How-to: Unclog pores in 40 minutes or less - At-home facial for the At-home Mom

When your babies have learned to sleep on their own and you can get at least an hour away without them waking up, you know it's time to ease back into the life you once had before they came along.

For myself, I waited until they could sleep through the night (about 1 year for each) to return to my nocturnal activities. This includes pampering my skin with weekly at-home facials. And since my HG facial oil  no longer had any HG effects, my nose was clogging up with blackheads as badly as during my pre-skincare days (aka uni). Yeah, I didn't wash my face until I was 17. Get over it.

Anyhoo, within the last couple of months, I have perfected my routine to the point that I feel it works better the salon facials I have been to. Here's how it goes:

Step 1. Oil Cleansing Method

If you don't know OCM, Google it. It's awesome. To save time, I do it before showering. 10 minutes of massaging the oil firmly into the skin, focusing on the clogged up areas. Do it like you're prepping your chicken for the oven. Within 5 minutes, I can sometimes feel bits of gunk dislodging already.

Cheap and good extra virgin coconut oil

I use coconut oil for this. Now, for OCM to work on your skin, you have to choose the right oil. Because I have dry skin, coconut oil works pretty well. I have tried olive oil previously but it was too drying on my cheeks and broke me out. Mineral oil works ok too, but maybe I'm just biased from all the disreputation it has. Besides, coconut oil is edible, so it's fine if it gets in your mouth from overzealous rubbing.

In case you're wondering, I usually pre-cleanse with a makeup remover if I do have makeup on. I just don't like the idea of rubbing the emulsified makeup back into my pores.

Step 2. Exfoliate

After the massaging is done, I jump into the shower. Since my skin is dry, I don't rinse the oil off immediately, but that's just me. Instead, I exfoliate with a good scrub.

Expensive stuff, probably wouldn't buy it again

 I like to use a manual exfoliator, so it also works to cleanse off some of the oil from the massage. I suppose if you prefer chemical exfoliators, you would do this step after showering.

Now, because not all exfoliators work as cleansers, I find that quite abit of oil will still remain on the face. So it is important to wipe off the oil with a hot (or warm) towel until there are no traces of oil left on the skin, as per the original OCM. This has made a huge difference in how many blackheads accummulate on my nose during the week. This is a must especially if you don't plan to cleanse or use a manual exfoliator.

Step 3. Extract

After softening oil clogs and opening pores, it is time to extract. It has always been the case that I take great pleasure in digging out/removing stuff from various orifices and surfaces. Thus, it is no surprise that this is my favourite step. There is so much fulfilment and satisfaction in evacuating gunk from places where it should not be and I take great joy in the process.

This cheap tool can be bought for less than $2

To those who say I don't have pores: don't be ridiculous. Everyone has pores. And look what's in it? That's crap that shouldn't be there. With softened skin and opened pores, these babies slide out like maggots from stale bread. Just make sure to get the extractors that have rounded, not flat edges. I have used those before and have torn my skin countless times. Not fun.

Step 4. Clarifying Mask

I know the OCM is supposed to already be deep cleansing, but I needed to use this up anyway. And I found that it probably has helped to lessen my blackheads.

Any regular clay mask should do

  If you find your skin clean enough and you don't think you have excess sebum, you could probably replace with a hydrating sheet mask or something. Either way, it just feels nice to use this as an excuse to go read a book, watch a quarter of a Korean drama episode, or contemplate life in general.

For those with dry skin, prepping with a hydrating mist or rosewater should help reduce the tight afterfeel. Or if you're like me, go for products suitable for sensitive/dry skin. I have heard good things about Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque, which I'm dying to try next.

Step 5. Complete your regular skincare routine

For those who didn't do the hydrating mask in Step 4, you could do this at the end of your routine, depending on what type of mask you use. But since my routine is pretty intensive, I usually skip this. I would like to note, however, that I apply more of my anti-acne products to counter the agitation I've done to my skin during extraction.

Atorrege AD+ Cool Lotion

I use this with the Atorrege AD+ Acne Spots over my T-zone to protect against probable breakouts. Works well for me. I don't usually have any residual redness by the next day.

So there you go, your easy at-home facial in under an hour. Would love to know if it works for you too!