How To Reduce The Appearance Of Blackheads
‘Blackheads’ – sound like a scary face monster, don’t they. Actually, blackheads are a totally natural result of cell processes and hormone activity. We’re a big fan of celebrating imperfections, but we also understand blackheads are not who you want stealing your thunder. The good news is, the appearance of blackheads can be reduced by choosing the right blackhead treatment products and getting into some good face care habits. We’ll share some of our troublesome skin wisdom and help you feel like you’re becoming a skin-whisperer – with a complexion that feels refreshed, cleaner and clearer.
What is a blackhead?
We love a biology lesson. Sitting comfortably? Pilosebaceous units. Yes, we said pilosebaceous units. Or in plain English, skin pores that contain a hair follicle and a sebaceous (oil) gland. There are about 800 of them per square centimetre on our faces. Blackheads are small, slightly raised, blackish bumps on our skin, which tend not to be painful unless they become infected. We get blackheads when our skin pores (pilosebaceous units) become blocked with excess oil, bacteria and dead skin cells – then a plug forms over the top. This plug can be white, grey or black. Even though we tend to think of blackheads as having more dirt trapped in them, this is not true, the plug turns black because air has oxidised the oil and skin cells.
What causes blackheads?
Pores that contain hairs and sebaceous glands are in fact all over our body, but blackheads are mostly on our face because there’s a higher concentration of sebaceous (oil) glands around our t-zone (forehead, nose and chin). Blackheads sometimes pop up on our chest, neck and bum too. Cheeky! Sebum (oil) lubricates our skin and keeps it healthy, but sometimes we produce extra sebum, which stretches the pore so it appears larger than normal and creates a fertile environment for blackhead formation.
Our hormones control how much sebum we produce, and it may be no surprise that at puberty, it’s very normal for sebum production to go up 500%. It’s just nature doing its incredible thing. Stress, menstruation and pregnancy can also affect our hormones and sebum production. So, if you experience more blackheads around this time, don’t worry, it’s a very normal fluctuation in the natural processes in your body.
Tips to help reduce the appearance of blackheads
Ready to learn the gentle art of blackhead negotiation? Reducing the appearance of blackheads might be a more enjoyable process than you imagined. You can try these tips on their own or together as a kind of blackhead managing skincare routine.
Tip 1 - Use Steam
A little steam goes a long way in softening blackheads and making them easier to remove. Get a nice big towel and a big bowl of steaming water or fill up your sink with hot water. Take care not to touch or splash very hot water on yourself or your face. Then put your face over the steaming water, pop the towel over your head to keep the steam around your face, taking care it’s not too hot. Do this for 5-20 minutes and your pores will open up and start to release the blackheads. The heat will also soften the hardened oil, making it easier to remove.
Tip 2 - Extract
With the right prep and a clean tool, you can gently lift blackheads from the pores. Regular exfoliation helps buff away dead skin cells that can clog pores. First up, always make sure you either steam your face with a bowl of water for at least 5 minutes or pop a hot flannel over your face for a few minutes. This softens your skin and helps open your pores and extract the blackheaded plug. Take the Blackhead Remover, a metal tool with a small hoop at the end, make sure it’s clean by washing with soapy water or sterilised with rubbing alcohol, then pop the hoop around a blackhead and press. The blackhead should just slip out in a super-satisfying way and you can wipe away with a cotton pad or tissue.
Tip 3 - Pore-Minimising Skincare
Once you’ve done the cleansing and extracting, it’s time to show your pores a little love. Using pore-minimising skincare helps refine the look of pores and keep them feeling fresh. A face mask like our Charcoal Pore Minimising Mask, can help draw out any leftover impurities, while lightweight moisturisers keep your skin balanced so it doesn’t overproduce oil. Look out for skincare enriched with natural actives, like tea tree or charcoal, which can help keep pores clear and leave skin feeling smooth, clear and cared for.
Tip 4 - Hydrate & Protect
Even if you’re prone to blackheads, your skin still needs hydration. Using a lightweight moisturiser helps maintain balance, preventing your skin from overproducing oil. Always finish your routine by removing makeup before bed, so your skin can renew overnight.
How to help prevent blackheads?
As the saying goes, prevention is better than a cure. So how can you prevent your skin from forming blackheads as often or at all?
Step 1 - Open your pores
Jump in a nice warm shower and splash luke warm water over your face to help open your pores. Or a sink of warm water and a clean towel over your face for a minute or so will do the trick too. (Be careful not to use hot hot water.) Open pores allow the natural oils to cleanly flow out onto your skin, and reduce the chances of any dirt, skin flakes or other products from blocking your pores which can encourage blackheads to form.
Step 2 - Wash your face
Next up our delightful Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash, squirt into your hands and run over your damp face, it foams immediately and cleanses blemished skin gently without overdrying. Wash off and pat your skin dry. Using a natural skin cleanser product helps remove excess oil which can clog pores, as well as cleaning up any dirt or dry skin to help prevent your pores getting clogged.
