Loving Your Skin Means Avoiding These 5 Common Skincare Mistakes

It's amazing how taking care of your skin is becoming a trend these days.

We love how taking care of your skin is associated with self-care and self-love. Because, really, skincare is a self-love expression. Our favorite self-love expression. 

Loving your skin means being responsible for knowing what your skin needs. It also means avoiding common skincare mistakes that harm your skin. 

So, what are these common skincare mistakes that most of us are guilty of doing? 

You are not properly cleansing your face. 

A two-step cleansing routine is an ideal way of keeping our skin dirt-free. 

However, sometimes we don't have enough time to do this, especially from an exhausting long day. And because of these instances, we try to create a shortcut on this crucial step. 

We either skip a step or rely on facial wipes to clean our faces. The problem with these shortcuts is it sometimes leads to skin infections. 

Washing your face with a facial cleanser is not enough if you wear makeup all day. Try applying toner with cotton on your face, and you'll be horrified by the amount of makeup residue left even after washing your face. 

Sure, makeup remover wipes do their job, but it is not a reliable alternative to facial cleansers. It does not properly clean your face and can tear your skin from too much rubbing. 

And if you constantly do these shortcuts, the remaining dirt will clog your pores which may cause skin infections. 

You are exfoliating too much (or not exfoliating at all). 

Ah, exfoliation. We have a love-hate relationship with this one because we often forget to exfoliate or overdo it. You can do physical exfoliation using facial scrubs or chemical exfoliation using products with AHAs and BHAs. 

Experts suggest that exfoliating our skin should only be done once or twice a week to give enough time for your cells to recover. 

But if you are doing it more than twice a week, chances are you are harming your skin than helping it. 

The common signs of over-exfoliated skin are redness and irritation. But waxy, flaky, and dry skin is an indication that you over-exfoliated your skin, too. 

To reverse this terrible circumstance, allow your skin to rest from exfoliation for at least a month. And then, slowly introduce your skin to exfoliation again. 

You only moisturize once a day. 

Your dermatologist must have explained the importance of moisturizers and how often to apply them. But without any reason, we often forget it.

Moisturizing at daytime will set your skin's moisture level needed for a long day. It will lock in moisture and will keep your skin from looking dehydrated. And moisturizing at night will help your skin recover from a long stressful day. 

By moisturizing twice daily, you are helping your skin improve its ability as a protective barrier from harmful substances. So, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! 

You are not regularly cleaning your skincare tools. 

Yes, they need regular cleaning. A survey discovered that 61% of women who use makeup brushes clean them less or not at all for a common reason that it takes too much of their time. 

You use your skincare tools (ex. brushes, tweezers, sponges, applicators, etc.) to clean your face or apply some skincare products. Expectedly, it can collect dirt and sebum from your face. A favorite spot for bacterial growth. Yikes! 

As recommended, you should clean your skincare tools every after use and disinfect them at least twice a month. By doing so, you are also extending the usage period of your skincare tools. You'll save more! 

You become less dedicated once you see results. 

Most of us are guilty of this. Taking care of our skin, just like our health, is a lifetime commitment. 

Most skin care products will take months to achieve desired results – months of dedicated use, especially with anti-aging and resurfacing regimes like retinol, acne treatments, and similar products. 

Your skin will take a while to adjust to these potent ingredients. So you really need to be consistent. Additionally, resurfacing regimens need to be continually used with constant adjustments to maintain results. 

You need to be consistent to maintain healthy skin. 

So even if you have already found your perfect skincare routine (after countless trials and errors), it will remain ineffective if you practice these common skincare mistakes. Achieve a complete skin makeover experience by dedicating enough time to do your skincare routine correctly.