skin detox diet vs regular cleansing?
Young woman washing face in bathroom
I’ve been reading a little about a skin detox “diet” recently. Apparently the system is that you wear your usual makeup five days of the week, and the other two you go bare-faced. I remain unconvinced, and dermatologists aren’t sold, either. Investing in better-quality makeup, or makeup better-suited to your skin type, and always making sure to cleanse properly will go so much further than placing some arbitrary limit on your makeup use as a whole.
Think of it this way: when you go on a diet, do you perhaps get a cheat meal here and there, or do you cheat all week and call it being healthy when you eat only kale on Saturday? The latter example is what it’s like to treat your skin poorly all week and then all of a sudden remember to take care of it for a couple days. I actually spoke with a woman recently to whom this diet (can you hear me roll my eyes every time I say “diet”?) appealed because she didn’t wash her face during the week, claiming, “it really cuts down on my getting-ready time in the morning!”
Young woman washing face in bathroom
I’ve got to be real–that’s so bad. Your skin is not just a canvas for makeup, it’s an organ. It needs to work for you for the rest of your life! Moreover, it’s an organ that everyone sees. Not only will you need it to work for you, but people will be looking at it! Why wouldn’t you want to take good care of it all seven days?!
If you are a makeup wearer, wash your face. If you are not a makeup wearer…still wash your face. Think of all the gunk that collects on your skin during the day. We live in a city where we’re surrounded by the exhaust of a million cars, the second-hand smoke of a thousand stressed-out Hill staffers, and even if you simply hang out in your own backyard, the run-of-the-mill sweat and humidity that comes from living in a vaguely Southern atmosphere is enough to make one itch for a washcloth. Once you settle into a great routine for your cleansing, I’d be surprised if you didn’t come to enjoy it as a relaxing little ritual!
