No matter if you have dry skin, if you have oily skin, if you combo skin, or if you have all of the above,anyone can have the issue of large pores.
Today we're going to be talking about the important role pores actually play on our skin and methods on how to treat them at home,what ingredients to look for in our skin care products to reduce pore size,but also debunking myths and misunderstandings about pores,and how sugar and hormones can actually make your pores look so much bigger.Because pores are mostly due to genetics and hormones,there are still things that we can do to help them look as teeny tiny and invisible to the eye as possible.
What are pores?
What exactly are pores? Pores are the little openings on our face that we like to complain about.They are very important for the healthy functioning of our skin because they produce sebum to protect your skin from dirt and bacteria in the environment.There are actually teeny hair follicles with baby hair inside the pore which you can't really see for the most part.Sebum is released to the surface of the skin through the pore. Pores are different from sweat pores,which only produce sweat from the glands and only when the pore is trapped by dead skin,will comedones like whiteheads, blackheads or breakouts form inside the pore like a volcano,erupting to the surface. A lot of you are probably wondering:
Why are my pores so big, and why are other people's smaller?
Generally speaking, it comes down to skin types,because people with more oily skin, will generate more sebum in the pore,so when the pore is filled with sebum,it will look larger.It's kind of like filling up a pool.So if you fill up something that wasn't there before,it will expand and it will just stay that way,and if you don't do things like clean your face properly, then this is only going to look more like,extravagant. Whereas people with dry skin,they already don't produce as much sebum to begin with which is why that hair follicle or that pore size is already smaller.But then the other end of that just means that they have to work harder in restoring all the oil to their face,otherwise,it will be dry as a desert.
That's the general explanation as to why some are bigger and some appear smaller and if you have combination skin,you will find that for the most part,just the pores around your t-zone will be enlarged compared to the rest of your face.
Another thing is the thinner your skin is,the more apparent your pores can be,because it's kind of a sagging effect.If it's thin it just sags a little,which is why sometimes with age or aging skin it can look bigger than normal. Whereas if you have very thick plump skin, you can just imagine like everything is kind of condensed and like dense,so then your pores won't look as big,which is why things like retinols also help with pore size because it helps to boost the thickness of skin.While our pores can't actually be shrunken or enlarged,their appearance can definitely be minimized with various tips and tricks, and good skin care habits.This takes us into some pre skin care steps for taking good care of our pores.
Face steaming at home:
You can't actually open or close a pore, because in order to do that you need a muscle,and there is no muscle surrounding your teeny tiny little pore.So what that mean is,it's basically got to do with temperature. When it's hot,your skin as an organ expands, and it will like magnify that hole which is the pore and then when it's cold it will contract.What face steaming does is it's basically using hot steam,and opening your pore so that it will loosen the debris that's actually filling the pore inside,which is like dirt,oil, whiteheads, blackheads and that makes it easier to do things like extraction.It helps the products that we apply after to absorb a lot better,and a lot more effectively when our pore is nice and clean.So here's how you can do face steaming at home.
➡ Fill your sink with hot water.You can boil some,but hot water from the tap works perfectly fine as well.Then you want to cover your head with a towel for 3 to 5 minutes. However long is comfortable for you.If you find that it's a little too hard to breathe,just like open the towel up a little and let that air through.Otherwise,you know, you don't want to pass out.You can take breaks too, if you want. This is a treating yourself thing. don't force yourself very much beyond control. You'll find that very quickly your face will feel hot, you'll start sweating,and this is actually really great because sweat expels a lot of toxins from the face as well.So not only are you opening the pores,but you're also getting rid of that gunk.
➡You will be able to clear your sinuses, as well, as you're doing this and if you just can't be bothered with filling your sink with water and,you could also get a face towel and wet it with hot water,wring it and then just put it over wherever you want to extract.If it's the nose,you just fold the towel, put it over here for a minute or more.
So these are some ways to open up your pores so that you can properly extract.The key is to loosen everything inside.
