Blackheads

Blackheads are a very common skin condition that mostly affects your face, neck, back and chest. There are a variety of causes, including too much oil on your skin and hair follicle irritation. Blackheads commonly affect adolescents, but they can occur at any age.

Blackheads typically affect teenagers and young adults undergoing hormonal changes. However, many adults continue to have acne into their 20s, 30s and beyond. Some even develop blackheads for the first time as adults.

How common is this condition?

Blackheads are very common. Some researchers suggest that blackheads affect nearly everyone during their lives. They’re most common among adolescents, but up to 10% to 20% of adults have blackheads too.

How do blackheads affect my body?

Your face (especially your nose and chin, sometimes your cheeks), neck, back and chest are most likely to develop blackheads. However, oil (sebaceous) glands are all over your body.

They release an oily lubricant called sebum that helps keep your skin and hair hydrated and shiny. As a result, though it isn’t common, blackheads sometimes appear on your butt, thighs, ears and armpits.

Blackheads don’t seriously affect your physical health, but they can affect you psychosocially (how society and social groups affect your mind) and psychologically (your self-perception and behavior). Blackheads can cause anxiety, depression, mood disorders and suicidal thoughts.

Blackheads are small, dark lesions that appear on the skin, often on the face and neck. They are a feature of mild acne, but they can appear without other signs of acne being present.

our testers using them for weeks at a time and rating how well they worked to decongest and clarify their skin. Our team then combined these recommendations and results with our own research to compile our list.

This product does a double job: salicylic acid penetrates the pores, and charcoal absorbs excess sebum (i.e., those fatty bumps that may appear on the skin’s surface). It also has a grainy texture that can be used as a mild physical exfoliation, as well as jojoba oil for moisturizing.

Fast facts about blackheads

• Blackheads are made of oxidized melanin and not trapped dirt.
• Squeezing or scrubbing at blackheads can make them worse.
• To reduce blackheads, avoid oil-based skin care products, humid environments, tight clothes, and skin products that contain alcohol.
• They tend to appear when hormones lead to the increased production of sebum, an oily substance, by the glands under the skin.

When these pores are plugged, the dead skin cells in the open pore react with oxygen in the air and turn black, forming a blackhead.

This is often confused with trapped dirt, but the development of blackheads is not related to the cleanliness of the skin.