Volume 14. Is your 10-step skin care routine actually harming your skin?

Using the right skin care and not too much of it can be balancing act. With the beauty industry booming and new products coming out to shelves every week its hard not to get caught up in the latest trends and marketing promises.

Contrary to what we are sold, our skin actually enjoys consistency and simplicity. In order to maintain balance in our skin we need to be ensuring we are not harming our skin barrier. Our skin barrier performs an important function in keeping your skin healthy while protecting the skin from bacteria, viruses, environmental stressors and other contaminants. When we use too many products or switch too frequently between them, we can damage the natural microbiome that sits on our skin along with compromising our skin barrier.

Here are some signs you are going overboard with your skin: Your experiencing skin that is congested, along with persistent dry patches, redness and sudden acne breakouts. 

Instead of using a different product for each skin care concern, try looking for one product that targets multiple concerns. This way you aren’t overloading your skin with products and you are cutting back on the amount of ingredients that your applying to your skin. Although your skin is absorbent, it has its limits. Using fewer products not only ensures better absorption of the skin care you are using, but increases the effectiveness of the ingredients you’re putting on your skin.