Chrissy Teigen shared her 'life hack' for removing blackheads while wearing a mask, but a dermatologist warns against keeping pore strips on too long
- Chrissy Teigen shared a life hack on Instagram Monday: wearing a pore strip under your face mask.
- "Life hack: nose strip under your mask. keep safe AND get those rent free blackheads out," she wrote in the caption.
- But Dr. Heidi Waldorf, a dermatologist, cautions against wearing nose strips too long.
- Waldorf told Insider that the pore strip should only stay on for 10-15 minutes, as recommended by the manufacturer, even if you're wearing the mask longer.
Chrissy Teigen shared a new "life hack" with her 33.6 million Instagram followers earlier this week: Wear your pore strip under your face mask. That way, you're staying safe during the pandemic and getting rid of blackheads simultaneously.
But a skincare expert who spoke to Insider just wants you to be mindful of how long you're leaving the pore strip on.
On Monday, Teigen posted a photo of herself in a face mask with a pore strip on her nose underneath it with the caption, "life hack: nose strip under your mask. keep safe AND get those rent free blackheads out."
Pore strips contain adhesives that you place on wet skin and then remove to "pull out" dirt and dead skin cells that may clog your pores.
It's unclear how long the supermodel and cookbook author left her nose strip on, but Dr. Heidi Waldorf, a dermatologist based in Nanuet, New York, recommends that you only keep a strip on your face for about 10-15 minutes once a week.
"The ingredients haven't been tested for longer contact with skin. The strip could be harder to remove and might leave the skin irritated," Waldorf told Insider via email.
"How often are you just wearing the mask for 10-15 minutes? And if you put the pore strip on and then your mask and go out and about with both on, then the pore strip will stay on as long as the mask," she added.
Waldorf also told Insider that she typically recommends people use "a topical retinoid" instead of pore strips, adding that with the former "the contents of pores are swept away naturally over time."
A retinoid, she explained, increases "cell turnover within the sebaceous follicle (the pore) and all the skin surface on which [it's] used."
Teigen has talked about how much she loves pore strips before
Teigen revealed in a series of Instagram Story videos in 2018 that her blackhead-removing routine includes staring closely at her pore strips after using them.
"I like to pull these off, slowly, and then tilt them towards the light so I can see each little mountain, each tiny mountain. And then I like to take my finger and brush the blackheads to the side so I can see their length," she said.
And in July 2020, the model said "a steady stream of @bioreus chin and nose strips" are part of her regular skincare routine.
A pack of Biore pore strips with 14 strips retails for about $8 and is also a favorite of Rihanna's makeup artist Priscilla Ono, according to Ono's 2018 interview with Refinery29.
Wearing less makeup and washing your mask frequently can help combat 'maskne' issues, rather than relying on pore strips
"The acne that has been occurring under masks is more inflammatory," Waldorf told Insider. "I tell patients to avoid wearing makeup under their mask and either change to a disposable mask or wash a reusable mask daily to avoid collecting bacteria and oils that can aggravate the condition."
She also recommends applying Lasercyn Spray after cleaning the skin with "a gentle salicylic acid cleanser" that gets rid of the oil that clogs the pores. If that doesn't work, she adds a topical antibiotic to the mix.
Dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee, who is also known as Dr. Pimple Popper, had similar recommendations she previously shared with Insider's Julia Naftulin for avoiding face-mask acne.
Lee said that washing your reusable mask every day, or having multiple masks in rotation, is key to preventing bacteria buildup, and that avoiding makeup to preserve your mask's cleanliness is a good idea.
Lee also suggests exfoliating often and notes that wearing cotton-made face masks over other materials can be helpful if you're looking for "a certain level of general protection and you are not in a high risk environment" (since cotton masks aren't the most effective at preventing coronavirus spread).
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