Next to blemishes and wrinkles, clogged pores are one of our top skin obsessions. We look down in the mirror, seeing an (excessive) million black or white dots, wondering, “How can I make them go away?”
Once a high school rite of passage, oddly shaped pore strips have made a comeback thanks to going viral on social platforms. But are these sticky adhesives worth the hype?
Believe it or not, there are right and wrong ways to take care of your blocked pores. First, let’s get a better understanding of what it is before we bravely venture into the realm of unclogging pores with pore strips.
How Pore Films Are Made Exactly Work?
Some might say you haven’t lived unless you’ve examined a recently used pore strip with great fascination. These sticky paper strips were basically a high school ritual that became an internet sensation recently, and once you got into the whole routine, an obsession was usually born. But how do these oddly shaped sticky strips actually work?
Let’s start with pores and how they can clog. Pores are tiny openings in the skin that house hair follicles and regulate sweat and oil production. When dirt, oil and other toxins build up on the surface of your skin, it can lead to uneven skin tone and black and white spots. And when the resources are clogged, then the desire is born to literally take matters into our own hands – the method of index compression!
To help alleviate a lot of damage to our skin, pore strips temporarily remove the top layers of dead skin cells and blackheads using an adhesive, allowing the strip to stick to wet skin. After the pore strip dries usually within 10 minutes, it is removed, thereby removing anything stuck to the strip – and voilà!
How Can Pore Strips Help Skin?
There are more resource strips than meets the eye eye from just being very pleasant to use. They provide a quick – albeit temporary – improvement of certain skin culprits. Once you remove the strip from your face, this handy sticky paper becomes a veritable forest of tiny grains of dead skin cells, dirt, hair and oil that stick right off the strip.
Pore strips help smooth the skin, unclog pores and give that weird, pleasurable feeling of exfoliating the grain. Plus, pores look smaller as there are no foreign particles and you get a smooth, seamless makeup application. Plus, these little paper powerhouses now come with fancy skin enhancements, from charcoal-infused to hydrating strips to help tackle skin woes.
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How can pore strips be harmful to the skin?
Resource strips are good…for temporary Results. While they can work effectively in unclogging pores of excess sebum, they can also strip your skin of the essential oils and fatty acids that keep your skin healthy and hydrated. The stripes spread over a wide area of the face, above the black spots and healthy skin. Removing these beneficial elements can cause your skin to become dry, irritated and more prone to infection.
In addition, for a long-term correction for blackheads and whiteheads, pore strips are not the best way. These pesky pore clogs live deeper, below the surface of your skin, making them nearly impossible to peel off with a pore strip. To prevent blackheads and whiteheads from forming, you should turn to some other alternatives for deeper exfoliation.
Detoxifying cleanser
For a deep detox option, the Charcoal Clay Cleanser is your best bet. Activated charcoal powder, bamboo charcoal, and kaolin clay act like magnets to draw buildup from clogged pores while drawing out excess oil—all without stripping or dehydrating your skin.
Cleaning powder
Keep pores clear of dirt and dead skin cells with a powder cleanser. The detoxifying and refining Pore Herbal Detox Powder Cleanser thoroughly cleanses impurities and blackheads for less visible pores. This cleanser is a great alternative to popular glycolic acid products, which can be irritating to some skin types.
Facial scrub
Exfoliating a few times a week removes dead skin buildup, which causes pores to stretch. Make sure you choose a nourishing exfoliator or scrub without harsh synthetic exfoliants: enter our award-winning Acai Pulp Facial Scrub. This facial scrub harnesses the power of grape seed and acai pulp to remove blemishes, flakes and surface toxins for radiant, younger-looking skin.
Exfoliating sponge
Meanwhile, exfoliating with a natural, gentle scrub can also help prevent blackheads from building up. Our Charcoal Konjac Detoxifying Sponge uses konjac plant and bamboo charcoal to help cleanse the skin, freeing it of toxins by attracting bacteria and impurities like a magnet.
Chemical exfoliator
An exfoliator or chemical peel is another option that can gently remove the top layer of skin to reveal the smooth skin underneath. Made with highly beneficial alpha hydroxy acids, chemical peels can also be a suitable anti-aging option, as the main function of the treatment is to shrink enlarged pores while removing dead skin.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is extremely helpful in removing blackheads, helping to clear clogged pores and encouraging cell renewal. When dead skin sits on the surface for too long, it only acts as an ammunition barrier for blackheads. A 1% retinol topical treatment, such as PM Multivitamin + Antioxidant-Powerful Serum that can be used at night, will help keep dead skin cells out of your pores while helping to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pore Films
Can pore strips really remove blackheads?
Pore strips are a great way to remove more surface dirt and debris from your skin and can definitely loosen blackheads that are closer to the surface of your skin. But for more pesky pore blockages that live deeper, below the surface of your skin, you’ll need other exfoliating alternatives beyond pore strips.
What are the long-term effects of regular use of pore strips?
Regular use of pore strips can actually strip your skin of the essential oils and fatty acids that keep your skin healthy and hydrated. Since the strips are spread over a wide area of the face, above the blackheads and healthy skin, when removed they can cause your skin to become dry, irritated and more prone to infection.
Can pore strips cause enlarged pores or skin elasticity problems?
While there are some skin care products and treatments that can help reduce the appearance of sebaceous glands, pore tape is not one of them. Over time, it can stretch the openings and make the pores appear even larger. In addition, the longer the pore strip that covers healthy parts of your skin and you constantly pull it using pore strips, it can affect the integrity and elasticity of your skin.
What are the safe and effective alternatives to pore strips?
Detox cleansers, facial scrubs, chemical exfoliants like AHAs, and using vitamin A or retinol are great and effective exfoliating alternatives to pore strips. Just be sure to be careful if you have sensitive or reactive skin when using AHAs and retinol.
How do pore strips compare to professional blackhead extraction?
Compared to manual squeezing or pinching of blackheads, pore strips provide a gentler alternative. Improper extraction techniques can cause irritation, redness, and even scarring. The strips help minimize these risks by eliminating the need for direct skin contact.
Are you ready to say goodbye to clogged pores? Whether you’re looking for pore strips as a sleep staple, to work into your regular routine, or just want to quickly clean your pores for a special event, there’s a pore strip for the job.
Although a temporary fix, pore strips are skin helpers to really get rid of some pores! And if you really love the satisfaction of a used turf-covered resource strip, keep going—it’s not going to do any significant harm. But like anything we obsess over, use the preservatives.
