Alert!  Here Are The Seven Worse Things You Can Do To Your Skin!

1. Not Using Sunscreen

UVB rays are liable for sunburns and are much stronger during the summer, but UVA rays are constant all year long.

UVAs won’t give you a sunburn but they do age your skin and create wrinkles and brown spots.  UVA rays penetrate clouds and windows so the only way to avoid them is to use sunscreen or a moisturizer that includes SPF every day.

2. Showers That Are Too Hot

Hot steamy showers feel great but they are not good for your skin.  They will turn good skin into dry, flaky skin. 

Hot water will strip skin of essential moisture and oils and sometimes make it red and itchy. Hot water can also make existing conditions worse like Rosacea and Eczema. Instead take warm showers and if you have to turn the heat up, just make it for a very short time!  If your mirror is getting steamed up, the water is probably too hot. Do slather on moisturizer before drying off to lock in some of the moisture that was lost.

3. Over Exfoliating

Sloughing off a layer of dead cells from your skin’s surface occasionally is a technique to keep your skin looking good but it must be done GENTLY. Gritty scrubs and cleansing brushes are too harsh.  Use the many more gentle means of exfoliation. Many anti-aging ingredients in creams and serums serve as chemical exfoliators without having to use any gritty texture. If your skin looks red, what you are using is too harsh.

4. Not Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep is essential for good skin. Night time is when your skin does a lot of repair work like turning over new cells and shedding the old ones. Your skin also loves the dose of night creme or hydration treatments you apply before going to bed. Getting less than 7 hours of sleep can be affecting your skin negatively.   

5. Going To Bed Without Washing Your Face

In a perfect world, we’d wash and treat our face twice a day.  Once in the morning and once before going to bed. But due to busy lifestyles it doesn’t always happen.  Sleeping with makeup, oil, and other impurities on can block your pores and lead to breakouts. Even more importantly it disrupts cell turnover, which leaves the skin dull. When you don’t have the time or energy for proper cleaning and treatment, using the quick no-rinse face wipes are a great alternative.

6.Treating Acne And blemishes

Acne is not a reflection on how clean your skin is, it’s more of a hormonal issue. Know how to best address acne to avoid making it worse. 

Excessively cleaning with harsh soaps or exfoliating is not the answer.  Instead wash it gently with a cleanser that contains salicylic acid, which unclogs pores and smoothes skin by sloughing off dead cells, and then treat with a soothing/calming moisturizing treatment or sheet mask.

The consequences of picking or squeezing blemishes, pimples, or any kind of skin lesions are not good. Squeezing or picking blemishes can easily lead to permanent scarring. Instead use spot treatments like Benzoyl Peroxide or Salicylic Acid sparingly or even better seeking the assistance from an esthetician  or dermatologist where they will properly lance the blemish and release the fluid inside.

7. Tanning

Tanning salons are no better than the direct sun, in fact some claim they are up to 12 times worse! 

The theory that a base tan is good to have before going into the direct sun of the season (or beach vacation) is not a valid argument.  A base tan provides only the equivalent of an SPF of about 3. The cancer-causing UVA rays you’re exposed to in an indoor tanning bed are roughly 12 times stronger than the ones you get from the sun. Long story short, use spray tanning, or self tanning products if you want a summer tan look.   

For things you can do that are good for your skin read on here.