Step 3 - Tone
Now for a cooling wipe over with our Tea Tree Toner on a cotton pad, this helps remove impurities and excess oil.
Step 4 - Moisturise
Blemished skin needs to be moisturised just like all other skin types, the best way to do this and help prevent blackheads is to use our Tea Tree Daily Anti-Imperfection Solution. Massage 2-3 drops of this clever little lightweight pre-serum over your face, and it will help your skin feel smoother and healthier. A moisturiser, especially one with natural ingredients, helps keep your skin healthy and hydrated, reducing dry skin and creating a better barrier. The healthier your skin, the less likely you are to be prone to blackheads.
4 tips to help prevent blackheads from happening
Tip 1: Use a face mask weekly
It makes sense really doesn’t it – a gorgeous relaxing face mask with the ability to help absorb impurities, unclog pores – that might just help reduce the chances of the blackheads. Enter our highly sought-after Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Clay Wash, enriched with bamboo charcoal, famed for its absorption properties, with faithful assistance from our Community Fair Trade tea tree oil. This smart, multi-tasking face mask simply reveals clearer-looking skin, so you can just wash them away when you rinse your skin, helping your face get back to its dynamic radiant self. Result.
Tip 2: Always remove your makeup before going to bed
It’s probably going to be common sense to you smart bunch, but just in case. Fact 1 – bacteria plays a part in the formation of blackheads. Fact 2 – when you’re out and about on your daily business, whether as a city-slicker or a country-bumpkin, your beautiful face is picking up grime and bacteria. If you add makeup residue on top of that… no-brainer right? Yes, your grubby mug needs a jolly good clean at night, including proper makeup removal.
We know at the end of a long day, time is of the essence. So for a faff-free all-in-one cleanse, try our Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil. Simply smooth over your face and then add a splash of water, see makeup (even waterproof varieties) wash away. It’s beautifully gentle, helping leave skin feel thoroughly cleansed and fresh. If you prefer a good creamy clean, try our luxurious Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter. Scoop it out and massage away all impurities and makeup. Then wet our Muslin Cloth and wipe away for a deep clean. It leaves your skin feeling so silky soft and pure, you’ll dive into bed with a halo over your head.
Tip 3: Exfoliate
Nature is brilliant isn’t it. Every day our face creates and sheds thousands of skin cells with us barely noticing. But for those of us who want to shimmer with radiance, those dead skin cells need a helping hand to exit the face area to reveal our ready-and-waiting bright new skin cells. Exfoliation is the process of removing dead skin cells, usually with a granular formula. Our incredible Tea Tree 3-in-1 Wash Scrub Mask can be used every day to gently exfoliate or once to twice a week as a face mask. When massaged onto the skin it helps unclog pores and politely asks those blackheads to pack their bags, leaving skin feeling refreshed and beautifully smooth.
Tip 4: Make your diet work for you
- Drink lots of water: As we well know drinking at least 2 litres of water a day helps keep skin hydrated and healthy-looking. But does it have a blackhead prevention capability too? Well actually it does. Dry skin can produce more sebum to compensate for being dehydrated, and an increase in sebum production, as we know, can lead to pores becoming blocked and increase the likelihood of blackheads forming. So get that glass of water filled up, and keep filling it up.
- Make sure you’re getting enough vitamin A: Now for some super science. Hold on to your hats. Vitamin A is found in vegetables like carrots, broccoli and spinach, and fruits like kiwi, grapes and melon. Vitamin A is known to promote new skin cell growth, and it also helps reduce the production of sebum. So this super nutrient not only helps look after your skin from the inside, it’s also fighting your corner against blackhead formation. So don’t forget your weekly visit to the local fruit and veg shop.
Tea tree oil can help reduce the appearance of blackheads
Ready for some more science and nature? Wondering why our Tea Tree Oil is so unique and works so beautifully with oily skin? Okay, here we go. Tea trees grow across the Southern Hemisphere in Asia, South America, Africa as well as being indigenous to Australia. They have beautiful, fluffy, lime green, needle-like leaves and grow to about two metres high. This fantastic tree has generated the ability to produce natural compounds that are reputed to ward off bacteria, viruses and fungi.
While pure tea tree oil should never be ingested, when diluted in a skincare formula it’s the business when it comes to help reduce the appearance of blackheads. Remember those pilosebaceous pores (home to hair follicles and sebaceous glands)? Well, blackheads, as we know, form when bacteria, dead skin cells and sebum build up here and oxidise to form a black plug.
And it’s not just all about being a science geek of a tree, our whole Tea Tree skincare range comes with ethical and environmental brownie points too. It’s infused with Community Fair Trade tea tree oil from Kenya. Here, we’re helping local farmers get a fair price for their harvest, which in turn helps them educate and support their families. Our passionate farming partners hand-harvest tea tree leaves and steam-distil them within 12 hours of picking. This helps us produce a very pure and potent oil to infuse our Tea Tree range with. Watch out blackheads!
