I am interrupting this week’s usual Friday Bombshell Blogger shout out with an important skin care PSA.

You cannot–I repeat–can not “close your pores.”

Yesterday, I noticed a tweet by a fairly popular skin care blog blasting out a recommendation for some product that “closed” her pores. Because part of the mission of this blog is to be a forum to counter the misinformation, I call bullshit.

Your pores are your pores. They are genetically determined. You cannot close them. You cannot make them smaller. You cannot make them disappear. Nor do you want to close them, make them smaller or make them disappear. They serve an important purpose.

Without our sweat pores, our bodies would have no temperature regulation. Our pores excrete oil, which not only keeps our skin moisturized but also helps protect our skin from environmental pollutants.

If you “closed” your pores, you would cause all sorts of acne eruptions on your face. Closed pores = dead skin and oil build up, with no way for oxygen to enter, giving the bacteria a great environment to thrive. The bacteria that causes acne cannot live in the presence of oxygen.

What you can do to minimize the appearance of your pores is to make sure that they are “clean.” Pores can get stretched by dirt and oil, which makes them appear larger. If you have oily skin, a good clay mask can help pull the dirt out of your pores. Combo skin should use clay only on the T-zone, with a rich moisturizing mask on the other areas. When I was working with a Jurlique spa, I saw great client results with Jurlique’s Purifying Mask (Amazon affiliate link).

Dry skin? You can barely see your pores–this is the curse of the small pores. They may be invisible, but the invisibility comes at a price. You cannot secrete enough oil to keep your skin naturally moisturized. Stay away from the clay, and look for a mask whose base has uber moisturizing ingredients like shea butter, seaweed or a natural oil like grapeseed or jojoba. A good moisturizing mask is Caudalie Moisturizing Cream Mask (Amazon affiliate link). The potent grapeseed oil is fantastic moisturizing antioxident for your skin.

If you are reading a magazine article, a blog post or an advertisement that touts a miracle product that will “shrink” your pores, make them “disappear” or “close” them, know that it’s not only impossible but also not what your skin needs.

Have you tried some sort of “pore minimizing treatment” that caused your skin to freak out? Share it in the comments!

Maybe it’s the change of seasons, but I have been seeing a bunch of “deep cleanse” your skin stories floating around the blogosphere and in the lady mags. What the hell does “deep cleanse” mean?

One of my facial pet peeves is the “deep pore cleansing facial” offered on just about any spa menu I have read.  These are the facials that promise to banish blackheads with scrubbing, loads of steaming and (most likely) really painful extractions. Most “deep pore cleansing” facials on a spa menu are the basic facial–clients like the sound of “deep pore cleansing” mainly because they bombarded with stories about those evil blackheads. It sounds good, right? A deep pore cleanse is exactly what I need…

The DIY deep cleansing I’ve been reading about include an exfoliating scrub as well as tips to add in a salacylic or glycolic toner to help pull out the blackheads. For some skin, this is too much exfoliation. With skin already rubbed and scrubbed, the addition of acids may create irritation. In skin care, there can be too much of a good thing.

Blackheads are inevitable. Anything we put on the skin has a potential to clog the pores–regardless of the product claims. Add into the dirt and pollution our skin encounters minute to minute… You get the point. You’re gonna get blackheads.

But this idea of deep pore cleansing is a bit of a myth. You can do things to soften the skin to help release the blackheads, but a facial should not be like car detailing. In my opinion, gentle is always better.

For DIY blackhead attack, I prefer a gentle exfoliation in a steamy bathroom followed by a clay-based mask on affected areas to help pull the dirt out of the pores. I usually do not recommend a full face of clay. This is all skin type dependent, but generally I hit the nose, chin and forehead (sometimes not a full forehead either) with the clay and use a moisturizing mask in the other areas.

Look for exfoliating products that use jojoba beads or oatmeal as an exfoliant. Stay away from crushed nuts, like almonds, as well as apricot pits (yes,that means that god awful St. Ives that is inexplicably adored by so many). The edges of scrubs with crushed hard bits are razor sharp causing tiny cuts in the skin.

If you are splurging for a pro-facial, please remember that blackhead removal should not be unbearably painful. You should not have lancets poked directly into your pores (oh the stories I have heard about one celebrity facilist). If the blackheads don’t slide out easily, they are best left for another day.