6 skincare mistakes you might be making

Raise your hand if you’ve ever laid in your backyard with baby oil on your arms and legs, hoping you’d get a better tan. Or if you’ve ever soaked your face in lemon juice in hopes it would heal acne scars. Or if you’d gone to sleep with make up still on your face.

We’re all probably guilty of at least one of the above skincare sins. But sometimes, even when you cleanse, tone, moisturize and think you’ve get everything right, your skin disagrees. Here are six skin care mistakes your might be making and how to fix them.

You don’t remove your makeup before going to sleep.

So this one is a bit overplayed, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. Your skin naturally regenerates itself at night and if you still have your makeup on while you’re sleeping, you are not giving it a chance to recover from being exposed to free radicals and this can lead to premature aging. Additionally, heavy foundations, powders, silicon and/or oil based primers that “sit” on your skin will clog your pores and oil glands, which in turn can cause breakouts.

Of course, your skin won’t be ruined if you happen to forget to take off your makeup once in a blue moon (after a long night out perhaps, when all you want to do is kick off those heels and bury your face in the pillow). But it doesn’t matter how late it is or how tired I am, you will never catch me going to sleep with my makeup on and neither should you, especially if you have sensitive or acne-prone skin.

You’re over-exfoliating.

This is something that I’ve been guilty of in the past. Having suffered from acne for years, one thing that always irritated me was the unsolicited skincare advice I’d receive from complete strangers - “Oh honey, your poor skin, listen my cousin’s sister’s daughter-in-law used this cream..” or “my daughter swears by this and this, you should try it”. And don’t even get me started on the “have you tried Proacitv?"

One thing that almost every single "beauty expert” at a department store would always say to me whenever I went to buy makeup (note: makeup, not skincare) was “oh you should exfoliate more often” or “you just need a good scrub.” So scrub I did. I scrubbed and scrubbed my skin, thinking I could "scrub” the acne away. That only caused more breakouts. Because I was over-exfoliating my skin, I was stripping its protective barrier, basically making thousands and thousands of tiny, microscopic cuts (microtears) on my face. That left my skin red, sensitive and caused major acne flare ups.

Exfoliating is important, but it’s very easy to overdo it, especially when it comes to “mechanical” exfoliation. My skin did a complete 180 when I started treating it with more love; I use gentle cleansers and swapped most of my scrubs and peels for chemical exfoliation (using AHA or BHA products). If you have active breakouts on your face, constant scrubbing will only irritate them and they will have a really hard time healing.

You use Pinterest as your “go-to” source for skincare advice.

Pinterest is a wonderful place that I’m very much obsessed with, but every single time I see a “DIY face mask” post that tells you that you should be putting things like lemon juice, toothpaste, mouthwash or baking soda on your skin, I die a little inside.

There are a lot of so called “experts” out there who will try to convince you that you can get rid of blackheads in just a week, simply by rubbing lemon on your nose, or that you can lose up to 10 lbs overnight by slathering yourself with coffee grinds mixed with olive oil and sleeping covered with seran wrap. But you’re smarter than that, right?

Listen, there are a lot of awesome, natural products that work great with your skin like coconut oil, avocado oil and honey but lemon or baking soda ain’t one of them.

Yes, lemon juice can initially help lighten your acne scars but do you know at what cost? Lemon juice is highly acidic and applying it directly on your skin will irritate and disturb its protective acid mantle. Using lemon juice on your skin can also cause photosensitivity which often leads to hyperpigmentnation, or even something as severe as a chemical burn.

Baking soda, on the other hand, is too alkaline to use on your face. Your skin’s natural pH is around 4.5 to 5 while baking soda has a pH of 9! Using it on your skin will damage its natural barrier and increase moisture loss.

Now I’m not calling myself an “expert” but all it takes is some minor research to find scientific proof that most of skincare advice on Pinterest is nonsense. Next time you see a “DIY” skincare post on Pinterest, make sure you think twice about putting something that’s used to clean toilets on your face.

Related: 5 Worst Beauty Tips on Pinterest

You don’t use sunscreen.

Years a go, I’ve read a magazine interview with Dita Von Teese who, undeniably, has the most stunning, flawless, porcelain skin. When asked what her secret to such gorgeous skin was, she replied, “a great dermatologist and a good sunscreen.” It seems that by now, everyone is well aware of the importance of using sunscreen, yet so many of us still didn’t make it a habit to use it on daily basis. “But the sun isn’t out today,” or "but it’s not hot,” or “but we’re not going to the beach” are common excuses.

If you want your skin to look great, even as you age, you need to wear sunscreen, even on those gloomy, cloudy days. The sun’s harmful UV rays causes your skin to age and wrinkle much faster. This includes photoaging, sun spots and, of course, wrinkles.

When it comes to things like these, it’s much better and easier to prevent, rather than treat. You should always apply it after your moisturizer and it’s especially important when using AHA/BHA or Vitamin C products. Not wearing proper sun protection while using these products can leave your skin vulnerable, and produce reverse results (e.g. your acne scars will get darker, instead of getting lighter).

Your diet needs “cleaning up”

After years of suffering from cystic acne, I discovered the dairy-acne connection and saw my skin transform within weeks of cutting out all dairy products from my diet. Cleaning up your diet (getting rid of processed foods, soda, candy) will help you get healthy, glowing skin. Go for foods that are packed with Vitamin E, Vitamin A and Omega-3 fatty acids. I personally love getting a bunch of skin-loving nutrients in my breakfast smoothie.

Related: Green Smoothie for Healthy, Glowing Skin

You don’t get rid your expired products on a regular basis

When was the last time you went through all your makeup and skincare products and got rid of everything that was expired? It’s definitely been a while for me and when I did finally get to it, I was surprised at how many expired products I was forced to throw away, especially body care products which I kind of tend to hoard.

Many years a go, I made a mistake of (unknowingly) using an expired body lotion and my skin went nuts. You’d think I’d learn my lesson, but I was shocked to see how many expired products I still had laying around. Some of your products might have a “use by” date somewhere on the bottle or jar, if you can’t find it, try to locate this little icon that displays number of months (or years) for which is safe to use the product after opening it.

As always, keep in mind that everyone’s skin is different and don’t forget to always do your own research whenever trying something new, especially when it comes to DIY treatments.

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