Vital for the health of our skin, pores nevertheless make life difficult for us: they accumulate sebum and impurities and easily appear dilated. So what can you do to regain smooth skin texture and tightened pores? Here are our enlarged pores solutions!
What are pores?
We must first differentiate pores into two categories:
- The pores through which sweat flows. They are absolutely invisible.
- The pores through which sebum flows shelter a hair follicle.
When we talk about enlarged pores, we are therefore talking about this second category. First myth about pores to deconstruct: pores neither “open” nor “close”. Their appearance is more or less dilated depending on the sebum and impurities that are accumulated there.
Pores are present over the entire surface of the skin. They ensure the good health of the skin barrier and deposit sebum on the skin to form the hydrolipidic film. Pores are more easily dilated and visible in the T zone, namely the nose, its surroundings and the forehead.
Why are pores enlarged?
Pores expand due to buildup: the more stuff you put in them, the larger they get. Some reasons that contribute to enlarged pores:
- Overproduction of sebum
- Accumulation of dead cells and impurities
- Makeup residue such as foundation, comedogenic oils, etc.
- Oxidative stress due to the sun, tobacco, pollution, etc.
If a pore has been dilated for a long time, a plug will form in the pore: we then run the risk of developing blackheads, or if the plug becomes infected, the appearance of acne .
What to do to tighten your enlarged pores?
There are several things you can do to treat enlarged pores:
- Adopt double cleaning . Our makeup remover oil , for example, will deeply cleanse fatty substances such as sebum, makeup, etc. We then complete the cleansing to purify our pores with an aqueous phase such as cleansing jelly for perfectly cleansed skin. Double cleansing is important, especially for those who wear makeup, sunscreen, or have oily skin .
- Reduce sebum production. You should look for ingredients in your routine that regulate sebum production: niacinamide regulates sebum while witch hazel or geranium are astringents. Our purifying lotion is concentrated in niacinamide and geranium extract to reduce sebum production without drying the skin.
- Exfoliate regularly. Since dead cells help to clog pores and dilate them, exfoliating once or twice a week with AHAs is a good habit. This is why our peeling mask or our blemish serum are good solutions for treating enlarged facial pores. Both enriched with AHA, the mask is applied once or twice a week while the blemish serum can be used every day.
- Use a moisturizer suited to your skin type. To be healthy, your skin produces a certain amount of sebum. If you use astringent ingredients without ever providing fatty acids to your skin, the latter will overproduce sebum to compensate. In the morning, use a moisturizer suited to your skin type. In the evening, use a richer one. For example, oily skin should use a fluid or gel moisturizer. In the evening, it is better to use a cream for normal to dry skin.
- Use a clay-based mask. Clay masks can treat enlarged pores because they absorb excess sebum: you will have an immediate tightened pores effect, but this effect will not last. They won't help with blackheads either.
