You might not be paying attention to these, but you are most likely making a few of these mistakes every day.
Always remember how you treat your skin in your 20s shows in your 40s. & good home skincare is not rocket science, it’s just a matter of habits. So, read on & make the necessary changes if required.
1. You don’t know your skin type
You’re using heavy thick creams for your face when you have oily skin & you are using lightweight moisturizers on dry skin. Both are wrong pairings & will not better your skin in any way.
If you want to make the maximum out of your cosmetics, pick the correct formulations for your skin type. For example, for easy breakout-prone skin types – Stay away from comedogenic cosmetics to not clog your already congested pores.
2. You’re using face wipes to clean the face
That does look very easy to use to clean the face after a hectic day but sorry to interrupt your convenience, this spreads more bacteria on the entire face & does no deep cleaning as a proper cleansing or washing would do. They are not formulated to thoroughly clean the face as washing does, it’s just a product of good marketing, feeding on people’s laziness.
3. Not changing the pillowcases & bedsheets every week
Yaa, that’s gonna cost you. You’re literally sleeping on & with bacteria & dirt. Please take out time from your lives guys & don’t let your beautiful skin & hair get in all bed with the gross bacteria. You will break out badly.
4. Going to bed without washing your face
Without wasting time let me come straight to the point, you will age faster. Yeah, that hurts. Now you will say you don’t use makeup, Well doesn’t matter! Bacteria, pollution, dirt, there is a long list of things that can make your skin sick over time & clog your pores so, age better & do not go to bed without washing your face.
5. Not cleaning makeup brushes
That’s filled with bacteria, damn bacteria! chews on everything. You might get fungal or bacterial infections like E. Coli or staph infections which can be serious & problematic.
Take out time & dissolve all the brushes in warm water with some baking soda or salt for 30 mins & then let them dry. Do this depending on how often you use brushes.
6. Not Sanitizing your iPhone ever
You’d think who has so much free time to use a sanitizing tissue & clean a damn screen 2 times a month that is laying with bacteria on it. Well, if you don’t you might get breakouts & treating them will take much more time.
7. Not giving importance to moisturizing
A great skincare routine begins with skin hydration. Not moisturizing & keeping the skin dry & dehydrated will age your skin at double speed. Whatever skin type you are, pick your type & do use a moisturizer in the morning & nighttime.
8. Using physical scrubs
Do you remember apricot scrubs with beads, which we all used when we had no idea about the term “skincare”? We thought we were doing genius skincare, rather I scrubbed my face so much that I have large pores even now.
Man! I wish I had read this article at that age. Anyway, it’s time that we shift to chemical scrubs like glycolic acid peels or chemical peels. They work from deep inside the skin layers without scratching the hell out of your skin. Just use them carefully under the time limit & use them away from your eyes.
9. Forgetting sunscreen
Sunscreen will save you from 4 things, getting burned, getting overly tanned, premature aging & Melanoma- the deadliest skin cancer.
It hardly takes 2 mins to apply sunscreen & save yourself from sun damage. Reapply every 2 hours. Don’t forget to apply it on the neck & lips too (lip balms induced with SPF). Another important thing is don’t think of escaping the sunscreen on a partly cloudy day thinking there’s no sun out there. In fact, the scattered UV rays are 25% stronger than on a normal day.
10. Serum cocktailing
Yeah, you have got all the good ingredients in your cabinet you have seen & heard about. Now the main challenge is you don’t know which one to use with whom?
Well, you can check out my other articles to know which ingredients love to get paired & which pairings can irritate the hell out of your skin, till then pls don’t make an unwanted cocktail for your skin & use the ingredient alone & one at a time for safety.
11. Over-exfoliating or Under exfoliating
Most common skin care mistake – Over-exfoliating will make you look like a shedding snake & under-exfoliating will make your skin a sad pile of accumulated gunk. The tip is, to exfoliate just once a week chemically with any of your favorite peels.
12. It’s always a heater or air conditioning
If you live in a cold country, you can’t skip being around a heater for long hours & if you live in a hot country, AC is your relief.
The heaters throw dry, hot air into the house which badly damages the skin barrier & hair, also can be very irritating for sensitive skin types hence to combat that, invest in a humidifier. It’s the only way to survive the heater.
Air-conditioning – If ACs don’t suit your skin. Try & switch to wooden coolers if you can. They are more natural, non-damaging & very economical compared to ACs.
13. Too-hot showers
Very comforting & you don’t feel like getting out of the hot shower too soon. Too much comfort is mostly too much pain later ha-ha. That hot water makes your skin barrier weak hence you are prone to water & moisturize loss from the skin.
Hot water breaks the collagen of the skin resulting in rapidly aged skin & lastly, your skin will look scaly & dehydrated. Hair follicles will become very weak, which will cause serious hair fall & completely forget about the shine of the hair. If you don’t like cold showers, stick to a comfortable lukewarm water temperature.
There were a few common things I didn’t want to write in detail because they are very basic & I am kinda hoping you already know about them, so just going to touch on the points.
14. Black head pore strips
Unnecessarily harsh on the delicate skin, rather switch to the salicylic acid mask for the face from “the ordinary” for treating black/white heads as well as excess oil from the skin.
15. Bathtubs
Before stepping into even a regular bathtub filled with hot water, drench yourself in your fav oils so that the hot water doesn’t suck up your skin’s natural oils & at the same time your body takes in all the goodness from the oils.
16. Chlorine pool water
Have fun but cover your body with at least SPF of 50-waterproof sunscreens & don’t forget to use an SPF lip balm as well before stepping into the chlorinated water.
17. Not using Retinol
Why won’t you? If you are minimum in your early 20s, get on the retinol journey right away. It is a beautiful ingredient for Acne & Collagen production of the skin. It goes deep into the skin layers & exfoliates all the dead skin cells from within.
Just remember to use only a pea-sized amount of the product for the whole face.
18. Correct order of the skincare products
Start with a gentle Cleanser, Alcohol-free toner, light water-based serums like Hyaluronic acid or Niacinamide, then oil-based serums like Retinol or Salicylic acid, then a ceramide-loaded moisturizer, and end with a sunscreen (the most important step of your skincare routine)
19. Waxing your upper lip or face
That’s one of the easiest ways to irritate even non-acne-prone skin. The skin of your face is so damn delicate, shift to facial razors girls! Very handy, less time-consuming than going to parlors & suits all skin types & NO it doesn’t grow more hair or dark hair.
Just don’t use the same razor again without washing it with lukewarm water first.
20. Passive smoking
Get away from people who are smoking near you. You are likely to get the same diseases as a smoker like saggy aged skin, lung cancer, dark pigmented lips & heart problems. If you’re pregnant & you are sitting near a smoker, it can severely affect your unborn child.
Lastly, buy your cosmetics with no artificial fragrance & get at least one annual checkup from a board-certified dermatologist just to always be safe & sure.
Take care of that beautiful fragile skin you, guys. Love ~ Beauty Stroll
