Blackheads are caused when oil, dirt and dead skin partially clog your pores, or comedones. They appear as miniscule black dots on the face and often accompany blemishes and oily skin.
When it comes to extracting blackheads care must be taken to do things properly. Incorrect extraction can lead to unsightly scars or even infected skin. Never pick or dig at your blackheads with your fingernails, and don’t try to scrape or pick them out with a needle or tweezers. There are special tools for extracting blackheads on the market that are necessary for this task.
There are blackhead extractors that suck the blackheads out with pressure, pop them out or push them out. One company that makes an extractor is Tweezerman, who also produces a popular line of brow grooming tools. The first thing you need to do before using your blackhead extractor is open your pores with steam. There are facial steaming machines available from many companies that you can use, or go simple and steam your face over a clean bowl of hot water with a towel over your head for about ten minutes. You can even add a blend of essential oils or dried herbs recommended for oily skin to the steam water.
After steaming, make sure your extractor tool is properly sanitized and use it as directed. Different tools have different methods of use, so make sure to read all the product literature. You will find that the tools available today can be quite effective and you can remove a good number of blackheads this way. If you come to blackheads that seem stuck or embedded leave them alone, they will loosen up and will probably come out during your next treatment. Treatments should be done once weekly until the problem has cleared up.
Another way of extracting blackheads is with pore strips designed for this purpose. They are made much like waxing strips and are stuck to the area where the blackheads occur then gently peeled off. You can look at the strip and see how many blackheads were removed. It is sometimes necessary to use more than one strip to remove all the blackheads. After your chosen treatment for extracting blackheads, follow up with an astringent toner and acne treatment. If your skin feels dry, use a moisturizer made for oily, blemish-prone skin.