink pores fast and reduce your blackheads.
Best Natural Acne Remedies to Shrink your Pores At Home
Ice Tightens Skin & Shrinks Pores
Cucumber shrinks pores, refreshes the skin and gives you a glowing skin complexion. Extract the juice of a fresh cucumber and apply it to your skin with a clean napkin or a cotton ball. Do this for 15 to 20 minutes and then wash it off with cold water. I also suggest drinking refreshing lemon & cucumber hydrating drinks daily as part of your skincare and healthcare regimen. Check out my favorite hydrating drink recipe here.
Cucumber naturally shrinks open pores.
Cucumber shrinks pores, refreshes the skin and gives you a glowing complexion. Extract the juice of a fresh cucumber and apply it to your skin with a clean napkin or a cotton ball. Do this for 15 to 20 minutes and then wash it off with cold water. I also suggest drinking refreshing lemon & cucumber drinks daily as part of your skincare and healthcare regimen. Check out my favorite recipe here.
Clay masks done on a regular basis, clean dirt, impurities, and harmful bacteria from your skin to minimize pores.
Using mask helps to prevent clogged pores from forming. This treatment will make your pores look smaller and gives you a better complexion.
Mix two tablespoons of clay of your choice with enough water or rose water to make a smooth mud mask.
Apply this homemade clay mask on your face and leave it for 15 minutes. Rinse the clay face mask off gently using warm water.
Our all natural charcoal masks with matcha green tea are premixed for you and formulated to remove toxins, oils, dirt, and other impurities. These face & skin charcoal masks are mixed by me personally in small batches and work wonders for every skin type. Order the masks as part of your pore minimizing skincare routine.
Afterwards, apply our green tea rose toner to close your pores. This is an anti-bacterial toner that balances the skin's color & tone and restores the skin's pH while gently cleansing and providing natural hydration and moisture.
Treat Pesky Blackheads on Your Nose, Chin and Forehead
Blackheads are pores that are clogged with excess sebum (excess oil created by the sebaceous glands) and dead skin cells with dirt and grind. Avoid obsessively scrubbing your face to get rid of blackheads. It can cause your skin to become sensitive and irritated, therefore possibly causing skin inflammation and making blackheads even worse.
Overly drying and overly washing your skin with harsh acne washes or scrubs can just end up drying out your skin, which could lead to more excess oil. Some oil is good for the skin and allows the skin to remain balanced and calm.
When the skin becomes too dry, it can cause your skin to overproduce oil by overcorrecting for the dryness and lead to perpetual acne and blackheads.
Exfoliate Your Skin To Treat Clogged Pores & Blackheads At Home
Exfoliating is one of the only variables we do have control of when it comes to minimizing the appearance of blackheads. Regular exfoliation of your skin will remove dead skin cells, oil, dirt and other impurities that lead to clogged pores.
A home acne remedy that helps act as a gentle acne scrub is baking soda mixed with water which creates a soft exfoliating pore treatment on the face while cleansing.
Our orange tea scrub is a natural skincare combo of organic brown sugar and ground orange tea with a hint of orange citrus. It is a gentle and soothing exfoliator to remove dead skin on your face and body that targets clogged pores, blackheads, acne and dark spots.
Exfoliating your skin helps prevent clogged pores from forming and allows blackheads to come out by gently removing dead skin cells along with dirt and grind, therefore allowing new clear skin cells to come to the surface of the skin.
Lemon & Cucumber Water Tightens Skin Pores
I highly recommend adding an infusion of lemon, cucumber, mint, and strawberries to your water to flush out toxins and boost your immune system. Watch me make my signature healthy & hydrating drink here.
Why Your Pores May Still Be Clogged Even After You Exfoliate
Exfoliation, even with alpha hydroxy acids only works on the surface level while pores go deeper into the skin. While the surface opening may appear large, what's down further is not. This is when diet and lifestyle changes for skincare are essential to treat the root causes of acne problems.
- Cut sugar from your diet. Yes. Sugar is not good for us and the insulin spike take a toll on the skin.
- Cut down simple carbohydrates from your diet like bread, pasta, pizza, burgers, rice etc.
- Avoid milk or milk products which have a lot of hormones and wreck havoc on our system.
- Drink plenty of water a day. Hydrate!
- Stop eating preserved and packaged foods. Fresh is always the way to go.
- Eat raw vegetables and lean meats cooked in healthy oils.
- Water is very important for our body and keeps it hydrated, drink plenty of it.
- Before going to bed, wash and moisturize your face. Our green tea facial moisturizer is lightweight and is the perfect complement to the other natural skincare products mentioned here. Save with a charcoal & moisturizer bundle!
- Make sure your pillowcase is clean.
- Avoid using thick, heavy makeup and remove it every night.
While clogged and wide pores can feel like an aggravating issue that will never go away, this skin problem is actually completely treatable. Consistency is key in any skincare routine, so remember to show up for yourself and your skincare daily and with determination and overtime you will see the results you are craving.
Was there anything you found surprising when it comes to these natural at home clogged pores treatments?