Let’s face it, we all have bad skin days. Hormonal changes, stress, bad eating habits are all causes of breakouts and looking a little worse for wear, sometimes these factors even seem to vary from day to day, but what can we do to help combat random breakouts?
With this in mind we asked Dr Clare Morrison of Medexpress for her top five tips on how to avoid bad skin days.
Remove your make-up (especially at night)
Sleeping with make-up on is never a good idea. If make-up is left on overnight, bacteria is more likely to develop as we are naturally hotter and sweat more, this means skin becomes more clogged, and is less able to breathe. Skin goes through a regeneration process during the night, creating healthy cells and regenerating collagen levels, plus your skin is also a moisture-sucking machine at night. By removing it, you give your skin a chance to breathe and recalibrate its moisture levels, so it’s super important to remove your make-up before sleeping.
Hydrate your skin
Skin is our biggest organ and like the rest of our body, we depend on water to keep it functioning. Dry skin has less resilience and tends to develop wrinkles more easily, which is why it’s important to drink plenty of water. However, it’s not the only thing you should be doing to treat a dehydrated complexion. The skin can be reached through topical products, as well as water-rich foods like fruits and vegetables, which apparently contain structured water that releases slowly into the body, meaning longer-lasting hydration than flushing your system out by drinking water.
Clean make-up brushes regularly
Cleaning your make-up brushes may take a bit of time (especially to dry); but is well worth it when it comes to stopping the build-up of bacteria, which can cause breakouts. Brushes tend to sit at the bottom of our make-up bags, collecting grime and dust, furthermore our brushes and sponges also have contact with tabletops, where there’s yet more bacteria lurking. Cleaning your brushes at least once a week should keep build-up to a minimum and ensure as little as possible is transferred to your skin.
Research products that are suitable for your skin
If you’re suffering from acne, it’s important that you research what products won’t inflame your skin even further. Keep an eye out for products that are labelled ‘noncomedogenic’ as this means that that they won’t clog pores. Choose gentle products and resist the temptation to use harsh cleaners and toners that can trigger the skin to produce more oil.
Take zinc for hormonal imbalance
Hormonal imbalances can lead to acne, so be sure to tackle this if you are suffering from regular bad skin days. Every hormone your body makes needs to be processed by the liver. If your liver is struggling, this could reflect on your skin as acne. Zinc can help to make enzymes to make hormones less toxic and potent.
As well as following Dr Morrison’s excellent advice above, you could also take a closer look at this Acne Body Map from Acne Supplements Critic to help you decode what your breakouts are actually telling you.
