Why I Don't Use Pore Strips

I was a big fan of the “pore strips” from a lot of brands like Biore, Nivea, Tzone etc. Nivea has pore strips especially designed for the chin and forehead area too. At first, it seemed super exciting as to how this tiny strip would just remove all of my whiteheads and blackheads, but then my skin started to react awfully to these strips. After a long Google search and speaking with a few friends, who suffered the same reactions, I decided I need to inform you ladies about the same.

Usually, every brand recommends that we should use these strips once or twice every week. That being said, another research says we shouldn’t use these strips more than 3-4 times in a month. I followed all the instructions carefully and also took off the strip really carefully after it dried up. After a few months, I started noticing broken capillaries on the corners of my nose and on my chin. This is when I started searching online for remedies and causes. To my surprise, using pore strips can cause broken capillaries.

What are Capillaries?

These are the smallest blood vessels of our body that help in microcirculation of blood.  When these break, they appear as fine red threads of blood under the skin and are quiet visible. Broken capillaries occur when the capillary walls narrow  nd widen too quickly causing the muscles in the walls to tear. This in turn allows the blood to seep out resulting in broken capillaries.

How Can Pore Strips Cause Broken Capillaries?

The answer is simple. When you pull the pore strip off, no matter how slowly and carefully you’re doing it, you manage to damage the first layer of your skin. Your skin is pulled. The skin around your nose, cheekbones and chin is more sensitive than that of your forehead.

Broken Capillaries are permanent.  Luckily for me, there are just 2 tiny ones on my nose and 1 on my chin and aren’t very visible. I haven’t used pore strips ever since my horrible experience. I go for facials instead now; something that I got super broke or lazy to go for earlier.

Moreover, all this pulling and tugging of your skin by the pore strips tends to make your skin wrinkle faster according to a few studies. That’s not a surprise though since damaged skin ages faster than healthy skin.

Also, all those chemicals in the glue that help to get the blackheads out aren’t safe for your skin and I wouldn’t recommend using these strips religiously.

To conclude it all, pore strips definitely help to clear out your blackheads, but do they fight the main cause of the blackheads? No, they don’t. Blackheads usually appear in a few days to a week after using these strips leading you to getting hooked on to these strips and using them way too often. I would suggest sticking to regular facials which are safer for the skin and include proper exfoliation of the skin in your skin care regime.

Hope this review helps you ladies out and please don’t use those strips too often! Be nice to your skin.