Do You Make These Damaging Face Washing Mistakes That AGE Your Skin?

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Damaging face washing mistakes can lead to premature aging of the skin. However, before opting for expensive medical procedures, taking care of your skin can prevent the majority of them. Just creating a minimal and basic skincare routine – like smart face washing ritual – will eliminate the unnecessary worries and early aging of your skin.

With the common sense actions that the majority never does, every woman has a huge potential to a beautiful, healthy skin. Here’s How to Slow Down Skin Aging in this day and age.

My guest today Dr. Manish Shah, a board-certified plastic surgeon, confirms the preventative measures of how to feel and look great at any age. When you avoid making these face washing mistakes, you will contribute to your own long-term skin health and attractive visual appearance of your face and decollete area.

Scrubbing Skin Too Hard Causes Micro-tears

Instead of rubbing and scrubbing your face to try to get it squeaky clean, your motions with your cleanser should be as gentle as possible. Your hands should not be doing all the work!

Scrubbing the skin too harshly or with materials that add exfoliation can cause micro-tears in the skin, as well as excessive elimination of essential oils which leave the skin dry.

Over Exfoliating Skin During Cleansing Can Be Dangerous

While gently exfoliating a few nights a week can do wonders for the skin, it’s easy to go overboard. What keeps your skin looking fresh, young, and hydrated is preserving the outer layers glow by lightly helping it shed old skin cells and moisturizing to help cell turnover.

However, “the danger is that many people don’t think to consider their loofah or washcloth as an exfoliation tool. Even if you are only using an exfoliant a few days a week, when you are scrubbing with a harsher material every day, you could be exfoliating more than you intend. Such “dedication” to skin exfoliation can cause dryness, red patches, dehydration, and hyperpigmentation,” warns Dr. Shah.

Discover and Learn About the Benefits of Dry Skin Brushing and how it can change your well-being.

Is It Good Using Soap for Face Washing?

Many people are guilty of this one. Women may think that soap is soap, and a clean face is just a clean face, but you could be damaging your skin and aging yourself by washing the face with any available hand soap.

Soaps with fragrances can be especially irritating to the skin. Fragrance is a synthetic aroma added to the product for its more successful marketing. I avoid such soaps overall and any other skin care product that has “fragrance” on the Ingredients list.

Overall, these soaps are not made for the face. While this may be a minimalist approach, it borders on detrimental. Such hand and facial soaps are dehydrating and lack many of the ingredients that support your skin functions.

Remember that your skin consists of many groups of protective layers, like lipids and sweat and hair follicles. As a result of washing skin with a harsh soap, you may be stripping your skin off the protections it needs to perform its ultimate tasks.

Take a look at a family of factors that age your skin, and thus develop a plan to Optimize Your Skin’s Health and Complexion.

Washing Face With Hot Water Dehydrates the Skin

Though it might feel good, using hot water to cleanse your face can actually dehydrate it. Hot water can be abrasive, stripping the skin of its natural oils, leaving it dry and flaky.

Such face cleansing can also lead to acne flare, breakouts, and skin irritation. For best results, rinse your face with lukewarm or cool water – not cold either – to help constrict blood vessels.

Dr. Shah also points out that “hot water enlarges your pores, and this can affect the oil production of the skin as well as the texture of it.”

Is Washing More Than Twice A Day Good for Your Skin?

You may be thinking, the cleaner, the better, right? Think again. Over-washing your face can actually damage the skin’s natural protective system. By destroying and washing away the protective lipids can affect how easily the environment irritates your skin and how efficiently you retain moisture. This is why your skin can show early signs of aging such as fine lines and dry patches.

“As a general rule of thumb, you should not be washing your face more than twice a day. If you have an activity like working out or an outdoor sport in the middle of the day, try to use a bland soap or cleanser to wash away dirt and sweat without further irritating the skin,” advises Dr. Shah.

Practical tip on face washing after the workout at the gym

What I have learned through my personal experience is that washing off sweat after a workout is a must-do!

In the past, I used to leave the gym in my sweaty clothes and with a sweaty face, too. At home, I would do some quick chores before jumping into the shower. By the time when I begin washing off all the sweat that I worked out at the gym, it has become dry and merged with my skin. Not good.

The sweat residue has a lot of bacteria in it. During the workout, these bacteria are being sweated out of the pores where they accumulate. Letting it settle into the pores back after the workout is not good! Leaving such a combustible mixture on our faces, even for an hour after the workout, can result in breakouts, milia, rashes, and skin inflammation.

Is It Bad to Use a Washcloth on Your Face?

