Quick and Easy DIY Blackhead-Clearing Mixes

In the pursuit of perfect skin, blackheads can be some of the toughest little face monsters

to combat. After all, they’re the ones that dig in deep, holding on to your pores for dear life, and getting stuck in what seems like every crevice you have on your face. Usually, blackheads are treated with abrasive washes, rinses, and masks of the store-bought kind. But these mixes can be expensive and also filled with not-so-great-for-you ingredients that will seep from your skin right into your body. The key with face and body washes should always be — if you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin! Because the fact of the matter is that your skin absorbs a majority of what you put on it.

Yet, the blackheads still linger. What’s a blackhead-busting guy or gal to do if we want to remove these things, yet stay chemical-free? Never fear, Green Monsters. There are ways to combat these things with a little DIY face love. Try these easy, inexpensive mask recipes to have your blackheads running for cover elsewhere in no time at all! Masks are a great way to combat blackheads because you leave them on for a good bit of time, allowing the mixture to really penetrate your pores and get in deep where the gunk lies.

Mix 2 -3 drops of tea tree oil with 2 tablespoons of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of melted (but cooled) coconut oil. Mix this with just a bit of cool water — add a tablespoon of water at a time until you get a good, thick mask consistency going. Then scrub this on to your face. Leave this mask on for about 15 – 20 minutes and then rinse well with lukewarm water. The baking soda will dig deep into your pores and remove bacteria and buildup that can foster blackheads. The tea tree oil has amazing and natural acne and bacteria-fighting properties. The coconut oil will blend to smooth the whole mixture and deliver softer skin when you rinse it away.

An alternative to the tea tree oil is to mix lemon juice in with your baking soda and coconut oil. About a tablespoon of lemon juice added in to this mask base will help tighten up pores and penetrate the dirt that may be residing in pores. Allow this mixture to harden on your face, and then rinse well after it hardens.

Lemon juice can also be applied directly to blackheads. Many people put a bit of pure lemon juice on a q-tip and then apply to blackhead-prone areas of the face. Often times, this will just be left on as a treatment and not rinsed off until the next face wash. Lemon juice applied straight onto the face can be a bit abrasive for some skin types, however, so be sure to do an overnight spot check on a small patch before applying this to your whole face.

What are your favorite at-home mixes for clearing blackheads? Any must-have ingredients that come straight from your kitchen and go right to your face in your quest to clear the black gunk from your pores? Please be sure to let us know about your tried-and-true, blackhead-clearing mixes made at home!

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