Maintaining a beauty routine may be time-consuming, and in the middle of everything we have to accomplish in our busy lives, some of us even tend to forget the whole thing altogether.
While it’s easier to remember to put on your eyeliner and lipstick before you leave the house, remembering to take care of your skin may not be as well-programmed into your brain just yet.
Sadly, though, keeping your skin hydrated and moisturized is actually one of the most important aspects of maintaining your overall look.
From dryness to inflammation, all the way to premature wrinkling and nasty breakouts, the downsides to skipping moisturizing are way more than just losing that luminous look. In this article, we dive deeper into the reality of the matter, so read on!
Chapter Overview
1. Dryness and Dullness
The first and most notable problem is that your skin is suffering from dryness and dullness, and those really shows. This becomes even worse during the cooler winter months, or if the humidity is really low.
Without regularly using moisturizer, your skin will start flaking, losing its luster, and appearing visibly dry. Nobody wants that!
2. Lines and Wrinkles
Fine lines and wrinkles, although natural, appear magnified on dry and dehydrated skin. You may not have noticed them before, when your skin maintained some level of moisture, and you are more likely to see them more clearly when the skin is left to dry.
On the other hand, when your skin is dried out, it becomes chronically inflamed, which causes the collagen in it to break down, leading to premature aging (in other words: more wrinkles!) You can significantly slow that down!
3. Worse Breakouts
Skipping the moisturizer altogether because you think it may be aggravating your acne is a total myth. Dryness actually makes acne breakouts worse, and it is the oil that gives moisturizers such a bad reputation for acne sufferers.
Just switch to an oil-free moisturizer instead, and you’ll notice the difference – but never punish your body by leaving it to dry.
4. Fragile Skin
This may come as a surprise to some, but moisturizers actually create a somewhat protective layer. When you use some of the most effective skincare ingredients like retinoids, salicylic acid, and benzoyl peroxide (which tend to be very drying) without moisturizing, you lose that extra layer of protection and may end up with red and peeling skin.
5. Tightness and Itchiness
Generally speaking, dry skin feels feel tight (because moisture helps with elasticity and flexibility) and itchy (because dryness causes inflammation). Regardless of the reason behind the dryness, investing in a good body moisturizer that is formulated for your skin type will literally make you more comfortable in your own skin!
Many products cater to oily, dry, and combination skin, and once you understand which one suits yours, you’ll see desired results!
6. Flawed Makeup
Concealer and other makeup products tend to stick to dryness. Remember those little lines causing the lipstick to chap off your lips? Or the creases under your eyes where your concealer breaks?
That’s dryness! If you don’t hydrate your face before applying base makeup, you just risk ruining all the effort you put into it as it sets in and takes all the shapes of all those lines in a few minutes.
Waiting about five minutes before using a foundation, allows your moisturizer or primer to be properly absorbed and effect. Bonus tip? Treat your lips the same way by using a lip balm before putting on lipstick for long-lasting color!
7. Sun Damage
Many moisturizers available on the market today, comes with some SPF in them, and if you’re skipping moisturizer, then you probably also lose a bonus sunscreen step, which could lead to sun damage. Sun damage also presents itself in dark or light patches, as well as excessive wrinkling.
Forgetting to moisturize can cause your skin to look ashy and dull; highlight existing wrinkles and pave the way for new ones to form; worsen acne and other breakouts; leave your skin vulnerable in the face of drying agents; make you itchy and uncomfortable; causing your makeup to look less-than-perfect regardless of all your efforts; as well as allow sun damage to take its toll on your appearance.
We hope that this guide managed to highlight the many side effects of dry skin, possibly bumping the task of daily moisturizing up a notch or two in your long to-do list.
You will find that taking care of your skin doesn’t necessarily need more than ten minutes of your day. Investing in such little time is more than justified for a healthier and younger appearance that you can enjoy for years to come.