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Title: Washing your face: How and how often
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Published: Jan 27, 2012
Author: Harvard
Post Date: 2012-01-27 21:52:09 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 168
Comments: 9
Whether you have dry skin, sensitive skin, older skin, or oily skin, there is no shortage of products and advice on facial cleansing. How often to wash your face, and what to use can be confusing. Excessive cleansing of the skin with soap and water or solvents can interfere with the barrier function of the skin, leading to redness and dryness. However, it's a problem that usually affects the hands, not the face, and people who are exposed to water frequently or who wash their hands often for work, such as surgeons and nurses and bartenders - as well as the occasional person who is obsessed with cleanliness. Washing your face, even if you do it fairly often, shouldn't cause a problem unless you have an underlying disorder, such as eczema (atopic dermatitis). Still, it's a good idea to be a little more careful about what you wash your face with. Washing with just water is usually not sufficient because dirt sticks to the skin. Besides, many people need a cleanser of some kind because they have oily skin resulting from active sebaceous glands. Using regular soap is fine in many cases. Chemically, soap is either a sodium or potassium salt (salt in the sense of being a compound consisting of an acid and a base), and the two most common varieties these days are sodium tallowate and sodium cocoate. Soap is alkaline (it has a pH of 9 to 10), so it can be irritating even to normal skin, which tends to be slightly acidic (with a pH of 5.6 to 5.8). Synthetic soaps - often identified on the package as being "soap-free" - are a better choice for some because the pH is closer to that of normal skin. The synthetic products are definitely worth a try if your skin is reacting badly to regular soap. Facial scrubs that clean and remove the outer layer of skin (exfoliate) are okay, but many people use them too enthusiastically, so their skin gets irritated. The same is true of rough washcloths and loofahs. And regardless of the type of soap you use, or how you use it, it's best to use warm, not hot, water. Some people do go through life without using soap on their faces. And some people are blessed with great skin. How they take care of it may have little to do with its appearance. There's no end to the myths, folktales, and marketing ploys about proper skin care, especially as it concerns the face. It's good, hard facts that are in short supply. Harvard Health Letter Volume 35 - Number 7 - May 2010
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#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
thanks for posting all the interesting health articles. i dont often comment, but read a lot of them. Ive come to believe that people are too shower obsessed. I actually look better a day after a shower. something about the skin & its natural way to be.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
Same here. darn. and here i thought at least someone else was gonna admit not bathing! 8-)
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
That would be me. Don't know why folks use soap unless they have gotten oil on their skin. I wash my face twice daily with Swanson's Tea Tree Oil Cleanser......LOVE that stuff! : )
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11 "Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
I do the same. Thanks! I shower every morning after washing my face and shaving - so I guess twice on normal days. On hot days after mowing the lawn I usually wash it again. I use Ivory soap in the shower and that liquid soap at the bathroom sink. I've never thought much of it but I think I have good facial skin.
My pug washes my face when I'm sleeping.
Serial killer psychopaths ruin families. Corporate psychopaths ruin societies -- Prof. Robert Hare
I wash my face daily with pomegranate body wash. Then, before I step outside, I put vaseline under the eyes and nose area and around and on the lips. Then, I use a Vitamin E face cream. I try to get eight hours of sleep and I don't smoke or do drugs. Smoking causes the face to age faster just like drugs too. I limit my intake of fried foods. I don't eat pork or shellfish either. I try to eat vegetables as much as possible and brown rice. Mostly, I eat chicken or freshwater fish (salmon, tuna, yellowtail, perch, halibut). It is not so much as to what you put on your face or use to clean your face but really has much to do with what you put in your body. Your body is a temple...not a garbage can.
I use steel wool and kerosene and douse my freshly scrubbed face with Old Spice.
#2. To: Artisan, Tatarewicz (#1)
(Edited)
thanks for posting all the interesting health articles. i dont often comment, but read a lot of them.
"For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry
#3. To: wudidiz (#2)
#4. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Some people do go through life without using soap on their faces
"Satan / Cheney in "08" 
#5. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
#6. To: Artisan, Tatarewicz (#1)
(Edited)
thanks for posting all the interesting health articles. i dont often comment, but read a lot of them.
#7. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
#8. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
#9. To: Tatarewicz, Turtle (#0)
-Alex Kurtagic
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