Welcome back to Skin Schoolin', the time of the year Team Glow answer aaaall your burning questions on everything skin. Whether it's doing a deep dive into ingredients or skin type tips, it's time to study up... This week, let's talk about getting rid of pores. 

What are pores?
Did you know the average adult body has over 5 million pores? They are teeny tiny openings in the skin that contain hair follicles and allow particles to pass through.

What do pores do?
Tuns out pores play a major role in the overall function of our skin by releasing oil, sweat and impurities. Plus, pores are what allow your skincare products to reach the lower layers of your skin and deliver results, and who doesn't want that? 

There are two types of pores - oil pores and sweat pores. Sweat pores (which are invisible to the eye) are the ones that keep us cool by allowing sweat to escape when our bodies become overheated. 

Oil pores are the ones we're here to talk about. These are the ones you can see on your face and that help transport sebum to the topmost layer of the skin, keeping our moisture barrier healthy. 

Okay, so let's get into it. Time to bust those pore myths…

You can get rid of your pores – FALSE
There is NO way to get rid of your pores completely, unless you facetune them away… and actually that’s a good thing. You have pores for a reason (allowing sebum to reach the surface of your skin and keep it soft and healthy.) So even if you could get rid of them, you wouldn’t actually want to!  

Pores open and close – FALSE
Remember, a pore is not a door. You can’t open or close them, as they don’t have any muscles they can’t pull and contract.

You also can’t actually make them smaller (their size is genetically determined) but you can help them appear less pronounced. For instance, the overproduction of sebum can make pores appear much larger than they actually are on the surface of the skin, as oil, toxins, dirt and makeup can collect in them. 

When people say things like cold water can make them smaller, what it’s actually doing is making the pores appear smaller for a short time as it makes your blood vessel constrict. Hot water or steam don’t actually open up your pores, but instead loosen the sebum and debris inside the pore, helping them appear smaller and less visible on your face.

Pores can be unclogged - TRUE

There’s a couple easy ways to detox your pores, unclog them of all that sebum, oil and dirt and as a result reduce their visibility.  

Like mentioned earlier, something like a facial steamer is going to help melt away the impurities lodged into your pores, making it easier to remove that dirt, helping improve the appearance of them.

Next, think exfoliation, both physical and chemical.

 Salicylic acid (a chemical exfoliator) is not only going to help resurface your skin but will also aid in gently removing those dead skin cells, sebum, and other pore-clogging debris. By encouraging cellular turnover and reduces blockages to prevent congested pores which look bigger.

A physical scrub (like Pore Polish) is going to do something similar, manually helping you do a deep dive into your pores, leaving skin silky soft and fresh.

Our top tip? Make sure not to over do it, build up how often you exfoliate a week (max 3 times) and don’t use both a physical and chemical exfoliator on the same day.

Our Clogged Pores Recommendation

Purify & Brighten Face Mask Stick

Take a break from breakouts & get clearer, brighter, detoxified skin.

Formulated with Kaolin clay to draw out impurities, antioxidant-rich blueberry to calm + vitamin-rich black tea to detoxify & brighten. 

Plus, we’ve added Salicylic acid + White Willow Bark to soothe & gently exfoliate, de-clogging pores, leaving skin balanced & the appearance of breakouts at bay.

Purify & Brighten Pore Rescue Lifesaver Toning Pads 

Gently slough away dead skin & reveal skin that looks fresher, smoother, softer & brighter.

With blueberry and black tea extracts to detoxify & purify, we’ve also added white willow bark + salicylic acid to gently but effectively exfoliate breakout prone skin, helping to tackle blemishes & balance oil production. Hey there baby face!

Pore Polish Facial Exfoliator 

Turn over a (fruity) fresh page & get skin that clearly glows! Gently scrub away dead skin cells, dirt & impurities to help lessen the appearance of breakouts & leave skin feeling silky soft, smooth & fresh.

With grapefruit extract to brighten, (teeny, tiny pieces of) walnut shell powder to physically exfoliate & salicylic acid to act as a chemical exfoliant, do a deep dive into your pores & address breakouts.

Glow Hub top tip: be gentle. There’s nothing worse than aggressively scrub, scrub, scrubbing. A gentle hand does your skin so much more.