The Homemade Nose Strip Challenge

First, I have to say my husband now “nose” I’m crazy.  He was snooping around while I was experimenting and just shook his head wondering what I will be into next.  I had him try to help me with my nose pictures and he said, “I think you’ve gone too far this time.”  Too far or not, here I go.

I am pretty lucky to have good skin.  I really don’t do too much except to use some tried and true Philosophy skin products.  I love their Purity cleanser, Hope in a Jar moisturizer, and their Microdelivery Peel. I have been a faithful Philosophy girl for several years.  I put the least amount of make up on my face I can and drink lots of water.  The only thing I miss now and then is using the Biore Deep Pore Cleansing Strips on my nose.

I don’t have any Biore strips right now and have a nose that needs a little attention.  I can either stop everything I’m doing and run out and make a Biore purchase or troll the internet for homemade remedies.

Well, that didn’t take long on-line in about 2 seconds with one Google search for “homemade Biore strips” I have 42,000 ideas in front of my dirty nose.

Most of the recipes are pretty much the same:  combine milk or water with unflavored gelatin, heat in the microwave. Smear on nose. Let dry. Peel off and your nose will be soft, unfuzzy, and have less clogged pores. There are also possibilities using a mixture of white school glue with water or egg whites.  I have the unflavored gelatin and some milk, so I’m betting that one is going to be my winner.

I’m starting with a clean face.  Just used my Philosophy Purity Cleanser and gently dried off my nose.

Next I get all my ingredients ready for the microwave.  My nose peel recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of unflavored gelatin to 1 Tablespoon of milk.  I start to measure it out and immediately think I want to just cover my nose and not the Queen Mary ship, so I cut the recipe down to 1 teaspoon of each.  I place the gelatin and the milk in a microwave container and notice it’s too thick to begin with.  I add more milk (maybe another teaspoon or less just to be able to mix it).

I put the mixture in the microwave for 10 seconds.  It comes out hot and melted (sort of like hot wax).

I notice it’s hot but stiffing quickly. I am worried I am going to burn my nose, but quickly go ahead and smear the hot mixture over my nose area. I use a teaspoon to apply the “stuff”.  It stinks.  Can’t describe it—sort of wet dog meets hot gelatin.  Unpleasant smell does not linger.  It is hot on my nose.  I should have tested it in a small patch first.  I think 10 seconds in the microwave was too long—would try 6-7 if do it again.  Luckily I did not burn my nose.  Mixture cools immediately and thickens, so one can’t waste time applying—It gets thicker by the second.

Now for the wait.  I need to allow this stuff to harden.  After about 3 minutes I can touch it without it being sticky, but it still isn’t hard enough to have pulling strength.

After about 10 full minutes I can feel it being “crunchy” and dry.  Time for the big moment and the rip-off I’ve been waiting for. Here I go.  Slowly standing in front of a mirror and trying to personally photograph myself (my husband was smart enough to find something else to do quickly) I begin to rip off my homemade nose strip.  Surprisingly it comes off really nicely.  Not as “crispyly” as a Biore, but good enough for homemade costing pennies.

The strip and debris came off easily.  Immediately I felt my nose and it felt soft.  I can’t wait to look closer.  My nose does show improvement.  Many of the little hairs are gone and my pores look smaller and cleaner. Unfortunately I couldn’t put my nose under a microscope for you to inspect, but believe me it did work.  I felt like I had just exfoliated my nose which was my objective.

The used gelatin strip when looked at in a side view shows stuck hairs and debris.  Unfortunately my camera doesn’t pick up this angle.  When I run my finger over the used strip I can feel the debris removed. So it did work.

Wow, this really worked was my first impression.  Yes, it did work and then I pulled out my 10X magnification make up mirror to have a closer look.  It did work, but not nearly as good as a Biore Deep Pore Cleansing Strip.  Many of my pores were clean, but there were many that were not. I would say it maybe got 45% of the debris.

Experiment over.  Immediately I went to my shopping list and wrote down a reminder to buy a box of Biore Deep Pore Cleansing Strips.  At for fifty-seventy five cents each the Biore strips are far superior to almost burning my nose on a hot gelatin mixture.  I also feel they have superior sucking out power.  It was a fun experiment, reasonably successful, but I’m sticking with the name brand.