Whiteheads are the simplest and least damaging form of acne. Plugs of sebum and bacteria blocking a pore, whiteheads are not blacked by oxidation or reddened by inflammation. They are smaller and less visible than other manifestations of acne, but they are not necessarily easy to treat. Here is some steps you can follow to learn how to get rid of whiteheads.
Getting rid of whiteheads requires:
- Gently removing the compacted sebum and bacteria that is blocking the pore, and
- Preventing skin from growing over the pore and trapping the bacteria inside so the whitehead eventually forms a cyst.
How to Get Rid of Whiteheads #1
Cleansing the skin to get rid of whiteheads often can be done with nothing more than soap and water. If you have dry skin, you need an oil-based soap, like Dove, to remove dirt without robbing healthy pores of their lubricating oils. If you have oily skin, the least expensive skin cleanser is Ivory soap.
Washing skin to get rid of whiteheads requires three simple steps:
- Make a lather of soap and water and apply the lather to the skin.
- Let the lather stand on the skin for 15 to 30 seconds.
- Rinse the skin with warm water, and, finally,
- Pat the skin dry with a clean towel.
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Rubbing bar soap across the skin actually makes whiteheads worse. The bar of soap leaves soap residue that can block new pores and form new whiteheads. This is the reason for making a soapy lather to apply to the skin.
Either hot or cold water can damage skin that has whiteheads. This is because cold water constricts pores as it makes the skin tighter, and hot water dries out the skin, leaving tiny flakes of dead skin behind to trap the oil in new pores that form new whiteheads.
It’s also important to pat, never rub, the skin dry. Rubbing skin with a towel loosens skin cells that can lodge over pores. Dirty towels can put dirt and oil back on the skin and reinfect the skin with acne bacteria.
How to Get Rid of Whiteheads #2
The second step in getting rid of whiteheads is keeping the skin from growing over the pore and trapping the oil and bacteria inside. Some of the foods that aggravate whiteheads might surprise you. As you might expect, consuming oils that stay liquid at room temperature and foods fried in them or baked with them, such as potato chips, corn chips, doughnuts,commercial baked goods, French fries, and fried chicken, accelerates the formation of whiteheads. But to prevent whiteheads, you also need to avoid excesses of:
- Tomatoes, which are a rich source of lycopene that stimulates skin oil production,
- Leafy greens, sea vegetables, and seafood, which contain large amounts of iodine, which can cause the skin to break out, and, as you might expect,
- White sugar, which encourages the formation of inflammatory hormones.
Even when inflammation is not visible in the skin, inflammatory hormones can cause pores to stay tight and trap oil inside.
There are several steps you can take to open the keratin layers that may have grown over whiteheads. One is to go to a drugstore to buy a blackhead remover (which also works on whiteheads). Place a clean cloth that you have dipped into warm, clean water and wrung out over the skin for 10 to 15 minutes to soften it. Then use the blackhead/whitehead remover to vacuum sebum out of the pore. If the device does not work, don’t try force the sebum out of the pore. Try again another day.
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How to Get Rid of Whiteheads #3
Another way to remove keratin layers is exfoliation. Any skin peel that contains glycolic acid, a plant chemical related to vitamin C, will help lift old skin from the openings of pore. Follow directions on the label to avoid excessive drying of the skin. And if you absolutely must “pop” a whitehead, follow these steps:
- Sterilize a pin with rubbing alcohol or by passing through a flame.
- After the pin has cooled, barely prick the skin over the whitehead. Do not try to dig into the skin. If the procedure hurts, you are applying too much pressure.
- Do your normal skin cleansing routine for your entire face, not just the area of skin affected by the whitehead.
Remember, whiteheads may not come lose with your first attempt. That’s OK. Keep your skin clean and whiteheads will eventually come lose during your normal cleansing routine.
