Where's My Mirror?: What Everybody Ought To Know About Pore Packs

This is for both men and women.

I have sensitive, combination skin - oily t-zone, and a little dry on other areas of my face. I also have the dreaded whiteheads and blackheads, especially on my nose and chin. Unsightly buggers, they are! Blegh!

What I have been using for several months now are pore packs. Beautiful little wonders. These packs contain individually-packed strips that are designed to literally remove whiteheads and blackheads for a cleaner and smoother surface.

I have tried other brands and they just don't do the job for me. What I have been using is Biore's Cleansing Strips Pore Pack Formulated with Witch Hazel Extract. Okay now. Biore's Cleansing what the what -??

Too many words to remember, right? I'll make it easier for you: the front of the packaging is black and red, with white words. I'll post photos of it below for visual.

These babies are great and really work as advertised!

How To Use A Pore Strip On Your Nose:

01. Remove nose studs or nose rings.
02. Thoroughly cleanse your face with a facial cleanser.
You can use a facial scrub after the cleanser if you'd like.
03. Leave your face wet - don't wipe your face dry with a towel yet.
04. With dry hands, gently peel the black strip from the clear protecting sheet.
05. Make sure you don't wet the pore strip before placing it on your nose.
06. Hold the strip with the sticky side facing downwards
(it's best to hold only the sides of the strips with your dry fingers).
07. Now, gently place the sticky side of the strip on your nose making sure it's not close to
your undereye area as the skin here is very thin and sensitive.
(The "pointy" tip of the strip is to be placed on the ball of your nose.
Adjust it so that it covers the top and sides of your nose.
You may need to gently press some parts down, so that it sticks and covers your nose.)
08. Wipe the rest of your face dry with a towel and leave the strip on to dry for 10 - 15
minutes.

*Important:
Follow the instructions on the packaging because it CAN hurt your skin when you leave it on longer than instructed. You'll have a teary-eyed experience peeling away the pore strip from your nose
(I left it on longer once and nearly cried peeling the strip off!).

09. Once the time's up, gently peel the strip from your nose. I'd suggest starting gently
from one end, then slowly removing it all the way to the other.
10. You may have slight traces of black bits on and around your nose. Don't worry about
this as they're from the strip and can be easily washed away.

This next part may be a little gross to some of you, so brace yourselves.

11. Take a look at the strip - you'll see tiny, white bits of "stuff" on it. These are the
whiteheads from your nose; you can't see the blackheads because the strip's black
(duh).

Check your nose in a mirror and you'll see that it really IS cleaner and smoother!! Voila - magic! (nah, it's technology) ;)

12. Apply your facial moisturiser like you normally would.

Like I said earlier, beautiful little wonders. These strips are GREAT for removing whiteheads and blackheads! I swear by them.

However, what I have found is that the more frequently you use them, the more your pores begin to slowly enlarge over time. This is the part I find not many people know about pore strips. Though it shouldn't be a surprise because these wonder babies literally pull the gunk right out from your skin.

What you could is lessen the frequency of using the pore strips and/or apply a pore refining moisturiser after each use. Just my two cents worth. :)

I just used a strip myself so that I could take some photos for you (the larger the photo, the more unclear it is - sorry!):