Blackhead Extraction Tool:
You all must have been seen this tool around.It's basically a metal rod with a loop on one end and a more rounded spoon extractor,which has a teeny tiny hole in the middle. This tool is used to extract the comedo, which is just a fancy medical term for pimple and these include blackheads, whiteheads and just you know, all the things that. Pores are trapped by dead skin, things like oil and bacteria start to build up inside which forms these pimples or forms these blackheads or whiteheads,which is when you use a tool to help extract .
The difference between a whitehead, a blackhead and a pimple:
✔A whitehead is contained,it's not exposed to air,so it's still under skin.It's just, like, slowly building up.
✔ A blackhead isn't black because it's dirty,it's because it's actually been exposed to air, and oxidized by air.Think of an avocado,if you cut an avocado, it goes brown.That's basically what a blackhead is.
✔A pimple is just more of that pussy build up inside.
How to properly use this Extracting Tool?
So we're gonna tell you guys how to probably use this extracting tool. Using this tool is a lot better than using our fingers because there's bacteria trapped under our nails,so when we touch with our fingers the bacteria speeds up to spread and that welcomes for more issues to pop up and we don't want that.
✔First, make sure your tool is nice and sanitized, you can use alcohol before beginning.You can just let it sit in the alcohol for about twenty to thirty seconds.
✔Gently press over the opening of the blackhead or pore,wiggle it around or gently roll across affected area.
✔If nothing comes out,you can slightly adjust the angle that you're pressing down too.If it still doesn't come out easily after you have adjusted the angle, just leave it alone.Because if you press too hard,it's going to come or it just indents your skin and then it just starts peeling the next day,because you broke your skin layers by pressing too hard.But that's also another thing: why you shouldn't keep going with it.Because sometimes the blackhead, whitehead, or pimple is actually very far down in the layers of just skin and it's just not ready.So by you going down there, you're actually just aggravating it and spreading it inside,which is like you don't want to do that.
✔Now if something does come out, you're not done yet,make sure you sterilize and cleanse that area to make sure that mini war-wound is protected. You can use a toner or antiseptic cream, or natural antibacterial ingredients like tea tree or eucalyptus oil to the spot.Prepping and also, like, sealing it is just as important.Because if you don't,the bacteria will get inside again and then you'll have another pimple in the place where you just got one in.
So after you've done that, we're now properly cleansed.Our pores have been taken care of, and it's moving on to skincare,which is the next most important thing when it comes to minimizing your pores.
➡We're gonna focus on serums.Serums are these jam-packed concentrated little bottles of magic that are filled with active ingredients to help you target specific skin care concerns and there's a lot of products for pore care.If pores are our main concern, you want to find something that is very hydrating as well as helps with blurring of the pores.Try to get a serum that one is here, to specifically control your pores.Serums are really hydrating giving your skin a smooth effect.Dab it onto your fingers and then apply it onto the places where your pores are ginormous, which is the cheek and the forehead mostly and basically the t-zone, work it in, small circular motions.
➡It's important to use pore control serums after you've just extracted all the nasties from your pores and always put on your moisturizer after it.Use serum Which can help you with controlling your oily pores.
➡For dry skin and large pores,you can try skipping cleansing in the morning and instead use something like beauty water or micellar water to take off anything that's on your face that got there overnight and then after just follow with your skincare routine. For dry skin,serums are a must because it helps you nourish and hydrate your skin before you lock everything in with a moisturizer because if you don't have the under layers,your moisturizer could potentially not be enough for dry skin.
➡ For oily skin,it's almost exactly the same. You have to keep it hydrated because the hydration and the moisture will then tell your pores to not make as much oil, which means it will then be smaller and it's not filled with a lot of like excess sebum.So the moral of the story is just hydration with serums.
Other ingredients:
You can look out for that help with pores include: glycolic acid for mild chemical exfoliation,hyaluronic acid to hydrate without greasiness.Salicylic acid is also a great ingredient to include,and is a winner for both drier and oily skin types,because it helps to get deep into pores and break down the sebum.
