Clean skin obsession is not surprising for anyone today. Whenever you turn off the TV or browse the Internet, you see ads promoting e.g. bleaches and cleaning supplies or hand sanitizers that remove 99.9% of bacteria and viruses to help you ‘protect you and your family. During the pandemic, it has become even more serious. And yes, sure, we all want to protect our families. We hear all these slogans and information about cleanliness and disinfection and suddenly we also transmit them to our hygiene, skincare in this case.
We start to believe that ‘the cleaner your skin, the healthier you are, but frankly, it’s nonsense. We regularly use antibacterial soaps, alcohol-based tonics, washcloths, sponges, cloths, and body or face brushes – all because we want the skin to be perfectly clean and shiny. And unfortunately, such an intense cleaning is a huge mistake.
If you do it once but deeply, it’s okay, but washing and polishing your skin excessively regularly might end really badly. Not only will it strip the skin of its natural, protective layer but also strip it from the good bacteria that helps the skin keep healthy.
Modern face cleansers
The latest trend to use numerous face cleaning accessories to achieve perfectly clean skin is nothing but overwhelming. They might make you think ‘My skin has never been so clean before!’. But beware, when you treat your skin like that, using a facial scrubbing brush will for sure make your skin feel clean like never before. It is washed of make-up, some everyday dirt like air pollution, fumes, dirt from your hands, etc. but it is also washed of its natural protective microbiome.
Why?
When you wash your skin with 'aggressive' cosmetics regularly, and sometimes don't even rinse them off thoroughly, you negatively affect the physiological functions of the skin layer. Irritation, redness, eczema occur (when the skin with eczema is heavily scrubbed, the bacteria spreads all over your face, and new eczema and acne form). Blood vessels start to work harder, the skin gets overreactive and erythema might appear. You can also experience a permanent inflammation of the skin or suffer from allergies you have never suffered before. Your skin immune system gets quite disturbed and the skin is not able to fight against outside aggressors. When the protective skin layer is 'washed off', pathogens, viruses, and bacteria are more likely to attack your skin. And this is where some serious skin problems start.
Summary
The skin should live in full symbiosis with natural bacteria. The microbiome (our good bacteria, fungi, and viruses) of each of us is unique and we can’t decide on what it likes. We need the microbiome to stay healthy, to enjoy youthful and strong skin. It makes our skin more resistant to numerous skin diseases. One of the best ways to take control of your skin for good is establishing an appropriate skincare plan. The plan will respect, nourish and support the microscopic friends the skin has. Your skin’s health and well-being are much more important than using too many accessories that slowly destroy the protective layer of your skin.
To find out what is the microbiome, what kind of work it does, and how important it is - we will have to look at it closer soon :)
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