I admit that my face is a mess. I have blackheads, frequent breakouts, and scarring from habitually picking at said blackheads and breakouts. Because of that, I read up on and research ways to improve the condition of my skin. One topic that I constantly stumble upon is bad skin habits and how those seemingly small oversights wreak havoc on your skin.
Since I can't possibly be the only one who has these bad skin habits, I decided to share them here to hopefully start a discussion on how to break these annoying habits.
Overcleansing
It is a common misconception, having to cleanse your face twice daily. Especially for people with dry skin, cleansing two times per day only further dries out your skin. All you need to do is wash your face with only water in the morning, and at night, use a cream- or oil-based cleanser. Overcleansing, cleansing more often than necessary, strips your face of much-needed natural oils. You can read more about the effects of that in this post.
Since I can't possibly be the only one who has these bad skin habits, I decided to share them here to hopefully start a discussion on how to break these annoying habits.
Overcleansing
It is a common misconception, having to cleanse your face twice daily. Especially for people with dry skin, cleansing two times per day only further dries out your skin. All you need to do is wash your face with only water in the morning, and at night, use a cream- or oil-based cleanser. Overcleansing, cleansing more often than necessary, strips your face of much-needed natural oils. You can read more about the effects of that in this post.
Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Oil | $27
Overexfoliating
Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and exfoliation is no different. The reason is similar to that of overcleansing: you'll strip away your skin's natural oils. You'll even unknowingly peel off protective layers of skin. Instead of using harsh exfoliants that hurt your skin, you can try mild exfoliants that use microbeads or even sugar.
Skinceuticals Micro-Exfoliating Scrub | $30
Underprotecting
On the flipside, you can do too little of a good thing for it to be effective. We know that it's always best to apply SPF on our face because the sun is damaging to skin. What we don't always do is apply sunscreen everywhere else, the spots that are easily overlooked like the hairline, jawline, and ears. Also, always opt for sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher. Anything less will be less effective.
Tarte BB Tinted Treatment Primer Broad Spectrum SPF 30 | $36
Popping pimples
This is a big one for me like I mentioned earlier. I just can't help popping zits because I can't stand having them on my face, but then, it backfires like it always does, and I end up with ugly scars on my face. What I've learned and am trying to do more of is to use spot treatments on the zits. Benzoyl peroxide is a good treatment to use but only at lower concentrations. The ideal percentage is 2.5 because anything more can dry out the pimples too much.
This is a big one for me like I mentioned earlier. I just can't help popping zits because I can't stand having them on my face, but then, it backfires like it always does, and I end up with ugly scars on my face. What I've learned and am trying to do more of is to use spot treatments on the zits. Benzoyl peroxide is a good treatment to use but only at lower concentrations. The ideal percentage is 2.5 because anything more can dry out the pimples too much.
Paula's Choice Daily Skin Clearing Treatment | $17 $12.75
Ignoring sweat
We tend to leave sweat on our faces for too long because, to be honest, it's very tedious to have to wash your face after the gym. Besides, it'll dry off in a little while, right? Wrong! Sweat means bacteria and dirt, and those make up a horrible combination. What I've recently started doing is bringing face wipes with me to the gym so that I can wipe the grime off my face once I'm in the car. Doing so gets rid of the bacteria and dirt until my usual skin care routine time when I can properly cleanse my face.
Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Oil-Free Cleansing Wipes | $7.49
Which of these habits do you have? How do you work towards breaking out of it?
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