Skin Care Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Complexion and How to Avoid Them

This beauty understands the secret of glowing skin.

Beautiful, glowing skin is what we all strive for. Therefore, we try to do our best to care for it through a healthy diet and the skin care products we turn to.  However, we can still be working against ourselves in those efforts and not even know the harm that we’re doing to our complexion.

Start on the Outside and Examine How You Typically Care for Your Skin 

One of the worst skin offenders is sleeping with your makeup on.  Despite how long a night went, you may think skipping makeup removal just once won’t hurt your complexion, but you would be wrong.  Those cosmetics, especially the heavier, long-wearing formulas, can clog your pores or lead to a bacterial infection.  
A better idea is to keep a container of makeup wipes by your bed for those rare occasions when you just are too exhausted to properly remove your makeup.  Seeing that container of makeup wipes before you crawl in bed will remind you about taking those cosmetics off and save you from a possible skin problem later.

If you do happen to break out with a pimple and think squeezing will help the situation, then think again. What you are doing is pushing the bacteria deeper into your skin–not out, resulting in more pimples.  

Another innocent way that you are sabotaging your skin care efforts is not changing your pillowcases often enough because they harbor a lot of bacteria.  Make it a habit to put on a fresh pillowcase every few days, hopefully twice a week to safeguard your complexion.  

Speaking of linens, you might want to invest in a set of satin pillowcases.  The fabric will not pull your face when you sleep in the same way as a regular cotton pillowcase to promote wrinkles.  

Talking on your cell phone can even be causing you skin problems because it is a germ fest after all the places and objects that it comes into contact with on a daily basis.   Think how many times a day you put that phone to your face and then touch your face.  

You could be falling victim to rashes or breakouts along the line of the jaw by not sanitizing your cell phone. Instead, remember to pack a package of antibacterial wipes in your handbag to clean the surface of the phone, especially if you’re breaking out in those areas.

Something else that you may not have thought of is exfoliation.  Of course, exfoliation is important to get rid of the dead cells that build along the surface of the skin.  Otherwise, our complexions would dull.  Over exfoliating though can strip your skin of the natural oils it needs and lead to a dry, irritated complexion so limit exfoliation to once or twice a week only.

The type of product you use to exfoliate with also can play a part in the health of your complexion. Exfoliating products with grainy beads can leave uneven red patches on your face if you overdo it and scrub too vigorously.  You might want to try chemically exfoliating instead with glycolic acid for instance that will gently dissolve old skin more evenly.

Re-evaluate How You Care for Your Skin From Within Because It Matters

A beautiful complexion does not just happen on the outside. You must also take into consideration how you care for it on the inside.  You may believe that you are eating a healthy, balanced diet with all the nutrients for great skin. This may or may not be truth and I’ll explain.

Perhaps, you tend to skip meals when you get busy. By doing so, you are risking your skin to dryness and helping it age faster. Binging on unhealthier snacks when you can’t take time for a normal meal can also contribute to skin problems and added weight.  To keep your complexion radiant, you need plenty of vitamin C, B complex, E, and A.

If you find yourself constantly at the coffee machine, then you also could be drying your skin out at the same time due to all the caffeine.  You might want to curb it back, but  keep it between three and five cups a day since coffee has plenty of antioxidants from its chlorogenic acid and melanoidins.

Your skin can become dehydrated if you don’t drink enough water.  Try to drink at least six to eight glasses a day.  Switch a few of your sodas to water to gradually ease into drinking more will make the transition less painful.

You might also want to keep a bottle of water at your desk.  When emptied, you can always fill it again to keep an exact count on the amount of water that you are consuming without needing to run out to buy more water.

Over the holidays, we all indulge in too much sugar.  Besides weight gain, that sugar could be robbing us of our skin’s collagen.  The smarter alternative when craving sweets would be go for a natural sweet like pigging out on pineapple, kiwi, mango, or even a sweet potato.

On the other hand, if you keep shaking on too much salt or just eat too many salty snacks, you could be on the road to dehydrating your complexion with all that sodium.  Try to use moderation and look for hydrating moisturizers with humectants that attract water to the skin for help.   

Not getting enough sleep can ruin your looks.  It can dull your skin and lead to clogged pores.  The only solution is sticking to a regular sleep schedule and avoiding distractions like working on the computer before bedtime.

Stress is another way to hurt your skin.  It can cause facial lines, blemishes, rashes, and also dull your complexion.  Though easier said than done, you need to find the solution to relax and leave those problems behind that works the best for you.  Take up walking, meditation or join a gym might be something to think about.  

All it takes to see your complexion gain new brightness are a few simple changes.  Hopefully, the information presented here will help you achieve that beautiful goal!