Biore Pore Cleansing Strips. A very bad tale.

OUCH!!! My dermatologist has me on a couple of creams and one is really supposed to help with blackheads, and seems to be. They're a lot less all over my nose and cheek area than they used to be, but it's a costly solution if your problem is minimal. It's called tazorac, available in cream or gel and the cream is definately better for sensitive skin. (gel's way more drying) You have to be careful of pregnancy while on it, and I have a $65 copay on the stuff! It retails for $274 for 60 grams.

I have sensitive skin, too and wouldn't dare try the biore- they scare me.

I use the Burt's Bees Pore Refining Green French Clay Mask [http://tinyurl.com/3a9mrz ]
monthly (less during the winter) to get rid of blackheads- it's available at most CVS and Whole Foods. The nice thing about this mask is you can mix it with anything to make it stronger or weaker- I usually mix it with Origins Constant Comforter [http://tinyurl.com/38fys2 ] so it's a bit more soothing but you can even mix it with an oil or moisturizer if you like.

"When you're being run out of town, get in front and make it look like a parade"

I don't like those Biore strips either. I've never heard of it causing all those problems that you had, but they just plain don't work for me!

Yikes! I know not to buy those if I ever get blackhead issues.

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“Fashion fades, only style remains the same.”

—Coco Chanel

I have tried the Biore strips before and have not been impressed. What helps for me is to use a clay mask at least twice a week. You have to let it really dry . . . and be consistent for a few months. You'll start to notice a difference. I also use Neutrogena pore refining cleanser and Neutrogena moisturizer for sensitive skin with alpha hydroxy. It helps to keep the dead skin cells from accumulating. It is so aggravating that I have to be so vigilant with my complexion. Otherwise my pores get clogged, and the blackheads and pimples start competing with each other. My mother and my sisters all have the kind of skin where they can go to bed with their makeup on and still have perfect skin. Arg! (Sorry this post is so long.)

thanks for the tips guys! i will definitely look into all of them. its funny, i usually have clear skin, but i guess everybody has a few blackheads once in a while. (it doesnt help that i scrutinize my pores in the mirror...but that goes with the ridiculous beauty post that bella posted a few weeks ago).

cageyme - what is the brand of clay mask that you use?

My favorite mud mask is Astara Blue Flame, but it's a little pricey. An ordinary clay mask like MUDD that you can get at the drugstore works really well. Jacqua Girls used to make this pumpkin mask that worked really well and smelled just like pumpkin pie. I'm sad that I can't find that one anymore.

Thank you for posting this !! I was debating using them or not, and I have sensitive skin.

I have sensitive, combination skin, but I find that the Biore Ultra blackhead strips work on me! My skin doesn't get irritated at all! Weird. All the cleansers you can get from any drug store with salicylic acid or whatever really dry out my skin though. I can never use any of the anti-acne cleansers.

The clean&clear blackhead eraser works great on blackheads. It really does erase them.

Looks to me like you used them wrong. Basically you forgot a zero step before hand which is to wash your full face throughly (preferably with face scrubber or scrubing foam), then dry the full face. AFTER all that you can re-wet the nose (or whatever) area you are putting the strips on then do the rest of the steps that you did.

It also says on their website that it helps to steam the face during the face washing 'zero step' you missed to really get the face prepared to recieve the pads. I'm not surprised that this happened to you because your pores and skin were probably too hard and you ended up hurting yourself.

I would use one of the other natural products listed as if you use chemical cleaners (like biore) you need to be careful enough to follow ALL the directions.