While most people know that not wearing sunscreen or smoking can both cause premature skin aging, there is another mistake that most people would never even realize is harmless: washing your face the wrong way.
It is important to cleanse your face daily to keep it bright and clean, but you have to do this the right way. According to Dr. Nazarian, the best rules of thumb with washing your face are to wash twice daily, and to always be gentle with your skin.
“A good general rule is to wash your face twice a day: once in the morning immediately after waking up, which removes all bacteria and oil which make have moved to our face from our mouth and hair while we slept, and the second time before going to bed, which removes the micropollutants and buildup of oil and bacteria that has accumulated during day,” the dermatologist explained. “This includes removing makeup and facial products worn during the day! Leaving products and daily grime on our skin allows continued free radical damage - which translates to quicker aging, more wrinkles and less youthful beautiful skin.”
Dr. Nazarian added, “Washing your skin too aggressively [is another mistake]. Skin has a natural barrier of hydrating oils that protect us from the outside world. Washing with strong soaps or abrasive cleaners strips too much of our own natural moisturizers and can dry out and inflame skin; this predisposes skin to irritation, redness and makes wrinkles look deeper and more noticeable. Use gentle (unscented!) cleansers to prevent disruption of skin's natural pH. And avoid anything with rough scrubbing beads when cleaning your face!”
To cleanse your skin thoroughly yet gently, Dr. Nazarian suggests either the sensitive skin Dove Beauty Bar or the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser.
The Dove Beauty Bar helps the skin maintain its natural moisture to leave it soft, smooth and radiant, while the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser is made with a mild formula that removes makeup and dirt, hydrating the skin as it cleanses.