You cleanse your face morning and night. You use sunscreen daily. You gently
exfoliate regularly to get your skin glowing. Overall, you take pretty good care of your skin – or do you? You may be committing
sins against your skin without even realizing it. Yes, even if you think you’re doing everything right when it comes to skincare, deep down you may not be helping your skin. Let’s see if you’re doing all you can to take the best care of it.

Skin sin #1: Excessively drying out your skin

Sebum is the enemy and so drying out your skin will help prevent acne, or so the thinking goes. This is not the case. “For the most part, this is not true. Excess oil production and acne can be caused by dehydration,” says Kristen Ma, co-owner of Pure Simple in Toronto. When your skin’s dry, it alerts your body to produce (and sometimes overproduce) oil – causing the situation you were trying to avoid to begin with.

READ MORE: 10 celebs with near-perfect skin

Skin sin #2: Avoiding oils at all costs

Many of us have an innate fear of oil (see Skin sin #1 above). But while synthetic oils should be avoided (they can clog pores), pure and organic oils are good for the skin, says Ma. “They help balance, nourish, hydrate and protect our skin,” she says. And with the wide array available, you can find one that’ll work for your skin type.

Skin sin #3: Taking harsh measures to reduce pore size

If you’ve been exfoliating and using drying products to
help shrink your pores, we’ve got bad news for you. “This will actually increase the size of pores rather than reduce them,” says Ma. “The misconception is that oil is the culprit of large pores, but in fact dehydration is the cause. Pores expand so that they can absorb more moisture from our environment,” she says. So instead of drying out and excessive exfoliation, what you want to do is moisturize. (“Using a serum and pure oil will also help decrease pore size,” adds Ma.)

Are you committing the last skincare sin? Find out on the next page …

Skin sin #4: Impatience with your skin regime

Skin cell turnover occurs in a 28-day cycle give or take, explains Ma (Note: the duration of the cycle increases as we age). “While you may feel a difference within the first week of trying a new skin routine, true results will be seen after a month,” she says, adding that during this month, the skin can detox, which may cause breakouts or you may feel as though nothing is happening. Ma recommends hanging in there as most results are seen after each cycle.

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