Today we’re going to talk about the biggest skincare mistakes that you might be making right now at this very moment that are either causing more acne or damaging your skin in general. Make sure you are subscribed to this YouTube channel, I post a lot of skincare tips and please do follow me on Instagram at liahyuu where I post more of my life and behind the scenes and more useful product reviews over there. Before we talk about specific skincare habits and skincare mistakes that you might be making right now, I think the most fundamentally skin damaging mindset is not trusting your skin enough.
Therefore you think that you need this sort of miracle fix from topical skincare solutions so you really go at it like attacking and being really aggressive to the skin thinking that you need to do this in order to fix some sort of skin issues. Your skin is smart. Your skin is also a functioning living organ that knows how to repair and restore itself knows how to regulate the cell turnover and shed all the dead skin cells and also knows how to regulate the skin production when it’s needed.
All your skin might need is just a basic hydration and comfortable environment for it to function. Let’s jump into the skincare habits right now. Skincare mistake number one, cleansing abrasively and aggressively and this includes washing your skin, cleansing your skin so many times a day and opting for a stronger, a more alkaline cleanser to get rid of everything on top of the skin.
And some people tend to cleanse for 10-15 minutes thinking that it is really purifying your skin and of course it is purifying your skin but at the same time it is taking away all the essential components to naturally moisturize your skin. You are really disrupting and damaging the skin barrier. The cleansing agents inside the cleansers don’t know how to detect or identify the difference between what to take away, so the dirts and grimes and sweat and what to leave.
Therefore, it takes away literally everything and I have seen numerous beauty brands recommending to use their cleanser as more like a 15 minutes purifying, detoxifying mask. You are doing it at the expense of really damaging the skin barrier. The second skincare mistake is something that I have been guilty of for so many years when I used to have acne, that is physically abusing the skin with overuse of cotton pads, overuse of cleansing wipes and makeup wipes, overuse of cleansing cloth to remove the makeup and also just rubbing the towel all over your skin really aggressively.
I was addicted to cotton pads because I know how instantly gratifying it just feels by wiping away, just swiping away all the residues of makeup. Once I was really addicted to using those kind of peeling pads like the COSRX One Step Pimple Pads, I was using that so many times and at one point my skin barrier got severely damaged that I was struggling with a mild contact dermatitis and this wasn’t caused by any skincare formulas that I use. It was caused by the physical action of just rubbing and swiping the cotton pads way too many times.
If you have to use cotton pads, instead of choosing the ones that comes with the embossed or exfoliating texture, choose the one that has no texture at all, that is really silky smooth and when you’re using the cotton pad, make sure it is completely drenched or drenched enough so that the dry surface doesn’t tear or scratch your skin and when you’re swiping it on your skin, please be as gentle as possible. Do not put any pressure on your fingers, on your hand and also if you can, try skip towel drying your skin. Skincare mistake number three, leaving cleansing water on the skin or not washing off your cleansing water after you use it.
It is true that in cleansing waters, they typically use a milder detergent or a cleansing agent than in a typical conventional foam cleansers. However, it still is a surfactant. It still does dissolve the natural moisturizing factors and natural lipids that you have that you really want to protect and this is something that I learned from a lot of dermatologists and they really hate when you just leave the cleansing water on your skin and use the cleansing water as a toner as a first step after you cleanse.
Wash it off really gently, rinse it away with lukewarm water. Skincare mistake number four is treating all areas on the skin equally. I’m not here to say that you need an eye cream or you need a dedicated product for your neck or for your forehead or for your cheeks separately.
I’m just here to say understand difference, the physiological difference of different areas on your skin. Obviously, a lot of people have oilier t-zones and it’s a little bit thicker. It’s a little bit more resilient here.
The cheek area is where a lot of people get the most sun spots and hyperpigmentation. The eye area is going to be the thinnest and probably the most delicate and the most sensitive and some people have rosacea on their cheeks so that needs to be approached a little bit differently. For example, if you’re using a clay mask, of course the guide or how to use instruction would say apply this all over the skin but you don’t really need to listen to the brand.
You can really tailor the instruction according to your skin needs. So I only apply purifying mask or drying ingredients on my t-zone because that’s more oily. When it comes to moisturizing your skin, a really good way to approach this is controlling the amount of the moisturizer that you use for different spots.
