Teen and large, stubborn blackheads

[228agreenend]

Can anyone advise on blackheads? My teen has some large blacjpkheads at the base of his nose, and on his his nose.

We have a blackhead extractor tool - useless. He's rptried squeezing them to no avail. He let me have ago but I failed (will try agai after a shower when skin is warm).

Th're really stubborn. Are there any products which are particularly good? Do Biore strips,work?

Thanks.

Steam his face ?
Make sure they are blackhead s not just oxidised dirt - my dd had the latter which cleared up with using cepaphil cleanser .

No to Biore strips, they only make it worse long term. Google "Sebaceous filaments" and "nose" and see if it's not that instead of blackheads (when it's on the nose it's often mistaken for that). BHA (Paula's Choice 2% is v. good) is the way to go with blackheads and SF, introduce it slowly 1-2x a week and build up to every (other) day along with a weekly simple cheapy clay mask. I recommend this technique as it's very effective at cleaning out SF and is painless.

Get him to cleanse and moisturise his face twice a day. They'll soon go. No need to poke in there. As he's a teen with oily, hormonal skin, he'll need to actually wash the face with a very gently facial wash and then use the very, very important moisturiser afterwards.

The most important thing is exfoliation as this will break down the tough surface layer of dead skin cells currently keeping the blackheads in place.

Steam his face, several times a week. Buy him a good exfoliating flannel like the ones sold by Bravura. Also a good exfoliating toner for oily skin with salicylic acid in it, (i think? again, look at Bravura) not any of the harsh cleansers that are marketed for blackheads like Clearasil, they can be too drying and just act as irritants and inflame the skin.

Oil attracts oil, and softens the skin's surface so look into oil cleansing with gentle base oils like sweet almond oil maybe cut with a bit of castor oil.

Don't go at the blackheads straight away, give his skin a couple of weeks to respond to the new regime of cleansing and exfoliating then try again after a steaming session. I think you also need a pair of really sharp/pointed surgical tweezers to help gently break up the surface layer to enable to blackhead extracting tool to do its job without having exert really painful pressure. Sometimes they get fed up with the painful squeezing and go off in a huff so anything you can to do to help ease or pull the blackheads out without needing to squeeze more than necessary is good.

Good luck. I am so jealous. My youngest won't let me touch his and my eldest's girlfriend has taken up were I left off.

I have some Cetaphil cleanser. Will that be any good?

Sorry to be ignorant, what do you actually do with the flannel,? Do you put the cleanser on that, get a lather and rub your face with it?

Use the Cetaphil cleanser, and remove with a dry flannel. Then a nip & fab pad with salicylic acid a couple of times a week. And a weekly or twice weekly clay mask. Be gentle and don't expect instant miracles.

I got rid of a couple of stubborn blackheads that I'd had for years, no lie. Coconut oil rubbed in, and steamed, or rub in coconut oil about 5 minutes before showering, for a couple of weeks. Then I used one of those remover sticks with the hoop at the end, and they came right out. So very satisfying!

The flannel had tiny abrasive microfibres and used wet on its own or with a gentle cleanser like Cetaphil it will gradually slough off the built up layer of dead skin cells that are causing the pores to become blocked and bacteria to get trapped. It's a bit like scraping the skin off a rice pudding to get the the bit underneath

Yes Nip and Fab pads are great and he's more likely to bother to use those than to do anything more complicated.

availble from Boots

Norml cheap cotton flannel,run under a warm tap and wring out- wash face x 2 a day. That alone will help.

Steam to get the blackheads out or use Neutrogena black head wash.

Panoxyl after extraction and moisturise.