- Blackhead removals are some of the most satisfying pimple popping videos.
- INSIDER rounded up some of the year’s best blackhead extraction sagas.
- Warning: This post contains graphic videos.
Some pimple-popping videos draw in viewers with the promise of gigantic skin aberrations, like lipomas the size of bowling balls and decades-old cysts as big as grapefruits.
But others garner millions of views by featuring a much smaller, subtler type of pimple: the humble blackhead.
Blackheads happen when a pore gets clogged with dead skin cells (which your skin is always shedding), Propionibacterium acnes (a bacteria that lives on your skin), and sebum (an oily substance secreted by tiny glands inside your pores).
They get their namesake color not from dirt but from oxygen. Blackheads by definition are open to the air. When exposed to oxygen, their contents turn a brownish-black color, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
Read more: 6 scary things that could happen if you pick your blackheads
Amateurs and experts use a swatch of different tools to remove blackheads, from tweezers to pore strips to cotton swabs to vacuum devices to dental floss (really). Not all of these methods get the stamp of approval from dermatologists, of course, but they do share one common quality: They're really, really satisfying to watch.
Below, in no particular order, INSIDER has rounded up some of the greatest and most-watched blackhead removal videos posted to the internet in 2018. Stay tuned as the year progresses - INSIDER will keep updating this post as new blackheads emerge.
1. The "50-year-old blackheads" around the eyes
As of this writing, more than 2 million people have watched this video featuring dozens of 50-year-old blackheads clustered around a man's eye. It was posted in March by India-based dermatologist and cosmetologist Lalit Kasana, who used two Q-tips and gentle pressure for the 14-minute extraction session. PS: There's another video showing blackhead removal around the patient's other eye.
2. The hour-long blackhead session
Got a deep appreciation for blackheads and plenty of time to kill? Settle in and enjoy this video from Gà Spa, a YouTube account run by a spa in Vietnam. The video focuses on one patient whose face is scattered with clogged pores - so many clogged pores that clearing them all out takes almost 56 minutes.
Read more: The right way to remove blackheads at home, according to a dermatologist
There are no frills or surprises here. It's just a long stretch of gentle, systematic, professionally filmed blackhead extractions, one after another after another. It's no wonder this was among the most-upvoted blackhead videos shared to Reddit's /r/popping in 2018.
3. Dr. Pimple Popper's popular pop
Dermatologist Sandra Lee (aka Dr. Pimple Popper) has posted dozens of popping videos on her YouTube channel this year. But this one, posted all the way back in the first week of January, remains her one of her most-watched of 2018, with more than 8 million views to date.
It features a dilated pore of winer - essentially a giant blackhead clogging a single, super-stretched-out pore. The first big squeeze happens around the one-minute mark.
4. The double-pore ear blackhead
The 澄熒SPA YouTube channel - owned by a spa in Taiwan - may not be as famous as Dr. Pimple Popper's, but it's a treasure trove of excellent in-the-ear blackhead videos.
One recent example, posted in July, shows a single ear blackhead that spans two separate pores. Skip ahead to the three-minute mark for the big payoff.
5. The one with an instant replay
It's hard to choose from 澄熒SPA's many great blackhead removals, but this short and sweet installment posted in February stands out from the pack. (It won over lots of fans when it was later reshared on Reddit.)
The featured ear blackhead pops out in one clean piece right around the one-minute mark. There's even an instant replay in case you blink and miss it.
6. The soothing acne session
Here's another one for those who love long, relaxing popping videos.
It comes courtesy of aesthetician Enilsa Brown, who posts lengthy acne extraction sessions on her popular YouTube channel. This one from January is her second most popular ever, with 7.3 million views as of this writing.
It focuses mostly on a patient's blackheads, but there's a bonus whitehead around the five-minute mark that's truly unforgettable.
7. The "never-ending blackhead surprise"
This video from June starts with Lee popping some tiny blackheads on a patient's nose. Then, the patient reveals that she has another blackhead hiding behind her ear.
Read more: Dr. Sandra Lee says a classic 'Seinfeld' episode partially inspired her 'Dr. Pimple Popper' nickname
That surprise blackhead does not disappoint: It comes out in one piece and is far larger than it seems at first glance. Watch it starting at the four-minute mark below:
8. The stubborn ear blackhead
Here's another entry from YouTube's Enilsa Brown, first posted in July. It features an ear blackhead that puts up a fierce fight against Brown's comedone extractor. But that struggle makes the eventual pop even more satisfying. It also includes a second ear blackhead that pops out with far less coaxing.
9. The "large waxy blackheads"
This video appears to originate from the Instagram account of Estética Leandra Coelho, a spa located in Brazil, according to its corresponding Facebook page. When a regram of the video was posted on Reddit in October, the post title was simple but evocative: "Two large waxy blackheads."
And that's exactly what it shows: The gentle removal of two very big blackheads in someone's cheek.
"I totally love this and I am so sad it ended so soon," one Reddit commenter wrote about the video.
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This post has been updated to include additional videos.
