6 skin no-nos you should stop doing now
Put these skin sins on your don’t-go-there list, and you’ll be good to glow.
Some habits die hard. But commit these big beauty blunders and over time you’ll seriously sabotage your skin.
- Related: The main active skincare ingredients for glowing skin
- Related: Why perfect skin is about more than just your genes
Sleeping in your make-up
If you don’t wash off your make-up (and all the grime from the day) before bed, it hinders the healthy cell turnover and robs your skin of beneficial night-time treatments.
First use a non-oily make-up remover to clean off your mascara, liner and shadow, then use your cleanser and a face washer to take off the rest.
Too many late nights
It isn’t called “beauty” sleep for nothing!
Sleep gives your body’s cells a chance to repair and regenerate. Depriving your skin of essential zzz’s will stress it out and cause breakouts.
Plus, when you’re tired, you tend to eat more junk food to keep you going – and you guessed it, that too leads to no-glow skin.
Forgetting sunscreen
The sun is enemy No.1 to the skin. It causes wrinkles, blotchiness, broken capillaries- and worst of all, cell trauma, which could lead to skin cancer.
Your best defence is to use a broad-spectrum sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Apply it at least 20 minutes before going out in the sun and then reapply throughout the day to maintain its SPF sun-blocking powers.
Popping pimples
Squeezing zits, as tempting as it is, can actually cause them to stick around longer. It can also force the zit-causing gunk deeper into the pore – instead of out the top – and lead to inflammation and scarring.
The best solution is to dab on a spot treatment that contains bacteria-fighting benzoyl peroxide, two to three times daily until the pimple is history – which is usually about three days.
Drinking and/or smoking
Alcohol and cigarettes zap all the glow out of your skin.
Alcohol can make the skin dehydrated and malnourished – and smoking can leave you with gray-ashy, dull skin and dark circles (now) and dry, parched, wrinkly skin (when you’re older). Enough said!
Eating junk
It’s important to realise that what you put into your body is more important that anything you put on your face – and junk food is not doing your skin any good.
Gorgeous skin relies on vitamins, mineral and hydration – so eat well, drink lots of water and your skin will glow!
Written by Nikki Yazxhi
