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Is Your Skincare Routine Actually Hurting Your Skin?
People have the best intentions when putting together a skincare routine, believing that their efforts will lead them to the flawless-looking skin they’re seeking. In many cases, this is true – the right skincare routine can work wonders for your complexion!
However, if you happen to somehow go wrong with your skincare routine, the opposite can happen. Instead of helping your skin, you could end up harming it, with this damage compounding each time you carry that routine out.
How do you know which side of the line your own skincare routine falls on? Read on as OROGOLD shares some of the most common signs of a harmful skincare routine, along with tips on what you can do to put things right!
You’re Breaking Out More Than Usual
Ideally, your skincare routine should put a stop to the appearance of breakouts. However, if you’ve been noticing an increase in acne, even with the stellar skincare routine you’ve been following, then this is a sign that something has gone wrong somewhere.
Unsuitable Skincare Products
If your skin is naturally oily, then the extra breakouts could be down to your skincare routine containing a comedogenic product. These are products that contain pore-clogging ingredients. They’re not a problem for dry skin types but they exacerbate breakouts in oily skin.
To figure out which product is the problem, you’ll need to scour the ingredient lists of all of them. If you spot any heavy, pore-clogging ingredients on there, swap those products for more suitable alternatives.
Purging
Sometimes, when new active ingredients are introduced to the skin, this stimulates certain processes that cause the skin to purge its toxins and impurities. In the long run, this is good. However, when it’s actually happening, with breakouts being one of the symptoms, it’s frustrating to deal with!
To prevent this, be careful when introducing powerful ingredients, such as retinol, to your skincare routine. Either go with a product that combines retinol with ingredients that soothe and calm the complexion, like the OROGOLD 24K Multi-Vitamin Night Nourishment + Retinol, or start with a product that contains a gentler derivative. The 24K Nano Day Recovery, for example, is formulated with retinyl palmitate. It’s milder than retinol but still produces similar visible results in the end, yet without the purging and irritation that retinol can cause.
Your Skin Feels Oilier Than Usual
Whether your usually dry skin suddenly feels oily or your already oily skin feels excessively greasy, this could be down to your skincare routine…
Dehydration
Many don’t realize that there’s a very strong link between dehydration and oiliness. If your skin is lacking water, it tries to compensate for this by producing extra oil.
To get your complexion back into balance, focus on providing plenty of hydration. The OROGOLD 24K Golden Dew Serum-in-Cream is loaded with hydrating compounds that will soon have your skin’s moisture content feeling replenished.
At the same time, make sure that your skincare routine isn’t dehydrating your skin. If you’re using overly harsh products on your skin, in the form of exfoliators, cleansers, or active ingredients, this could be damaging your skin’s protective barrier. One of the side effects of this is dehydration, due to how your skin barrier will no longer be able to keep moisture trapped in. Try toning down your skincare routine to keep it as gentle as possible.
Hormones
Of course, sometimes a skincare routine isn’t to blame when it comes to oiliness. Hormones have a huge impact on the skin’s sebaceous glands. If your body is going through hormonal fluctuations, whether due to menstruation, pregnancy, menopause, medications, or anything else, this could stimulate your sebaceous glands into producing more oil, hence the extra oiliness you’re dealing with.
You’ve Noticed Dry and Flaky Patches on Your Skin
If you’ve been noticing dry and flaky patches popping up around your face, there’s a good chance that your skincare routine has something to do with this.
Not Adequately Catering to Dry Skin
If your skin type is naturally dry, you’ll be more prone to flaky patches. These occur due to the lack of sebum in dry skin. Sebum conditions and moisturizes the skin – something that dry skin types miss out on.
The solution is to make up for this lack of sebum by giving your skin plenty of rich moisturizing ingredients. Look for thick creams that are brimming with fatty acids and plant oils, just like the OROGOLD 24K Deep Moisturizer. Don’t limit yourself to moisturizing just twice a day either. If your skin needs more than this, then give it what it’s craving.
At the same time, make sure that you’re not using any products that are further drying out your skin. Formulas containing astringents, alcohols, and sulfates will only make your dryness worse.
