#YouKnowYouLikeIt: Zit Poppin

Alrite, alrite - after Tucker's epic postage earlier I'd totally be lying if I said that I haven't been spending the last hour looking up zit popping vids. Yep, it's saturday night, and I'm on YouTube looking at flying puss. The true end of an excellent evening of Rock Band, Catan, DDR, and air hockey. Uh hhuuuhhhhh!!! Either way, this zit was named Herman. That just cracked me up. I wish Herman had a Facebook like page. OOOHHH here's to wishful thinking ...

I don't know why I find this so oddly fascinating. It's like where do these blobs come from, and why, what makes the puss fly out so quickly, what is the little liquid thingie that comes up after ...

Fortunately, thanks to google ... looky looky what I found:

Zits are what happen when the oil glands in your skin get clogged and pus is what comes out when you pop them.

But don't pop them! It only spreads infection and can make your embarrassing zits even worse!

Zits do not care about color, sex, or age, everyone from teenagers to grannies get zits. In fact, zits can be found on the faces and bodies of over 70 million people!

A lot of things can cause zits. Including stress, and a build-up of toxins including infection. Stress is not just a mental state of being, it can also affect your physical wellness. If you have an infection, it will find an outlet through pimples.

During your teen years your body starts to do some funky things while it grows up, including producing more testosterone (a male hormone found in females as well as males, but in varying amounts), which tells your body to start producing more oil. As a result, the dead skin cells mix with the oil and clog your pores, causing zits.

There are a few kinds of zits, all undesirable, but some more than others. When your skin is clogged up with enough skin cells and oil, you get whiteheads; a small white bump under the surface of the skin. When it reaches the surface, it appears black and a blackhead develops. It isn't a dark color because of dirt, but rather from melanin pigments (the stuff that gives color to your skin and hair).

If the wall of the pore breaks, it can become inflamed and red. If it breaks further below the skin's surface acne nodules or cysts can form. It is important to get these treated, unless of course you want permanent scars.

Did you know?

Chocolate doesn't cause acne. Experiments conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Naval Academy found that consumption of chocolate - even frequent daily dietary intake - had no effect on the incidence of acne. Professional dermatologists no longer link acne with diet.




Think that only dirty people get zits? Nope. Clean people get zits too. Bacteria (the good and bad kinds) lurk in everyone's skin.




Will scrubbing my face a lot get rid of my zits? Sorry Snoopy, although washing your face is necessary, stripping your face of the natural oils cause your glands to go into hyper-drive to make up for it, which will lead to even more breakouts! You should only wash your face gently with a mild cleanser no more than twice a day.