You may be thinking that the toilet seat is the most germ-prone item in your home, but it is not. In fact, it’s your towels that contain the most bacteria, and if you use them to clean your face, you may be doing a bad job on your skin.
And while toweling off your face seems like the logical thing to do, in fact, it can do more harm than good. We are seriously considering ditching towels after doing this research.
It May Give You Acne
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Drying your face with the same towel that you use to dry your body can cause more damage to your skin than you think. Towels are great traps for bacteria, and since we often store them in the bathroom, where the air is humid, they create the perfect environment for bacteria to grow.
When you rub the towel on your face, you are moving all of these bacteria directly onto your skin, which can eventually cause breakouts and clogged pores.
Even if you are using a different face towel than the one you use to dry your body, you are probably not washing it daily and unwanted bacteria can still get on your skin.
Your Skin May Age More Quickly
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Terry cloth bath towels are very harsh on the face and their use can create small tears in the skin, making it vulnerable to infections and wrinkles.
The more you wash the towels, the more brittle the fabric becomes, and the friction they create acts as an exfoliator that can be too much for your skin.
It Decreases The Efficacy Of Skincare Products
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Although drying your face after washing seems like a natural thing, it won’t really allow your skin to get the most out of the products you are applying to it.
Your moisturizer will penetrate your skin better before the water evaporates from its surface. Not towel drying will allow skincare products to retain the moisture your skin needs to look young and glowing.
It Can Irritate Your Skin
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If you have sensitive skin, using towels is not the best option for drying your face. Since most terry cloths can be very harsh on the skin, rubbing your face with them can lead to redness and irritation of the skin.
It Can Make Your Skin Oily
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It may seem counterintuitive, but drying out the skin can make it more oily. Because rough towels can remove the natural oil your skin needs to stay healthy, the sebaceous glands below the skin’s surface will have to produce more oil to balance out the dryness, resulting in excessively oily skin.
Do you use your bath towel to clean your face? Can you think of alternative ways to dry your skin, besides a towel?