The Takeaway:
The key takeaway here is,exfoliation and hydration.All the exfoliating acids,AHA's, BHA's,help you take away the dead skin,so it doesn't clog your pores.The hydration helps replenish and keep your skin hydrated and plump,so that it is not saggy,and expanding.
Sugar and Harmones:
Now moving on to sugar hormones and large pores,because like we said, large pores have a lot to do with genetics,but hormones as well. So how do these interplay together?
➡Though, it's not that sugar itself that causes acne.It's actually what happens when we eat it, and how our body reacts to it that actually causes the breakouts.So if you're over indulging in sweets,it doesn't really matter what you follow up with skincare.Because if your body isn't happy with what you're consuming,which is a lot of refined sugar, then,you know, it's not going to be happy outside either.
Sugar intake and large pores:
Sugar has a high glycemic index.Glycemic index is basically the ranking for foods based on their sugar levels and sugar level affects our hormones.
How exactly does sugar affect our hormones?
When you eat certain foods that are high in sugar, particularly refined sugar, your body quickly converts this into glucose, which then goes into your bloodstream.This makes insulin levels in your body increase, and insulin is a hormonal response to sugar in the bloodstream.Then when your insulin spikes, this is directly linked to the receptors that are connected to the pores, and it will signal the pores to produce more oils,so the oils in the pores increase, which makes them appear larger .When the pores are larger,you're also increasing the risk that they get filled with dead skin,debris and dirt, which then makes you break out more.
It's not even just the pores that get affected. When your insulin goes up,your body goes into fat storing mode.Which is why high sugar diets cause very rapid weight gain,and why you can't lose weight without reducing the amount of sugar you're consuming.No loss, no gain! If you want to have clear skin, you've got to cut out the sugar!
Here are some of the tips that can help you :
➡The first thing is to decrease the amount soda to begin with, because it's loaded with so much sugar and there's always healthier options like water,which might be a little boring,but you can throw some frozen fruit in there, or just fruits in general, to make it have some sort of a flavour.
The refined sugars that you find in sodas are different from the naturally derived sugars you find in fruits.So that's like one way to cut some portion of sugar out because it's like, kind of drinking it sometimes to wash food down.So it's kind of like wasted calories and wasted sugar, so that's one step that you can do.
➡Another thing you can try is also reduce the sugar that you put in to drinks like teas, coffees or even oatmeal and yogurt.Sometimes we like to sprinkle sugar on top.
At first, you can reduce it to one spoon if you take two spoons ,then you will get used to that.Through this practice you can reduce it to nothing at all and just drink it straight. Look for natural sweeteners like, honey, maple syrup.
➡ If you're ever craving something sweet,you can replace what you would normally eat,like a cookie or a slice of cake, or anything loaded with refined sugar with something like fresh fruit.They're loaded with tons of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are actually really good for your skin.This is like making these minor lifestyle adjustments.
➡When you're dehydrated, instead of drinking soda or a fruit juice, you can just drink water and when you crave something sweet, instead of eating what you would normally eat,you can grab a piece of fruit.It might not taste the best in the beginning,but it grows on you.
The Takeaway:
Sugar is a drug.It actually works in your brain the same way that drugs do and then you feel hooked on it, which is why you always think you need it and then your body crashes when you don't have it.So it's kind of like cycling out of that phase, putting in these healthier alternatives. You'll find that you don't actually need it anymore.
That's also not to say that you need to cut it out of your life and just like "don't look at me" type of thing.Like, a cookie once in a while is fine. Just be more wary that you don't need to have it all the time, every day,after every meal or something like that and you'd actually be pretty surprised if you do try a no sugar challenge.
Just remember, everything in moderation. Just know that it is actually having effects on your body,and if you're complaining about your skin,this is a very easy way to kind of slowly reduce and be mindful. We hope you now know a little bit more about pores and more about the ingredients to look for this issue.
0 Comments