Even though I’d always had no-fuss skin – as a teen my breakouts consisted of a few zits on my T-zone – I’d been fairly fastidious about skin care. At age 25 I began daily facial massages, used day and night moisturizer and sunscreen, and got facials maybe every other month. It was all in a bid to “preserve” my youthful skin.

Nice goal, ate.

It seemed to work – for a while. Without make up, and clad in shorts and knee socks in my futsal classes, I would often be mistaken for a college student. (This fantasy came crashing down though when I began to play with real college students and was told, “Nice goal, ate!”)

Then I had a second baby and turned 30 and with alarming speed my face has begun to show its age. From can’t-complain skin, I now have gigantic pores in that triangular cheek area under my eyes and beside my nose. I’d always had genetically dark under-eye circles, but now they’re even larger and darker than they were before. There’s a fine network of lines there too, still faint for now, but soon they’ll be a lot more visible. Tricycle drivers don’t call me “’Ne” anymore too, oh no. It’s now “Ma’am.”

I did a bit of research and found, to my dismay, that large pores and fine lines are irreversible. They’re caused by aging and the natural process of the skin losing its vim and vigor. This post from Perricone MD explains:

As people age, collagen begins to break down, and skin begins to lose elasticity. This causes pores to dilate because the skin tissue has become more relaxed with age… You can’t [shrink enlarged pores], because you can’t change the size of your oil glands. Remember, there is a proportional relationship between the two. Further, if you could alter your pore size forever, you’d face a new problem: adult acne and treatment.

So…yeah. These pores aren’t shrinking anytime soon. (Slight digression: read about pore obsession – porexia – in the New York Times!) But there are ways to kind of minimize the damage. This post from Daily Glow gives out a few instructions:

Neutrogena Wave Power Cleanser. Will ye work?

1. Cleanse with pore-refining products.
2. Get regular facials.
3. Use “a deep-cleansing clay, mud, and exfoliating fruit-enzyme mask.” Note to self: prowl around PCX this weekend and find these!
4. Exfoliate. My cousin-in-law gave me a jar of Leyende muscovado sugar and calamansi exfoliating scrub, which I love, so I got this step covered.
5. Microdermabrasion. The article says this doesn’t necessarily mean a scary full-strength derma procedure; you can do this at home with the right product. I’m thinking something like the Neutrogena Wave Power Cleanser?
6. Acids and peels. I’m scared about chemical peels, super! But will a store-bought product with alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs) work as well?
7. Retinoids. Not an option now as I’m breastfeeding – and doesn’t this make you peel too?

Daily Glow’s instructions seem simple and workable enough, so I’ll think I’ll give some of them a try and if it all works out let’s see if them pores get slightly cuter.

What about you guys? How are you handling the aging process? What products do you love to use? Let me know!

Katrina Atienza, writer, wife, mom of two and fashion devotee, blogs at Plus Size Fasyon Mudra. Follow her on Twitter (@iggyatienza).