Who hasn't had a good laugh at those YouTube home facial videos?
The truth is, even though charcoal is very popular in beauty treatments right now, some at-home routines could be destroying your skin.
Recommended Videos
“It will absorb some dirt off the skin, but again we have that natural skin flora that we need to have a balance with, so if you're doing so much charcoal on your skin, it can damage,” said medical aesthetician with Baylor College of Medicine, Kim Chang.
When asked about DIY masks is when Chang had the laugh, saying things you find in your kitchen (mayo, lemon, etc.) aren’t necessarily good for your skin.
***WARNING: This YouTube video contains some language that might not be suitable for all viewers. Parental guidance is advised.***
“You can get really acneic, you can get inflammation from it, some people develop rashes from that as well because they're doing all of these things at home and they're not going to a professional to really treat their skin to see why their skin is doing that in the first place and seeing the culprit of the issue,” Chang said.
However, she said the biggest offender is overusing products.
“You're stripping and you’re stripping the skin,” she said. “That’s when the skin flora can really be compromised and you can get irritated. So, you really mess up the balance of your skin when you really don't know what you're putting on your skin.”
She said people sometimes have no clue what’s in the products and can suffer chemical burns. At-home facials, products that contain chemicals used by aestheticians, are increasing in popularity, but Chang said people are buying them online (sometimes from sources that are not reputable) or not following the directions and causing more harm than good.
“They leave it on for too long or they don't balance it back out, right?” she said. “So if an acid is hydrophilic, water loving, then you're putting water on your face and it will actually start it activate the acid even further so you can actually get a chemical burn from that.”
This leads to redness, inflammation, or the follicle closes -- triggering acne.
Instead, she said a professional should guide you on how to start using products. If your skin is not bad enough to be prescribed one, she recommends minimizing your skincare routine to simply using cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen.
