Table of Contents
What are they?
Ear blackheads, as the name suggests, are blackheads that form in ears. It’s however a very uncommon place for blackheads to appear. Even though it might not be the most obvious spot for a blackhead to come up, at least you can imagine worse places for it to be!
Removing ear blackheads is one of the harder places to remove them.
With nose blackheads at least you can see in the mirror where the blackhead is and more or less do it yourself by using a blackhead extractor tool.
You might need some assistance from your best friend or partner with taking out the blackhead in your ear. Chances are they are probably the first ones to notice them anyway!
How do I get blackheads in my ear?
Ear blackheads are formed just like any other blackhead. When dead skin cells mix with naturally occurring oil on your skin there is a danger they will seep into an open pore. As a result the pore will get clogged up and due to a mixture of sun and oxygen the top of the pore (or more exactly the sebum within the pore) will overtime start to oxidize and turn black.
While the most common place for a blackhead to be is your face, blackheads are also able to form on other parts of your body. You have tiny little hairs in your ear, which means you also have hair follicles (pores). If one of these pores gets stretched, it will fill up with dead skin cells really fast. If you are unlucky it can also be filled with bacteria, causing ear blackheads.
1) Blackheads will not disappear over time
Your body does absolutely nothing to stop blackheads from forming naturally, nor does it care if your pores are blocked. The only time your body will react to a pore being clogged is if the pore grows over with a tiny skin layer. At this point the pore has turned into a pimple. If the pimple is not treated properly it might get infected.
2) Blackheads are not dirt and scrubbing with soap will not help
Your pores are too deep for any normal soap to have any effect, nor can you scrub them off. The only type of soap that might have some effect needs to be used in combination with an exfoliation routine. Look for cleansers that contain “salicylic acid”. If you exfoliate before applying the cleanser you’ll be twice as effective in preventing ear blackheads from forming.
3) Blackheads will come back if not treated properly.
Using a blackhead extractor tool will do only part of the job. You might get the blackhead out fully, but the pore the blackhead came from will still be open wide. Applying a toner might help close the pore or at the very least get it tightened up more.
Getting rid of them!
There are a few ways to get rid of blackheads in ear and stop them from ever becoming a big problem again. This does mean you will have to start taking care of your skin.
Blackhead removal methods
Not all methods commonly used in the fight against blackheads will do the trick when your blackheads are in your ear. However others, although they might be a bit cumbersome, will do the trick.
The old favorite: Using a blackhead extractor tool
This, combined with oil cleansing, remains one of my go-to methods to get rid of ear blackheads. No matter where they form blackheads can always be extracted using a comedo-extractor tool. Most commonly however you’re not extracting blackheads but you’re getting rid of sebaceous filaments. But that is a story for another time!
Removing ear blackheads using a blackhead extractor tool is pretty straight forward.
Select the right size of loop you need for the blackhead at hand from the array of blackhead extractor tools at hand.
Then simply place the loop over the blackhead and with a swooping motion apply pressure around the dot.
The motion you are aiming for is like you’d be scooping some ice cream into a bowl.
While applying pressure to the side of the blackhead, slowly move your hand down as to push the gunk out of the pores.
Once extracted, wipe off the tool with some rubbing alcohol to make sure there is no cross-contaminatio next time around!
Oil cleansing
My favorite method is the oil cleansing method. Oils tend to easily dissolve in other oils. As a result if you apply oils on your ear, logic dictates that the naturally occurring oil on your skin will dissolve into this cleansing oil, after which your skin will be less oily, resulting in a lower chance of you getting ear blackheads.
Apply it before you wash your face and rub it in for a good minute.
Chemical cleansing
Using a cleanser you are using a mild acid to go into your skin and slowly eat away a layer of dead skin cells, leaving pristine skin behind once you wash it off.
As mentioned above you can use either salicylic acid (BHA) or glycolic acid (AHA), but you can also alternate between them every day.
Salicylic acid will go in your pores and pull everything out, while glycolic acid will help you tighten your pores and push out what’s stuck in them. Glycolic acid will also help you with a better skin texture.
To clear ear blackheads with a cleanser follow the following routine:
- Splash lukewarm water on your face
- Use a cleanser to wash your face gently for 30 seconds
- Dry your face with a soft towel
- Apply a BHA – or AHA cleanser depending on your skin type
- Wait 20 minutes for BHA, 30 minutes for AHA before rinsing it off
- Moisturise your face
- Apply sunscreen (especially when using AHA)