Your pores are like tiny little buckets all over your face. Tiny little buckets that collect and fill up with oil, dirt and dead skin. And if you have oily skin, that means you've got it worse then the rest of them, because oily skin makes your pores more visible. So let's get rid of that oil!
In my opinion, the first step of any skin care routine — oily or not — should be the double cleanse. The double cleanse will rid your face of impurities and create a fresh and clean face for your other pore fighting products to really get the job done.
I suggest to start your double clease with the multi-tasking Hanskin Pore Cleansing Oil BHA, $25, to clean your face of dirt and oil, and with the addition of salicylic acid to exfoliate to control sebum and help remove and prevent blackheads. Follow up with your favorite water-based cleanser and you're good to go.
The product name is nothing more than a marketing scheme (because, as we learned, you can't change the size of your pores)... BUT the Biorace Pore-Tightening Pearl Clay Mask, $25, will still do wonders to help de-gunk and reduce the appearance of them by drawing out oil and impurties from your skin. As a bonus, this mask contains pearl extract to help brighten and even out skin complexion. Stay bright and refreshed with this awesome mask treatment!
This product to me is legendary. It was one of the first miracle-working products I heard of when I started my skin care journey (really, obsession). Everyone seemed to sing its high praises—and that's because it works! With 4 percent BHA (aka beta hydroxy acid), the Cosrx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid, $22, cleans pores by penetrating deep inside of them to get rid of dead skin cells trapped inside. And BHAs are oil-soluble, which means that they can bust through oil to truly dissolve it and clean out clogged pores.
Some people don't like nose strips. They think it can be irritating, stripping off natural oils, and that they don't even work at removing blackheads. But I love them — especially the Biore Charcoal Deep Cleansing Pore Strips, $5.99.
Now, it's true that these nose strips won't completely remove your blackheads, and that's because it only removes the top layer of gunk in your pores — they aren't as deep cleaning as people think. But, pair it with your other favorite pore-cleaning products, and it can make one great pore-fighting team.
For example, I like to follow, a nose strip pore cleaning with the above-mentioned Cosrx Blackhead Power Liquid, which actually does work deep to remove blackheads, or the Biorace Pore-Tightening Pearl Clay Mask to really draw out the oil and impurities deep in the pores. Without that top layer of debris, these nose strips can really help the products of your next step penetrate deeper to clean your pores.
These exfoliating pads are the perfect combination of physical and chemical exfoliation. Soaked with chemical exfoliants like lactic acid, glycolic acid, and lemon, orange, and papaya extracts to clear clogged pores and made of a gauze like exfoliating pad to gently scrub the top layer of skin, the Neogen Dermalogy Bio-Peel Gauze Peeling Lemon, $27, is a fantastic exfoliator for any routine, but also another great surface level pore-killer (there's a reason it's a beauty blogger favorite).
