Tips on Busting Blackheads

Most of us to would have some form of blackheads on our face in varying degree of affliction (and those who don't - I am mighty jealous and want your skin!).

Unfortunately for me, I have plenty of these pesky black dots on my nose and a few on my chin and no matter what I do, I just can't get to rid of them permanently.

So whether it be through squeezing them with my fingers or using pore strips to remove them, I love extracting them out - gross I know, but nothing gives me more satisfaction than seeing them out of my skin.

While I do the regular squeezing of my nose to get rid of all the gunk, there is a greater risk of injuring skin when squeezing out blackheads so always I only do it after skin is softened (after a shower or a facial mask is a great time to do the dirty work).

With pore strips, if the skin is not prepped properly, the strip doesn't effectively picked up the clog pores and remove enough blackheads. I've recently discovered a method of using pore strip that is as good as manual squeezing without the risk of injuring skin.

The Safer Way of Removing Blackheads

1. Wash face thoroughly with water and your preferred cleanser. I use a glycolic cleanser like Invisible Zinc cleanser with 12% glycolic acid 200ml - RRP $35 (which can also be used as a treatment mask when left on skin for 5 minutes).

2. Apply a glycolic based mask (you can use the IZ product above for this step on the problem areas only). This is the key as gylocic acid breaks down the top layer 'glue' on skin that holds the dead skin cells on skin. I like the Alpha-H Liquid Gold Smoothing + perfecting mask 100 ml - RRP $63 and Endota's glycolic polishing mask 100ml - RRP $70

3. Wet nose area and apply Biore Cleansing pore strip 6 pk* - RRP A$5.69 as per normal.

4. Wait until the pore strip hardens to a plaster feel on your nose and then peel off skin. Hey presto - you should see a tonne more blackheads release and peeled off with the strip than normally would.


I use this gycolic acid treatment/pore cleansing strip combination method once a week to de-speckle my nose.

So there you have it -  maximise your blackhead busting powers with the use of glycolic-acid based products by un-clogging skin and prepping it for blackhead removal.

What are your tips to combatting blackheads?

* product was provided for consideration.

Sunday Mask Day for Blackhead Removal

I've always suffered from blackheads. They've pretty much made a permanent home on my nose and not much I've done have managed to move them off.

So weekly (or fortnightly when I'm lacking time) extractions are a must. My favourite way of doing this  safely so that doesn't damage skin is to soften the skin first to allow the pores to open up and then apply a peel off mask to remove those pesky things.

There are two ways to soften the skin and open the pores.

• steam the face over a basin of hot water for 5 minutes. The same effects can be achieved with a hot shower so this is a great after shower . 
• applying a salicylic based toner with a cotton pad to help dis-lodge the skin and wait for this to dry. Try  Clean & Clear Essentials Oil-Control Toner (I'm currently alternating between this and a home-made 4% salicylic 10% lactic acid toner to do this job).  I'd recommended applying the toner only to areas where there is actually blackheads (so T-zone for most of us) and not the entire faces as it can irritate skin and be sure to avoid the eye area. 

Blackhead fighting products

 I then apply a thick layer of peel-off mask (I've been using Korean brand Rolanjona Black Peel-Off Mask) onto only the areas with blackhead so when dried, it can easily be peeled off. You can also use Biore Ultra Deep Pore Cleansing strips which is less messy and also works well.

I don't use the Rolanjona black mask on the entire face anymore as I find the mask dries and stick to skin very strongly and it actually hurts to peel if off from cheeks and is far too harsh on sensitive skin areas.

First time use: I applied to the whole face - ouch! I now only use on the nose and chin area.

After waiting 15 minutes for the mask to dry, peel the product off and watch all the gunky stuff come off with the mask/strip!

When I haven't had a weekly removal, I repeat the mask application process to remove additional blackheads still stuck on my skin.

Gunky blackheads pulled out from Rolanjona black peel-off mask

This doesn't completely remove all the blackheads, but it does clear over 80% of them and have me looking presentable for the week until the next extraction session.

To prevent future blackheads and blemishes, I use the salicyclic toner atterwards to help control oil flow and keep the skin clear.

Super by Dr. Nicholas Perricone Acne Treatement is also a great post extraction treatment with as it contains 1% salicyclic acid, malic acid, alpha lipoic acid (ALA) for texture improvements and anti-oxidant quercetin from green apples to exfoliate and fade light blemish marks and help reduce the occurrence of blackheads and whiteheads.

• Clean & Clear Essentials Oil-Control Toner 100ml RRP A$6.49 at supermakets, Priceline and selected pharmacies.
• Biore Ultra Deep Pore Cleansing strips RRP A $6.99 also at supermarkets, Priceline and selected pharmacies. 
• Rolanjona Black Peel-Off Mask 25g per sheet in pack of5 can be bought for approx US$10 at ebay stores. In Asia, it's readily available in Watsons and other chemists.
• Super Acne Treatement* 30ml  RRP A$76.95 at Kit Cosmetics in selected Myer stores and Kit Cosmetics online. 

Products marked *  were  provided for consideration. All other mentioned products have been bought or gifted to me by great friends.