Some of our daily habits that we don’t give much consideration to may be grossly insidious to our skin. Check out this list to see if you are treating your skin as you should – or are there habits that can do with a bit of revising?
Chlorine danger
As you take a shower after your dip in the pool, don’t take it for granted that you have removed all the chlorine. Some of it may remain on and interreact later with lotions, cleansers and whatever you apply. You need to soap yourself up really well to make sure you have gotten rid of excessive chlorine.
Unremoved makeup in bed
Omitting to take your makeup off when you go to bed is not a good idea. Your pores are clogged, which can be fraught with bacterial infections and acne outbreaks. If your makeup comes off on your pillow it may even make you sick. Have your removing stuff handy to avoid falling asleep with the old makeup on.
Caffeine overindulgence
Too much coffee can make your skin dry and wrinkly – remember to supply your skin with enough moisture by downing a glass of water. You can make it taste better by putting in a slice of lemon or orange.
Dealing with pimples
By popping your pimples you aggravate the situation more than mitigate it – more bacteria and dirt get in, rendering your skin more susceptible to infections.
Having irregular meals
As you skip a meal, your skin gets drier; if you do it quite often, the skin may begin to age. Those who care for the skin’s health should ensure a regular vitamins intake by including sweet potatoes, peanuts, avocado, and oranges in their diet.
Harmful showers
Getting yourself steamed and showered properly is always pleasant, but keep in mind that every time you take a shower you get your upper layer of epidermis off, thus drying the skin and making it go scaly. Discontinue your shower as soon as you notice that the skin is getting red and itchy.
Care in trying new products
When you set about trying out a new cleaner, lotion or another skin beauty product, first test it on a small area of the skin for fear of an allergic outbreak. Don’t test them on your face, apply a little onto your arm. You can’t be too careful.
Adequate water supply
Mind your skin gets sufficient moistening, take enough water. The skin will respond by giving off a healthy glow, staying supple and fresh. Without water supply it begins to shrink and age.
Long phone talks
If your phone communication is apt to take hours and hours, you endanger your cheek and jaw line to outbreaks of rash. If you have to use your phone for a long time, wipe your skin and phone with an antibacterial product now and again to avoid irritation.
No hairspray on your face
Each time you use hairspray, clean up your face afterwards so that no spray drops remain on your face. When you work out, put on a sweatband to prevent hair products coming down on your face with perspiration.
Dirt from sunglasses
When you wipe the lenses of your sunglasses clean, don’t leave the other parts unattended. There amass bacteria that will find their way on the area around your nose making the skin itchy and flaky.
Unceasing dieting
Dieting all the way affects the skin adversely. As your body keeps gaining and losing weight alternately your skin fibers start to loosen which will eventually result in sagging and stretch scars.
Insufficient sleep
Your skin gets replenished and rehydrated while you are enjoying your regular 8-hour sleep. If you go without a sufficient amount of sleep you risk spending your day with stuffed pores and dull-looking skin.
Overstuffing yourself with sodium
Sodium is a strong dehydrator, so if you can’t get your skin moisturized properly, it may be due to too much sodium in your diet. If it’s your case, stay off salty snacks and start looking for a hydrating facial moisturizer.
Habitual squinting
Now, check yourself for the amount of squinting you do daily. If you find that you are prone to squinting (have your glasses or contacts been updated recently?), you’re well on your way to having wrinkles and crow’s feet around your eyes. You may well be setting your skin aging fast starting from the eye area.
Frequent waxing
Of course you need your waxer when you have hairs growing, but this requires balancing, too. Do it once too often, and the skin begins to grow sensitive and bumpy. If this happens, give your skin a month’s break, especially in delicate areas.
Water chemicals
Water from your tap and shower carries many purifying agents that accumulate on your skin. Regular exposure to water inevitably creates a coat of water-carried chemicals all over your body. Check your shower head, consider changing it and supplying it with a special filter to hold off the worst of the chemicals.
Attending to the lips
Lips are covered with up to five layers of skin, thus making an important skin care area. See to it that your lips don’t get dry too often. If the skin on your lips gets chapped, go and get yourself a new set of lipsticks and lip balms based on dimethicone, glycerine, and petrolatum, that will keep your lips hydrated properly and prevent them from aging.
Bacteria from the pillowcases
As your skin rids itself of dead cells during the night, these skin effluvia can amass on the pillowcases, and bacteria and toxins therefrom reinstall themselves on your face. To prevent that happening, have your pillowcases washed after two weeks’ use.
Frequent exfoliating
If you exfoliate your skin more often than once a week, you can make it look dull through losing the necessary oils. So, mind you don’t overdo it.
Wearing a frown
Your face is always moving, stretching and relaxing muscles, which leads to the formation of frown lines. Therefore, your facial skin needs extra rest. Control your face for unwanted moving to avoid deepening these lines.
Stress lines on your face
Stress is not only a heavy emotional burden – it takes its toll on the skin, just as heavy as on your soul. It embeds facial lines into the skin, causes blemishes and rash, takes away the healthy glow. Make yourself forget your worries doing what you enjoy, erasing the stress from your heart and from your face.
Sugar attack
If your diet contains too much sugar, the collagen in your skin wears away with the excess, and your skin begins to sag. Save the skin from aging by replacing sweets with mango, pineapple, and other sweet organic fruits.
Lack of exercise
Workouts make your blood run faster, which results in the skin acquiring a healthy glow. As you perspire, your body gets rid of toxins, and dead skin cells get cleaned off, making place for fresh ones. Exercising helps you keep the skin young and prevents the appearance of spots.
Chemicals from dry-cleaning plastic
Bringing home your clothes from dry cleaning, strip off the plastic covers from them at once: the longer they remain on, the more skin-irritating chemicals will be transferred onto the fabric and then onto the skin. Let the fabric breathe.
Arms may need different treatment
If you drive much, be aware that your left arm gets more sun, and may therefore need an extra coating of sunblocking lotion. Or, if your seat is the one on the right, pay the same attention to the right arm.
Alcohol damage
Hard drinks, wine, and beer in large quantities dehydrate the body pretty quickly, which affects the skin in a big way. Alcohol intake makes the skin dry and it wrinkles soon.
Hot sauna lowers elasticity
When you hit the sauna, avoid prolonged exposure to very hot steam – it will begin to destroy collagen and set your skin’s elasticity on a downslide. You may end up with sagging skin.
Air conditioning can be harmful
Craving for a cooler air in the office or at home, keep in mind that your skin can be losing moisture. Try to avoid keeping your conditioner working full tilt for a long time – your skin needs a certain level of humidity in the air.
Smoking around you
Smoke from your friends’ and colleagues’ cigarettes also affects your skin, increasing its propensity to wrinkle up and sag.
Makeup clogs
Too much makeup can mean serious pore clogging – give your skin a break from makeup now and then to let it breathe, remain fresh and young. Makeup clogging can lead to early aging.
Danger from tweezing
If you are too hard on your brows with your tweezers, it may backfire on your skin. First, make sure your tweezers are cleansed with an antibacterial detergent. Before you start, wipe your brow with a warm towel letting your pores open wider. Having finished tweezing, apply some aloe lotion to deal with ingrown hairs.
