When you think about washing your face, you could not fathom that you may be doing it wrong. It just involves splashing some water and soap on your face and cleaning it off, right? Well, that is not how it is supposed to go. In fact, there is a good chance you are in fact, doing it wrong. As a matter of fact, there are 15 mistakes you are making when you do wash your face. Let’s talk about them right now.
You Don’t Wash Your Face Before Going To Bed
If you don’t wash your face before bed, then you may as well not wash your face at all. Over the course of the day, you are accumulating bacteria and other microbes as you pick it up from your daily activities. Not to mention, you have dead skin cells falling off but end up staying on your face. This can only increase your chances of acne as it will clog your pores. You need to wash your face before bed.
You Don’t Wash Your Face First Thing In The Morning
You know to brush your teeth first thing in the morning. Why don’t you wash your face as well? The fact of the matter is when you sleep, you are shedding toxins, and there are dead skin cells shed from your face overnight as well. Therefore, these toxins and skin cells that stay on your face can clog up your pores. This can easily result in acne. You need to wash your face after waking up just as you brush your teeth.
You Use Hot Water To Wash Your Face
If you are using piping hot water to wash your face, then you need to turn the temperature down to lukewarm. Hot water not only dilates blood vessels too much and can cause heat rashes, but hot water also strips the important oils from your skin which can leave an overproduction of sebum that can lead to acne. It can also cause other skin irritations.
Using Your Face Cleanser As A Makeup Remover
You know how detrimental it is for you to sleep with makeup as it can cause acne and other skin disorders. You need to use makeup remover as a face cleanser will not be able to remove your makeup completely, so you in a sense are sleeping with your makeup on.
Using Makeup Wipes To Clean Your Face
If you take a makeup wipe and clean your face, and think it is all clean after that, you are wrong. Even though the wipes do remove dirt and makeup, they also leave a residue on your skin which is full of the additives that keep them fresh. And the residue can infect your pores and cause acne breakouts.
You Use The Wrong Cleanser For Your Skin Type
You could be hearing great things about a certain cleanser but as soon as you start using the recommended one, you start dealing with either very dry skin or acne breakouts. A cleanser that is meant for dry skin will cause breakouts for oily skin, and a cleanser for oily skin will cause dry skin for normal or naturally dry skin. Before getting a face cleanser, talk to your dermatologist or even a beautician.
Washing Your Face With A Bar Of Soap
This is a very common mistake people make and if you are fortunate to not have sensitive skin, that bar of soap you use to clean your face will end up stripping natural oils from your skin. Therefore, you could end up with broken blood vessels and you will end up with inflammation on your face. You need to refer back to the point above to find the right cleanser for your skin type.
You Use Dirty Washcloths
Are you using the same washcloth to wash your face that you used earlier in the day or the night before? You need to stop doing this because all you are doing is spreading bacteria and mold to your face as a used washcloth is full of that. Always use a new one each time.
You Use A Shower Towel To Wipe Your Face
If you use the same towel you used for yourself after coming out of the shower, you will not want to do that anymore. Even though you are clean after showering, there is still bacteria on the towel from other parts of your body that you do not want to spread to your face. You need an independent washcloth to clean your face.
Lather And Scrub For Too Long
If you scrub and lather for too long, it can damage your skin and cause inflammation as it will break blood vessels. You want to lather up from 20 to 30 seconds and no longer than that. Do it gently as well. And it is most important to scrub and lather in your T-zone area where you can be the most prone to acne which goes from your forehead down to your chin.
Exfoliate More Than Twice A Week
Exfoliating your skin is good to release the toxins and dead skin cells from your pores to improve radiance. But if you do it too often, then it will only cause inflammation and broken blood vessels.
Wash Your Face Too Often
You should wash your face once in the morning and again late at night before going to bed. The only exception is if you are working out or if you are instructed by your dermatologist to do so. But if you wash too often, you will strip your skin of the important oils and good bacteria. This can lead to imbalances in the skin and overproduction of sebum which leads to acne breakouts as counterintuitive as it sounds.
Wash Your Face After A Mask Treatment
If you use a face mask treatment, you are told to wash your face before using the treatment. The mask treatment is meant to further cleanse and deliver important nutrients to your skin. If you wash your face after the mask treatment you are removing the important nutrients from the mask.
You Are Using The Toner Incorrectly
Toners have been known to remove excess oils from your skin but now toners are made differently as they are not all alcohol-based as the old ones have been. There are some types that will dry out the skin and others can moisturize it too much it can cause breakouts. Use the toner once a day and test it out, and find out how it affects your face. If it dries it out too much or causes acne breakouts, then you need to try another type.
You Don’t Moisturize After Washing Your Face
If you don’t moisturize after you wash your face, you are allowing your skin to dry out too much. When you wash your face, important oils are being stripped and this can disrupt your pH balance. You need to bring it back by moisturizing. Therefore, you could end up with very dry skin or end up with acne problems due to sebum overproduction.
If you have been dealing with skin problems on your face for years, then chances are you are making one or several of these mistakes. You can easily correct it and you will see your facial skin’s condition improve!