Over-Cleansing/Over-Exfoliating
It can be tempting to turn to cleansing/exfoliating as a way to eliminate the dry patches on your face. However, if yours have been caused by over-cleansing or over-exfoliating, you’ll only make matters worse.
Both of these issues cause problems with the skin’s natural protective barrier. Dry patches are a common symptom, as are redness, breakouts, and general irritation. If you think that your cleansing/exfoliating regimen could be to blame, stop exfoliating for a while and switch to a gentle cleanser. The OROGOLD 24K Mousse Cleanser would be ideal. Once your skin has had some time to heal, gradually introduce a gentle exfoliator, like the 24K Multi-Vitamin Deep Peeling + Mandelic Acid, back into your skincare routine.
Your Skin Looks Irritated, Red, and Inflamed
If your skin is naturally very sensitive, the inflammation that you’re dealing with could be due to a variety of environmental factors. However, at the same time, your skincare routine, which should be working to calm your complexion, could be making things worse.
Irritants
There are many skincare ingredients out there that are known irritants. Why are they still used in skincare? Because they don’t cause problems for everyone and some of them do play important roles in skincare formulations.
With that said, there are plenty of products out there that don’t contain irritants, and these are the ones that you should be seeking out if your skin is feeling inflamed. Ideally, avoid ingredients like sulfates, fragrances, petrochemicals, and silicones, at least until your skin feels happier and calmer.
Too Many Products/Active Ingredients
While long skincare routines can be great for some, they spell bad news for others. Why? Because the more products you apply to your skin, the greater your chances of exposing your skin to the irritants that we mentioned above.
Plus, you also run the risk of mixing incompatible ingredients. If a few of your products also contain potent active ingredients, layering these over each other could be causing your irritation too.
Fortunately, the solution to this one is simple. Take your skincare routine back to basics for a while. In the mornings, you only need two products; a gentle cleanser and an SPF moisturizer, like the OROGOLD 24K Skin Tone SPF 30. In the evenings, use your cleanser again and then follow up with a rich night cream, such as the 24K Overnight Cream.
Helping Your Skin to Recover
Hopefully, you’re now able to pinpoint whether or not your skincare routine is harming your skin. We’ve already shared a few tips on overcoming the various issues that we’ve discussed above, but here are some more to help ensure that you don’t suffer from the same problems again:
Reassess Your Skin Type
Did you know that your skin type can change throughout your life? Everything from aging to hormones to your environment can cause this. Either way, if you’ve incorrectly identified your skin type, then this means that the products you’re using won’t be caring for your skin in the right way.
This is why it’s worth regularly reassessing your skin type. A couple of times a year, give your face a cleanse and then leave it bare for half an hour. Then, closely examine your skin to see which of the skin types it best correlates with.
Always Patch Test New Products
Thinking of adding a new product to your skincare routine? Before you do so, make sure that you perform a patch test.
Never done a patch test before? It involves applying a small amount of your new product to a patch of skin on your inner arm. Wait for 24-48 hours (go with 48 if your skin is naturally sensitive) to see how your skin reacts. If all is well, repeat the test but with a small patch of skin on your face this time. Again, if you don’t have any problems, then the rest of your skin will likely happily tolerate that product.
Pay Attention to the Seasons
Did you know that your skin’s needs change based on the time of year? This is why it’s so important to adapt your skincare routine to the season you’re currently in.
In the winter months, the air is cold and dry, which saps moisture from the skin. You’ll need to compensate for this with richer products. However, in the summer, the heat and humidity stimulate the sebaceous glands. With the skin now producing more oil, those thicker products that you were using in the winter will only cause breakouts. At this time of year, a lighter skincare routine is essential.
With spring and fall being transitional months, you’ll likely need to dip in and out of both your summer and winter skincare routines. Pay attention to the weather and try to tailor your routine to meet the requirements that your skin will have that day.
Creating the Perfect Skincare Routine
It’s so easy to make a mistake when putting together a skincare routine, but the consequences of this could mean months of recovery for your skin. Ideally, as soon as you notice a new skin concern starting to arise, try to figure out the cause ASAP. If you suspect that your skincare routine could be to blame, make the necessary changes so as to not risk causing long-term damage to your complexion.
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