DIY Face Masks
Making face masks at home, while cost effective, can have some serious implications on your skin if you don’t know how certain ingredients will interact with your complexion. “Most of these are either of no benefit or leave the skin irritated. Many ingredients in these DIY masks could potentially be dangerous. Lemon juice, for example, can be extremely harsh to the skin. Its acidic pH can disrupt the skin’s lipid barrier and lead to more harm than good,” explains Dr. Ahmad Fayyaz Chaudhry, M.B.B.S., collaborating dermatologist with Scandinavian Biolabs. “Just because you can eat something does not mean you should be putting it on your skin. Some ingredients, for example, honey and turmeric, might have some antibacterial benefits and are harmless and therefore okay to use.”
When in doubt, it’s often better to invest in well-researched skincare products than making it yourself, so steer clear of the kitchen when you’re aiming to beat blackheads, acne, and inflammation.
Double Cleansing
Double cleansing, or washing your face with two cleansers immediately after each other, may sound like it would simply leave your face twice as clean but can in fact strip your complexion of the natural oils needed for a glowing complexion. “By going hardcore on the deep cleansing products, you will end up stripping your skin of the protective layer of sebum and oils. This will cause the skin to produce more oils and may end up flaring acne and other inflammatory skin conditions. Use one or two basic cleansers, and that ought to be enough,” says Dr. Chaudhry.
Skin Gritting
Exfoliation can be great for ridding your complexion of dead skin cells and cleansing the pores, but skin gritting or, according to Jill Canes, NP, “The use of oil cleansers and clay masks, and massaging your face to get blackheads out of your skin,” can actually make irritation on the skin worse. “It can be damaging for your skin because the oils and clay masks can irritate your skin. The oil can clog pores, while clay masks can be very drying on your skin. Massaging your face frequently with a lot of force can also lead to micro injuries and irritate your skin. While skin gritting might work to remove some blackheads and unclog pores, often the grits that people see are too big to be blackheads, and blackheads are usually not entirely black,” explains Canes. Instead, opt for a lighter exfoliation with AHA and BHA acids to limit blackheads and purify the skin without overdoing it.
Toothpaste On Acne
The old myth that using toothpaste to rid your face of acne has been around since the dawn of time, but as a general rule, it’s not often a good idea to apply products to the skin that aren’t intended for it. Dr. Rachel Nazarian, M.D explains to Byrdie, "Keep in mind that your teeth are ranked amongst the toughest substances in your body, and we're using toothpaste to clean them. Your skin, in contrast, is incredibly delicate. Using a cleanser that's meant for teeth can disrupt the pH balance of your skin and irritate it greatly.” Instead of ridding your skin of acne, you may be invoking a case of contact dermatitis or a flare up of other skin conditions, so it’s best to use tried and true spot treatments actually intended for your skin if you want to rid your complexion of breakouts.