Author: Liliya Subgani, Chief cosmetologist
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6 min read
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11.09.2026
Blackheads and black pores: what they are and how to clear them
Dark dots across the nose are the most common thing guests ask about, and they are also the thing most often treated the wrong way. Two facts change the approach. The dark colour is not dirt, so scrubbing does nothing. And not every dark pore is a blackhead, which means the standard blackhead routine misses a good share of them.
What blackheads actually are
A pore is the opening of a hair follicle, and a sebaceous gland feeds into it. That gland produces sebum continuously, and the sebum carries dead skin cells up to the surface with it. While the opening stays clear, nothing happens. When the mixture packs together into a plug, the flow stops.
The plug sits at the surface, exposed to air, and it oxidizes. That is where the dark colour comes from. The result is an open comedo, the non-inflammatory form of acne. Some stay unchanged for months. Others turn into inflamed spots once bacteria multiply behind the plug.
A real blackhead is a definite dark brown or black. The dots vary in size, some clearly bigger than others. The skin feels rough under a fingertip because each plug sits slightly raised. And they turn up beyond the nose, on the chin, the forehead and the cheeks.
When a dark pore is not a blackhead
Dark dots on the nose are close to universal, and many of them are not comedones at all. Sebaceous filaments are a physiological build-up of sebum and corneocytes inside the follicular canal, and everyone has them. They read as grey or light brown rather than black, they are much the same size as each other and evenly spaced, and the skin over them stays smooth. They are most obvious on the nose, but they also appear on the forehead, the chin and the cheeks.
Sebaceous filaments cannot be removed for good. Empty one and it refills over time, because it is a normal working part of the skin rather than a blockage. Having some of them, or a few open comedones alongside them, does not by itself mean you have acne or need treatment. The aim is to reduce how visible they are, not to clear them out on a schedule.
Whiteheads are the same blockage as a blackhead, but the pore is closed over, so the contents never meet air and never darken. Less often, what looks like a dark dot is several fine hairs trapped in one widened follicle. That needs a different approach entirely, and it is worth having a specialist confirm it rather than treating it as ordinary congestion.
How to get rid of blackheads on your nose
Home care will not shift a plug that has already hardened, but it decides how fast the pore fills again, and that is most of the work.
Salicylic acid is the first thing to add. It is oil-soluble, so unlike glycolic or lactic acid it gets inside the pore and breaks down what is sitting there. A leave-on product at a low percentage a few times a week does far more than a cleanser you rinse off after twenty seconds.
A retinoid changes how the follicle behaves, normalizing the way cells shed inside the pore so it clogs more slowly. Start at a low strength and build up, because irritation in the first few weeks is normal. Niacinamide sits well alongside both and helps regulate oil.
Cleansing matters more than the number of products. In the evening, an oil or balm cleanser first, then a gentle water-based one, because sunscreen and makeup do not come off in a single wash. In the morning, sunscreen, since sun damage weakens the structure around the pore and makes it look wider.
Give this weeks rather than days. Nothing here works on the timescale a pore strip appears to.
What makes blackheads worse
Pore strips can lift sebaceous filaments, surface keratin and sometimes part of an open comedone, which is why a used strip can look convincing. The effect is temporary. Strips do not prevent pores from refilling or new comedones from forming, and frequent use may irritate or dry the skin.
Squeezing with fingernails or a metal loop is the main way people cause damage that lasts. Nails are harder than skin, and pressure on a pore that has not been softened first pushes some of the contents deeper, tears the follicle wall and leaves marks, broken capillaries and a permanently wider opening.
Scrubs and cleansing brushes irritate the surface without reaching what is inside. Over-washing prompts the skin to produce more oil rather than less. Some comedogenic or occlusive products can contribute to sebum and corneocytes building up inside the follicle and to comedones forming, particularly on acne-prone skin. Texture on its own tells you little here, because comedogenicity is assessed on the finished product rather than on how rich it feels or on any single ingredient.
One thing worth saying plainly. Pores do not open and close. How visible they are depends on how full they are and how much support the skin around them has, and that is the honest limit of what any product or treatment offers.
Professional blackhead extraction
What a studio adds is not the extraction itself, it is the preparation. Contents that have been properly softened come out with very little pressure, and the opening is not damaged. That is the difference between a pore that stays clear and one that scars.
Ultrasonic cleansing lifts surface debris and loosens what is sitting in the pore, gently enough for reactive skin. Vacuum and hydro-cleansing draw out softened material without pressing on the skin. Where manual extraction is needed it follows cleansing and softening, and at Pause it is done through single-use wipes, with sterile single-use needles if a pore has to be opened. Reusable metal extraction tools are not used. A calming step closes the treatment.
Pause Studio has a separate group of treatments built around congested pores, from a gentle option for reactive skin through to a full deep cleanse with extraction. Which one fits depends on what is actually sitting in the pores rather than on how the skin looks from a distance, and the problem skin section sets them out by concern.
Skin turns over roughly every month, which is why four to six weeks is the usual interval. A single appointment is a reset rather than a course, and the routine between visits decides how much of the result holds. Afterwards, redness for a few hours is normal. Skip the sauna, the gym and the pool that day, use sunscreen, and leave acids and retinoids alone for a couple of days.
Two limits are worth stating. Cystic acne and persistent inflamed lesions need a dermatologist and prescription treatment rather than facials. And any dark spot that changes shape, colour or size is a question for a doctor, not for a beauty studio.
Blackhead treatments in Lisbon
Pause is a skin studio at R. Pinheiro Chagas 23, a few minutes from Saldanha, working in English with expats and locals. Congestion tends to peak by early autumn here, after a summer of heat, humidity and sunscreen reapplied across long days.
If you are not sure what you are actually looking at, a consultation with the chief cosmetologist takes 30 minutes and costs €50. The skin is assessed under magnification, which settles the blackhead question in a minute, and you leave with a plan rather than a booking made on guesswork. The studio is open 9:00 to 20:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 19:00 at weekends, and booking is online or through WhatsApp.
Frequently Asked Questions
The nose has more active oil glands and wider pore openings than most of the face, so sebum and dead skin cells collect there faster. Once that mixture packs into a plug and meets air, it oxidizes and darkens. Heat, humidity, some comedogenic or occlusive products and incomplete cleansing all speed the process up.
Dark dots on the nose are close to universal, and they can be sebaceous filaments, open comedones or a mix of the two. Having a few of them does not mean you have acne or need treatment. Colour, size and texture on freshly cleansed skin give you a reasonable idea. Blackheads tend to be darker, uneven in size and raised enough to feel. Sebaceous filaments are grey to light brown, even in size and smooth, and they appear on the chin, forehead and cheeks as well as the nose. Appearance and a magnifying lamp point towards an answer, though not always a definitive one.
Not in any lasting way. A strip can lift sebaceous filaments, surface keratin and sometimes part of an open comedone, which is why a used strip can look convincing. The effect is temporary. Strips do not prevent pores from refilling or new comedones from forming, and frequent use may irritate or dry the skin.
Yes, and it is the safer way to clear the ones home care cannot reach. The skin is cleansed and softened first so that the contents release with minimal pressure. At Pause the work is done with ultrasound and vacuum, and where manual extraction is needed, through single-use wipes and sterile single-use needles rather than reusable metal tools.