I've always had oily skin and blackheads on my face have been a constant battle! They've been kept in check though by a good cleansing routine and a facial once in a while, keeping my skin relatively clear. Roll forward to Alopecia however and they've spread, not because of oily skin, simply because of extra opportunity. In fact, as part of my Alopecia, my immune system also attacks and affects my skin and nails, and has dried my skin right out, leaving me frantically moisturising rather than trying to neutralise excess oil!
Anyway, as normal I digress - back to the kind of gross topic of my blackheads! (Sorry folks)...
At the top of my arms, my skin is no longer silky smooth as it should be, but instead is rough to the touch with lots of little tiny blackheads putting in an appearance. When I first noticed this, a few months after my body hair fell out, I was wearing a long, curly, synthetic wig; I assumed that the synthetic fibres were retaining dirt and grease and this was blocking the pores in my skin. I exfoliated regularly which helped stay on top of them and I took to washing my wigs more regularly. It didn't help. A switch to a short wig (my favourite bob) which doesn't even skim my shoulders and it soon put paid to that theory.
That of course triggered some research and what I found was really interesting; contrary to my belief that these were normal blackheads, they weren't. Where normal blackheads are a result of high-levels of sebaceous excretion which block the pores, the 'blackheads' on my arms are in fact blocked hair follicles. Normally, the hair shaft grows from the follicle and as it does, the sebaceous glands produce a lubricant, helping the hair to grow out; as no hair grows anymore, the dirt and debris is not pushed out of the follicle and so it blocks, leaving a small blackhead and a rough texture.
Now, it isn't all bad though, a good pair of exfoliating gloves gets rid of the problem fairly quick, certainly far quicker than an actual blackhead. It's the exact reason that you need to regularly scrub or at least cleanse your body, as well as your bare scalp, helping ensure you're doing the work that your hair would normally do!
Anyone else have this problem?
Not to be too gross, but I did try to take a picture to show you what I mean (I'll be exfoliating tomorrow), but they're way too tiny to see on a camera. I guess that does put things in perspective and highlight how little effect they actually have - it's more that the rough texture annoys me and seeing them when I peer ultra closely!
That's it for now!
Victoria x
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