5 Reasons To Stop Using Soap On Your Face!

If your skin care regimen includes soap, KEEP READING! Soap is used to clean a lot of things - I use it to wash my hands (which I still follow up with a moisturizing lotion), I use it to wash my car, but never - never my face! But why? What's the big deal?

Here are 5 reasons to stop using soap as part of your skin care regimen:

1. It strips the skin of it's acid mantle. Yes, even the "moisturizing" kinds. Our skin keeps the good stuff in and the bad stuff out by protecting itself with a hydro-lipidic barrier, or "acid mantle". This is what prevents moisture loss in the skin and assists in keeping bacteria out. If you strip this layer away everyday by using harsh soaps instead of a gentle Facial Cleanser you are leaving your skin in a constant state of inflammation, increasing your risk for dehydration and irritation such as rashes, eczema and dermatitis.

2. It's too alkaline. Our skin's pH is naturally about a 5.5 (slightly acidic). In order to maintain a healthy pH, our products should be a similar pH to our skin - but soap is about a 9 on the pH scale - way too alkaline to safely cleanse the skin without disrupting it's natural balance. Disrupting that balance can cause a number of issues resulting in temporary or even permanent damage to the underlying tissues.

3. Because even the soaps that claim to be "for senstive skin" likely have artificial fragrances, colouring, detergent-like foaming agents, chemical preservatives and a whole lotta fillers! Not much room for skin loving ingredients in there! Proper facial cleansers can add nourishment, hydrate and calm the skin while they cleanse making them part of your daily skin treatment program.

4. Those of you with oily skin who tend to like that "squeaky clean" feeling are actually doing more harm than good. Remember that acid mantle we talked about? Well every time you strip that, you're stripping away ALL the oils in your skin. Our skin needs a certain amount of oil to maintain healthy skin and keep moisture in. So what does our body do when we take something away that it needs? It goes into repair mode and it makes more! So you are actually contributing to your oil problem by constantly stripping it away. It's a viscous cycle!

5. It changes the texture of your skin - it feels rough and flaky, and if you wear makeup does not create a smooth canvas to work on due to it's constantly dehydrated state. So your makeup will never look flawless no matter what you use! Pores will become more obvious, hyper-pigmentation will look darker and skin will have an overall dull appearance instead of looking bright and luminous! Check out this experiment that a fellow Esthetician performed:

 I think the image speaks for itself....

Bonus reason: Bar soaps harbour mass amounts of dirt and bacteria and are icky!

For recommendations regarding an appropriate facial cleanser for your skin come chat with me - you're friendly neighbourhood Esthetician and Skin Care Specialist! :)

xo Meaghan