Are you touching your skin too often? How often do you clean your eyebrows?
We, all, desire to have a gorgeous and clean skin.
But what we don't realise is that unknowingly, in our daily life, we do a lot of harm to our skin.
This festive and holiday season, don't exploit your skin beyond repair.
Here are some skincare mistakes you can avoid this party season.
1. Over exfoliation
Before attending New Year party many people start over exfoliation the skin because they want to look best at New Year party.
One week before New Year you should exfoliate your skin on regular basis. But, over exfoliating is again a very dangerous thing.
Your skin has some natural oil that keeps it nourished. Over exfoliation can reduce that natural oil and will make your skin look feeble and dull.
2. Touching your face often
The more you touch your skin, the bacteria from your hands can spread to other parts of the skin, particularly your face.
If your skin is acne prone then you should avoid touching your skin.
Try to keep your hands off your face to reduce the chance of getting acne, maybe just before a New Year party.
3. Wrong selection of skin care products
Most of us are not experts at picking the right type of make up essentials. Don't merely pick a product that looks or smells good.
Selecting the wrong product for your skin may give you acne and spoil your look.
For example, if the product you have picked use says 'non-comedogenic' or 'non-acnegenic' which means it has been tested and does not cause or worsen pimples, it should not harm your skin.
If your skin is acne-prone, always apply make-up which is 'paraben free', 'oil-free' 'non-comedogenic' or 'lanolin -free'.
For oily skin never use a hydrating moisturiser.Use of a good foundation and then covering it with powder(primer)is into in this skin type.
4. The wrong face mask
The wrong face mask can give you unproductive results.
You must always consult a skin expert to suggest what type of mask will be best for you. Same for moisturisers.
For instance clay-based masks, or those with ingredients for oily, spotty skin, such as salicylic acid will cause normal-dry skin to flake off.
If your skin is in need of moisture, select one for dry skin with skin nourishing and replenishing ingredients like hyaluronic acid or vitamin E.
You can add probiotics to your mask; when used topically, they decongest skin and absorb excess oil
5. Dark circles
Most women try to hide dark circles by using a combination of eye creams which may not be good for the eyes and the skin surrounding the eyes.
There is no instant solution to cure dark circles. However, you can reduce them by using a combination of various techniques such as skin tightening, eye peels and eye creams for home care before the New Year party.
6. Ignoring sweat
When you are at a party and you're dancing, your internal body heat increases which is cooled by sweating.
If you ignore sweat, it may not be so good for you. Unless you have an excessive sweating problem in which case you would want to consult a dermatologist.
For excessive sweating, you can consider products comprising aluminium chloride hexahydrate and in severe cases, botulinum toxin injections.
For sweating at parties, you can use curatio aldry lotion containing aluminium chlorohydrate ,works as and anti persirant. However, it may sometimes cause skin irritation, so you may want to ask your dermatologist for help.
7. Forgetting to clean your eyebrows
To create a perfectly defined brow, you're most likely reaching for a waxy brow pencil or brow kit. But are you cleaning your eyebrows too?
Regular facewash might not get in between hairs to wash the stuff away.
I suggest always using eye makeup remover, which is designed to quickly and easily remove long-wear makeup, on brows.
If you let makeup build up in your brows, you could see brow dandruff over time.
Lead image used for representational purposes only. Image: Tiina L/tinathestore.com/Creative Commons
The author Dr Abhishek Pilani is cosmetologist and trichologist, Assure clinic.
