What's your take on pore cleaning strips?

I have used those strips before and they don't really seem to do much for me. I do see some stuff on the strip, but it did not make a really noticable difference for me. I got a Clean and Clear Blackhead Eraser. It seems to work fairly well. I don't use it every day because it was drying out my skin. I still have blackheads, but this thing makes my skin feel a lot smoother. http://www.cleanandclear.com/blackheaderaser/?channelFull=09CNCSGGLBBHE01&gclid=CK3h8vCu6ZgCFSHyDAodpzw72A

Every few years I buy these and usually use one while the rest just float around from basket to basket in the bathroom. I usually have at least one pimple and you aren't supposed to use them on actual acne so I'm SOL. I like to put them on the fiance every now and then though just to see. It's pretty gross! What I have found works the best is to do a facial steam (either with a steamer or just by covering your head with a towel and sticking your face over a pot of hot water) for about ten minutes and then use an exfoliator. I like Biore's pore refining scrub (and their pore mimimizing moisturizer in the AM - it's a good one). I usually do that on Sunday and Wednesday night, if my skin is on the dry side I'll skip the scrub. It's also a good idea to use a salicylic acid based acne gel if it agrees with your skin, it's the best for black heads. Also stick to moisturizers and make up that say non-comedogenic on the label. If you don't want to spring for the products one thing to try is the fabled 'aspirin mask'. Take 3 non-coated aspirin and put a few drops of water on them to soften. Crush them up as fine as you can and then mix the powder with honey and massage into your face, leave it on for about 10 minutes. It's a scrub and a mask that seems to work ok, nice and moisturizing while still exfoliating. Best to only use it once a week.

I've tried the Biore pore cleaning strips but they never did much for me. I could see some stuff on it when I pulled it off but I didn't notice any difference on my nose. I haven't tried any other products yet. It's so funny you started this discussion because I was just thinking about what I could use.

I've used those occassionally and they're great fun though really quite disgusting! I guess they would vary from brand tot brand though. I think mine were Olay. Someone gave them to me, they're not the sort of thing I'd buy regularly myself. They work best if you warm your skin with a wet flannel first so that the pores open up. then keep the strip on until it's really dry. When you peel it off the gunk from your pores looks like little tiny hairs stuck to the strip. Horrid to think where it came from LoL I think they work best on fairly flat parts of your face, like your forehead. Your nose is too bumpy to allow them to stick and really get a 'grip' on your skin.

My husband and I have used those strips before. We both thought that they worked pretty well. It is actually kind of gross to see all the stuff that is in your skin. I have very combination skin, some parts very dry and other parts very oily. Of course, the oily parts is were I get blackheads. The only thing I have noticed that keeps them away is 1) I was my face everyday with Nuetrogena foaming fresh face wash and then I use the moisturizer for combination skin , also from Neutrogena. If you try to dry your skin up too much then it will counteract by producing more oils then you get blackheads. If you use a simple face wash (I love the one I use) and then a light moisturizer then your skin should clear up pretty well. All of this was told to me by my sons Dermatologist.

hello katsmeow oh the dreaded black head problem. lol i as well have black heads like that all over my nose area. and years ago, i think that i had recieved a free sample of the nose strips that you use like that to get rid of them all. the strips cleaned the black heads off of my nose, and they actually stuck to the cleaning strip. when i pulled the strip off of my nose, they were on the strip and that looked really gross. lol i had seen a Mylot discussion that somebody started awhile back and they said that they used elmer's white glue to put on their nose like that, then they let it dry, and peeled it off to solve their black head problems on their nose like that. ewww. looks like that would hurt peeling dried glue off of your nose like that. whatever that works. years ago, i used Noxzema all over my face to keep my black heads at bay, it is a good inexpensive product to use. take care and have a beautiful afternoon.

I know those black things somehow are very disgusting-my wife has some around her nose and she feels terribly irritated about it! But in the developed countires like yours, am surprised there are no solutions-here my wife has tried some herbs and they seem to work well for her! Unfortunately these are really local herbs and I dont think they grow in your country!

