5 Important Reasons You MUST Clean Your Face Morning and Night
It is very important to wash your face morning and night. Not only by sprinkling the face with water but with facial cleanser/soap. Here are 5 reasons:
1. Research shows cleansing before bed is essential for maintaining elasticity
Every day your skin ages. And the very simple process of washing your face before bed is the best way to reduce the external factors associated with aging and to stimulate the internal processes that fight aging.
Studies have shown that certain physiological changes to the skin occur overnight. Like many of our organs, our skin can tell night from day to day. Biological processes vary over a 24-hour period as a result of the time-sensitive "clock" inside our cells, says Dr. David R. Weaver, a professor of neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Some evidence links the circadian clock to the cell cycle (cells dividing to replace dead ones) and DNA repair, a natural process by which cells regularly detoxify themselves. (Impact Journals: Aging.)
Overnight, the skin needs oxygen to repair itself. And sleeping with your makeup on will strip these essential nutrients. "When makeup is left off, it blocks the natural exfoliation process, which can make your skin look dull," says Dr. Robins Ashinoff, Director of Cosmetic Dermatology at Hackensack Medical Center in New Jersey.
2. Night cleansing is essential to let the anti-aging ingredients work.
Blood flow in the skin at night is higher. And when the blood flow increases, the absorption and penetration of the material will be maximized. So again, if you don't wash your face clean at night, you can't apply the active ingredients from your beauty products that will help fight aging (or acne or whatever your skin condition is).
So if you don't wash your face before bed, it's a missed opportunity to do something great for your skin and to wake up with smoother, softer and clearer skin.
3. Skipping regular cleansing will give you bigger pores.
First, consider that excess sebum (oil), dead skin cells, and pollution are sitting on your face. Not to mention makeup (and just because you don't wear foundation is no excuse). The cleanser will emulsify all of these and remove them from the surface of your skin. According to Dr. Dennis Gross, M.D., when makeup is left on it can seep in, clogging pores. He also says that once your collagen levels start to decline (due to aging), pores don't break easily again once they get enlarged. And, leaving makeup on can lead to inflammation that can result in the destruction of free radicals and collagen.
4. Night cleansing prevents skin dehydration.
The skin temperature increases overnight (Healthy Human Temperature) leading to trans-epidermal water loss (evaporation).
This in part causes the skin to lose most of its water at night. According to an article, Nocturnal Itching, by the Departments of Dermatology and Neurobiology & Anatomy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) is significantly increased at night, which is why our skin can sometimes feel more itchy at night. So, if you don't wash your face, you can't apply a moisturizer that will help moisturize your skin while you sleep.
5. Daytime cleansing prevents excess oil production.
I know what you're thinking: So why should I wash again in the morning; I go to bed clean? As we just learned, overnight your skin heals. Which means in the morning you have more dead skin cells to exfoliate. And more excess sebum for emulsion. It cannot be rinsed with mere water. Here's an analogy: I have 2 cats and I can tell you for sure that when my favorite sweater is full of cat hair, I can rock it all I want, but the hair doesn't sway unless I use rollers on it. Same with dead skin cells and excess sebum... you have to remove it & then rinse it off. Water alone only removes about 65% of oil and debris from the skin's surface (Livestrong Article).
Do you really want to put your makeup on top of dead skin cells & excess oil? Do you skip brushing your teeth in the morning because you do it before bed? I do not think so…
