I’m A Behavioral Scientist & These 3 Beauty Habits Are Harming Your Skin

Your skin is equal parts delicate and resilient. Resilient in the fact that it is constantly repairing and healing itself. Delicate in the fact that it is bombarded with internal and external aggressors daily, and thus highly susceptible to damage. And when we think of skin agitators, perhaps we think of normal talking points: UV damage, pollution, allergens, stress, and so on. But perhaps one of the main sources of user behavior. Yes, you may be doing quite a bit of harm to your precious skin.

Now, people come to skin care with the best of intentions. No one (or I hope no one) turns to skin care routines with the intent to harm their face. But in many cases, we end up doing so because we don’t know how to properly use a product, tool, or treatment; we do too much overall; we opt for ingredients that aren’t suited for our unique skin needs or types; or we simply make mistakes in our overall routine, not knowing they are faux pas. 

Recently I was chatting with behavioral scientist Perpetua Neo, DClinPsy, about skin care habits gone wrong (listen for yourself in our recent episode of mbg’s beauty podcast Clean Beauty School!). Neo specializes in helping type-A individuals, and her work is all about encouraging people to move past their perfectionist hang-ups that might be unknowingly holding them back. And honestly, many skin care enthusiasts often fall in this category—at least as far as their skin care goals are concerned. 

Here, she shared some of the mistakes many of us make, that again are borne of good intentions, just happen to set us back in the long term.