Whitehead is formed when the hair follicle does not open to air, so it’s clogged with sebum and dead skin cells. Due to its lack exposure to air, the air does not oxidize the melanin thus leaving it white in color. Whitehead plugs are embedded deeper than blackhead which makes it hard to be removed.

An infection on the plug starts when the white blood cells overproduce to battle against bacteria that are destroying our skin. Propionibacterium acnes or P. acnes bacteria can cause inflammation of acne formed then it becomes reddish in color.

Removing acne, blackhead or whitehead needs time, patient and the right medium. Some people speculate that it might be the cause by food intake and some are not. Therefore, we don’t need to go on a diet to remove it but just avoid any food that can cause inflammation of acne. Blackhead doesn’t mean our face is dirty and constantly washing it. The more hard you scrub and more frequent you wash, it will definitely do more damage to the face. Thus, the advice is to wash twice a day with facial scrub or suitable soap to reduce the amount of oil contained on the skin.

Also, antibacterial products that contain benzoyl peroxide and tretinoin can be used to treat blackhead and whitehead. Benzoyl peroxide usually works with mild cases of acne cases to none where it acts to reduce clogging by treating hair follicle. Trentinion acts the opposite way from benzoyl peroxide where it forces whitehead to open up and easily plugged out.

In conclusion, removing blackheads and whitehead manually is not a wise choice to do and it’s better to rely on facial wash or cream to remove it.