How To Prevent (And Remove) Whiteheads Like A Pro

By Shammi Mondal

Picture this: You’ve finished your morning skincare routine and finishing it off with sunscreen. You expect to sweep your hand across fresh, smooth skin. Instead, you’re greeted with a bumpy texture. A closer look reveals almost invisible bumps sitting on your skin.

Bumpy skin texture can be just as annoying as its elder sibling, the pimple, especially if you’ve been religiously following a CTM routine. These tiny, white-headed bumps reside in your pores and can really put your ‘don’t squeeze it’ rule to test. Evicting them feels endless so if you want to know how to remove whiteheads, we’ve listed down the whole process.

What are whiteheads?

A whitehead is a form of acne that emerges in your pores due to the pile up of dead skin cells, bacterial growth and excess oil. Whiteheads can look like a grainy filament trapped in your pores, and often appear as small white or colourless bumps on your skin.

What causes whiteheads?

Before you figure out how to remove whiteheads, you’ll need to understand what causes whiteheads on your face. Whiteheads may look like they were created overnight, but their formation can take about a month.

Whiteheads appear on your face due to excessive sebum production in your skin that ends up clogging the pores and solidifies to form the bump. There can be several reasons that trigger the production of sebum in your pores:

Puberty
You may first notice some whiteheads on your face when you hit puberty. Your hormone levels drastically change when at this age, and your brain produces the GnRh hormone that increases oil production in your skin. If those goes unchecked, it can lead to blocked pores causing whiteheads.
Menstruation
If you see a lot of whiteheads sprout up on your face around the time of your period, you’re not alone. During your periods there are lot of hormonals shifts that occur in your body. Estrogen decreases and your progesterone levels spike up leading to a lot of sebum production in your oil glands, which leads acne and white heads.
Stress
Another major instigator of breakouts is stress. Every time you feel stressed, and your fight or flight response is activated, stress hormones like cortisol and androgens are released in your body to help bring balance to the body and mind. These hormones instigate the oil glands to produce more oil which can trigger whiteheads.

How to remove whiteheads and reduce their occurrence

Luckily, there is a lot that you can do to eliminate these pesky bumps on your skin, a well formulated skincare routine is the hero solution. Make sure you follow all these skincare steps in your journey to reduce the appearance of whiteheads

1. Target and treat
Analyse your skin type and concern and make sure you use the right skincare treatment. This step mainly consists of your toner and serum, as they reach the deepest layers of your skin and treat whiteheads at the pores.

2. Go big on moisture
No matter what your skin type, moisturising it is a must. Sometimes when you don’t moisturise, your oily skin it ends up producing more sebum to make up for your skin’s moisture needs, causing greasiness. To regulate your skin’s oil production and reduce the appearance of whiteheads, moisturisation is key. If you have oily skin look out for moisturisers that are lightweight and gel-based in texture.

3. Always sun protect
Sunscreen is the rule of the thumb, and you must use sun protection through all seasons. But if you think your sunscreen makes your skin overtly oily and causes breakouts, turn to a mattifying, non-comedogenic sunscreen. This will shield your skin sun damage proof, without clogging your pores.

What to look out for in your skincare

There are a few skincare ingredients that help buff away oiliness from the deeper layers of your skin and can be one of the best ways to help remove whiteheads. Pay heed to these actives and incorporate them in your skincare routine.

1. Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant. It significantly reduces redness and inflammation while boosting cellular turnover, which means it replaces dead skin cells with newer ones to reveal clearer skin.

Vitamin A-rich skincare can easily become a part of your day and night-time skincare routines and is an effective way to deal with the existing whiteheads on your face. Make sure to follow up with a sunscreen during the day.

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2. Tea Tree Oil
If you think your oily or dandruff prone scalp is to be blamed for the whiteheads on your face, tea tree oil could be a boon. Tea tree oil is a natural anti-inflammatory ingredient, that also has antimicrobial benefits—this means it can do away with the bacteria that causes dandruff, inflammation, and acne.

You can dilute the essential oil with a carrier oil and apply it on your skin or turn to skincare infused with tea tree oil to even out skin texture.

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3. Retinol
A derivative of vitamin A, retinol is a game changer when it comes to removing whiteheads, acne or breakouts. The ingredient tackles the whitehead from its root, it unclogs your pores and helps in shedding the layers of dead skin cells. The ingredient not only helps in clearing your skin, but also erases acne spots.

You can use a retinol ointment as prescribed by your dermat or invest in retinol rich skincare that effectively removes whiteheads. No matter which way you use it, always top it up with a sunscreen during the day, as retinol is known to make skin photosensitive.

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4. Salicylic acid
This ingredient is your oily skin’s best friend. Salicylic acid knows the concerns of your skin type and never fails to address the issue. The active ingredient is a lipophilic, which means it travels to the deeper layers of your skin and breaks down oil from your pores. Salicylic acid is a champ in reducing excessive oiliness, acne and the appearance of whiteheads.

You can use a salicylic acid facewash or a serum to buff away oiliness leading to fewer breakouts.

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How to remove whiteheads effectively
Apart from these ingredients, there are a few skincare steps that can help you get rid of whiteheads and keep them under control.

1. Exfoliation
Exfoliation can help with whiteheads and improve your overall skin texture. Exfoliation helps you unclog your pores and lifts off dirt, oil, dead skin cells and impurities. Regular exfoliation can show a drastic change in your skin over time, it not only smoothens out your skin’s surface but also helps clear acne.

If you have normal skin and like the feeling of scrubbing your face, opt for a physical scrub with small circular grains and massage your face in circular motions. For oily and dry skin, look for a gentle chemical exfoliant with AHA and BHA and apply it once a week on your face.

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2. Pore Strips
This is instant skin gratification. If you have whiteheads on your nose and want to get it off immediately, try a pore strip. Pore strips have an adhesive layer with ingredients, like charcoal that pull-out sebum off your pores. Although a pore strip does not offer a permanent solution to whiteheads, it sure is satisfying.

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More tips to dodge whiteheads

Cleanse your skin with a salicylic acid face wash
Use a non-comedogenic sunscreen
Keep hair products away from your face
Hydrate you skin regularly with an oil-free moisturiser
Always wash your hands before touching your face
Double cleanse your face after taking off makeup
Exfoliate once every week to decongest your pores
Keep your scalp clean

Still thinking how to remove your whiteheads? Keep scrolling

Q. How to remove whiteheads from my nose?

Whiteheads can take a while to go away, but a consistent skincare routine with oil-fighting ingredients will help evict the bumps on your nose. If you’re looking for an instant solution, try a pore strip.

Q. What is the best facewash for whiteheads?

A. Facewash is an important step in the removal of whiteheads. Pick a cleanser with active ingredients like salicylic acid or glycolic acid that help in washing away the extra oil off your pores and reduce greasiness.

Q. Is it okay to squeeze whiteheads?
A. As a rule of thumb, you should never pop a pimple or squeeze a zit because that way you end up damaging your skin barrier and it often pushes the debris deeper into your pores causing more inflammation.