5 Reasons You Might Be Breaking Out

Did you ever think that you would still be fighting with breakouts as an adult? We all have had the typical causes, hormones, overproduction of oil, age, genetics, stress, etc.  Maybe you have had a breakout and can’t figure out why? You have a great skincare routine, but do you keep having issues? There might be a few things that you are doing and might not even realize that could be contributing. Today I am going to talk about 5 Reasons You Might Be Breaking Out.

I will be honest with you; it is easy to do most of these things without even realizing it! But since I have been aware of them, my skin has been much better. It really does help your skin health to make a few easy adjustments.

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Wash Your Pillowcase

How often do you change your pillowcase? Dermatologists recommended that we change it every couple of days. I know, that’s pretty often, isn’t it! But when you think about it you should be sleeping 6-8 hours every night on the pillowcase. While sleeping you are transferring oil, dead skin cells, face moisturizers, and dirt onto it. So, night after night you are rubbing that back into your skin.

If you are having frequent breakouts, you might want to try switching out your pillowcase more often to see if this helps. It is also recommended for both your skin and hair to use a silk or satin pillowcase. They are great for helping to reduce frizz, and breakage, and help to keep your skincare products from being absorbed into the fabric. Your hair and skin will thank you!

Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Did you know that some people do not clean their makeup brushes? How often do you clean yours? Dermatologists typically recommend to clean them a minimum of every 2 weeks depending on how often you use them. I did a blog post a while back on cleaning makeup brushes, Why and How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes. You can read that here.

We can spend a lot of money on our makeup, and even our brushes. Bacteria, oil, and dirt can get transferred from your skin to the brushes. If you do not regularly clean them that bacteria will grow in the brushes and transfer back onto your skin and can cause breakouts along with other skin irritation.

Try to Stop Touching Your Face

Did you know that the average person touches their face 23x per HOUR? That is an average of 552x a day! That is a lot! Since finding this out I have been more aware, and I touch my face a lot more than I ever realized! You can transfer germs and bacteria which is a breeding ground for a breakout!  

I did a much more in-depth blog post on this if you would like to read it, Why You Should Avoid the Habit of Touching Your Face. You can click here to check it out. I can still hear my mom yelling at me to stop touching my face! Lol. She always seemed to know what she was talking about. Not only can it lead to a breakout, but it can exacerbate skin conditions like rosacea, eczema, and contact dermatitis.

Please Remove Your Makeup at Night

We all get tired in the evening and just want to go to bed. One habit that I have always had is taking my makeup off before I go to bed. If we leave on our makeup while we sleep it can clog our pores causing breakouts. Not only does not removing your makeup cause breakouts but it can also lead to premature aging.

One of my favorite makeup removers is Monat’s Makeup Vanishing Balm. It literally dissolves and removes all your makeup including eye makeup. It doesn’t dry out your skin and leaves it soft and smooth, not to mention it’s gluten-free, vegan, and Leaping Bunny Approved! If you want more information about this product, click here.

Cell Phone

Do you take your cell phone in the bathroom with you? Did you know that your cell phone is 10x dirtier than a toilet seat on average? This makes me cringe! We have a “soap” cell phone cleaner that we don’t use nearly enough. It uses ultraviolet light to kill germs. I know a lot of people use the speaker on their phones or headphones, but I know sometimes this isn’t possible and we need to hold our phones up to our faces. Think about all those germs…

Now that you let that sink in a bit, all those bacteria and germs can cause a breakout or irritate your skin. I know “back in the day” when we had actual landlines we would sit on the phone for hours and hold the phone between our head and shoulder resting it on our chin. Does anyone else remember getting breakouts and wondering how that happened?! Yep, that’s why!

We can help solve this problem by regularly cleaning our cell phones or trying not to hold them up to our faces as much as possible. Please don’t put it on speaker out in public, but this is a topic for a different day! Lol.

So, did any of these things surprise you? Do you have any tips you can give us below in the comments that might help the rest of us out? Sometimes the smallest change can make the biggest difference!