Hair follicles cover most of the skin's surface and each of these contains a root ball and the glands that produce sebum, the oil that coats and lubricates skin and hair. Occasionally, a follicle's pore becomes plugged, either by skin debris, sebum, bacteria, dirt, makeup or a combination of any of these. Exposure to air turns the plug black, thus creating a blackhead.
Squeezing a blackhead by pressing down on the surrounding skin with your fingertips can damage your skin. Sometimes, it can even cause permanent scarring. A blackhead extracting tool can make the job easier and less likely to cause injury.
Step 1
Hold your hair back with a headband, if necessary.
Step 2
Wash your hands with antibacterial soap. If there is any inflammation or irritation around the blackhead, you do not want to introduce new bacteria to the area.
Step 3
Wet one cotton ball with isopropyl alcohol and disinfect the stainless steel blackhead extractor. Pay special attention to the spooned end that will be placed around the blackhead plug.
Step 4
Clean your face using cleansing milk. Cleansing milk does not dry skin out like some soaps do. Rinse.
Step 5
Put an extra drop of cleansing milk on the tip of your finger and gently massage it over the blackhead. Leave it on skin.
Step 6
Wet the washcloth with warm water. You do not want to use hot water because this can cause your skin to swell. Use comfortably warm water.
Step 7
Cover the area of your face where the blackhead is with the warm, wet washcloth. Hold it in place for three minutes. Gently wipe away any leftover cleansing milk.
Step 8
Place the hole of the blackhead extractor over the plug. The rounded side should be against your skin.
Step 9
Press the blackhead extractor firmly but gently against your skin. The plug should begin to collect in the cup.
Step 10
Stop pressing when the blackhead stops easily expressing sebum.
Step 11
Moisten the second cotton ball with isopropyl alcohol. Dab this over the pore.
Step 12
Apply a non-comedogenic (will not clog pores) moisturizing lotion to face.
Step 13
Wet the third cotton ball with isopropyl alcohol and disinfect the blackhead extractor.
Tips and Warnings
- Do not scrape the blackhead tool across your skin or press too hard. Hair follicle walls are thin and can easily rupture or tear. When they do, the body initiates an immune response, which includes swelling and, if there is an excess of bacteria in the follicle, the creation of pus as a by-product of white blood cells attacking the bacteria. In short, rupturing the wall of a hair follicle can lead to an infection.
Things You'll Need
- Headband (optional)
- Antibacterial soap
- 3 cotton balls
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Blackhead extractor
- Cleansing milk (for the face)
- Clean washcloth
- Magnifying mirror (optional)
- Non-comedogenic moisturizer
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