Want to learn how to clean your pores fast and for free? When you don’t have time to get your pores professionally extracted, there is a simple technique I have been doing for years that you can try at home. I am not a licensed esthetician, nor am I claiming that this is the best way to extract your pores, but when you don’t have time to get a facial, I feel like this is the next best thing and it works great for me.
All you need to do is steam your clean face (must not have makeup on) either by taking at least a 20 minute bath with the windows closed or hovering your face over a pot full of steaming water, with eyes closed, and a towel over your head. Please take extreme caution to not burn your eyeballs by opening up your eyes over the hot steam! If you decide to steam your face over a hot pot of water, do so for several minutes.
Once your pores are open, put a little rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and lightly swipe the areas to be extracted as well as on the butter knife to kill any bacteria and prevent breakouts. Take the blunt side of a clean butter knife and with the tip pointing down, press and scrape downwards against the surface of your nose, chin or forehead until you see blackheads or white-ish gunky stuff coming out of your nose. I like to call the gross white stuff “white wormies”. Haha. Wipe the blackheads or white wormies onto a tissue inbetween extractions. Never push upwards with the knife otherwise you may experience huge, underground zits -- so always push gently, but firmly and scrape downwards!
I like to use both the Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque and the Skindulgence: 30 Minute Non-Surgical Facelift masque treatments right after to further clean out and tighten the pores. You can use one or the other, but I like to use both, the Queen Helene Mint Julip Masque first and then the Skindulgence: 30 Minute Non-Surgical Facelift masque right after. After you’re done extracting and using the treatment(s), close up your pores by rinsing your face with cold water. Some people like to use witch hazel on a cotton ball to further close the pores but I feel like it makes my skin feel kinda tight and dry so I only do it once in awhile. You can also use a little rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball again. I try to extract and use my masques once a week. For more info on the face masques, please read my article here, #6 to be specific. Happy extracting!