Your Beloved Makeup Wipes Are Harming Your Skin - IDiva
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Specialty: Beauty, Culture
Beauty, opinion, and lifestyle writer; intersectional feminist (she/her) Know More
I have come to the sad realisation that an alarming number of beautiful people who are enthusiastic about makeup and skincare commit this one terrible sin – using makeup or baby wipes to remove your makeup. Hence, I have decided to use the power of the internet to nudge (read: push/force) you into the right direction, which will make your skin thank me, and all your stars that you stumbled upon this article
TL;DR: Makeup wipes are bad for your skin, the environment, and are not manufactured to act as a skin cleanser.
Let’s break it down.
Image credit: istock
1. Makeup wipes are full of harsh and harmful chemicals that disrupt the pH balance of your skin and its acid mantle. The acid mantle is a protective layer of your skin that keeps out the dirt and impurities, and seals in the moisture and natural oils. The layer is extremely important for the health of your skin, and is removed when you use the wipes. Not only that, it also strips the skin off its natural oils.
2. If you use makeup wipes and an exfoliant, it is like completely removing the protective layer of your skin. You need to avoid at all costs.
3. Makeup and baby wipes are not manufactured to be used for cleansing the skin, they’re designed to break down makeup particles. So if you’re wiping your face with a makeup wipe, the chances are that a considerable amount of residue from makeup and pollutants will still remain in your pores and clog them.
Image credit: Giphy
4. You don’t want the harsh chemicals on your skin, especially if it is on the sensitive side. Makeup wipes leave behind a skin that is more prone to irritation and breaking out. Moreover, it is not fit to be used as a remover of eyeliner, kajal, and mascara since the eye tissue is very sensitive.
5. It is absolutely terrible for the environment! The global climate crisis is at a point where we’re way past the stage of recycling everything, and have reached where we should all be trying to reduce our waste as much as possible. Unfortunately, single-use products cause much more harm than we can imagine. It can take at least one hundred years for a single makeup wipe to decompose. Imagine using one everyday, and adding to the pile of waste that we already produce countless tonnes of.
Image credit: Giphy
What you should do instead
1. Use reusable wipes or bamboo based wipes to remove your makeup.
Buy it here
2. Double Cleanse!
Image credit: Giphy
Double cleansing is a more effective way of removing makeup, in which you first cleanse your face with an oil based cleanser, and then with a regular cleanser. It weeds out all the makeup particles from your face and then cleans out the dirt and impurities from your pores, without disturbing the pH balance of your skin.
Find out how to pick a facial cleanser perfect for your skin type here.
Lead and Social Image Credits: iStock
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Manya Lohita AhujaSpecialty: Beauty, Culture
Beauty, opinion, and lifestyle writer; intersectional feminist (she/her) Know MoreTrending
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