The skin is the body’s biggest organ and serves as a protective barrier against environmental stimuli. Taking care of your skin is vital for maintaining its health, but some regular practices might damage it over time.
Here are five common habits that might be harming your skin.
Inadequate Sun Protection
Although sunshine feels good on your skin, research has shown that too much of it (ultraviolet radiation from the sun) for a long time can lead to photoaging by breaking down collagen and elastin, leading to wrinkles, dark spots, rough texture, sagging skin, and an increased risk of skin cancer.
To keep your skin looking youthful and healthy for longer, wearing sunscreen daily, limiting sun exposure, and wearing protective clothes can help prevent photoaging.
Smoking
Health experts have warned that smoking negatively affects your health in many ways due to the harmful chemicals in cigarettes that damage the collagen and elastin proteins, break down fibres in the skin, and also slow down cell repair, thereby preventing the skin from being able to make new skin cells. This leads to deep wrinkles, sagging, and discoloured skin.
Nicotine, one of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes, reduces blood flow to your skin, which means it doesn’t get enough oxygen and nutrients, thereby contributing to the development of dark spots, scarring, psoriasis, spider veins, eczema, skin cancer, and other conditions.
Sharing towels
A towel carries bacteria, microorganisms, oil, dirt, and dead skin cells that can clog your pores, as well as trigger or worsen breakouts and other skin issues that can cause illnesses. These bacteria can easily be transmitted through a shared towel.
Skin rash, body acne, skin infections, and yeast infections are also some of the infections you can contact by sharing towels or not washing your home towel at least once a week and your gym towel every day after use.
Wash your face before bed
To protect your skin from acne, wrinkles, dullness, and aging, make it a habit to wash your body every night, no matter how tired you are. Doing this will remove the oil, bacteria, and pollutants that can build up after a stressful day.
For those who wear makeup, if you don’t remove it before bed, it will prevent your skin from renewing itself overnight, which can cause dullness and accelerate aging.
Also, prolonged face washing may destroy your skin’s natural oils, resulting in dryness, irritation, and even an overproduction of oil in an attempt to compensate. This can cause acne and an unattractive complexion. To maintain healthy skin, use a moderate, moisturising cleanser and only cleanse twice each day.
Sleeping on dirty pillowcases
Your skin might become irritated by sleeping on a dirty pillowcase, as it retains perspiration, oil, and bacteria from your skin and hair. It can affect the skin and lead to acne if it is not frequently cleaned. To preserve healthy skin, replace your pillowcases regularly.
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