There are so many amazing skin care recipes out there for your skin that work wonders but there are some really bad ones too. Unfortunately these bad ones seem to be some of the most prevalent. So here are my top 4 DIY Beauty Mistakes.
1. Toothpaste For Zits
I have seen this one everywhere from magazines to beauty blogs. Ya’ll toothpaste is used for your teeth not your face and even then I wouldn’t touch most toothpastes because of all their harmful ingredients.
Ingredients in toothpaste like sodium lauryl sulfate (the foaming agent) and the flavoring are actually skin irritants and will make your zit more inflamed and look much worse.
Why don’t your try using some lavender or tea tree essential oil instead? Or a dab of raw honey is another great option!
2. Baking Soda
Okay, this is one I used to be guilty of. Now that I know better though the thought of it makes me cringe. Your skin has something called an acid mantle which is its first line of defense and is what protects it from bacteria. The very same bacteria that could be causing your acne. I bet most people didn’t know that acne could be caused by your skin’s acid mantle becoming disrupted. That is why it is important that you try and keep your skin at an optimal state to stop breakouts like this occurring.
Your acid mantle has a pH between 4 and 5.5. Baking soda a pH of 9. When you put it on your skin you are completely destroying your acid mantle and making way for bad bacteria to come in.
Best to leave this off unless you have a burn or a bug bite. It actually helps with those!
3. Lemons
Lemons are way too acidic we are talking about a pH of 2. This again will destroy the acid mantle. Another thing to keep in mind is that many of ya’ll are trying to use the lemons for the Vitamin C it contains. Guess what though? Your skin is not made to absorb Vitamin C.
In order to absorb Vitamin C your skin needs the help of active transporters. Without this addition the lemon basically just burns and irritates your skin. Many of the Vitamin C creams and serums that you see have these added components that convert the Vitamin C found in lemon to the biologically active form of Vitamin C found in your skin. So unless you are a chemist and have access to all that you would need to raise the pH and convert the Vitamin C to something that can be absorbed by your skin, it is probably best to leave lemons out of your beauty routine.
4. Sugar/Salt Scrubs
Okay, I know you are sitting there rolling your eyes and saying ‘Yeah riiiight, those are so bad for your skin that major cosmetic companies make them.’ I hate to say this but most major cosmetic companies care about short term results and what is cheap to make that they can charge an extravagant fee for.
Scrubs feel great right after you use them, trust me I know, I used to use them at least once a week. In reality though they are damaging your skin on not 1 but 2 fronts.
For starters lets go to some basic biology. Hypotnic, hypertonic, and isotonic.
As you can tell in the hypertonic solution (which is what a salt or sugar scrub is) the salt/sugar outside the cell draws the water out of the cell causing it to dry and shrivel up. So when you are scrubbing away taking of the layer of dead skin cells you are really drying out the new healthy cells underneath and killing them off as well. Leading to drier flaky skin in the long run.
Okay now for the second way it can damage your skin. Both salt and sugar are crystalline structures, which means that they have sharp jagged edges. Your skin has a lipid barrier on top which is easily torn and damaged by these edges. The lipid barrier is what keeps moisture in your skin. Without it you skin actually dries out much more easily.
Instead I recommend using jojoba beads, finely ground herbs and spices, or oatmeal in you DIY exfoliants. I get all my herbs and spices from Mountain Rose Herbs.
Another exfoliant I recommend is from Miessence. It is made using polished garnet so it does not have any sharp edges to tear up the lipid barrier of your skin.
I also love the Miessence probiotic skin brightener here is what it does:
This treatment is known to restore and protect the skin’s acid mantle, lighten and brighten the complexion, improve photodamaged skin, exfoliate dead skin cells for a smoother, less-wrinkled appearance. It also helps break down impurities, whilst bringing moisture, clarity and vitality to the skin.
Find out how you can receive 20% of your Miessence orders for life.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673383/
