New Year, New Me!

New Year’s Eve is all about new beginnings, but what really gets us giddy, is leaving all of these beauty habits behind!

Read our five toxic beauty habits below you will want to break up with… * 🥂 clink clink 🥂 *

 

1.       SLEEPING WITH MAKEUP ON 💤

We’ve all been there. A late night (orrrrr… early morning?? 👀) of drinking and dancing with your BFF’s followed by stumbling into your bed. You consider it lucky if you have removed any items of clothing let alone your makeup. Everybody knows that sleeping with makeup on is detrimental to your skin, but what does make up filled slumber actually do? One night here and there is unlikely to cause long-lasting damage to your skin, however it is definitely a habit best left behind. Makeup traps dirt and environmental pollutants inside the skin, so each night you sleep in your makeup causes your pores to become further clogged resulting in a build-up of bacteria. Cue: breakouts 🙅‍♀️

2.       SKIPPING SPF 🌤️

According to the Cancer Council Australia, Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime. Sunscreen has been proven to help prevent skin cancer, including the deadliest type – melanoma.

Always opt for a broad spectrum sunscreen as these offer you protection from both UVA and UVB rays. UVA radiation penetrates deep into the skin, affecting the living skin cells that lie under the skin’s surface. UVA causes long-term damage like aging, wrinkles, pigmentation, and also contributes to skin cancer. UVB radiation penetrates the top layer of skin and is the main cause of skin damage and skin cancer.

 

⛱️ DID YOU KNOW? SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor. SPF relates to the amount of time it takes for redness to appear on the skin compared to when no product is used at all.

For example, if it takes 10 minutes for your unprotected skin to show redness, then an SPF30 sunscreen correctly applied, in theory, will take 30 times longer or 300 minutes to burn. However, it is hard to achieve this level of protection in real life – factors such as skin type, ultraviolet (UV) levels, swimming/drying and how much sunscreen you apply can affect the level of protection. This is why it is always recommend applying sunscreen liberally every two hours or after swimming, sweating or towel drying. It is also important to apply 20 minutes before being exposed to UV.

Moral of the story is the SPF in your makeup IS NOT ENOUGH. Slip, Slop, Slap AND… Seek (shade), Slide (on some sunglasses 😎)

3.       OVER (AND UNDER) EXFOLIATING 💦

Whether you use a physical exfoliant, or a chemical exfoliant, there is such thing as TOO MUCH exfoliant. Exfoliation, when done correctly, is a crucial step in any healthy skincare regime. It helps to achieve AND maintain that dewy, hydrated glow we are all chasing, even our tones and textures, and unclog pores. Over exfoliation is extremely common, and is a significant cause for skin to breakout. It can create micro-tears in the skin, leading to inflammation, dehydration, redness, and irritation.

For balanced skin types, once or twice per week may be sufficient, whereas oily and combination skin types may find that up to three times per week is their sweet spot. Trial and error is the key here. Start with at least once- but never more than three times per week.

 

4.       BREAK UP WITH YOUR MASCARA EVERY 3 MONTHS 💔

Aside from mortifying yourself with the gap between the ‘recommended ideal’ and your reality, there's good reason to ask how often should you replace your mascara. Mascara is unfortunately a breeding ground for bacteria, which can then be transferred onto our skin and lashes 👎. There is no real way to prevent this other than unnecessarily ‘pumping the wand’ as this traps air in the product and further dries out the product. Mascaras should be replaced every three months (if you are a daily user) and every six months at a stretch.

5.       SKIN SLUGGING… IS IT AS BAD AS THE NAME SUGGESTS? 🐌

If you are a TikTok user, you would have no doubt come across slugging more than once. And if you’ve never heard of it, I bet you are curious.

Simply put, slugging refers to the process of sealing your skin with an occlusive agent (often petrolatum-based) overnight. But what are examples of occlusive? Occlusives are ingredients that create a physical barrier on the skin to prevent transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and lock in hydration. Occlusives come in the form of petroleum jelly (think: Vaseline), mineral oils, silicones, dimethicones, waxes, and lanolin.

Though it's been popularised as a face treatment on TikTok to aid with hydration, slugging is not an effective skincare method for all skin types, especially oily and problematic skin. Petroleum jelly is so occlusive that it won’t let your natural skin oils escape, causing further irritation. It is reasonable to be concerned about petroleum-based ingredients in your skin care products. Although refined, petroleum jelly is exactly what is sounds like; a gel by-product of petroleum, which is a form of crude oil. Yikes! 🤯