Here's a hard truth, there are many ways through which you could be harming your skin. It gets worse - you could be harming your skin in the process of trying to improve it.

Listed below are some of the ways that could happen.

I'm not a dermatologist or an aesthetician and I don't have my bachelor's degree yet so I have no authority with which to say this. So think of this post as a PSA from a friend who cares about your skin, or someone who's just trying to help you avoid making the same mistakes she made.

1. Touching your face too much  

To make a long story short, when you touch your face, you’re transferring bacteria, dirt and other debris from your hands to your skin, which contaminates and clogs your pores and can eventually lead to breakouts developing.

Picking at the skin or poking at bumps in a bid to remove them does more damage than touching – it breaks the skin’s barrier, and “allows bacteria that are normally present on the skin to penetrate to a deeper level, leading to breakouts” -Elizabeth Tanzi of Capital Laser & Skin Care.

This habit also increases the risk of scarring from breakouts, or not healing properly. Increasing the severity of damage in the long run. Additionally, when you ‘pop’ your pimples, you release the exudate within them, spreading the causative bacteria (Cutibacterium acnes). This allows the bacteria to contaminate a larger area and cause more eruptions. So um, just leave that pimple alone.

2. That electronic spin brush

With this, it’s less the devices themselves, and more the people using them. Spin brushes were created to facilitate deeper cleansing and provide daily mild exfoliation, which they do. But so many of us (a younger me included), apply way too much pressure to the brush and their skin, causing some undue damage.

“Overuse [of face cleansing brushes] can lead to broken capillaries, excessive dryness, irritation, redness and sensitivity.”- Dr. Dennis Gross MD.

Additionally, the bristles on these brushes need to be dried and cleaned properly to minimise the multiplication of bacteria as that could cause the eruption of more acne lesions. It’s therefore recommended that the brush heads be cleaned with soapy water or alcohol to avoid acne-causing build-up. Which many users don’t know.

A lot of these issues apply less to silicon cleansing devices since it’s harder to be forceful during use and bacterial build-up is less likely because the material doesn’t hold onto as much water and can be sanitised with much more ease.

3. Over-exfoliating

Ironically, some of the key issues exfoliation can help with e.g. dryness, peeling, uneven skin texture or breakouts can also be signs of over-exfoliation.

So like most things when it comes to skincare, when and how you exfoliate is all about finding a good balance for you and your skin. Over-exfoliation is an easy mistake to make with not only physical exfoliants (scrubs, cleansing brushes) but also with chemical ones (glycolic acid, lactic acid, salicylic acid).

It can lead to an increase in the skin’s sensitivity as well as causing painful cracking and peeling. The first step to recovery in this situation is to stop exfoliating until the skin has healed, and/or is at the texture it was at before the damage.

This healing process may take up to a month so be patient, and give your skin the time it needs to heal fully before re-starting exfoliation.

Exfoliation needs to be balanced with regular moisturising so the skin cells can be nourished, allowing for replenishing and providing a good environment for healing/ renewal.

4. Neglecting SPF

Nathan Pyle refers to tans in his comics as ‘star damage’, which though unconventionally humorous is exactly right. As Rachel Nazarian M.D. says, “Every tan, even a slight darkening, is a sign of skin damage.” And whilst some skin tones not only damage less but have a slightly lower risk of skin cancers due to the natural protection provided by melanin, protection against UVA and UVB rays is very important for everyone.

So contrary to what you’ve been told, black people need sunscreen too.

For me, this was a hard step to implement into my daily routine because many sunscreens I tried left me looking purple or grey - not cute. A gamechanger was using chemical sunscreens [active ingredients: avobenzone, octinoxate and oxybenzone] instead of physical sunscreens [active ingredients: titanium oxide, zinc oxide].

This allowed me to get the protection my skin needs without looking like the tin man.

For daily coverage, aim for at least SPF 30+ and know that mixing your sunscreen into other products decreases the overall coverage it provides. So apply as separate layers and reapply as directed.

5. Drying your skin out

This is such an easy thing to do that most people don’t even realise they’re doing it. Your skin can be dried out through many mechanisms – washing with hot water, using stripping/ harsh cleansers, lack of moisturising, dehydration or medication side effects.

If it’s the last one, you should talk to your pharmacist or doctor about your options, either in terms of treating the dryness or possibly switching to another medication.

The other problems have much simpler solutions; stop what you’re doing and do the opposite. Simple. So wash with lukewarm water, change to a gentler cleanser [if it leaves you feeling dry or a ‘squeaky clean’, it’s too harsh], or get a moisturiser that works with your skin. Whatever your solution needs to be.

“If your skin requires extra moisture or you just like to be super glowy, try some products containing hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, propylene glycol, urea and aloe as they deliver water to the cells directly.” - Meghan Feely M.D. FAAD

Remember that skin is unique, so what works for one person may not work for you and developing a working regime is to some degree, a lesson in trial, error and patience.

All this being said, one of the most important things you can do for your skin is to pay attention to how it reacts to certain products or routines and if you have the funds for one, what your dermatologist or aesthetician says. Otherwise, you can do some research, and/or learn from people who know their stuff or with similar skin to you.  

Read more:

• Healthline. Does drinking water help with acne?

• Huffington Post. Is your face cleansing brush doing more harm than good? Derms address this beauty myth.

• Healthline. The sunscreen gap: do black people need sunscreen?

• STOCK PHOTO CREDIT

• Adore Beauty. Physical vs. chemical sunscreens: what’s the difference?