It'll go away, and leave a mark on the spot where it once was.

I usually don't pop my whiteheads unless I really have to. They go away. The whitehead dries to a gross yellow scab and eventually falls off or is rubbed off by accident. The red mark will eventually fade but will take a while if you are prone to inflammation.

This is kind of a stupid question, but have you guys had a whitehead that you didn't pop at all? Will it go away? If so how long would that take? Is it better not to pop anything even if its ready?

Like others have said, they will typically dry out or pop on their own. Depending on how deep the infection is, it can take anywhere from a couple days to a couple of months to heal completely.

Different schools of thought on this subject and it partly depends on your skin. My skin doesn't scar easily, so it's always been my experience that popping a zit when it's ready...and when done correctly!...can bring about faster healing than leaving it alone. But nothing wrong with just leaving it alone. Either way, once any sort of scab forms, whether a blood scab or the yellow kind Siribai mentioned, it's best to leave it alone and not pick at the scab, just let the scab fall off after the spot has heal. This will help mimimize the mark left behind.

I find it all depends on the area of the zit. If I pop a whitehead in the upper lip/nose area I can expect the irritation to break me out in 3-4 more little whiteheads, so I NEVER touch the whiteheads that happen there, and that contributed to a 75% reduction in acne in the area. Same thing goes for my forehead, my skin it far to sensitive to pick at there. If I get a pimple on my chin or neck though, you better believe I will pop that sucker ;p I find it speeds up the healing a bit, but it's just not worth it in certain areas.

@Garrett...funny you said that, the same thing happens to my son when he gets white heads around his mouth haha. Many firmly believe in not popping any zits for this reason, feeling this only causes the bacteria to spread, but I personally have never had that experience. But looks like there is definitely some truth to that...interesting. It's a gray area for sure, many correct answers.

Stupid little technicality but...we've been calling them whiteheads, that's technically not correct. When a clogged pore inflames, it forms a zit, or a papule. When the zit turns white, it's called a pustule. Whiteheads are not pimples at all, they are what blackheads look like before they oxidize and turn black. Hence, whitehead, blackhead. It wasn't until I found this site and learned about the different kinds of acne that I realized I'd been using the wrong term for many years.