Continuing with our October special, today we will give you more scary skin care habits that can seriously damage your skin or accelerate your aging process. In the previous blog we talked about the risks of Peel- Off Face Mask, Lip Scrubs and Popping or squeezing a pimple. Stay with us and discover four more scary skin care habits:

4.Using food or other home remedies as face masks:

Are you about to apply lemon on your face as a treatment to get rid of breakouts and dark spots? Do you use a homemade scrub using sugar? Social media, websites, magazines and other media often promote home remedies recipes that promise to solve all dermatological problems easily and quickly. The truth is that many of these ingredients, far from helping, can worsen skin conditions, cause burns, irritation, dermatitis and damage the proper functioning of the skin barrier. 

Many skin care ingredients used as home remedies are a risk for the health and beauty of our skin, they can worsen the texture of the dermis making it more susceptible to suffer skin-damage. Some of these can dehydrate it , others have a different pH than the skin, interfering with its normal functioning, and others are capable of irritating it. We’ll give you some examples:

• Natural exfoliants: sugar, salt, coffee and sodium bicarbonate are often use as scrubs, their texture is very aggressive, their particles on skin create small wounds on skin which can cause inflammation, infection – worsen or causing acne and dermatitis- and the subsequent development of blemishes and scars.
• Citrus fruits: lemon being the most famous ingredient, these fruits have a very acid pH, affecting the skin’s natural protection, dehydrating it and even burning it. As if this were not enough, it increases the sensitivity of the skin to the sun, making it more prone to burns and sun spots.
• Oils: some of them such as olive, argan and coconut are considered comedogenic, meaning they can cause blackheads and worsen acne by blocking your pores. 

The fact that a food is nutritious and good for the body, and that among its properties the skin is benefited, does not mean that those same benefits are obtained by applying that food directly to the skin. Food is for consumption; it is designed to be absorbed by the digestive system. Most ingredients are not formulated to penetrate the dermis although they contain some beneficial active ingredients used in skin care, they are found in very small concentrations and are not stable. On the other hand, skin care products that have active ingredients found in certain foods, go through countless tests until they reach our hands. In this process the laboratory ensures that the use of the product is effective and safe. With homemade skin care products nobody can guarantee anything.

In conclusion, use products designed for the skin and schedule an appointment with a professional expert in the health of your skin. Ask at AWC about our facials.

5.Washing your face too much:

Daily facial washing removes impurities, toxins, dirt, oil, dead cells, make up promoting skin health. This will help to keep your skin clear, smooth and radiant. Without cleansing, your skin will be more prone to breakouts, dehydration, and premature aging. However, washing your face several times a day does not increase the described benefits of proper facial cleansing, actually it can be just as troublesome as not washing your face or not washing it right.

While it may seem counterintuitive, over-washing your face takes the skin’s lipids away and damages skin barrier functions that help protect it from bacteria and pollution. On a typical day, the skin naturally produces oils that keep it moisturized and also protect it from harmful external factors, altering this function leads to breakouts, dehydration, redness, irritation and decreased its resistance to sun radiation.

The golden rule is to wash your face at morning and night with a facial cleanser according to your particular needs. While twice a day is the recommended amount of face washing, there are some situations in which it is necessary to cleanse the face one more time, for example when we have sweated excessively after exercising. But in other cases, when you reapply sunscreen, you shouldn’t wash your face again.

If you feel that cleaning is harming you, even washing it twice a day, then frequency isn’t the problem. Check if you are using harsh cleaners or they may not be suitable for your skin type. Get an assessment to find out if you have a skin disease too because it can affect the way your skin response to the daily cleanse.

6. Sleeping with MakeUp On:

There are many reasons why at some point in life we have gone to bed with our makeup on. Maybe we were too tired after our duties, after a party or just we got home too late at night and we made this mistake. So, is it really a scary habit? Sure it is, actually sleeping in makeup is one of the worst things you could do to your skin. Once it happens you may not feel how your skin has been damaged but over time the consequences will surely terrify you.

During the nighttime, our whole body goes into repair mode, it is the perfect time to recover and fix the damage caused during the day. The same things happens with the skin, at night the production of melatonin and human growth hormone (HGH) are boosted, which means that the skin regeneration process increases as well as the production of antioxidant enzymes that counteract damage to the skin during the day from aggressors like UV radiation and pollution. So yes, makeup interferes with this nightly process, and as if that weren’t enough, wearing it at night has other negative effects on skin health, keep reading to find it out:

Premature Aging: Makeup not only interferes with the antioxidant action of skin cells but also it traps  dirt and environmental pollutants inside the skin, thus oxidative stress is accumulated allowing free radicals to degrade collagen,  which in turn leads over time to premature aging.

Acne Breakouts: Prolonged wearing of makeup during sleep also can clog pores, resulting in acne breakouts even in those lucky people who rarely have acne issues. This is particularly true when oil-based foundation is used rather than powder. Furthermore, this situation can promote the proliferation of acne – causing bacteria.

Eye discomfort: Sleeping in your eye makeup will not cause wrinkles or acne on the skin, but it can still lead to problems. As we change sleeping position, mascara and eyeliner can be rubbed by sheets and pillows and end up in your eyes, causing irritation, inflammation and in some cases infection in and around the eyes. Going through this situation frequently can clog the hair follicles and oil glands on your eyelids leading to the formation of hordeolums. Also, some ingredients in mascaras may damage your eyelashes so their progressive loss is common.

Dry and Dull Skin: Makeup residue – even if it’s from the best brands- can dry out your skin, and it can also make the moisturizer less effective. Dry skin causes scaling, itching, and cracking. On the other hand, dull skin appears because makeup interferes with the natural renewing skin process, this inhibits its natural glow making you look tired.

These consequences may not appear in one night, they appear according to how often you commit this bad habit. Is it worth being lazy with your makeup removal? We don’t think so. Remember to wash your face and remove makeup every night, it is a step you shouldn’t  skip.

7. Sleeping on your side or stomach:

id you know that sleeping the wrong way can contribute to the appearance of wrinkles? Not all wrinkles are the product of facial muscle contraction, unfortunately there are sleep wrinkles that develop as a result of distortions created when the face is pressed on the surface on which we sleep.

Stomach And Side Sleeping Positions generate compression, tension, and shear forces applied to the face during sleep cause facial distortion, leading to the development of sleep wrinkles and sagging skin over time. These wrinkles at first, when the skin is young and healthy, are transitory, they disappear when we get out of bed. But, over the years and with the repetition of these forces exerted on our skin, these wrinkles may become permanent (most of them can be seen on the forehead, lips, cheeks and around the eyes).

As the skin ages, it does not respond in the same way to external forces because it loses elasticity. When we sleep on our sides or face down, the facial tissue is subjected to compression and stretching in many directions that changes throughout the night depending on the position we adopt during sleep (some areas will stretch and others will contract). If we think about the number of hours we sleep during life, this issue begins to have greater relevance. 

What can we do about it? 

1. Suprine position: Try to sleep on your back! It is possible to choose the sleep position but throughout the night we change positions unconsciously. 
2. Habits: Sleep wrinkles do not appear or develop in the same way in all people, it actually depends on several factors such as genetics, health condition, habits, hormonal issues, etcetera. It is recommended to avoid having poorly hydrated skin, smoking and sun exposure without protection in order to control at least some of the variables that influence aging.
3. Specialty pillows: Look for certain types of pillows that can be helpful in minimizing the forces that affect the skin of the face.