Six Bad Beauty Habits to Break

Sleeping with your full face of makeup on

Are you the type of person who gets home from a long day and just wants to collapse into bed, telling yourself you'll just shower in the morning? Or maybe you're the type of person who only wears BB Cream and some mascara throughout the day, so it's not like you're sleeping in three layers of foundation, concealer, and powder. Regardless of who you are, sleeping in your makeup is, honestly, pretty shit for your skin over time. While you sleep, your skin is trying to restore itself. If your oil glands and pores are blocked by the day's remnants of makeup, it won't allow your skin to properly shed. Plus, just think about all of the makeup, grime, and everyday pollutants are building up on your pillowcase! Forgetting to take your makeup off or getting just the tiniest bit lazy can cause clogged pores, blackheads, acne, and flaky, irritated skin. Even if you don't get the chance to double cleanse, at least take some warm water and your favorite cleansers or makeup removers so your head is hitting the pillow fresh and clean.

Using makeup wipes to take off your makeup

I know, I know, we just talked about how it's essential to take your makeup off at the of the day but with a different method. Makeup wipes? Chief, that ain't it. Is that what the kids say? Regardless, makeup wipes are kind of the worst for a few different reasons. If makeup wipes are part of your regular routine, you might want to consider changing that step in your skincare routine. Makeup wipes have come a long way, but there's still lots of residue left on your skin after using. They might be okay in a pinch, but they shouldn't replace a cleanser in your life as they don't thoroughly clean your skin. Makeup wipes are also horrendous for the environment. Most are made out of non-biodegradable things such as polyester, polypropylene, cotton, wood pulp, and rayon fibers. Some brands offer compostable options, but using your hands or a good ole washcloth with a cleanser is eons more useful and will save you money in the long run.

Avoiding SPF 

Have you ever looked outside during the summer, seen that there wasn't any sunshine in the sky so you didn't opt to wear sunscreen? Have you ever just thought that your skin is invincible and you don't need any SPF or that your foundation with 10 SPF in it would suffice? We've been told these things since we were a kid, but truly, it's pretty damn important. SPF protects your skin from UV Rays, lowers your skin cancer risk, prevents premature aging, and helps maintain an even skin tone.  I mean, I don't know about you, but SPF had me at lowering risk of skin cancer. But maybe that's just me.

Not using heat protectant on your hair

This one is significantly less dramatic than SPF, but it's still an important step that I'm guilty of skipping when I'm in a rush, even though I know I shouldn't. Heat protectant isn't just for straightening or curling your hair. This is for any time you apply heat to your hair, so I see you, blow dryers. Heat protectant adds moisture to your hair, which will prevent the natural moisture in your hair to evaporate. It also forms a protective barrier over the cuticle on your strands of hair to prevent and heat damage. Plus, it helps maintain your hair's natural shine. That's pretty dope, right? Treat your hair with the same kindness that you treat your skin and the rest of your body!

Using old, dull razor blades

Look, I get it, women's razors are expensive. Men's razors are expensive. Waxing is even more expensive. It's expensive to remove hair from our body, but if that's something that you choose to do, you still have to be careful with how you're doing it. I know it's not fun to dish out money every few weeks on new razors, but just think about what happens to metal when it gets wet and when it's constantly used. The blades can start to rust, get dull, and start collecting gunk (aka, loose hairs, dead skin cells, etc). If you're like me and you leave your razor wet in the shower, the blade can rust faster and it also leaves it open to gather more bacteria. So basically, the longer you use a razor, the longer it has the change to harbor bacteria. Shaving with this kind of blade runs the risk of causing red bumps on your skin. Dull blades can also catch fragile skin and cause tears and irritation. We've all had ingrown hairs on our bikini line and while sometimes they're inevitable, clean, sharp razors are part of the key to keeping equilibrium on the thin skin of our bikini line and not causing any major discomfort.

Popping pimples and picking at your face

This is the age old bad beauty habit to break, and yet, we still all do it. I partially blame it on the fasciation with Dr. Pimple Popper. I'm guilty of it and trying to rid my skin of the nasty whiteheads as soon as they come to head (or even before they do, which is even worse). We all started doing it when we were teens and it's just...fun. Or maybe not fun, but sometimes it's just hard to resist. They're right there and sometimes they hurt and they come to head while you're out and about so for some reason, a gross red and runny spot is better than a tiny whitehead. There are so many reasons not to pick at your face. First thing, yours fingers are dirty. And even if you think, well, my hands are clean! If your face isn't clean too (aka popping a whitehead during lunch or something), then you're spreading that bacteria into an open spot on your face, which can irriate and infect it. You can also cause scarring and will just prolong the existence of that spot on your face. If you can just resist the urge and let it runs its course, your skin will thank you for your service.