In this informal, car‑bound YouTube episode, Dr. Shereene Idriss explains why pores can look enlarged and presents five (plus one bonus) key ingredients that can reduce their visibility. She first outlines three primary contributors to prominent pores: superficial inflammation, excess oil/debris, and loss of skin elasticity with age. She then details each ingredient: (1) Azelaic acid (5% classic + 5% ester) in her own Left Unread Red Reducer serum, which calms inflammation and regulates sebum; (2) Salicylic acid (BHA) – an oil‑loving exfoliant found in Paula’s Choice BHA toner, PanOxyl, and Neutrogena T/Sal, effective for acne‑prone, oily skin but potentially irritating for rosacea; (3) Alpha hydroxy acids – glycolic and lactic acids in her Major Fade Flash mask, offering exfoliation, hydration, and brightening for dry, non‑inflamed skin; (4) Retinoids (retinol, tretinoin) that accelerate cell turnover, boost collagen, and prevent pore clogging, with emphasis on consistent, tolerable use; (5) Sulfur – a keratolytic, oil‑absorbing, antibacterial agent (De La Cruz 10% spot treatment, Kate Somerville 3% cleanser) that can smell unpleasant but is effective for oily, acne‑prone skin. Throughout, she intersperses personal branding, product mentions, and light humor while driving to the San Francisco airport. The video concludes with a call to subscribe and a playful interaction with the driver Felipe.
Chapters
All right. Good morning, little nerds. I am here with Felipe. We are in San Francisco. I just left our meeting at Sephora headquarters. So we're gonna film this YouTube video from the car on our way to the airport. So you can get your Saturday YouTube. Who the hell am I? I'm Dr. Shereen Idris, and welcome to my YouTube channel where I do this thing every Saturday morning at 10am so make sure to subscribe like and follow along. But today we're going to be covering our top five ingredients for large pores. Yes, you heard that right. And all the myth surrounding pores. Because pore size is genetically determined, it is part of your skin's natural DNA. Your pores are not going to naturally open and get smaller with time, however, they can appear more prominent. And the things that you do can help your skin make your pores less visible. And it's not necessarily your eyes that are fooling you. It just means you've got some junk in the trunk. So what are things that can make our pores appear larger? Number one, I'm talking about inflammation. Because when your skin is superficially inflamed, now imagine this hole is your pore and you have superficial inflammation. What's going to happen? It's going to make your pore appear dilated because your skin is stretching out around it. And so that redness and inflammation can make your pores visibly appear larger. Number two, excess oil or debris is going to be build up gunk, junk in the trunk, sitting in your pores, making your pores appear slightly darker. So that is never a good thing. Number three, loss of elasticity. Now, over time, as we get wiser in life, ideally we're going to lose our elasticity in our skin and our skin is going to become weaker. And therefore our skin is going to appear like it is stretched out, making our pores more apparent. So how do we minimize all of this with these top five ingredients, starting with number one, azelaic acid. We're not going to talk about exfoliating just yet because azelaic acid is a sleeper hit, especially if your skin is inflamed or red. Want to make sure that you are not inflaming your skin more by overly trying to exfoliate. By by overly trying to clear the debris within your pores. Aelaic acid is one of those ingredients that can not only calm the inflammation in your skin, it can help to regulate sebum production so that your pores will hold on to less gunk over time. And that is why I introduced it in this year's left Unread product line by yours truly, Dr. Idris. It is in the Left Unread red reducer serum. You're going to have two forms of azelaic acid in this serum. A 5% classic azelaic acid and then going to have a 5% azelaic acid ester. So both of these are going to not only to help calm the look of inflammation and redness, but also help to regulate the overall sebum production that your skin does so that your pores do not become as filled up over time. Also has as an added bonus caproloyl glycine which can also further help to minimize oil production as well. On to ingredient number two, salicylic acid. Because I knew you guys were just gonna jump start with this one because you want to exfoliate your skin. Salicylic acid is an exfoliating acid. Yes, it is a bha, a beta hydroxy acid that is oil loving. So if you are somebody who is acne prone, you produce a lot of oils, your skin gets built up with a lot of gunk. This is an exfoliating acid for you, but it can be inflammatory and irritating, especially if you're rosacea prone. So it's a double edged suit sword. But if you're acne prone you're gonna love it. And salicylic acid is going to be attracted to the oil and the in your pores and get really intimate with it and eventually get it out of there. So this is a great one for blackheads, clogged pores and hopefully it's going to help to prevent future congestion and breakouts. And two products that I absolutely love, one is Paula's Choice. They have their BHA toner at 2% salicylic acid available at Sephora's and elsewhere on the Internet of spheres. But you also have panoxic which you can find at your local drugstore, cvs, Walgreens and they have a beautiful salicylic acid as well. Then there's the classic Neutrogena T Sal. Sal stands