I have found that Estee Lauder face cleansing products work the best for me. They are expensive but they are worth it. My husband has large pores and he is a mechanic on large equipment at a coal mine. He gets really dirty with oil, grease and coal. Estee Lauder products are the only thing that works for him. I love the way his face feels smooth as well. I use them on my face too. It helps in more ways than just cleaning. I use the anti aging and it makes my skin look younger. That is a plus for me.

I am a huge fan of nose stripes, I have been using them for 5 years and they help to remove my blackheads and they have been effective for me. I have been using the Biore ones (Asian version) and you could get more information here: http://beauty-tricks.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&Itemid=99999999&id=978

I have used them on my husband and they have been very effective for him, but not so much for me. Perhaps it is to do with skin type, how oily or dry the skin is. I tend to use a facial scrub or exfoliator on a regular basis. Failing that, I'm afraid I have to have a good squeeze. I don's recommend this right before you go out for a night on the town though! :)

I haven't tried those pore strips yet but my brother did, and it didn't work for him either! I suggest you get some facial, it really helps cleaning your pores and it also helps to minimize your pores. At home you can try to boil water and place your face towards the steam to open your pores, after which ones your pores are open, scrub it lightly with a damn cloth. You can also but masks over the counter which can help tighten your pores. Hope that helps! =)

I've used the black head strips and have found that they really don't do all that much. I try to steam my face (putting a towel over my head leaning toward the sink and have hot water on) to open my pores and then put one on with very hot water, then after taking it off using an ice cube to close the pores back up. I've used scrubs, and then even bought that stupid black head easer by Clean and Clear and it hasnt worked either. My black heads aren't really noticable, just to me, so I'm not that worried about it. But for someone who has large pores, try steaming your face before using the strips and then use an ice cube to close the pores after pulling it off.

My mom and all the women on her side of the family go to my aunt's cabin once a year. While we are there we give each other makeovers and beauty treatments. One of the treatments that we all decided to use together we the black head remover strips. I have to say that at first I really doubted if they would work. Well I was wrong, they work great, the blackheads all came out and our skin was left feeling smooth, clean and my aunts even said that it made them feel younger. I think that you should really try them, they might just surprise you with the results.

i never found them to work fo me i canged to a good face cleaner wih has broken doen the blackheads, now i dont seem to have many at all now. however i dont keep to one cleaner coz you face gets use to it and it stops working. the way reson you need to changed your sampoo very now and again. just make sure its a good make. its worked for me

I've tried them before and use them off and on. I think they work fairly well but they certainly don't catch everything especially for me. It clears some of my poors and then leaves other poors rather clogged up. I don't like buying them all the time because those things are rather expensive for the amount of strips they you get.

If you read "The Beauty Bible" from Paula Begoun, an expert with 25 years in the beauty industry, you'll know that the pore clearing strips only clear away the top part of the blackhead but do not solve the problem. You can also do a search and read it at www.cosmeticscop.com

I use the Biore strips and they have always worked for me. I see lots of stuff it was pulled off and my nose doesn't look as bad. I also use a daily scrub every other day. Unfortunately I have discovered that the pollution in Phoenix really makes me break out (I had clearer skin when I lived up north) and wish I could figure out how to deal with that.

I have never used pore cleaning strips. I have always used apricot scrub, and that works pretty weel for me. If you wash your face with warm water to open your pores, rinse well, and then splash your face with cool water, the cool water will help to shrink your pores.

Pore cleaning strips in all reality rip the top layer of the dermis, which would include black heads and white heads. I personally don't like them and don't think to work them effective. Blackheads are black due to dirt on the skin. If you were to wash your face regularly with a salicylic scid treatment (i love Murad's acne cleanser) or an exfoliating pad (Peter Thomas Roth exfoliating pads work great) then this should help the problem. Doing this little by little will give a better result then just tring to rip it off.

Why would men care about black heads? Oh, they just want to see the strips after wards. "How many blackheads can you get on a strip? Woah! Awesome!" I don't know if they work but they are fun from a male point of view.