- Here are some ways to improve your skin's health...
It isn’t only teenagers who get zits and clogged pores. People in their 30s, 40s, and beyond can get acne, too. Let’s take a look at nine of the irritants that can clog your pores and make your face break out, whatever your age.
Why Do Pores Clog?
During adolescence, hormones are usually the culprit for clogged pores and acne. Why would this happen when you are grown up? Certain adults experience problems with hormones, as well, but bad habits can cause adult acne, too.
Smoking
If you need another reason to stop smoking, here’s one! A 2017 clinical study of male smokers found they are twice as likely to suffer skin breakouts as people who don’t puff cigarettes.
Researchers believe that smoking may directly cause the problem, but they haven’t figured out exactly why. We do know that tobacco smoke damages our skin by breaking down its elasticity, which can make us look older.
Greasy Foods
There’s nothing inherently wrong with eating junk food now and then. If you work out and eat right most of the time, a plate of greasy fries or pizza once in a while can taste utterly wonderful.
But if you happen to notice blackheads along your lip lines, that could be a sign that grease and oils from those foods are clogging your pores. You can use a natural method to clean those clogged pores.
First, boil a pot of water, and remove it from the heat. Then soak a handful of parsley in it until it’s cold. Put a clean washcloth in the water and spread it over your face for 10 minutes.
That should do the trick! Acne sufferers may also get relief from various effective acne treatment medicines.
Cell Phone
Do you occasionally wonder whether talking on your cell phone all the time may not just be bad for your brain? It also can cause clogged pores!
Here’s how: You take a (dirty) cell phone from the bottom of a purse that has collected dirt, grime, crumbs, and who knows what else, then put it right up to your face for an hour a day.
This problem can be avoided by wiping and cleaning your phone at least once each day.
Exercise
We aren’t about to encourage you to lie around and fail to exercise. But you should wipe and clean your face as soon as you can afterward.
Keeping your face clean and free of oil and perspiration before you hit the sack should help reduce acne breakouts.
Dirty Sheets
Most of us know we should wash our sheets every week, but people who have acne could benefit from doing it more often.
We spend at least six or eight hours per night on our sheets and pillows, which can quickly collect dead skin, dirt, oil, and more. All of that gets ground back into our skin every night, which may lead to clogged pores and breakouts.
Some doctors say washing your sheets at least twice a week can reduce your breakouts, especially if you tend to perspire a lot when you’re asleep.
Sitting in the Sun
Sitting in the sun is rough on our pores over time because sunlight damages the skin and makes our pores look bigger. The good news is certain specified facial sunscreens on the market don’t block your pores while they protect against hazardous UV rays.
Smog
You may have noticed the air in large metropolitan areas isn’t always the freshest. We aren’t saying you have to move out of the big city if that’s where you live, but you should mitigate its effects by remembering to clean your face often after being outdoors in an urban environment.
Touching Your Face
Many people don’t realize how often we touch our face every day. Unfortunately, that unconscious action may spread bacteria that cause acne.
Every day, most of us touch dirty surfaces in the environment, such as door handles, handrails, money, counters, elevator buttons, and so on. When you touch your face after contacting such items, you can clog your pores.
It’s difficult to avoid touching your face, but sanitizing your hands every time you go about in public can do a lot to neutralize the consequences.
Makeup Brushes
Did you know the brushes you use to apply makeup can house bacteria? Yep! And that of course can also clog pores.
You can elude this problem by cleaning your makeup brushes every month. A clean brush can make application of your makeup more effective, too.
Try the suggestions above and see if this helps your pores. If you continue to experience clogged pores, apply a gentle facial cleanser twice a day.
Don’t scrub too hard, because that may compel your skin produce more sebum. Exfoliating weekly will remove dead skin, and cream with salicylic acid will clean out your clogged pores.