This One Thing You Never Knew About Blackheads Will Blow Your Mind!

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how to get rid of blackheads

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If there’re two things we’re always asked about, it’s blackheads and pores, because let’s face it, we all have them! A couple of weeks ago our skincare expert Dr. Doris Day debunked a ton of myths behind pores, which quite frankly made us feel a lot better about ourselves. This week she told us a thing or two about blackheads, and now we’re feeling pretty zen about our blackhead situation. Here’s what she told us…

“Many people think the black dots on their nose are clogged pores or blackheads, but actually they’re not. Blackheads are formed from a physical obstruction of the opening of the pore. The black dots are actually mostly fine hairs, or sebaceous filaments, which are a combination of sebum and skin cells.” Which basically means that those tiny little black dots we’ve been after for years might not even be blackheads at all! The bad news is, “unfortunately you can’t permanently eliminate these filaments and no amount of squeezing helps.” Ooops! But there is hope for us, “you can control them with a bit with glycolic and salicylic acid, and gentle exfoliation.” So, if you’ve been ferociously trying to dig out your ‘blackheads’ with these acne tools, you might want to give your skin a break!

Now that you know that most of your blackheads are in fact, probably not blackheads, you have a lot less to deal with. To help deal with blackheads and those lil’ sebaceous filaments, try glycolic toning pads, like these Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Exfoliating pads ($13 for 60 cleansing pads), which you can use every night on your skin – just be sure to apply SPF during the day. You can also try this Salicyclic Acid 2% Solution from The Ordinary ($5.60), which will exfoliate the inside walls of your pores and improve skin clarity. Finally, to keep blackheads at bay, try to do our awesome DIY exfoliator once a week (we swear by it), and you’ll soon notice an improvement in your blackheads.