Have you ever come home after a long day and exhaustedly crashed into bed only to realize that your makeup is still on? You know that regular face washing is critical to maintaining healthy looking and feeling skin but you just don’t have the energy to get back up. Just skipping one day can’t hurt that much, right?
While it may be tempting to drift off to sleep with a face full of foundation, blush, and mascara, completely removing your makeup before going to bed is essential to your skin’s health. Here’s how sleeping with your makeup on can impact your skin:
The skin tends to repair and renew itself overnight as you sleep, creating a more vibrant appearance in the morning. Sleeping with makeup on hinders this renewal process. Even worse, makeup tends to settle into the skin’s creases and lines leading to skin that looks dull and aged.
Most makeup is oil-based, which can clog the pores and lead to pimples. But sleeping with makeup on will actually heighten your chance of a breakout. While you sleep your makeup can mix with additional built-up debris and oil from your skin’s surface – the perfect recipe for clogged pores, acne, and blackheads.
Sleeping with eye makeup (like mascara or eyeliner) can cause eye irritation, itchiness, and infection as makeup particles can rub off onto your pillow and get into your eyes. In severe instances, regularly leaving mascara on overnight can cause eyelid cysts.
Leaving makeup (ironically, makeup designed for anti-aging) on while you sleep can further age your skin. This is due to unnecessary free radical exposure. During the day your skin is exposed to free radicals and other oxidative stressors which can break down collagen and cause line and wrinkle development. Sleeping with your makeup on seals these free radicals onto the surface of the skin all night long.
Sleeping in your makeup can dry out your skin as leftover makeup residue can crate a barrier that prevents your moisturizer from penetrating into your skin. Additionally, some makeup formulations contain ingredients that leach moisture away from the skin. Sleeping with makeup on exposes the skin to these ingredients for hours, drying out the skin.
Sleeping with mascara on is very harmful to your eye lashes. Long-term use of mascara can result in overly dry and brittle lashes. People who consistently sleep with mascara on can end up having lashes that dramatically thin and even fall out.
Preventing the above issues is as simple as always making sure to remove your makeup before going to sleep (and adding a nightly moisturizer is ideal). If you’ve fallen victim to sleeping your makeup on here’s a great tip: consider leaving makeup remover pads beside your bed. This way, you can simply wipe away your old makeup on nights where you’re too tired to properly cleanse.
