How to Shrink Pores on Your Face and Nose: Top Products and Routines to Minimize the Appearance of Pores

How to shrink your pores

How to shrink pores on face

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Facial pores are among the most exposed ones on our body. To help you avoid pore problems on your face, check out how to shrink pores on face below:

• Wash with cleanser

Skin that has clogged pores, or often oily, can benefit from a daily cleanser. Just like a clinical study from 2006 showed, using a cleanser can minimize some of the symptoms of acne and keep your pores clean.

Begin by using a gentle, over-the-counter cleanser. Look for a label that says the product is made for people with normal to oily skin. The ingredients must include glycolic acid. Wash your face every night before bed, remember not to wash your face too much with the cleanser. This can cause your skin to become dry.

• Use topical retinoids

Products with retinoid compounds (for vitamin A) have been shown to have varying degrees of success in shrinking pores. Read the ingredient labels at your supermarket and pharmacy. Look for creams that list "tretinoin."

Use caution or be careful when using. These products are usually best applied once a day. Using retinoids too often can irritate your skin, cause redness, dryness, and peeling or flakiness. Using retinoids can even make you more likely to get sunburns.

• Sit in the steam room

This might seem counterintuitive to sit in a steam room to close your pores. After all, the steam opens up your pores and makes your body sweat. But it could be that your pores look enlarged because there is dirt, oil, or bacteria trapped in them.

Find a steam room and take 5-10 minutes to open your pores before getting a clean towel and carefully washing your face outdoor. Your skin may appear firmer afterward.

The steam room can be a nest of germs and bacteria itself. After using a public steam room, take a clean washcloth and dip it in warm water before applying it to your face for one or two minutes while it's cool. This will help your pores close once the steam opens them. This will also prevent new bacteria from entering.

• Apply essential oil

Using essential oils as a home remedy is one of the ways how to minimize pores. But when it comes to shrinking pores, there may be some evidence to support it.

Anti-inflammatory essential oils, like clove oil and cinnamon bark, have been shown to flush bacteria from your skin. It can also give balanced looking skin and, possibly, smaller looking pores.

Mix your oil's active ingredients with a gentle carrier oil, like almond oil or jojoba oil, before applying it to your face. Don't let the mixture on for more than a few minutes, and be sure to dry your face afterward.

• Exfoliate your skin

Exfoliating can remove trapped toxins that can make pores appear larger. A gentle facial scrub with soothing apricots or green tea is probably your best bet.

By scrubbing your face clean, any dirt or contaminants on the surface of your skin will be washed away, along with any dead skin cells that may have built up. This will usually make your face appear smoother, firmer, and less porous.

• Use a clay mask

A quick way to reduce inflammation and the appearance of acne scars is to use a clay mask. The appearance of acne lesions was reduced by 54 percent (this was in one clinical trial from 2012) when participants used a clay mask mixed with jojoba oil only twice a week.

Clay masks work to minimize pores by drying out the sebum under your pores, as well as sticking to dirt and pulling it out when the mask dries. Try a clay mask 2-3 times a week as part of your cleansing routine.

• Try chemical peels

In case your pores look enlarged because your skin is producing too much sebum, this is probably the time to try a chemical peel. Skin with hyaluronic acid can help regulate sebum production, and skin with salicylic acid promotes the growth of new skin cells to replace older and damaged cells. Use the peels in moderation, because over time they can make your skin more sensitive to sunburn.

How to shrink pores on nose

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Nasal pores are inherently larger. If the pores in your nose become blocked, they can become more visible. Clogged pores usually consist of a combination of sebum and dead skin cells that enter the hair follicles beneath them.

This creates a "plug" called blackheads which can then harden and enlarge the walls of the follicle. On the contrary, it can make the pores more visible.

Even if your nose pores are clean, your genes, environment, and skin type may still make them more visible. You can consider the following treatments to know how to get rid of blackheads and shrink pores on the nose.