What I personally like to do is apply mainly on my cheek area and whatever that is left on my hands or the fingers, I would apply that very gently or very slightly on the t-zone area and then if my cheeks are still dry, I would go with the same moisturizer and apply another layer or a thicker layer on top of it, especially when it comes to acne skincare products too. I know a lot of people just use the acne skincare products a little bit mindlessly, using it all over the skin even to the areas where it doesn’t really have acne. Understand the difference of physiology on your skin and map it out, do some spot treating and that’ll be good enough.
Skincare mistake number five, using a full range of active ingredients or an acne range. I know a lot of people just follow the acne regime and then they believe that they need to use every single product in their skincare routine that are geared towards acne prone skin, a facial wash for acne prone skin, an acne skincare toner, acne serum, acne day cream and night cream. I’m a firm believer that in your teenage years and all the way up to early 30s, your baseline should be always hydration and moisturization and that is just creating the right environment for your skin to do its own job.
And then here and there you can insert an active treatment like AHA or VHA or retinol product or vitamin A product when your skin needs it, instead of just shoving your skin and heaping on so many different active ingredients that are stressing your skin out. Skincare mistake number six is something that I don’t think a lot of my pom-pom fam are doing it, but not moisturizing oily skin. I know it’s easy to fall under the trap of thinking that you really need to dry up your skin in order to balance your skin out and you guys know that is very far from the truth.
In fact, a lot of you guys have oily but dehydrated skin and once you started truly hydrating and nourishing and moisturizing your skin, you kind of found out that your skin is actually back in balance. It doesn’t produce the greasy gloopy sebum anymore. By hydrating and moisturizing your skin you’re giving that really cushiony and soothing environment for your skin to really thrive.
Don’t just opt for products or product range that says it is designed for oily skin. Those can be pretty good but also a lot of the conventional products seem to be really drying. You can always opt for a really lightweight refreshing gel moisturizer to start if you are still scared of applying a moisturizer.
I think that’s a really good place to start. Skincare mistake number seven is using way too many acne treatments, acne medications, acne skincare products every single day. It is undeniable that salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide can work and it will deliver results overnight.
Now I like to give my skin a little bit more time to function and to repair and recover on its own instead of just relying on acne medication to zap away the zits. Skincare mistake number eight, using way more products than what your skin needs. And the key point here is identifying what your skin craves and what your skin really really needs.
I’m not here to preach about a certain minimalistic approach of skincare routine. As long as you know each individual product in your skincare routine that you selected for serve a purpose or serve a specific function based on your skin’s craving, I don’t care how many steps you use. But it becomes a little bit problematic.
You mindlessly and carelessly apply and heap on, pile up on skincare products and really drown your skin and not giving yourself enough time to read your skin and identify what your skin needs. So more is never better and also at the same time there’s only so much that your skin can absorb. So from the third layer or from the fourth layer, it might only just stay on top of the skin and you’re really not getting the most out of the skincare product that you invested in.
Skincare mistake number nine, starting anti-aging skincare products way too young. Anti-aging active ingredients such as retinol, vitamin c and such, they do deliver results by pushing your skin cells to do a certain thing. So in a way they are like a personal trainer to your skin cells.
So your skin does go through some stress and this process could be really really good for someone who has an aging skin or someone who has a mature skin. Causing unnecessary stress to the skin can lead to premature aging or more inflammation so be aware of it. And especially if you’re still in your teens and your 20s, the best thing that you can do to your skin to preserve your bounce, the youth and just the glow is make sure your skin is hydrated and moisturized and also apply sunscreen in a daily basis.
That itself will really protect your skin from inviting signs of aging and of course stay away from inflammation causing foods because that is a really big part. Last but not least, this is not a skincare mistake but it’s like one habit or one switch that really upped and enhanced my skincare game and my hair game and my sleep game. Switching my cotton pillowcase to a silk pillowcase and this is the best investment that I made for my overall well-being but I definitely do get less breakouts from my pillowcases.
You know those kind of tiny pimples that you randomly wake up to? Silk pillowcases are way more hygienic and also it regulates your temperature better so it doesn’t heat your skin up and heat is something that really accelerates the aging and cotton pillowcases are generally more absorbent so it kind of holds on to all the sweats and the moisturizing hydrating layers that you put onto your skin before bed and I don’t really wake up with those annoying grease marks and the pillow lines and stuff on my skin which is awesome. I hope this was informative and helpful if it was please give it a thumbs up and also share this video with one friend who’s making these kind of mistakes. I just really wish everyone can really respect their skin and love their skin a little bit more because it just deserves to be loved and deserves to be taken care of and respected so give your skin more credit and it’ll really reward you with so much more.