Skincare Blunders You Constantly Make (And What You Can Do About Them)
Do you find yourself ogling at the perfectly smooth skin of certain women and wishing you had the same? You might spend hours and exorbitant amounts of cash on all the skincare products you think you need but still can’t seem to get the kind of flawless skin you always wanted. The next time you’re brooding over the fact that your skincare regime isn’t working for you, try thinking about this – You might be doing it wrong! Let’s face it, none of us are professionals. When it comes to taking care of our skin, we shoot arrows in the dark hoping that one of them hits the spot. While some of these experiments might just work, others may be complete blunders that are making matters worse. Read on for common skincare mistakes that you might be making and how to stop making them:
Mistake: Foregoing the SPF
You are skipping the sunscreen on cloudy days and throughout the winter months as you feel the sun is weak and won’t cause damage. The fact of the matter is that UVA rays from the sun can wreak havoc on your skin all year long. Astonishing Fact -They can even get to you through the windows while you’re indoors!
The sun’s rays will age your skin causing spots and wrinkles much earlier than you expected them to show up. Prolonged exposure may even cause skin cancer.
What you can do about it:
An SPF 30 sunblock which also moisturizes your skin will keep it soft and supple while protecting it from dreadful aging caused by the sun. So don’t forget to embrace the SPF all year long.
Mistake: Slumbering with Make-Up
You come home exhausted and have no energy to change out of your day clothes let alone clean the make-up off your face. You fall asleep telling yourself that one night can do no significant harm and suddenly it’s happening more often than you intended it to.
Just like the rest of your body, your skin replenishes itself while you are asleep. If you don’t wash the chemicals off before you sleep, you hinder this act of revitalization causing your skin to age, dry up and break out.
What you can do about it:
It’s pretty obvious – Never, ever go to bed with make-up on. Wash – Cleanse – Moisturize – Sleep!
Mistake: Exfoliating Way Too Much
Someone once told you or you read it in some magazine – Exfoliation is the mantra if you want smooth, blemish free skin. You’ve bought scrubs with all the salubrious ingredients you can think of and you use them thrice even four times a week.
There is such a thing as over-exfoliating and it can cause a great deal of damage. While it is true that exfoliating does away with dead skin cells, you might inadvertently rid your skin of its healthy cells if you overdo it. This will slowly but surely lead to unexpected and unsightly wrinkles and dry skin.
What you can do about it:
Exfoliate once or twice a week and be patient. It will work. Timely exfoliation will remove the dirt and dead skin, giving the new and healthy cells time to grow and give you the flawless skin of your fantasies.
Mistake: Poor Eating Habits
You’ve been indulging in junk food for a while now. All the chocolates, chips and sodas in the world won’t be able to satiate your hunger for unhealthy food. One morning you wake up with an onslaught of pimples on your face. It also looks red and blotchy.
A poor diet laden with food with no nutritional value and a lot of fat content will show not only on your waist but also on your face. If oily food is all you’re consuming, your skin is bound to break out.
What you can do about it:
Feed your skin the food it loves. It wants anti-oxidants, vitamins and even a little bit of fatty acids. Add fruits and vegetable to your diet. Consume healthy fats in the form of nuts, fish and milk. Switch to olive oil which is rich in Vitamin E. You can even indulge in the occasional dark chocolate as it is deliciously rich in anti-oxidants. The right food will make your skin happy and healthy.
Mistake: Picking Inappropriate Products
You go to the store and there is a new product that promises to do wonders for your skin. It lures you towards it by mentioning that it was made just for your skin type. You need this product to be yours at any cost! You take it home. It messes your face up. It doesn’t feel like the product is your skin’s soulmate anymore.
Judging skin products by their covers can have dire consequences. You could be choosing creams and lotions that do not suit your skin type at all. This will just aggravate the problem you’re trying to deal with. So dry skin becomes drier, oily skin becomes oilier and pimple prone skin just becomes extremely hard to look at. Nightmare!
What you can do about it:
You can never do enough research when it comes to skin products. Find out everything you can about a product before you let it come in contact with your precious skin. If skin trouble has been bugging you for a long time, it’s best to visit a dermatologist who can identify the skin situation and suggest products that will indubitably work for you.
If there are any other skin sins that you’d like to admit, tell us in the comments and we’ll see what we can do about them!