• OTC acne products

Over-the-counter acne products usually contain salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide may be useful if you have active pimples on your nose, but it doesn't reduce pore size much. Salicylic acid, on the other hand, is much more beneficial in this area as it dries dead skin cells deep inside the pores, essentially clogging them up.

When you use salicylic acid over time, it can help your pores appear smaller in your nose by preventing dead skin cells and oil. You just have to make sure not to overdo it, because this will dry out your skin. Using a salicylic acid cleaner, toner, or stain remedy once or twice a day is sufficient to treat large pores.

• Microdermabrasion

Microdermabrasion is a tamer version of a professional dermabrasion treatment that you might get at a medical spa, and without the harsh side effects. Microdermabrasion uses a mix of small crystals or a diamond crystal tipped tool which helps remove the top layer of your skin.

During this process, all the dead skin cells and oil on the surface of your skin are also removed. You can use a home microdermabrasion kit once a week. Make sure you don't use it on the same day as a clay mask or other exfoliant, because this will dry out your nose.

• Chemical peel

Chemical peels are also known to help reduce the appearance of pores. Just like microdermabrasion treatments, chemical peels also remove the top layer of skin. In theory, the skin cells that are under the top layer of the skin will be flatter and softer. A more even appearance will also make nasal pores appear smaller.

The most common ingredient in chemical peels is glycolic acid. Citric, malic acids, and lactic are other options available you can find on the market. All belong to a class of substances called alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs). It will take some trial and error to determine which AHA is best suited for your nasal pores.

How to shrink pores home remedies

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If you’ve been lurking on the internet and trying to get into how to shrink pores naturally, you might try these home remedies to tackle your problem.

It’s important to note that when you’re trying out home remedies to learn how to shrink pore, you have to do a patch test first to make sure that there’s no substance that can cause you allergic inflammation.

• Warm water

Warm water has so many benefits to our health, including can help restore moisture to the skin and also help treat large pores. Take a tub filled with warm water and soak your feet in it. Now, soak your feet in this water and wait a few moments. Wait at least 15 minutes and make sure you dip your feet up to your knees.

• Sugar and olive oil solution

It is very important to take care of your skin when dealing with large pores. The bigger the pores, the more dirt will collect under the pores.  Sugar and olive oil are among the natural things how to minimize pores on legs. 

To do this method, take two spoons of sugar and add a little olive oil to the solution. Mix the two ingredients together and scrub the affected area. Massage for some time and wash your skin with warm water after 15 minutes. This will help you get rid of dark brown spots on the feet.

• Brown sugar

Brown sugar is a great ingredient that helps get rid of dead cells. Mix a little brown sugar with two spoons of aloe vera gel and one spoonful of lime juice. Make a thick paste and apply it to the large pores on your feet. Wash off with clean water and then pat dry.

Brown sugar is also an excellent exfoliating product that helps to achieve softer and moisturized skin compared to other ingredients.

• Tea tree oil

You can apply tea tree oil by massaging your skin with it. This can help keep your pores bacteria-free. To do this, take two spoons of tea tree oil and mix it with three spoons of olive oil. Mix the two elements together and massage the affected skin for about 5 minutes. Be sure the tea tree oil is fully absorbed into the skin. Using this method can also help protect your skin from infections.

• Cucumber

Cucumber doesn’t allow the pores to shrink on your feet, but they do help lighten lingering dark spots. Due to the skin lightening properties found in cucumber, it helps soothe the skin and also reduces the color of dark pores. Take one cucumber, peel the skin and mash it properly. Extract the juice and apply it to the legs.

• Lime juice

The amount of benefit that lime juice has is a treatment for the health of ourselves. Lime juice is among the simplest and most delicate elements which help to brighten the skin and also reduces pore size.

If you often face inflammation of the feet, mix lime juice with honey and apply the solution to your feet. Doing this can help soothe your skin and also reduce pore size. Lime acts as an astringent on the skin and can be used every day.