How to Shrink Pores

Pores are tiny openings in your skin, which play an important role. They release oil to keep your skin moisturised, release sweat from sweat glands, and regulate passage of liquids and gases into your skin

So they're crucial for your skin's quality, and how your treatments and products work. Pretty useful right?

The only thing is, for some people they're not so tiny. There's no one standard pore size, so you might notice yours are quite large and visible. This isn't necessarily a bad thing at all, but you might not like the look of large visible pores.

So, what causes large pores and how can you shrink them? Keep reading to learn more!

What Causes Large Pores?

Pore size is largely genetic, that's the long and short of it. They usually come with oily skin, which makes sense as your pores are involved in oil secretion. So, if you have large pores you should probably take it up with your parents, but:

Sun Damage

Sun damage can also cause enlarged pores, as your skin becomes thicker. This isn't a one time thing though, we're talking years of sun exposure.

Sun damage also accelerates the aging process in your skin too, which you'll learn in a minute can contribute to large open pores.

Having Oily Skin

This indirectly worsens the appearance of large pores, as your sebaceous glands produce excess sebum (oil). Sebum congests your pores along with dead skin cells, and congested pores then appear larger and more visible.

This goes hand in hand with the next point, but being conscious of your skin routine can help here. We'll come back to this a little later though.

Using Comedogenic Products on Your Skin

In less fancy terms this means using products that aren't right for your skin. They'll increase pore congestion and cause breakouts as well as enlarged pores.

This is even more important if you already have oily skin. But, in the same vein, dry or dehydrated skin can lead to pore congestion without proper exfoliation. That pore congestion then leads to larger looking, and more visible, pores.

Aging

Aging of course can affect your pores, what doesn't it affect after all? The more we age the less elastic our skin becomes, which leads to laxity and sagging.

This laxity and sagging can then make our pores look larger and more visible.

Women have a greater chance of having large pores too. This is thought to be because of hormonal fluctuations in the menstrual cycle.

How Do Large Pores Affect Your Skin?

It's a common belief that having larger pores can negatively affect your skin, rather than just being a visual issue.

But, interestingly, it's actually the other way around. Enlarged pores can be a sign that you could improve how you take care of your skin. You might have guessed this earlier when reading about the causes of large pores.

So in reality large pores really only pose a visual issue, if their size bugs you. They can show through make-up as textured skin, and that's one of the big reasons people don't like them.

Using this information so far, how can you shrink your pores?

How to Shrink Your Pores

This is a bit of a misnomer actually, you can't shrink your pores per se, but you can make them appear smaller. We'll be referring back to the causes of enlarged pores here, but there are a few things you can do to treat and prevent large pores.

You can even start some of these today:

Sun Exposure & Aging

Minimising sun exposure is a quick win when it comes to large pores. Reduced sun exposure helps you to prevent large pores, and assists in efforts to shrink their appearance too.

We've put aging in here because, sometimes, this can go hand in hand with sun exposure. Prolonged sun exposure quickens your skin's aging process, and aging makes your pores appear larger. Where you can't stay out of the sun, opt for sun protection like SPF or a hat.

Your Skin Care Routine

Revisiting your skincare routine can help with large pores, and your skin's quality in general. This is especially important if you're noticing increased breakouts. It's not necessarily thar your skincare products are bad, they likely aren't, but they might not be right for your skin.

You don't want a super rich moisturiser if you have oily skin, for example. This will only increase your pore congestion, enlarge your pores, and cause breakouts.

Conversely you don't want a strong and stripping cleanser if you have dry skin. This will cause increased sebum production, increase your pore congestion, enlarge your pores, and cause breakouts. A gentle cleanser for dry or sensitive skin would be a much better bet.

You could also benefit from adding missing steps to your skincare routine. Exfoliating is great for preventing enlarged pores, with physical or chemical exfoliants. Even twice a week is great and can drastically improve your skin, not just your pores. Why? Because exfoliating removes dead skin cells from the surface of your skin, before they have a chance to congest your pores.

A comprehensive skincare routine tailored to your skin will do wonders for keeping pores small and helping reduce their size.

Skin Treatments

Skin treatments such as peels and lasers can be amazing for shrinking your pores. They do this in multiple ways too such as increasing collagen production, exfoliating your skin, and regulating sebum production.

For example, treatments that help your skin produce less oil if it's naturally oily, and vice versa. Some treatments will also help to unclog your pores, such as Deep Cleansing or HydraFacials.

Laser resurfacing is a treatment that's great for shrinking enlarged pores. It's even safe for most skin types, as you can adjust the strength of treatment to suit your skin. While making pores appear smaller, it also controls your skins sebum production, brightens your skin, and reduces signs of aging.

That is pretty much all there is to shrinking enlarged pores, and preventing them from growing. No real downside exists to having large pores, but it could be a sign that you can take care of your skin better. And if you just don't like the look of large pores, you can do something about them!

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