There’s nothing bad when you are using a washcloth during cleansing your face. But you need to take into account two things to prevent your skin from wear and tear, literally.

First, use a super soft cloth on your face during cleansing. You may opt for baby quality fabrics and baby cloths.

Second, never scrub your facial skin! During such scrubbing, tiny irritations can easily become post-inflammatory pigmentation. Basically, when skin heals, it will create a darker pigmentation spot on your face.

I use these wash cloths for an Oil Cleansing or Double Cleansing skin routine daily, with a few misses here and there. And during the first cleansing stage I use these amazing and affordable washcloths you can get in the quantities your skin care routine calls for.

Here are my favorite wash cloths for the double-oil cleansing:

– Organic and soft, all white, buy them HERE
– If you need in large quantities, get this pack, which I got for my entire family, shop HERE
– These are wash cloths of earthy colors I adore! Check them out and buy HERE
– And this is a 5-pack organic white washcloths that are wonderful as well, get them HERE.

However, here are some unique makeup wash clothes you can use to avoid harsh cleansing over your facial skin.

A MakeupEraser is one of the top in the market to offer you significant advantages during a makeup removal from the skin. The reason it works when soaked in water and then applied to skin is this. This makeup removal cloth has patented hair-like fibers. But these fibers are 10 to 50 times thinner. During the friction, when you clean your hair with a wet MakeupEraser washing cloth, the particles adhere to the tiny fibers and are carried away from the skin.

You can buy this “magical” makeup cloth HERE in a rainbow of colors!

What Excessive Skin Toner Usage Can Do

Facial toners are an essential part of any beauty routine. However, using too much toner can dry out the skin. Besides, it may even lead to more sebum production, as your glands attempt to overcompensate.

If you find your skin feeling tight or irritated after applying toner, you may be using too much, and this is especially true if you have sensitive or combination skin.

Some toners come in a spray bottle, which is great for applying a light layer over the skin after cleansing. If not, simply pour a few drops of toner on a cotton pad and gently glide it across the face.

Also, many toners have alcohol-based ingredients, such as denatured alcohol, in them. Avoid toners with these ingredients at all costs – as they will dry the skin completely and remove natural oils needed to keep the skin moist and healthy.

Using Harsh Products Without Knowledge

Using strong or harsh skin care products contribute to the damaging face washing mistakes, as they are used during and after the face cleansing.

As consumers become more sophisticated, they inquire about ingredients such as retinol. They know it is super hydrating and great for the skin, but they don’t understand that skincare needs to be sustainable. During their trip to the dermatologist, women ask for the strongest, most active form of prescription retinoid.

“This is a mistake,” says Dr. Shah, “any credible doctor will first assess the condition of your skin alongside the products and treatments you are already using in order to determine if you need prescription retinol or if a less active form sold over-the-counter is better for you.” 

Dr. Shah explains that “retinol in less active forms will have similar effects without irritating the skin as much. More important, such less aggressive product will be as much helpful to you as a strong form of the retinoid when you continue using a product on your skin over time.”

Here’s a detailed post on the Anti-Aging Retinoid Therapy. You will learn the difference among Retinol and Retin-A skin care products.

Forgetting to Follow Up with Moisturizer Can Further Damage Skin

Moisturizing your facial skin is the last step in a simple skin care routine. Skipping it could be one of the biggest mistakes a woman does. Keeping your skin plump comes with good hydration and a wise use of skin care products.

A good moisturizer will protect a moisture barrier in the skin and also deliver the actives: vitamins, peptides, protection from the sun during the day, and food for the skin during the night.

A moisturizer for the day is usually less greasy and focuses on the moisture level while providing food for the skin as well. And night time moisturizer usually comes in a richer formula to support skin’s restorative process during the night.

“The best time to apply moisturizer is after the shower or after applying toner. This will help prevent excessive dryness, and it will help to skin retain moisture,” says Dr. Shah.

Moisturizers also come with a combination of vitamins and lipids that help the skin heal irritations, strengthen its protective functions, and look smoother and healthier.

If you really want to boost your skin’s potential to keep moisture in, then check out a detailed guide and explanation in easy terms to the Hyaluronic Acid Benefits for Women.

Hyaluronic acid is one of my top ingredients I try to get in many of my daily skin care products. Check out the post above I linked to also see examples of the products I use in my personal skin care regimen.

Now you know that practicing these damaging face washing mistakes will age your skin. The sooner you realize the importance of a doable, yet effective, skin care habits, the longer you shall enjoy your skin, your looks, your joys in life.