You have the acne spot treatments? Your 20X mirror? The straight salicylic acid you bought on the black market? You got the fancy extractor tools? You have the 98% benzoyl peroxide? Perfect! Now lock them up and throw away the key.
I know I know, you had a nasty breakout and you SWEAR there's still more in there. And then it scabbed over and you just can't help but peel off the layer of scabbed skin to see the left over gunk that you think is still left in your tired, inflamed pore. And you've done literally EVERYTHING to battle this God forsaken pore(s) with all the hardcore products, and still are left with a nasty scabby mess. Ive heard and seen it all. And I've been there! Luckily there is a solution to this irritating problem. Just stop picking... easy right? Obviously I'm kidding because its harder than it sounds!
Lets backtrack things here. Remember when you were a kid and you fell off your bike and skinned your knee? Your mom would put some ointment on it and a bandaid to cover. After a few days you'd take the bandaid off and the scab would be a mushy patch of flesh that naturally fell off revealing brand new soft pink skin. But then there were those times where you skinned your knee and didn't even bother with a bandaid or ointment. Aint' nobody got time for bandaids when you're too busy showing your sick bike moves to the other kids in the neighborhood. So you would let the scab just be. Over time the scab would dry out, and maybe a little piece came loose and you did what any normal kid would do.. you picked it. It hurt, obviously because your boo-boo was still healing! So then a new smaller scab would form over the original injury. Aaaaaand repeat vicious cycle until the whole scab fell off weeks later with inflamed skin underneath.
So fast forward to today. What happened on your knee as a kid, lets picture that on your face but with a breakout that's trying to heal instead of a bike injury boo-boo. Obviously no one is going to walk around with bandaids all over their face, nor do I want you to! But it's a similar process to stop picking and start healing your scabby breakouts.
If you read my blog post about acne or watched my IGTV video about acne, we can remember that not all acne is created equal, and it requires special care. Harsh drying products will only make the acne mad and take so much longer to heal. So if that's
the case, why wouldn't we pick! The acne marks will get dry and crusty, possibly getting reinfected from the picking and creating more bacteria. So again, we have to take a step back, stop drying up the acne because the existing pimple is GONE. We need to sooth, protect and repair the area which is healing. So if the pimple is gone, why are we drying it up still? It will only create more redness, dryness and irritation. Perfect picking grounds.
Let's say there's no breakout or blemish perfect for the picking, and you're just looking for some unknown species in your pore to evict. But Andrea, my pores are huge and there's "stuff" in my pores. Ok girl, Im listening, but pores aren't perfect, lets remember that. Chances are the "stuff in your pores are sebaceous filaments versus blackheads. Sebaceous filaments are a mixture of oil and dead skin with a tiny vellus hair in the middle. They're normal and most prominent on the nose. But if you do have black heads as well, for the love of God, leave the extractions for the professionals! A licensed aesthetician will properly and safely extract what needs to be extracted the right way. But in the meantime....
What we need to do is:
- Use mild products on it (cleansers, moisturizers, ointments)
- Keep it properly hydrated
- Applying an ointment like Aquaphor or Vani Cream Ointment to the area. This will keep the area lubricated and will prevent outside dirt and bacteria to enter and re-infect the area.
- Do not use actives on it while its healing (no glycolic acid, salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, retinols, etc.)
- Keep your hands clean prior to cleansing and moisturizing
- SEE AN AESTHETICIAN TO ADDRESS YOUR SKIN AND MAKE THE PROPER EXTRACTIONS.
- Put the tools down
Just by "babying" the infected area for a few short days, will help to hydrate, heal and get rid of the spot you have been picking for the past 6 days. Just like the boo-boo on your knee that mom put ointment and a bandaid on. Not the one you let heal on its own.
Once the picked spot has healed and there is no visible sign of flaking, scabbing or peeling that you could get you fingers under, you can now incorporate retinol based products to help fade away the scarring that could have happened during the healing/picking process.
Here are a few products that can get you through a picking phase, and start healing and repairing.
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