How to Deep Clean Your Pores

Much like your home, your skin can benefit from regular deep cleaning. Sure, the surface may look fine. But there’s a lot more to your skin than the outermost layer. Your pores, which are small openings in your skin, can become clogged with bacteria, dead skin, oily buildup, and other debris. If you don’t deep clean them, all that junk will collect, thicken, and eventually clog your pores.

Clogged pores present several issues. First, they lead to blackheads, blemishes, and other skin problems. Second, they make you look older. As you age, your skin naturally produces less collagen and as a result gets less taut. Wrinkles form and sagging occurs. The skin around your pores becomes less elastic, stretches out, and makes your pores appear larger. 

The same thing happens when your pores get clogged. Since they’re full of debris, this forces them to stretch a bit. So whether you’re getting older or have oil and dead skin clogging your pores, the result is similar. And it’s not great. 

The good news is that deep cleaning your pores is a lot easier and less time consuming than deep cleaning your home. With the right products and skincare routine, you can ensure that your pores stay clean and you always look your best. 

What Not to Do

Before we get into the best ways to unclog and deep clean your pores, make sure you’re avoiding these problematic ways of treating blemishes and clogged pores. 

• Picking at your skin. Makes blemishes worse, can lead to infection, and can leave scarring.

• Popping pimples. Leads to scarring, exposes your skin to possible infection, and leaves red marks.

• Extracting blackheads. Irritates your skin and often results in scarring or hyperpigmentation.

Best Ways to Deep Clean Your Pores

Use these products and methods to keep your pores clean, minimize their appearance, and prevent blemishes.

Wash and Moisturize Daily

Before you get to any more intense cleansing methods, make sure you’ve got the basics down. That means washing and moisturizing your face every day. For the best results and to avoid irritation, choose a face wash that’s designed for your skin type. Then follow up with a natural face moisturizer that seals in hydration and supports your skin’s natural barrier.

• Daily Essential Face Moisturizer - for all skin types. Made with aloe vera, jojoba, and DMAE.

• Clarifying Gel Face Wash - for normal to oily skin. Made with geranium, coconut-based cleansers, and aloe vera.

• Purifying Charcoal Face Wash - for normal to dry/sensitive skin. Made with activated charcoal, jojoba, and olive oil.

Use a Charcoal Mask 

One of the most effective ways to deep clean your pores is using a charcoal mask once or twice a week. This extracts oil, debris, and bacteria from you pores while also brightening, firming, and moisturizing your skin.

Our Purifying Charcoal Face Mask is made with Kaolin clay, activated charcoal, DMAE, vitamin E and other natural ingredients that work together to deep clean your pores. It leaves your skin naturally refreshed, diminishes the appearance of your pores, and tightens your skin too.

One note of warning: while our Purifying Charcoal Face Mask was carefully balanced to be gentle for all skin types, many face mask products are not. Masks have become popular over the last few years - and with good reason. But some formulas or recipes for homemade masks contain harsh ingredients that end up drying out your skin and stripping it of important oils. Do your research before using any mask product on your skin to be sure you're getting the pore-unclogging benefits without the harsh side effects.

Exfoliate with Scrub

Face scrub is an exfoliating product that uses abrasive particles to loosen up the gunk clogging your pores. In this way, it both removes dead skin cells from the surface of your skin and deep cleans your pores. The result is smoother, brighter skin and fewer blemishes.

When using face scrub, keep in mind that 2-3 times each week is all the exfoliation you need for optimal results. Even guys with oily skin should avoid exfoliating more than every other day. This reduces the chance that your skin will get irritated or react with excess oil production. More is not always better.

Our Renewing Face Scrub, made with jojoba beads and pumice, is a customer favorite with good reason. Its soothing, hydrating formula contains avocado butter to prevent dryness and irritation. The texture and scent are invigorating, with coffee and green tea extracts that energize and protect the skin with antioxidants.

Use a Glycolic Acid Peel 

Glycolic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) that softens the skin, decreases sebum, increases circulation, and boosts collagen production. It's highly effective due to its size; glycolic acid is the smallest molecule of the commonly used AHA's.

How does glycolic acid help deep clean your pores? It dissolves the bonds that hold dead skin cells to the surface of your skin. This effect also ensures that the messy globs of dead skin and oily buildup that can clog your pores are instead flushed out.

To get the benefits of this pore-cleansing ingredient, use our Smooth Finish Glycolic Acid Peel. It also contributes to your anti-aging efforts by diminishing fine lines (with consistent use) and brightening your complexion. Its key ingredients are glycolic acid, MSM, and aloe vera.

While glycolic acid is generally tolerated by most guys, it can cause irritation in men with particularly sensitive skin. For that reason, we recommend that you test a small portion of your skin before applying it all over your face. Better safe than sorry.

Like many other products featured in this article, our Smooth Finish Glycolic Acid Peel is best used in moderation, not excess. For the best results, use it once or twice a week and leave the product on your skin for a maximum of fifteen minutes before rinsing it off.

Refresh Your Skin with Toner

When you regularly reduce the amount of excess oil covering your skin, you also reduce the chance that you'll have to deal with clogged pores. That's where our Balancing Toner comes in and supports your pore-cleansing efforts. It's made with cucumber distillate, witch hazel, and peppermint - not alcohol. The result is reduced oil and less shine without the severe dryness of harsher ingredients.

For the best results, use our Balancing Toner after washing your face but before applying moisturizer. You can spray it directly on your skin or apply it using a cotton ball. Another option is to use it midday to cut down on oil and refresh your skin.

Unclog Your Pores, But Don't Overdo It

Each of the methods outlined above can be extremely helpful in keeping your pores clean and clear. But be aware that using them all together is overkill. Scrubbing, peeling, masking, and toning on a constant basis will wear out your skin and cause more harm than good. So instead of using every method described here simultaneously, choose one and stick to it. Then check the results.

If you're satisfied, stick with the products and routine that's working. If not, try a different method. Everyone'e skin is unique and finding the right skincare routine for you is what's most important.