If your face feels like an island with volcanoes, geisers, craters, and more, then let the best products for oily skin and large pores help smooth over those rough patches. We’ll have you looking like beachfront property in no time.
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Brickell Men’s Clarifying Gel Face Wash (Our Top Pick)
Brickell Men’s face wash is designed for oily skin, and that’s what makes it a stand-out oily skin and large pores product. Plenty of face washes are good for oily skin by coincidence, but Brickell has intent and purpose.
Easily the best perk of their Clarifying Gel Face Wash is how light it feels. After dealing with a slick, heavy face for so long, you forget that breezy, soft-skin feeling that a good face wash can give you all day long. And, after consistent use, you’ll start to notice how it helps shrink your pores. Really, any good face wash should help shrink your pores, but Brickell Men’s is especially effective.
It’s probably not as thick as some products you’ve used in the past, but consider that a big pro. Brickell Men’s won’t clog your pores or leave behind any residue.
Pros:
• Light face wash that dissolves oils like a pro and leaves you with soft, smooth skin.
• Specifically designed for oily skin. Shrinks pores after consistent use.
• Manages to soften skin and bring back elasticity. Brickell Men’s is known as a great anti-aging brand.
Cons:
• Not the easiest brand to mix-and-match with other brands. Brickell has that distinct feel and smell that works best when you buy their products exclusively.
Bevel Face Wash
Bevel makes the kind of products that win people’s choice awards. Skin care “experts” could lecture you all day about the “right” products, but Bevel is the brand that consistently ranks high in quality and quantity of feedback from the guys actually using their products every day.
Their face wash is an especially good 2-in-1 cleanser and pre-shave. It works by reducing skin irritation and washing out your pores so that your razor has an even surface to glide across. Over time, with how effectively it cleans your pores, you’ll notice them shrinking back down to a reasonable size. Plus, daily use will help you fight over-production of oil.
Bevel is also owned and operated by a black entrepreneur, Tristan Walker, so all of its products are gentle for black skin, and formulated to work especially well with textured, curly hair. If you’re looking for a product to fit black skin and fight oiliness and irritated pores, Bevel is for you.
Pros:
• Shrinks pores by reducing skin irritation and dissolving oils with daily use.
• Bevel gets the most positive reviews from real users, compared to other brands.
• Owned and operated by a black entrepreneur, made to be gentle for black skin and hair.
Cons:
• Thick texture that might not feel good against oily skin.
Black Wolf Nation Charcoal Face Wash
Charcoal is wildly effective on oily skin. And Black Wolf Nation knows how to help you harness the intense power of charcoal.
Here’s the catch: you NEED to use a moisturizer after you use charcoal on your skin. And you probably shouldn’t use it every day. Charcoal is incredibly cleansing, and it dissolves oil like no other ingredient, but it will also leave your skin dry. And if you let your skin get dry, it will produce more oil to save itself.
But, seriously. If you’re tackling relentless oil and enlarged pores, charcoal is the best cure-all. Black Wolf Nation even posts videos of their founders using their products on Instagram, so if you want a sneak peek at what the consistency, color, and results look like, check them out.
Pros:
• Charcoal is the most cleansing ingredient there is. It will dissolve oils and shrink pores with unbelievable efficiency.
• Black Wolf Nation is known for their gentle-on-skin, tough-on-grime products for men. They’re a man’s man brand.
Cons:
• If you tend to forget to use facial moisturizer, you can’t be trusted with a charcoal face wash. It’ll dry out your skin.
Thrive Natural Face Wash
If you’re like me, you might have symptoms like redness and occasional irritation with your oily skin and enlarged pores. Thrive is built on the idea that harsh products trigger your oils, while gentle products soothe and cleanse.
Their face wash uses entirely natural and pleasant ingredients to calm down your sebaceous glands, keeping your oil production under control, and ultimately shrinking your pores. It’s a face wash that technically any skin type could use, but guys with oily skin will see the best results.
Thrive’s slogan is “Powerful Plants for Adventurous Skin,” but you don’t need to be adventurous to try their face wash. In fact, I’d call it an extremely safe bet if you want smooth, soft skin with invisible pores.
Pros:
• All-natural, gentle, non-irritating cleanser that not only targets oils and large pores, but also softens irritated and red skin.
• You can use the face wash on your beard safely!
Cons:
• It’s 50/50 whether you’ll enjoy the smell of the cleanser. It’s one of those distinctive face soap smells that some guys love and some just can’t stand.
• It has a runny consistency, so be careful not to leave it uncapped.
Caldera + Lab – The Clean Slate
Caldera + Lab’s face serum is easily the company’s most popular product, winning multiple awards for how brightening, anti-aging, and eco-friendly it is. But the brand has outdone themselves again with The Clean Slate facial cleanser.
It’s gentle, all-natural, and has that thin texture that feels especially good on oily skin. If you can’t stand creamy face washes, Caldera + Lab is the way to go. The Clean Slate clears out your pores and leaves you with soft, hydrated skin. If you tend to forget to use your moisturizer, it’s a safe bet that your skin will still feel soft and pleasant after using the wash, with or without a lotion.
My one complaint – Caldera + Lab advertises this as a “foaming” cleanser, but it definitely does not foam.
Pros:
• Gentle, all-natural ingredients for sensitive skin.
• Thin texture that dissolves oils and leaves you feeling fresh.
• Brand awarded for being anti-aging and eco-friendly.
Cons:
• NOT a foaming cleanser, as advertised.
Why Are My Pores So Big And Oily?
Most likely, your pores are big because your skin is so oily. And that excessive sebum (the oil resting on your face) can have many different causes.
For lots of guys, more oil can be linked to hormonal changes, genetics, skin dryness, and more. That’s a longer list than it may seem – lots of your dietary choices can affect your hormones. Even taking creatine is sometimes linked to an increase in sebum, for some guys.
Preventing oily skin outright is difficult. Oiliness is caused by something in your skin that’s telling your sebaceous glands to make more sebum. Focus on treating your oily skin rather than preventing it, and you’ll find that a lowkey daily skin care routine is a gentle way to keep that shine off your forehead.
How Do You Treat Oily Skin With Large Pores?
To prevent oily skin with large pores, here’s the bare basic skin care routine you need to try: use a scrub at least 2-3 times per week, a face wash every day, toner every day, and a moisturizer every day.
One big mistake that lots of guys with oily skin make is not using a moisturizer. I know the thought process: “I already have oily skin, so that means I don’t need another lotion to make it feel even more oily.”
Actually, not using a moisturizer might be causing some of your sebum. When your skin gets too dry, alarm bells go off. It needs to moisturize and protect itself, so it ramps up oil production to get rid of the dryness.
As for a facial scrub and wash, they’ll both help dissolve the oils on your face and scour away dead skin. Toners are known to tighten pores.
Along with the products we’ve talked about in this article, you can also try the best vitamins for oily skin, or the best face washes for oily skin to supplement your skin care routine.
And as always, if you find that over-the-counter products and face hygiene items just aren’t working for you, see a dermatologist for more treatment options.
Frank Edwards
Frank Edwards is a men's grooming & style expert who is "internet famous" for being able to simplify complicated grooming routines into easy, yet effective rituals any man can do. As a professional analyst, he has spent years researching the biggest brands, products, experts, best practices, and breaking news in the space. He takes this analysis, tests it out on himself, and then documents everything in his writing. As a result, his experience-based articles are considered by some to be the gold standard in men's grooming and men's style.
