Everyone leads a different lifestyle, has their own habits as well as is loyal to their well - planned skincare routine. The uniting factor in all that is that we all strive to do our best for the most effective results possible. What if we unconsciously sabotage ourselves though? What if we unintentionally make small blunders every day that are unobviously detrimental to our skin? View our list below of five surprising habitual mistakes that propel skin aging and check if any of your routine’s elements is on it! Over cleansing
Even if you have extremely oily skin, over-cleansing is never a good idea. When washing our face, we strip it off its naturally composed, protective lipid film that locks in moisture as well as is antiseptic. It has been dermatologically proven that the more we wash the film off the face, the more sebum production is promoted - the process propels itself and we get caught in a vicious circle. Not only is it harder then to control the excess of oil but the skin also gets weaker, dehydrated and less resilient - it is anything but beneficial. Dermatologists recommend to gently wash the face twice a day + just after we had sweated hard - it is not too little yet not too much at the same time, truly a golden standard.
Over exfoliation
A very similiar thing happens when we over-exfoliate - yet again we excessively strip our face off its protective lipid barrier. We might get a feeling that the skin is purer and simply cleaner but what we achieve is aggravating inflammation and irritation - the skin will probably become reddened, thiner and tighter. Furthermore, we may contradictorily bring about the formation of clogged pores and blackheads due to the aforementioned promoted production of excess sebum. For the best results, choose retinoids or acid - based chemical peels and use them up to 2 times per week - if you have dry skin, once a week will be totally fine.
Exercising too little or too much
Exercise overall is indeed an important factor in keeping our skin healthy and functioning properly. When we work out, our heart rate increases what pumps the blood through our organs, including the skin, more intensively - the skin cells get better supplied in needed oxygen and beneficial nutrients for accurate growth and proliferation. Moreover, when exercising the skin adjusts itself to the movements of our body - it stretches and therefore promotes its own elasticity and firmness. That’s also why special facial exercise like facial yoga is an efficacious way to lift the specific areas of the skin.
Going further, we can easily imagine what happens when we exercise too little or too much. Regarding the former, our skin will become duller and grayer due to an insufficient amount of oxygen and nutrients. Furthermore, our blood vessels are to some degree visible through our skin, contributing to its external color - if we don’t move a lot, less healthy skin color will be provided. If we exercise too much on the other hand, we might put too much weight on the skin and overburden it - it can be further exacerbated by the excess sweat which only serves as food to pathogenic bacteria residing on our skin. It is also an irritant in its own nature.
Sleeping less
Our sleep time is our recovery time from all the stress put not only on our body or mind but also on our skin. At night, a hormone called melatonin is secreted in higher amounts that promote healthy skin cells’ growth and proliferation - that’s when the skin regenerates itself. Same happens for the boosted production of all the protective lipids of the skin barrier or building structural proteins like collagen and elastin. If we do not sleep enough, most of those processes is lost and never to be regained. In addition, we wake up looking not in our best condition.
Mindset
Have you ever wondered about the correlation between our mindset and mental health with the condition of our skin? It turns out these two things are closely connected with each other! When we are stressed, anxious or depressed, so-called stress hormones like cortisol are excessively produced. They are responsible for taking all the nutrients away from the skin to the organs which are crucial in terms of survival like the heart or the brain - the skin is on a lost position here and is deprived of many beneficial substances. It is less hydrated and yet again stripped off its lipid barrier hence more susceptible to infections and wounds. On the contrary, when we are calm and think positively, the stress hormones are healthily kept in check.
Are you making any of these mistakes?
Are you struggling with skin issues?
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Love and health
Uma
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