One of the best ways to remove blackheads by yourself is to use blackhead tweezers. But before you start poking around, it's pretty crucial to know how to use pimple tweezers correctly so you don't mess up your skin.
To use it correctly, place the open tips on each side of the blackhead. Rouleau says to keep the tweezer body perpendicular to where you're extracting, and keep the curved part of the tips on your skin. “Gently press on each side of the blackhead until it begins to release,” she says.
Trying to "pop" zits or breakouts on your own is a bad idea, and using a metal blackhead extractor only makes it worse. Let's put it this way, most skin care pros don't even use metal extractors. Why? Because they are dangerous.
Extraction. Sometimes, a good course of action for stubborn blackheads is by manual extraction, but it should always be kept in the hands of a professional. Otherwise, you risk scarring your skin. A professional — whether it's a dermatologist or esthetician — may prep your skin with a light steam to expand your pores.
Apply slow and even pressure and once you are able to, lightly pinch the tweezers and pull the blacked out from the skin to extract it." If it doesn't come out easily, for the love of god, stop trying. Applying too much pressure can cause infection and scarring, Lee warns.
It can be very tempting — and satisfying — to squeeze out or pop blackheads. However, squeezing out blackheads can create several problems: You may not remove the entire blackhead. You may even push the blackhead further into your skin, which can cause painful irritation.
Because blackheads are a type of clogged pore, they can become painful, red, and swollen, and can even develop pus down the road.
Don't ignore your blackheads either.
They will not go away on their own. If your pores continue to become clogged with oil and dirt it can lead to full blown acne. Your clogged pores can continue to expand, leaving you with large pores even after blackheads are gone.
Although people can pop some noninflamed whiteheads and blackheads if they take the necessary precautions, they should never try to pop or extract inflamed acne. This type of acne is deeper in the skin and may be more likely to cause scarring and infection if a person tries to squeeze it.
If you continue tweezing to reach further into skin, you risk causing permanent damage that could not only damage the pore lining, but potentially lead to scarring or an infection, both of which would be much bigger issues than blackheads.”
If the goal of tweezing or plucking facial hair is to make your face cleaner, tweezing can cause the opposite effect. In some cases, as the skin near the hair follicles become more inflamed, this can cause moles and acne to flare up – and potentially lead to ingrown hairs.
If you've ever had blackheads on your face, then you've probably noticed holes on your skin after they're removed. These are just enlarged pores, and they should heal on their own. However, if this is taking too long, then you might have a scar or loose pores.
These bothersome blemishes commonly affect your nose because of the density of pores and oil production in that area. What causes blackheads on your nose? A blackhead starts to form when your pores become clogged with materials like oil, sebum (a substance naturally produced by your skin), makeup, dirt, and bacteria.
Once a week, use a pore strip to remove deep-downdeep down dirt, oil, and blackheads.
They form when pores get clogged by dead skin and excess oil," says board-certified dermatologist Raechele Cochran Gathers, M.D. "Blackheads are often very stubborn, and while they generally do go away, it can take months or even years for them to go away on their own."
Blackheads are a type of acne vulgaris, or hormonal acne. The most common cause is oil gland over-production, which can happen during hormonal shifts, such as puberty, menstruation, and pregnancy. Blackheads can also form when hair follicles are irritated or when dead skin cells do not shed regularly.
Popping pimples releases dopamine
A lot of people find popping pimples satisfying. After feeling and hearing that “pop”, some people get an immediate sensation of pleasure and relief. That's because dopamine — the happy-hormone — is released when you feel a sense of accomplishment.
For most people, squeezing blackheads is a gratuitous little habit they can control. Yet for some, it can quickly become a compulsion. That moment of blemish-popping releases dopamine, the feel-good hormone, which directly affects your emotions, as well as your sensation to pleasure and pain.
The desire to pop, squeeze, and pick at them. Trust us, we get it: Popping blackheads is both incredibly tempting and can be incredibly satisfying. But the hard truth of the matter is that it won't do your skin any favors and, long story short, experts strongly advise against it.
Tweezing hair that is too short may also cause ingrown hairs and folliculitis, which is a mild infection of a hair follicle. Not to mention, if you don't clean your tweezers before every use, they can cause breakouts and irritation.
Disadvantages of Tweezing:
Tweezing is not painless. Some individuals feel a sting with every hair that is pulled out of its follicle. Tweezing can also cause scarring, pitting, and ingrown hairs. Lastly, like waxing, tweezing requires some hair growth in order to grasp the hair to remove it.
Plucking can cause redness, swelling, itching, irritation, and damage to the skin. It can also result in ingrown hairs (where the hair curls backward or sideways under the skin) and infection.