Taking care of your skin is not just about trying to treat pimples or dark spots because you want your skin to be clear. There is so much more to skincare than just appearances. Skincare helps keep your skin healthy and protected, like applying SPF daily to protect against damaging UV rays.
Skincare is also a great form of self-care. We know that self-care is all about taking care of yourself and giving yourself time to do something you like to do outside of a busy schedule. This can include, listening to music, reading a book, or going for a walk. Skincare can also fit into this self-care routine since it's something you can take some time out of your day to do just for yourself. Not to mention the added bonus of doing something good for your skin.
What happens if you don’t take care of your skin?
While our skin barrier is meant to protect us against any harmful toxins entering the skin, if you don’t make an effort to protect the skin barrier, it can become damaged. Air pollution damages the skin by breaking down the things that keep our skin healthy (like lipids and collagen). This can cause increased skin sensitivity, inflammation, and premature aging of the skin.
And, if you live in a particularly cold area of the world, you also have to contend with the drying effects of cold, frigid air. Colder temperatures and low humidity in the air can suck out the moisture from your skin, making the skin dry and in severe conditions can even lead to cracked skin.
If you’re a serial pimple popper, you are probably also damaging your skin. Even for the easy to pop pimples, you can still cause scarring if you end up picking at them and in worst case scenarios you can expose your skin to infection (popping a pimple creates an open wound that bad bacteria can enter). Trying to pop inflamed acne can cause even more damage. If you try to pop an inflamed pimple (or a pimple without a visible whitehead) then you run the risk of pushing bacteria deeper into the pore, resulting in a more inflamed and painful pimple.
How to take care of your skin
You can help prevent damage to the skin from air pollution by incorporating antioxidants into your skincare routine. Antioxidants help to protect against free radicals (molecules that damage healthy cells). If you want to fend off free radical damage then it is important to take care of your skin by adding antioxidants like Vitamin C and E. It also helps to make sure you are cleansing your skin daily to help remove any toxins that can get stuck on your skin throughout the day.
When it comes to dealing with cold, dry weather, if you want to avoid dry, cracked skin it’s important to make sure that you incorporate more hydrating products to help keep skin moisturized and protected. That means using a hydrating, non-stripping cleanser and a thicker moisturizer. Maybe even consider adding occlusives to your skincare routine if you have extra dry or dehydrated skin.
As for acne, popping pimples should be avoided to prevent causing damage to the skin and making pimples angrier. There are various skincare products that help kill acne causing bacteria and help clean out pores to prevent breakouts. Take Salicylic Acid products as an example. Salicylic Acid helps get deep into pores to dissolve excess sebum and dead skin that can cause pimples. So if you want to treat your acne, consistently using a product with Salicylic Acid can help.
Taking care of your skin as self-care
Apart from the skin health benefits you get from having a good skincare routine, taking care of your skin can also be a form of self-care. Think about applying a face mask. You get a chance to sit back, relax, apply a cooling face mask and treat yourself to some self-care time.
Then there’s the calming effect of having a daily skincare routine. The stability from repeating this routine helps provide a sense of relief because you know what to expect. Especially, if you have a hectic schedule, then having a routine that helps you unwind and take some time to care for yourself can help you destress.
Skincare doesn’t have to be a part of your self-care routine, but if you happen to find relief and joy in completing your skincare routine then it doesn’t hurt to incorporate it into your self-care routine as well.
Whether you are worried about your skin’s health or need a self-care routine, skincare is essential to taking care of your skin and is a great way to cut out some time of the day to focus on just you.
