Is makeup good or bad for your body?

Makeup sits pretty atop cared for skin. The chances of skin damage are so small a woman really has to put in the effort for that to happen. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • How often you wash your makeup brushes and Beauty Blenders counts.
  • Makeup applicators harbour lots of bacteria. Leading to breakouts and clogged pores.
  • Makeup sits pretty atop cared for skin. The chances of skin damage are so small a woman really has to put in the effort for that to happen.
  • Women are advised to soak in critical products before bed.

One evening I scrolled through my Facebook comments. A recurrent theme; I had let makeup ruin my skin. There must be reason for this wide-held belief. Turns out everyone was both right and also quite wrong. Welcome to an unhinged debate as I argue against self.

How makeup ruins the skin:

The odds are not in your favour if you pick the wrong product. Labels like oily, dry, normal or combination; dark, deep dark, medium or light skin, matter. It explains why product launches increasingly consider women of colour with predominantly oily skin.

How often you wash your makeup brushes and Beauty Blenders counts. Makeup applicators harbour lots of bacteria. Leading to breakouts and clogged pores.

Make time to cleanse your skin in the morning and before a face beat. Enough with no toner, no moisturiser, only splashing water in the morning. Use a gentle cleanser every morning and start off on clean skin. Include moisturiser regardless of pop culture and as a serum tackling your skin’s most urgent problem.

Makeup will not ruin your skin

Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup, Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation, Bobbi Brown Skin Long-Wear Weightless Foundation SPF 15, Dior Diorskin Forever Undercover Foundation and Neutrogena SkinClearing Liquid Makeup (I am not paid to endorse) are just some foundations specifically created for acne-prone skin.

Available in liquid form, their medium coverage can be amped to the maximum. Some contain salicylic acid. Then there is mineral makeup. Technology has it such that cosmetics form part of a woman’s skin care regimen. Expectations are high, reviews so uninhibited, companies cannot afford to disregard consumers if they want to stay in business.

I wash my brushes and blenders every Sunday. I pre-soak them in warm water and white or ACV, wash with Dove soap and in a bowl of warm water infused with facial cleanser. They dry naturally.

Let the skin breathe. I have never understood this inane expression. It’s a foundation, not concrete draped in plastic!

Sleep counts. Satin/silk pillows don’t just prevent sheet lines. They are kinder to the skin by retaining moisture overnight. Seven hours of actual sleep and a regular circadian rhythm doth a younger woman make!

Natural beauty is overrated. So makeup creates cheekbones, sculpts noses and designs jawlines. What was my point again? The average makeup-wearing woman is not that highly skilled with her makeup wand. Such detail is reserved for camera work by a makeup artist, emphasis on ‘artist.’

Done right you can’t tell where highlighter ends and the glow begins. The no makeup movement led to insecurity as discussed candidly on social media by people who do not possess flawless skin. Vloggers and bloggers came out addressing imperfections, all with interesting results. Calling out women faking the no makeup look to fake good skin. It was exhausting watching natural beauty disproved as an equaliser. Surely everyone knows there is only one inevitable truth about makeup. It always comes off.

Are you wearing sunscreen daily? Research repeatedly endorses sunscreen as the single most revolutionary anti-ageing skin care product. A product worn under makeup.

Every respectable makeup artist raves about skin care. Cleanse. Tone. Serum. Moisturiser. Exfoliation. Primer. Sunscreen. Then foundation, concealer and whatever else makes you happy.

Makeup sits pretty atop cared for skin. The chances of skin damage are so small a woman really has to put in the effort for that to happen.

It is still not really clear what causes cystic acne. Hormones do play a big part. This could be genetic, periodic, because of pregnancy, menopause or polycystic ovary syndrome. Attributing it to makeup is way too simplistic.

Makeup does not ruin your skin.

Makeup habits, however, do a number. Skin repairs when we sleep. Women are advised to soak in critical products before bed. Double cleansing by massaging skin with oil then wiping it off, followed by a water cleanser wiped off with a 100 per cent cotton muslin cloth or rinsed off with warm water leaves skin ready for recuperation and product absorption.

An example. The American Academy of Ophthalmology, May 2018, published a case of Theresa Lynch, 50. She wore mascara for over 25 years. Calling it the “inadequate removal,” of mascara, Theresa had a 90-minute eye surgery. Her upper lids encrusted with darkly pigmented particles, aka accumulated mascara. The surgeon scraped these off, leaving her with permanent scarring. Why? She disregarded her eye makeup remover.

No woman should be stuck with wrong cosmetics. The biggest beauty store attendant in the world is in the palm of her hands. Gather your wits and take your girded loins deep diving inside Google, come up for air then ask, ask, ask.