Fitness Health Tips Weight Loss Guide and more

Clogged skin pores can lead to whiteheads, blackheads, cysts and other blemishes. Here you will learn more about your skin's pores and what causes them to become clogged.

• Pore Types

The sweat pore is the canal that leads from the sweat gland to the skin's surface. Perspiration is mostly water, but it does contain some electrolyte minerals such as sodium chloride. As the water evaporates to cool the body, the minerals may be left behind and clog the pore.

More problems are associated with the pore that houses the pilosebaceous unit. This canal leads from the hair producing follicle and the sebaceous glands to the skin's surface.
There are hair-producing follicles all over your body. In some cases, the follicles are inactive. In many cases, the hairs produced are very thin and light in color. For example, the hairs on a woman's face are practically invisible.
The sebaceous glands produce sebum, which is a fatty waxy substance that acts as a lubricant and plays other roles in maintaining the skin's health. However, excessive sebum production is one of the most common causes of clogged skin pores.

• Dead Cells

The skin's cells are sloughed off and replaced on an ongoing basis throughout a person's life. In fact, the sloughed off cells are a major component of house dust.
Pieces of the dead cells can combine with sebum to form a clog. What we think of as a blackhead is a combination of pieces of dead cells and sebum. The color is black, because oxidation occurs when oxygen combines with the sebum and cellular material.

• Dirt & Makeup

Dirt is not a component of blackheads, but it can cause clogged skin pores and lead to other blemishes. This is especially true if the pore is larger than average. Women's makeup is not much different from dirt.
Sebum and perspiration can act like magnets to attract dirt particles from the air. When you touch your face, dirt on your hands is transferred to the face. The longer the dirt stays on your face, the more likely it is to cause a blocked pore.

• Inflammation

Inflammation is commonly known as swelling. It takes very little inflammation to narrow the canals housing the pilosebaceous units. Once the canal is narrowed, sebum is trapped inside, along with pieces of dead cells.
Bacteria naturally present on the skin's surface and in the canals will feed off of the sebum and the dead cells. The bacteria will multiply inside the pores making the inflammation even worse.
Inflammation is often the underlying cause of the blockage, not simply a byproduct of it. Many things can

cause the inflammation including:

• Hormonal activity
• Stimulation of the hair-producing follicle
• Exposure to the elements
• Excessive heat
• Over-cleansing
• Irritating ingredients in skincare products

Now that you know about the causes of clogged skin pores, please click the link below in the resource box for more information.

Thanks for reading the article. There is a lot more skin care information on my website - all free. I would like to invite you to visit http://www.ahealthyradiantskin.com for FREE Instant Access to a more information on How to Stop Clogged Skin Pores