With only a few weeks left until New Year's, now could be the perfect time to make some new beauty resolutions and break some of those bad habits for good. If breakouts, dry skin, or an uneven skin tone are some of your biggest beauty dilemmas, your lifestyle could be to blame. Your day-to-day skincare regimen and lifestyle habits play a role in how your skin looks and feels. A ruddy complexion is often linked to a poor diet or dehydration; problem skin could be the result of stress or a lack of snooze time.
Here are five bad beauty habits to break before the end of the year:
#1: Exfoliating Too Often
Exfoliating is a great way to get rid of that layer of dead skin cells on the surface of the skin, but too much of a good thing can make your skin dry out, become excessively oily, or trigger breakouts. Skin care expert Renee Rouleau says that too much exfoliation can trigger inflammation. Use a Clarisonic Mia to buff the skin just once a day (or less), so you don't fall into an exfoliation danger zone.
#2: Sleeping with Makeup On
Always a no-no, sleeping with your makeup on is like feeding your skin a heavy dose of chemicals and compounds while you snooze. Even if you use natural makeup, your skin can't get to work to shed dead skin cells and regenerate while you sleep. Dermatologist Dr. Lisa Kellett recommends using a non-foaming cleanser to get rid of bacteria that's accumulated on your face throughout the day. At the very least, use some makeup wipes to get rid of all that eye and face makeup in one quick sweep.
#3: Picking at Nail Polish
This bad habit can actually wear down your nails and make it prone to chipping. Experts at the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Dermatology have found that picking and pulling at nails can even contribute to skin disease and be a form of self-injury. Remove that polish like a pro with a high-quality nail polish remover and use a fortifying polish to restore those nails after the mini-manicure session.
#4: Washing Your Hair Every Day
All that shampooing does strip the hair and scalp of moisture and can leave your strands looking frazzled and prone to breakage. Hair stylist Sarah Garrity of Remedy Salon in Emeryville, California, tells BellaSugar.com that you only really need to wash your hair about three times a week. Use a dry shampoo every other day or wash your hair every few days if you can.
#5: Using Heated Styling Tools Every Day
Whether it's a super-powered hair dryer or a hair straightener, exposing your hair to all that extra heat will do some serious long-term damage. The hair professionals at Schwarzkopf point out that heat styling can cause a lot of damage -- think split ends and breakage -- to wet, unprotected hair. Stop frying those strands by using a good heat-protectant serum and spray before your blowout session. Or, just let your hair partially air dry and use very minimal heat to shape and style your look.
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