
Clogged Pores: A Science Backed Approach
Clogged Pores

Pores are tiny holes in your skin that allow natural oils to reach the skin’s surface for protection and hydration. Sometimes, though, your pores can get clogged with dead skin cells, oil, and other environmental pollutants. Clogged pores aren’t dangerous, but they can cause inflammation, acne, blackheads, cysts, and general aggravation.
One of the most important steps you can take when it comes to protecting your face is to wash regularly and prevent pore clogging and build-up. Not only does it help to reduce the amount of breakouts you experience, but it can also keep you from feeling uncomfortable symptoms and side effects like inflammation, discomfort, and pain.
Here are some of the things you’ll want to keep in mind about cleaning your pores and keeping your skin fresh, happy, and healthy.
What Causes Clogged Pores on the Face?
We have glands in our face that produce sebum, our body’s natural oil. Our pores bring sebum to the skin’s surface. When kept in the right balance, sebum is essential for protecting our skin from excessive bacterial growth and keeping our skin well-moisturized, which prevents drying out and discomfort.
But when sebum is overproduced as the result of hormone changes or environmental factors, it can clog the pores, create or contribute to bacteria growth and cause the skin to take on an oily appearance. Sebum can clog pores and lead to breakouts when not properly managed, so it’s important to find the right products for your skin, to maintain balance.
Our skin also has a natural renewal process that brings dead skin cells to the top layer of skin while new skin cells are made underneath. Pores become clogged if the skin produces too much oil, or if new skin cells are generated before the dead ones are sloughed off.
Dermaplaning, face masks, and exfoliating can help you remove that layer of skin cells and reduce the likelihood of breakouts.
While skin cell and oil build up are some of the most obvious reasons your pores may be clogged, leading to breakouts, they’re not the only ones.
Other common causes of clogged pores include:
Makeup is designed to hang onto skin, so it makes sense that it can become trapped in your pores. It is important to always take off your makeup before bed to avoid a buildup, and to use skin-friendly make-up removal products that don’t cause your skin to dry out or produce more oil. There are many different makeup options on the market today, so look for products that match your skin type and won’t feel heavy or cloying.
Our skin comes into contact with pollutants every day. Even though you might not be able to see them, these pollutants can get trapped in your pores. Pollution is one of the reasons why you’ll want to use a regular cleanser twice a day, to keep the invisible dirt and debris from sitting on your face for too long or clogging your pores.
Pollution may be an outside irritant that’s caused by human behavior, but naturally occurring environmental factors can affect your skin, as well. If you suffer from allergies or sensitivity to dust, leaves, or pollen, it can leave your skin feeling swollen and inflamed, which makes it hard for your body to fight off infections or build-up. Many natural materials found outdoors can also lead to poor clogging, so it’s always important to wash your skin and face afterward. While sun exposure may not directly cause clogged pores, it can irritate the skin and eventually lead to swelling, peeling, and inflammation, and peeling skin can clog the pores and cause breakouts. When your skin is sensitive or irritated from too much sun exposure, it may be more susceptible to breakouts and damage, so it’s always important to wear sunscreen and protect your skin when you’re outside. Look for sunscreen options that won’t clog your pores.
Your personal skin type also plays a role in clogged pores. Those with naturally oily skin may be more predisposed. If you know that naturally oily skin runs in your family, you can consult your medical healthcare team as you enter puberty or experience changes in your hormone balance, to make sure you have the information you need to protect your skin. Here at PROVEN Skincare, we take your genetics into account when it comes to finding the perfect products for your skin, alongside your environment, lifestyle, and skincare needs.
As we age, our skin becomes less and less elastic. Decreased skin elasticity can make pores larger and more susceptible to build-up and clogging. This is one of the reasons it’s so important to protect your skin with proper cleansing and cover from the sun. Our skin has different needs at each stage of our lives, and listening to what they are will help protect us for years to come.
At the end of the day, our hormones play one of the biggest roles in how much oil our skin produces and the regularity of clogging and breakouts. That is why many teenagers suffer from the effects of acne, though it can certainly impact people at any stage of life. While we cannot always control our hormones, we can take steps to manage hormonal reactions and prevent acne from forming. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and getting regular exercise can help to keep your hormones balanced and your skin feeling healthy. If you are pregnant or going through menopause or another hormonal change, your doctor may recommend supplements or vitamins to ensure you remain as safe and balanced as possible.
Tips to minimize your pores
A healthy pore is about 0.2 square millimeters wide, but a clogged one can be up to three times that size. If you want to minimize their appearance, you need to remove existing clogs and concentrate on prevention. Most importantly:
Picking, popping, or scratching clogged pores will not help them go away. In fact, it often makes them worse and can cause scarring. Our fingers also have a lot of bacteria and germs, so you can end up introducing new problems to your skin. Find a way to avoid picking while your skin heals.
Use a gentle cleanser twice daily. Be gentle while you wash as harsh scrubbing can damage your skin, and find the right cleanser to fit your skincare needs, with the help of PROVEN Skincare.
Exfoliating your skin will help remove dead skin cells to unclog pores and reduce the risk of new clogs forming. There are two main kinds of exfoliation: mechanical and chemical. Mechanical exfoliation is when you remove dead skin cells with a brush, cloth, or sugar scrub, while chemical exfoliation is when you use a chemical, like salicylic acid, to dissolve the dead skin cells. Be sure to listen to your skin and avoid exfoliating if it irritates or causes a reaction.
A Personalized Pore Minimizing Treatment

Clogged pores are best treated with skincare products that are labeled “noncomedogenic.” Non-comedogenic means that the product is designed not to clog pores. It’s also important to use products with pore minimizing ingredients.
To find the best products to take care of your pores, take the PROVEN Skincare skin quiz. Just answer a short series of questions, and our patented AI technology will formulate the best product for your skin based on your lifestyle, stress, skin type, and problem areas. In just minutes, we will reveal your personalized skincare formula for minimizing pores and all your other skincare concerns.
Here Is Why Personalized Skincare Is Better
Personalized skincare comes with a host of benefits
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Formulated and made-to-order for you | No | |
Targeting your unique clogged pores needs | No | |
Optimized for your lifestyle + environment | No | |
Easy 3-step system for all your skin needs | No | |
Made by Stanford scientists and AI tech | No |

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Dr. Yuan is a Computational Physicist from Stanford University
Proven co-founder, Dr. Amy Yuan, fixed her skincare woes by using her computer science background to analyze the effectiveness of more than 20,238 skincare ingredients, 100,000 products, 20 million testimonials, and more than 4,000 scientific journal articles. Now she is applying that to create the perfect skincare for you.
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