Your Beauty Routine Could Be Damaging Your Health

Throughout our lives we have spent precious time mapping out a great beauty routine. Whether you realize it or not, you've formed methods, tips, and tricks consistently to ensure that you're getting exactly what you need out of each product or tool you own. It feels great to know exactly what works - and what doesn't.

So then why is it that so many of us find ourselves victim to being a creature of bad beauty habits? You know the ones you're guilty of. Shampooing your hair too often or skipping face wash after a night of partying are two biggies, chances are there are even more no-nos you commit without even realizing. Most are innocent enough, but some of those habits are actually detrimental to your physical health. Take note of these five beauty blunders that you need to stop today!

1. PICKING, PULLING, AND PUCKING YOUR LASHES

Nerves, stress, anger, boredom. These are all fair reasons as to why some of us pull at our lashes. If not pulling on bare lashes, you might also be guilty of picking mascara off of them which almost always results in a loss of precious lash. Stop this right now! Did you know it can take up to two months to grow back eyelashes? It's not going to be worth the effort you go through post-lash pulling to fake a full lash because so many are missing. Be kind to your eyes - those little babies are sensitive.

2. PEELING OFF SHELLAC

This is such a huge no! Peeling off the layers of your shellac manicure is severely damaging. You may think you're doing yourself a favor by avoiding the acetone bath at the salon, but you're actually taking off a necessary layer of your nail with the polish, making way for discoloration, or worse, infection. The major bummer in all of this is that not only will all of your at-home mani’s have bumps and ridges bulging through your coat of polish, but if you go back to the salon they are going to adjust the damage with harsh tools and potions anyway. Just do the right thing and dip those delicate little nails in acetone for a few minutes. Sing a song in your head while it is happening to distract you from the torture of watching your hand sit in a petite cup of damaging liquid, whatever helps ease the stress. Or, you know, skip gel manis altogether, since they could be giving you cancer.

3. IGNORING HAIR PRODUCT LIMITS

Trust me, I get it. We all have our own unique hair problems and after careful time spent finding our favorites that "do the trick," the actual amount of product we are slapping onto our locks each day is growing, pun intended. It feels innocent enough treating your hair to a huge combination of liquids, gels and sprays, but what you're really doing is stressing out your tresses! Not all products are made to work together, and further to that, too much stuff in your hair creates build-up that only a strong purifying shampoo can clear you of. Avoid dry and itchy scalp, oily messes and embarrassing dandruff by remembering that less is more. Your best bet is to focus on your biggest hair need and cater your products accordingly.

4. RUSHING YOUR SKINCARE REGIME

For the most part, we are all fairly diligent with our skin care routine. Things may get in the way once in a while and you sometimes neglect certain things. Lately, however, it seems we have a new habit of rushing our skin care routine because we are tired, running late, or lazy. For example, you wake up late in the morning and immediately begin to slap on a face. Instead of tapping your eye cream around the eye area like usual, you are rubbing and pushing the cream around aggressively. Not only is this allowing more of the product to absorb on your finger then under your eye, but that type of rubbing around a delicate part of skin can encourage fine lines and wrinkles. If you're running late use the time you have to apply your skincare products correctly instead of spending what little time you have left that morning on make-up, you are beautiful without it anyway!

5. USING A LIP GLOSS WITHOUT SPF

You know SPF is important; it's been drilled into our heads, and that is a good thing. For the most part I'm sure you're diligent with applying SPF before you scoot out the door for the day, but what about your lips? Yes, your lips! This seems to be the last place we think to add protection and that my friend is a beauty habit deal breaker! Sun damage can cause a number of terrible health problems including loss of elasticity, inflammation, lesions, and discoloration. Your lips are no exception to these issues. In fact, leaving your lips without SPF is practically begging the sun to attack you. Be a savvy product shopper and make sure that you buy a lip balm with an SPF. You can add the lip balm underneath your favorite gloss, allowing it to act like an army against the suns damaging rays while still looking fabulous.

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