Skin care

8 Skin Care Habits That Make Facialists Face Palm

Even if you think you've got your cleanse-tone-moisturize routine down, there's probably still something you do that drives the pros crazy

by Sarah Carrillo

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No. 1: Scratching up your face with walnuts "When people are too aggressive with their skin, do too much exfoliating and too many peels, that's when skin becomes sensitive," says Zdenka Sutton, a facialist at Le Posh Salon in Los Angeles.

Overdoing it with any scrub can be bad, but the ones with ground-up nutshells in particular are hard on your skin, says esthetician Kate Somerville, founder of Kate Somerville The Clinic in Los Angeles and the Kate Somerville product line. "These nuts are pretty jagged and can actually cause tiny tears on the surface of your skin," she says. "Those tears will then appear as sensitivity or irritation, and may also serve as little reservoirs for bacteria to attach and thrive."

Sutton says your best bet is to use a gentle scrub or peel at home every two to three weeks and to always hydrate your skin after, just like facialists do at the spa.

SEE NEXT PAGE: No. 2: Trying a new treatment the day before an event

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Older comments

Great advice.

by Lili04 Friday, May 10, 2013 at 02:13AM Report as inappropriate

Good article with practical advice. Even for those who don't commit these skin care sins will still benefit from being more mindful of how they're doing things properly.

by LindaDD Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 02:24PM Report as inappropriate

This is a good list. I don't think I'm guilty of any of these, but it's still nice, practical advice.

by tallredamanda Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 07:02AM Report as inappropriate

Good article. I like how they mention most of us don't properly cleanse. I too was told this. Now that I've changed my routine my adult acne is clearing up

by doodleluvr Monday, April 29, 2013 at 09:31PM Report as inappropriate

These are all practical. common sense lets us know some of these are unhealthy.

by nicky22 Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 07:16PM Report as inappropriate

Walnuts! Yikes.

by LittleBunny Monday, April 22, 2013 at 08:25PM Report as inappropriate

Yes, good tips! Wish that I had learned some of them at a younger age - I am hoping that I have not caused too much damage with sun and the harsh cleansers I used to use...St. Ives apricot was so popular at that time.

by EFitz70 Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 05:47PM Report as inappropriate

Loved these tips straight from the facialists. It was especially interesting to read that ground nuts are often too harsh for the face.

by HeathRene Friday, April 5, 2013 at 05:14PM Report as inappropriate

I was told by my facialist to stop using the St. Ives Apricot scrub because the pits were so big they were causing little micro tears on my face that bacteria was getting in. This was causing me to have way more pimples than I should. Switching to a nicer rice scrub really helped me out a lot. Good to see they included this tip!!

by sportimonki13 Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 02:03PM Report as inappropriate

good article

by PrincessBear3 Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 10:53AM Report as inappropriate