Hate your skin right now? Well, the truth is, your skin hates you even more.
If your delicate skin can only talk, it may reprimand you like an angry mom about your unhealthy routine and life choices, which are damaging not only to your outer covering but to your overall well-being as well. Unfortunately, your skin cannot speak, but the clear message is non-verbally communicated in ways you cannot ignore: acne, fine lines and wrinkles, dryness, redness, itchiness, dullness, and other signs of damage that aren’t that pretty.
Do your skin (and yourself) a favor and recognize the things that are damaging to your health and looks, and learn to address them. Here are 10 little reasons why your skin hates your right now.
1. You don’t moisturize
Slathering moisture is more than just keeping the skin soft, smooth, and crack-free. The moisturizer also works to help your skin look and stay young and wrinkle-free, fight itchiness, reduce blemishes, and create a layer of protection against infections. When you use powerful yet drying skin care ingredients, like salicylic acid, retinoids, and benzoyl peroxide with uncomfortable side effects, the need for moisturizer amps up.
The best way to moisturize is by applying moisturizing creams or lotions when the skin is damp – typically after stepping out of the shower.
2. You always forget to wear sunscreen
Sunscreen isn’t a product solely meant for bright sunny days and beach getaways – it’s meant for everyday use. Rain or shine, hot or cold, it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s daylight, there are ultraviolet rates which can penetrate your skin. Too much sun can cause premature aging (wrinkles, dark spots, and skin sagginess), weaken immune cells that combat infection, and increase your risk of skin cancer.
Your sunscreen needs to be applied 15 minutes before going outdoors and reapplied every two hours.
3. You’re too lazy to remove makeup
Your skin hates it when you fall asleep with your makeup on. It leads to bacterial infections and clogged pores, which cause acne. If you tend to sleep like a log from exhaustion, keep makeup removing wipes and micellar water next to your bed for a quick fix.
4. You love long, hot showers
Who doesn’t love steamy showers? Your skin.
Doing this every day strips away the outermost layer of your epidermis, causing scaly and dry skin. When your skin starts to itch and turn red, that’s one way to remind you to step out.
5. You still believe toothpaste can remove pimples
It doesn’t. Toothpaste contains ingredients, such as baking soda, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, triclosan, menthol, alcohol, and essential oils. While the formula does have a drying effect, dermatologists warn about the irritation, peeling, redness, overdrying, and even burning that can occur on the skin.
6. You let yourself be dehydrated
If you have a rough, “shrunken” skin, you may blame your lack of H2O. Hydrating yourself helps give your skin a healthy glow and combat aging. Go on, grab a refreshing glass of water right now.
7. You love sodium-packed foods
Excess sodium can make you retain water and suck the moisture out of your skin. The result? Puffy eyes, from water retention, and dry skin from dehydration.
Today is the perfect time to cut down your intake of a salt-packed bag of chips, instant noodles, cured meats, fast food munchies, and start loading up on potassium-rich foods and drinking more water.
8. You never clean your cellphone
Research has it: your phone contains more germs than a toilet seat.
If you have breakouts and rashes along your jawlIne and cheek, you’re pretty sure what to blame. Do your skin a favor and clean your filthy device with antibacterial wipes or alcohol wipes before pushing it up against your face.
9. You can’t quit smoking
You know pretty well that smoking is bad, right? Next, to its effects on your heart, lungs, and brains, the bad habit also takes a toll on your looks. Smoking accelerates aging. It shows on your face – puffy eyes, fine lines and wrinkles, gauntness and gray appearance, and lack of natural glow. Smoking hampers the blood supply which keeps the skin tissue looking healthy and supple.
If lung cancer can’t convince you to quit, premature aging and skin cancer might.
10. You don’t sleep well every day
Dark, sunken or puffy eyes, fine lines, sagging skin, droopy lips, dull complexion, and worn-out looking face – these are some of the telltale signs you’re not sleeping enough. Your skin begs you to sleep for 7-9 hours tonight.
Beauty sleep is real. Your skin is making new cells below the surface, and this process of regeneration speeds up during sleep. That said, poor sleepers have missed opportunities to regenerate. There’ll also be a spike in stress hormones, which leads to looking more exhausted and older.
Author Bio: Carmina Natividad is a resident writer for Géniale, a Medical Aesthetic and Skin Cancer Centre providing top of the line services from industry-leading skin cancer treatments to innovative medical aesthetic procedures. She writes articles focusing on cosmetic, medical, and surgical care, and wellness.
