How To Reduce The Appearance Of Pores

One common complaint, even among those with great skin, is that the pores that dot our faces are just too obvious. Women always want to know how can you shrink them or reduce them. The bad news is that you can't actually make them physically smaller, but with these tips, you can reduce their appearance by making them appear smaller and less noticeable.

Many times, the reason that pores are so obvious is because they are clogged. They can be clogged with your body's natural oils, such as the sebum the pore produces, or even dead skin cells. Whether you have obvious whitehead pimples or tiny blackheads, these blemishes make people with ordinary-sized pores worry that theirs are too obvious, or too large. But pores are what they are - they can be made bigger by stretching or damaging the skin (so don't pick at blemishes!), but having acne doesn't actually make your pores bigger.

Making your pores appear smaller is as simple as getting rid of acne in all its forms. That means utilizing your skin care routine, from your facial cleanser all the way to your anti acne treatment, to eliminate acne as much as possible. Before you can even consider using your face wash, you should steam open your pores so you can de-gunk them from the inside out. You can do this with a towel soaked in warm water and placed over your face, or you can let the steam from the shower do the work. (While you're at it, you may consider using an anti-acne shower gel if you're prone to body acne.)

Once your pores are open, you can complete the rest of your skin care routine. You can utilize your facial cleanser to gently eliminate dirt and dead skin from your face, then while your face is wet, you can exfoliate with either a scrub or your face wash and a nubby face towel. Exfoliate in a circular motion, and then rinse your face with warm water.

If you already have blackheads along your nose, chin or forehead, you may choose to extract them, or you can have a facialist do it at your next spa appointment. (If you choose to do it yourself, the best way is to use an extraction tool so as not to damage your skin with pushing or prodding, which can increase the size of your pores!)

Finally, you can tone your skin with an astringent to help tighten the pores, and finish your face off with an acne treatment to prevent future blemishes from popping up.

Getting rid of acne, whether blackheads or whiteheads, will help reduce the appearance of pores by preventing them from standing out or calling attention to themselves.