Finding the right skincare routines is overwhelming, especially when there’s so much information out there! Between old wives’ tales and misleading product labels, it can leave us all wondering what to believe. But when it comes to your skin health, you want to make sure you’re getting the highest quality information to shape your habits and routines. That’s why we’ve put together nine – surprising – skincare mistakes that are aging your skin prematurely (and how to fix them!)
Want to see what skincare mistakes you may be making? Let’s dive right in.
Rubbing Your Eyes
Recovering after a long night out? Or, fighting with itchy spots near your eyes? Dark circles forming under our eyes are a natural result of aging. While this is a reality we all have to face, you may be making your under-eye bags worse up if you’re in the habit of rubbing near your eyes. Since eyes and the surrounding skin is a thin, delicate area, rubbing our eyes can cause irritation and damage to the blood vessels directly under the eyes. Long story short, rubbing your eyes can lead to dark bags and wrinkles forming prematurely.
Solution: Resist the temptation! But that’s easier said than done, right? Especially if you’ve been in the habit of rubbing your eyes for years. If you notice yourself wanting to rub frequently, consider switching your makeup for a period of time to see if the kind you’re using is causing irritation. If that doesn’t help kick your habit, consider using an under-eye cream with retinol in it. Retinol is a natural way to help improve collagen deficiencies to help lighten your under-eye area and repair damages.
Relying on Makeup for Sun Protection
These days, most foundational makeup products include SPF. This is a great added protection benefit, but it’s intended for just that: added protection. Relying on makeup for your main source of sun protection puts you at risk of unprotected skin. Unless you’re putting foundation on your scalp and lips, important areas on your head upper body receive no sun protection. Additionally, even the best makeup starts warring off over the course of a day. So if you’ve protected your skin with makeup in the morning and head to an evening event with no touch-ups, your skin is most likely exposed to sun damage.
Solution: Luckily, this solution is a quick fix: add an SPF-based moisturizer to your morning routine if you haven’t already. With attention to quality, this isn’t the place to cut corners. We recommend investing in a sun-protecting moisturizer you can trust. After all, you only get one shot at the skin you have; it’s worth investing in!
Not Putting Sunscreen on All the Right Places
It’s no secret that UV rays from the sun can cause harmful damage to the skin. In addition to relying on makeup for sun protection, we see a lot of premature aging as a result of not putting sunscreen on all the right places. These include areas of skin that are often overlooked, get a lot of sun exposure, and tend to see the results of aging early.
Solution: Be sure to put sunscreen on your neck, hands, eyelids, lips, feet, and scalp any time you’re going outside with the area exposed. If sunscreen on your scalp sounds unappealing, opt to wear a stylish hat for protection.
Exfoliating Incorrectly
Most people tend to do one or the other: skip exfoliation or over-exfoliate. Do you fall into one of these camps? Completely skipping out on exfoliating puts your skin at risk of aging prematurely due to built-up dead skin cells on your face. On the flip side, over-exfoliating strips away important nutrients in the natural oils that keep your skin healthy.
Solution: It depends on how you go about exfoliating, but as a general rule, aim to exfoliate your face every two to three days. To learn more about choosing a great exfoliating product or method, check out this resource.
Not Using the Correct Skincare Products
More often than not, we all fall into a skincare routine (or lack thereof) that becomes so familiar, we stop paying attention. But if you take a moment to pause and consider why you use the products you do, it’s hard to remember. Did a friend recommend it, so you just went with it? Was it on sale at Ulta, so you grabbed it and never looked back? Skincare mistakes caused by complacency can lead us to use the wrong products and damage our skin. Even if you carefully researched the products you use, it’s worth reviewing every year as your skin experiences natural changes over time.
Solution: Carve out some time this week to take inventory of your skincare products. Check the ingredients in each product, check for expiration dates, consider what benefit it’s giving you, and then throw away anything that isn’t serving your skin well. If you need some guidance on the right products and routines to use, contact us to schedule a consultation. One of our Central Wellness professionals would love to help you step into your optimal skin health with the right products!
Using Dirty Makeup Brushes
It happens to the best of us; we throw our makeup brushes back into the drawer, get busy, and forget to wash them until suddenly it’s been months, a year… or longer. Let this be your reminder to wash your makeup brushes today because dirty brushes are full of residual makeup, dirt, dead skin cells, and bacteria. Rubbing that on your face every day causes breakouts and rashes that ultimately can contribute to premature skin aging.
Solution: It’s simple – please wash your makeup brushes! This doesn’t have to be a big-time commitment. Elle Magazine recommends washing your brushes once a month (in addition to quickly weekly cleaning.) Once a month? That’s totally doable! You can use a formulated makeup brush cleaner or even a high-quality dish soap or shampoo.
Sleeping on a Cotton Pillowcase
This one tends to shock a lot of people, considering how common it is to sleep on cotton pillowcases. But believe it or not, cotton pillowcases are one of the most common skincare mistakes that can increase premature wrinkles. According to Good Housekeeping, ‘crush wrinkles’ form from sleeping on high friction surfaces, like cotton pillowcases.
Solution: A silk pillowcase offers a smoother surface with less friction that can reduce the effect of wrinkles in the long run. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to burn all the cotton pillowcases in your house, but it’s worth switching to a silk pillowcase for the primary pillow you lay on when sleeping. In addition to reducing wrinkles, switching to silk pillowcases actually has a lot of benefits for your skin and hair. Check them out here.
Swapping Coffee for Sleep
After a sleepless night, it’s tempting to load up on coffee to make it through the day. While it feels like a great temporary solution for tiredness, we need to consider the long-term effects on our skin. Too much coffee (i.e., caffeine) can be a skincare mistake as it causes our blood vessels to constrict. As a result, essential nutrients that contribute to your skin’s natural collagen production can get temporarily cut off or delayed. This lack of collagen production contributes to looser skin and premature wrinkles.
Solution: Ideally, the solution here is to get more sleep, but we understand that in some seasons of life, it’s just not possible. More realistically, swap the extra cups of coffee for an energizing cup of hot water with lemon or ginger. Or, try taking a brisk morning walk outside to increase your energy levels with more oxygen to your brain and a boost of energizing hormones.
Using a Drying Soap
Whether or not you have a great skincare routine, you may be in the habit of using bar soap. It’s often easy, convenient, and cheaper. But unfortunately, it could be costing you premature wrinkles. Most box store bars of soap are extremely drying to the skin, stripping it of its natural oils and collagen-producing processes.
Solution: Put down the bar soap and opt for a cleanser formulated for facial skin. There are many affordable options to choose from to get you started. If you’ve been using bar soap for years, it may feel hard to switch, but trust us – it’s worth it!
Wrap-up
We hope these ten skincare mistakes have been helpful and eye-opening for your skincare journey. If you’re feeling discouraged by skincare mistakes you’ve been making for years, rest assured, there’s an easy way to reverse premature skin damage.
At Central Wellness, we offer a range of top-of-the-like skin rejuvenation treatments that will help fast-track your skin back to health and prevent further damage. Contact us today to speak with one of our professionals and see how we can get you into your healthiest skin.
Interested in learning more from our experts? Book your FREE consultation today or call 406.869.1066!
