People, especially women, follow different skin care routines to look glowing, young or healthy. But there has been a growing debate over the right techniques for washing the face.
Conversations focus on whether you should cleanse in the shower. Some people say it is better to stay in the sink because washing your face while taking a bath offers no benefits at all or may do more harm than good.
To beauty experts, using your favorite cleansers in the shower has both positive and negative effects. They said that in any approach, the most important thing is to take correct measures to keep your skin hydrated.
The bad effects of washing your face in the shower come from water temperature and shower length. Changes may not appear immediately but cleansing the face regularly with hot water could eventually cause drying of the skin.
The skin on your face is much more delicate than other parts of the body. In people with sensitive skin, long and hot showers may even lead to broken capillaries.
“Skin on the face is more sensitive and needs to be treated more carefully,” Nava Greenfield, a board-certified dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology Group in Brooklyn, told mindbodygreen.
The presence of other products while taking a bath may also ruin your skin care routine. Washing your hair after cleansing your face may expose your pores to oil and shampoo from your scalp.
But with the right approach, washing your face in the shower may also improve your skin. The shower steam could help open up more pores before you cleanse, which may help you get more benefits from cleansing products.
Just make sure to use lukewarm water and not for long or only within 10 minutes, according to celebrity facialist and founder of Cecilia Wong Skincare Cecilia Wong. To further get more benefits, use enzyme masks.
Chase Polan, founder and lead alchemist of Kypris, said enzymes work better when the skin temperature is higher. It supports a chemical reaction that helps speed up and increase exfoliation.
“Overall, it doesn’t matter where you wash your face, as long as your skin is getting the right care it needs,” Wong said.
