3 Ways to Make Your Pores Look Smaller
"Do you have any products that can make my pores look smaller?"
This is one of the most common questions I get when customers are looking at skin care. The short answer is YES, but there's some common myths around pores that I'd like to address first.
Much like gut health, weight loss, and sun damage, the answer is more in depth than a "quick fix product"
Let me explain: we have pores all over our body, except for the soles of our feet and the palms of our hands. Each pore contains a hair follicle and an oil gland...so our pores help our skin stay moisturized and warm!
Unfortunately, we often find that the pores on our face are more noticeable. But why?
I once heard it explained like this: imagine 9 white coffee cups touching each other on a table. They are all the same size. Now imagine 2 of them are filled with black coffee. Where are your eyes drawn to? Now imagine that 2 of them get a lid on them and have even more coffee forced in (the cups are hypothetically flexible in this case). Those cups would look even bigger, right?
Does that make a bit more sense now as to why your face pores would look a little larger?
Environmental gunk, blocked sebum glands, and dead skin can all clog your pores up and make them look larger than they actually are.
MYTH: steaming your pores shrinks them.
Fact: your pores don't have muscles, so steaming them won't affect them in that way. Heat WILL make your skin expand a little bit though, like the way your ankles swell on a hot day. That will make your pores appear smaller, but it's only a temporary fix.
What can we do about it?
Note: I promote SeneGence products, but these principles are true for any brand of skincare you choose!
Here's my top 3 tips for helping your pores appear smaller!
1. Exfoliate (gently!): get the coffee out of the coffee cups! regular, gentle exfoliation will slough off dead skin cells that may be blocking your pores. It also increases blood flow to the skin, which can aid in healthy cell turnover.
SeneGence Products that can help: Normal to oily Cleanser (contains smooth scrubbies or Facial Resurfacer (for a more serious buffing). Detox and moisturizing mask also works wonders!
2. Protect your Face from the Sun: We all know that too much sun can cause skin damage, but did you know that much of that damage is because it causes collagen damage and generally weakens your pores? Take care to protect your face from the sun using these products:
SeneGence Products that can help: none of our products contain chemically based SPF, but they do contain SEAWEED extract, which acts as a physical barrier from the sun. Try
Colour Correcting Tinted Moisturizer (my face was the only part of me that didn't burn in Maui, and this is all I used on it), or
MakeSense Foundation for protection equivalent to 15 SPF!
3. Watch Sugar Intake: The food you eat has a large impact on your skin! Sugar in particular has been shown to affect hormone balances, leading to issues such as oily skin, enlarged pores and acne.
None of our products help with this directly with this one, but some of them can help soothe and minimize the damage that may have been done already
Daytime Moizturizer offers soothing hydration and sun protection all in one!
Climate Control.:It's an excellent hydrator, but is also known for is soothing benefits!
Collagen Night Pak: worn over your other skincare at night, it's a thin, sea based collagen mask that helps strengthen your skin's collagen while you sleep!
I hope that explanation makes as much sense to you as it did to me!
Now, let’s give our skin some love!
