Are your face cleansing wipes causing you to age faster?
If they’re what you’re using daily instead of a traditional cleanser, you might want to rethink your cleansing routine.
Heads up, cleansing wipe fans, swiping off your makeup with those handy little towelettes and textured pads might not be doing your skin any good.
You’re doing it all wrong
Sure, they’re convenient and they’re certainly better than nothing when you’re lazy and just want to fall into bed after a long night out (but seriously, don’t skip the cleansing – leaving all that makeup on overnight will do your face and your pillow some serious damage), but makeup wipes are not your friend, especially if you don’t know what their active ingredients are.
They’re easy because they don’t require any rinsing off with water. That’s where the problem lies. Without the additional step of rinsing your skin, these wet wipes are definitely not as effective or thorough at cleansing your face. In fact, what you end up doing is pushing around all that dirt, grime, sebum and makeup over your face. You might lift some of it off, that’s true, but a portion of it is still left behind.
The remaining gunk on your face just sits there, while you believe your skin to be cleansed and refreshed. This could leave your skin dry and irritated. Some ingredients in these wipes may also be too harsh for your skin (they’re meant to ‘cleanse’, after all), and because you aren’t rinsing your face afterwards, these preservatives and surfactants just cling to your skin. If you’ve got sensitive skin, this might cause some problems for you.
All this buildup can affect your skin’s clarity and cause your complexion to become dull, clogged, and yes, look older.
What should you be doing instead?
Unless you’re desperate and don’t have a sink at your disposal, only use these makeup wipes sparingly, and ensure you know exactly what you’re putting on your face. There are wipes designed for sensitive skin, ones that are oil-free and alcohol-free, ones that contain skin-healing ingredients, so look out for those. But whenever you can, do the extra step of rinsing your face like you would if you were using a regular cleanser!
Better yet, just avoid them altogether.
Angela Goh
Photos: Getty Images
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