Yoshiko Roth-Hidalgo, JUARA Founder

Guest Blog Posting

I take pretty good care of my skin and I definitely avoid the major common no-no’s that are detrimental to skin health: I don’t smoke, I don’t drink much alcohol, I don’t go in the sun, and I put on sunscreen every day. And yet, I have noticed that I make certain, seemingly small mistakes more often that I would like to admit. It’s probably more carelessness and lazyness on my part than lack of knowledge, but avoiding these common mistakes actually make a big difference for your skin’s balance and health:

1) Not reapplying sunscreen. I’m not talking about reapplying while you’re on the beach or going hiking. I’m talking about the average lunch break on a sunny day, which will give you with a hefty dose of peak sun exposure. Most people do not like reapplying a sunscreen lotion on top of an existing layer of sunscreen. The solution? Mineral powder foundation with sunscreen attached to convenient brush applicators. Reapplying sunscreen becomes easy as 1-2-3 and your skin will benefit from a nice matte, event finish.

2) Scrubbing too much and hurting your skin as a result. I make this mistake a lot and regret it every time. I use an exfoliating scrub once or twice a week. Having very sensitive skin, I use a very gentle scrub. However, while massaging my face, I always wonder “Gee, this scrub is so gentle, I don’t feel the scrubbing action. I wonder if it’s really taking off my dead skin cells. Perhaps I should scrub harder.” Hence, I scrub harder and regret it later when I see redness on my skin. As my dermatologist has told me repeatedly: When you get to the point that you feel the little abrasives, you are actually hurting the skin. Gentle is better and just as effective.

3) Waiting too long to apply moisturizer after the shower. I read once that your skin starts loosing hydration as soon as 2 minutes after you have showered and dried yourself off with a towel. That means the window to apply a moisturizer to lock in hydration is extremely small. The very simple solution: Keep your body lotion, crème or oil inside the shower and apply them as soon as you pat dry most of the water from the skin.

4) Skipping a hydrating toner after using a wash-off cleanser. Whenever you use a wash-off cleanser, your skin will come in contact with tab water, which tends to be drying. Using a hydrating toner, especially one with hyaluronic acid, will provide your skin with an immediate hydration buffer that counters the effect of the tap water and also make your subsequent moisturizer much more effective.

5) Working out with active skincare products on your skin. I usually go to the gym at night right after work, which means that all the products I put on in the morning and throughout the day are still lingering on the skin. These days, even a simple day-time moisturizer might be packed with many “active” ingredients such as glycolic acids, retinol or Vitamin C just to name a few. While these ingredients are very beneficial for the skin, they can often irritate the skin when they mix with our sweat. My advice: Wash your face before you exercise. If your skin is dry, apply a very simple moisturizer with very, very few ingredients. The fewer the ingredients, the lower the risk of skin irritation when you sweat.