for salicylic acid and you can absolutely use this as well for your clogged pores in order to minimize their overall appearance. Now number three is not a BHA, it is two AHAs, alpha hydroxy acids and this is maybe three, four. But I'm giving you an extra bonus. It is glycolic acid as well as lactic acid. So let's say you have dry skin but you don't have redness, you don't have inflammation, and you're not necessarily prone to oiliness. But your pores appear enlarged because your skin is dry and it's lackluster and your skin is not holding on to the hydration that it needs. Glycolic acid is actually my favorite. Favorite. Okay. Aha. Alpha hydroxy acid that is going to not only exfoliate your skin, it is also going to help to hold on to hydration. Now, lactic acid has nothing to do with your pores. It's the bonus. It's going to help to brighten your skin in the process while exfoliating your skin. And these two exfoliating acids are in the Dr. Idris major fade Flash mask, which is my exfoliating mask of choice that I do anywhere from two to four times a week. And sometimes I even sleep with it on my face overnight because I'm not sensitive to it. Hydrating, exfoliating mask that is going to help with the overall appearance of your skin so your skin can look smoother and firmer over time, giving you that flawless application of makeup the next day. At number four, we have our retinoids, our vitamin A category of ingredients that are going to help to promote cell turnover. Now, what retinoids do, retinols, retinoids, tretinoin is that we have skin cells right on the surface of our skin. Retinoids helps to accelerate how these skin cells go from the lowest layer to the highest layer, helping that cell turnover turnover more efficiently. And because it turns over more efficiently, your pores will be less clogged. So being on a retinoid not only helps in the form of acne, because people usually get tretinoin acne as a kid, but it also helps the form of anti aging, because retinoids, they do help to promote collagen production over time. But most importantly, they can also help with your pores because they're going to minimize the buildup of dead, old skin cells on your skin. Here's another fun fact about retinoids. With every decade of life, right, Starting in our 30s, our cell turnover slows down. So up until we're around 30 years old, our skin, skin cells on the superficial layer of our skin turns over every 28 days or so. In our 30s, it goes up to every 38 days. In our 40s, it goes up to every 48 days, and so on, probably up to every 50 to 60 days. So to make sure we're using an ingredient that is making our turnover run efficiently is key. And that's where retinoids come in and that is where it is important to be very consistent with retinoid use. It's not about just potency, it's not just about intensity. I would rather you use a very light over the counter retinol for example that you can tolerate much more consecutively versus a prescription that burns your face off because that consistency is what's going to give you that ability to have better looking skin over time and for your pores to be less apparent. I have a bunch of faves that I will tag below ranging from skin rocks to skinceuticals and everything in between and I will make sure to tag them on the description box below and at number five Are we ready? This one is a sleeper hit. It is one that may make you lose a guy in 10 minutes because you will smell like a rotten egg. But this is sulfur. Sulfur is a great adjunct to use in a routine if you are prone to a lot of oiliness and your pores are constantly clogged. It is not only a keratolytic meaning it's going to break the lining of the dead skin cells on the surface of your skin skin which can clog your pores like we just learned, but it's also going to help to absorb that excess oil from your skin while regulating oil production. It's a triple threat. Triple win. It's what every actor, actress wishes to be. A singer, actor, songwriter or dancer, whatever the triple threat is. But sulfur is it. But it's going to stink and you are going to smell bad. Unfortunately there's no, you know two ways about it. It's sulfur but it works. Beautiful. The other added little tiny bonus if you want to make it a quadruple threat is that it does have antibacterial propert which can help to reduce the bacterial load on your skin, especially if you are acne prone. There are several sulfur treatments on the market. One brand I'm no longer recommending and if you can guess it, let me know which one below. But we just will not recommend that brand anymore because of a certain files that have just been released. But De La Cruz Sulfur has a spot treatment with 10% sulfur that you can use if you have combo or dry skin. You can spot treat for example, even just consider your nose a spot and just spot treat your nose. Kate Somerville had a sulfur cleanser as well at 3% that you can also check out as well. So those are my top five plus one extra bonus ingredients to include into your skincare routine for large pores I hope you guys enjoyed this video on the go. Felipe, thank you for trying to drive as smoothly as humanly possible. We are currently on the highway to the SF airport. And yeah, I never thought I'd be recording a YouTube in the back of a of a beautiful Uber ride, but Felipe is a great driver if ever you guys need one in SF. Felipe, what's your phone number? 48408-912-9120, 9094545. He's getting me to the airport on time and in one piece. Make sure to subscribe like and follow along and I will see you guys next week. Have a beautiful Saturday.
