When it's cold, the desire to move decreases and it becomes easy to get lazy. The process of washing your face is tedious, you have to dress and put on your shoes, walk to the bathroom, turn on the faucet, rub your face, and then dry the towel and go back to the bed...... Just thinking about it like this, this face doesn't want to be washed anymore.
Some netizens shared that they didn't wash their faces for a week, but their skin got better. This allows everyone to find a reason to be "lazy". But what is the reason for this? Is it really okay not to wash your face, and how can you protect your face skin in the cold wind?
Is it OK not to wash my face?
The skin is nowhere near as clean as we see, and there is a lot of dirt on the surface. The skin of the face is metabolized all the time, secreting oil and sweat, and these skin metabolites provide a good environment for bacteria to multiply.
Part of the dirt in the skin is physiological dirt, which is a metabolite produced, secreted or excreted by the human body, and in addition to sebum and sweat, there are also cells and mucous membranes that have been exfoliated by aging.
The other part is pathological dirt, such as scales, pus, scabs, etc., caused by certain skin diseases (dermatitis, eczema, acne, etc.).
There is also a part of exogenous dirt, including microorganisms, environmental dirt, residues of various cosmetics and topical drugs. And these dirt can affect the smoothness of pores.
If you don't wash your face, sweat, oil, dirt, and bacteria will stay on the surface of the skin, which can lead to a series of facial skin problems, such as facial infections, breakouts, dull skin, rough skin, enlarged pores, and blackheads.
In addition to this, there is a relatively higher risk of contracting infectious diseases. Take, for example, the most common and variable viral infection of the upper respiratory tract – the main way the virus spreads is through exhaled droplets of different sizes, which can be inhaled by nearby contacts or deposited on people and surfaces. Contact with contaminated surfaces followed by hand-to-face transfer is a potential route of infection.
Studies have shown that we humans can touch our faces involuntarily more than 20 times per hour, which shows that if we can pay attention to the cleanliness of our faces (including hands), the risk of infection will definitely be much smaller.
How to wash your face properly?
In fact, how to wash our face needs to be decided according to our own skin type, external environment, and skin condition.
Oily skin: Cleanse morning and evening with a cleanser with a strong cleanser. For some exfoliating products, you can use them 1 time a week, not too often.
Moderately dry skin, sensitive skin: This type of skin usually only has a small amount of skin metabolites on the face in the morning, and it is enough to rinse with water, without using facial cleanser. When washing your face at night, you can choose to wash it with a mild and non-irritating facial cleanser.
If the skin is in a sensitive period, you can reduce the frequency of washing your face, and during this special period, occasionally not washing your face or not using facial cleansers can reduce skin irritation on the one hand, and reduce damage to the skin barrier on the other hand.
Frequency of face washing: 1 time in the morning and 1 time in the evening.
The temperature of the water used to wash your face can vary depending on the season, and there are no strict rules, but it is not recommended to use water that is too cold or too hot.
Cleansing products: In daily situations, it is advisable to clean the face with water, which is generally enough. If you have a poor working and living environment, and you have special circumstances such as using sunscreen, foundation, and oil-based makeup, you may need to use a cleanser.
Use of cleansing products: Take facial cleanser as an example, this is the most commonly used category, each time you use a volume of soybeans to the size of broad beans, which is equivalent to 1~2g of the amount, the key area of use is the T zone of the face, after gently applying it with your fingers, and then scrubbing it with a towel moistened with water.
What about sensitive skin?
In recent years, due to the influence of various factors, the number of sensitive skin groups has been increasing, and many female friends have been deeply disturbed.
Because sensitive skin is always in a state of high reactivity, it has a very poor tolerance to external stimuli. This has led to this group being very cautious about the cleansing of the skin.
Can not washing your face solve or alleviate the problem of sensitivity?
The main causes of sensitive skin are as follows:
1. The stratum corneum is thin
The stratum corneum is the protective layer of the skin, and the stratum corneum is thin, which can easily cause an increase in transdermal penetration and cause hyperreactivity of the skin. To put it simply, it is a weak resistance to external stimuli. Studies have found that people with thin stratum corneum are more susceptible to chemical irritation.
2. Decreased skin barrier function
Skin barrier function is an important structure to maintain the normal physiology of the skin, and the skin barrier function includes two functions:
(1) Prevent the invasion of external physical, chemical and microbial bacteria and viruses;
(2) Prevent the loss of nutrients and moisture in the skin.
Impaired skin function is an important cause of skin sensitivity.
3. Neurogenic inflammatory response
These intrinsic and extrinsic factors, acting separately or together, induce sensitive skin.
The first two factors are closely related to our daily cleansing and face washing. The purpose of cleansing is to remove excess oil, dirt, bacteria and exfoliated skin cells from the skin's surface. However, many people due to excessive washing, resulting in the thinning of the stratum corneum, and even the destruction of the sebum film, so that the skin loses its barrier effect.
Therefore, for sensitive skin, since it is necessary to repair the damaged skin barrier, what is needed is to avoid over-cleansing. Following the principles of gentle cleansing, soothing moisturizing, and strict sun protection, it is advisable to choose medical skin care products that have been tested and clinically proven to be safe in the process of skin care, and at the same time, according to seasonal changes, choose medical skin care products that have the effect of repairing the skin barrier.