Whether it’s your nose, your chin or your cheek, blackheads are not a welcomed site, especially on African American Skin. As an esthetician, you’d think that I’d know how to keep them at bay. For the most part, I do, however, it’s not always dirt that causes them to show up.

Let’s take a look a what causes blackheads and how to treat your skin when you get them.

Typically, blackheads are caused by dist and debris trapped beneath your skin. Not only does dirt and debris cause blackheads, so does pus causing the hair follicles on your skin to clog up.

The real culprit is the over production of oil. It mixes with dead skin cells and can’t be shed normally. A lot of you think that you can remove blackheads with strips and cotton swabs, that’s not necessarily going to work either.

When you find that you’ve got a blackhead, here are a few rules to follow:

Rule #1: Never squeeze a blackhead. Ok, now that you’ve stopped laughing, I’ll continue. The first thing we all want to do when we see a blackhead is squeeze that sucker. As soon as we do, it becomes very obvious that it was the wrong move to make. Did you know that squeezing your blackheads can actually spread any infection that might exist in it?

Rule #2: Don’t scrub! I know, some of you believe that if you scrub it to death, that will take care of it. Not! Scrubbing is actually a harsh way to remove a blackhead. Not only will you irritate and inflame the area, you’ll also create a dark spot or cause uneven skin tone where the blackhead is located.

You can’t scrub them away,

Rule # 3: Drink plenty water. Water will flush your kidneys and liver removing internal toxins that have built up causing an external reaction resulting in a blackhead.

How to Treat Blackheads in African American skin?

Treatment from an esthetician can typically help, however it’s the prevention process that will win out in the long run. How do you keep blackheads at bay?

Of course a good skin care regimen will serve it’s purpose.  Cleanse, tone and moisturize. Although you’re treating oily skin, a gel cleanser is not always the best product to use.  A good cream based cleanser will allow the softening of your skin and removing of dirt, oil and debris, providing you with a much more gentle approach. Gel cleansers will often minimize the oil temporarily, only to have it return in even greater amounts.

Toners also provide a more gentle approach to balancing the pH level of your skin after you cleanse. Moisturizers that are water based are often recommended in order to keep your skin as free of oil as possible.

As part of your skin care regimen, a clay or honey masque works wonders on your blackhead challenged skin. The clay will actually help in pulling those blackheads to the top surface of your skin. The honey will hydrate providing more moisture not oil.

If you allow a trained skin care specialist to assist you in removing the blackheads, you ‘ll have much less scarring and skin discoloration.

The other important factor is a good nutritious diet/eating plan.  Not good skin care regimen is complete without a food plan that contains lots of green foods, fruits and water.

Not everything can be covered in one article when we talk about blackheads, however it’s a great beginning and the information will assist you in minimizing their appearance.

Until next time …

Dedicated To Your Beauty,

Juliette Samuel

Esthetician/Author/Publisher

Nyraju Skin Care