Everything You Need to Know About Your Pores
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Perhaps the number one question we wonder for these tiny holes in our skin is how to shrink pores. Perhaps the one thing that’s not. We have many questions about pores: Why are some of them larger than others? How is it that they fluctuate too often every day? Sometimes, why do they clog and cause acne?
They are a maddening part of our anatomy, in other words-for me at least. Here’s all that you oughta know about pores, making them look bigger and holding track of their oil intake.
Types of Pores
The body has two types of pores.
Sebaceous pores: these are the sebum secreting pores. They are everywhere over the body between the soles of your feet and the palms of your hands. Actually they are the same things as hair follicles — the openings that we casually call pores, like on your nose or cheek, just don’t have a visible hair that pokes out.
Sweat Pores: They ‘re all over the body. (As if you didn’t deal with the reality every day.)
But when someone in a skincare setting speaks about pores, they usually say sebaceous pores.
How Pores Work
Our pores have the central function of having a sebum pathway to penetrate the skin surface. This supplies the skin with moisture and lubrication. It avoids dryness, dullness, discolouration, hard scratching and the like. In other words, the pores and the oil they contain are the friend — if the pores appear larger than you might want, all you don’t want to do is actually clean them with soap or dry additives want alcohol into compliance.
Why Some Pores Are Bigger Than Others
Pore size varies from person to person, which depends on the venue. This coincides with the thickness of the sebaceous gland attached to it. Scale and density of the pores are directly proportional to the size and volume of sebum formed by the sebaceous glands.
How to Shrink My Pores
Sadly we ‘re all born with a set pore size — topical goods aren’t going to literally change their size. We may however reduce our pore size presence.
Do Men Have Bigger Pores Than Women?
Seemingly so. Hormones, primarily androgens (testosterone), activate the sebaceous glands during puberty to develop sebum. This is why men usually have bigger pores compared to women. Men’s skin on their faces and body is usually darker, oilyer and ages differently than women. Pores tend to be larger in areas rich in oil, such as the main face — the nose, the cheeks and the forehead.
How Do Pores Get Blocked?
Pores get clogged as extra fat, soil and dead skin cells obstruct hair follicles, resulting in increased pore depth. This combination could potentially lead to comedones (blackheads and whiteheads) open and closed.
The Best Products to Reduce the Appearance of Pores
The easiest way to keep the skin clean and well-exfoliated is to the the noticeable size of the pores. But there are a lot of ways to do that.
Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs, like glycolic acid and lactic acid) and beta hydroxy acid (BHA, salicylic acid) which exfoliate the skin by ‘ungluing’ the stuck-together dead skin cells on the surface. They differ in that BHAs are oil soluble, so they can work both on the surface and deeper inside the pores. While water-soluble AHAs work solely on the top layers of the skin.
Dr. Dennis Gross pore-refining serum with salicylic acid
Sephora
$65
SkinCeuticals overnight cream with glycolic acid
Dermstore
$80
Murad clarifying cleanser with salicylic acid
Amazon
$30
Retinoids enhance and normalize epidermal (top skin layer) cell turnover so that skin cells do not clump together with oil and obstruct pores. Retinols can only aid remove active comedones (clogged pores and acne), they are also effective for treatment and can enhance fine lines and wrinkles as well as general quality.
They come in super high-strength prescription versions but are also available in less-potent over-the-counter products. But they do have a learning curve: they irritate many people’s skin before they get used to them.
Dr. Brandt Skincare retinol eye cream Sephora $55
Paula’s Choice retinol serum Dermstore $42
These are the best ingredients for people with super-sensitive skin. “PHAs work similarly to AHA/BHAs, but only work on the most superficial skin. They make the light lesssensitive, and are less annoying.They are ideal for patients with dry or allergic skin conditions such as rosacea or eczema. “PHAs play second fiddle in an AHA or BHA drug is normal but people with sensitive skin should look for them alone.
NeoStrata face serum with PHA Demrstore $80
Avoid strong moisturizing creams and are not explicitly formulated for the skin. Look for the “non-comedogenic” words on the package, if you’re not sure it’s a facial product. When you’re unsure, so miss it, because there’s a fair risk it wasn’t cleared for face use. For sunscreens, you will sometimes run into this question, which is why it’s wise to have a dedicated face sunscreen in addition to one on your body.
