Beauty Rules I Break

Hello, dear readers,

I hope everyone that celebrates had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week. My sister, her fiancé, and her wonderful little dog came to visit from out of state. Last week was also my 20th birthday [yikes!], and my lovely friends threw me a surprise party; they really are the best!

This week I've been thinking about what to write today, and it occurs to me that there's a post I've been meaning to do for at least a month now. There have been various tags around YouTube under several different monikers centering around beauty rules that people may often preach but fail to practice.

Here is my take on the beauty rules I break:

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1. You should always wash your face morning and night.
    This is something I do most of the time, but, because of my current situation, I don't always practice. I'm   at home at the moment, so I'm often doing things around the house and not going anywhere until later in the day, if at all. In that case, I'm not wearing makeup anyway, so I'll sometimes go without washing my face at night. Then, the next day, because I usually work out in the late morning or late afternoon, I don't want to wash my face beforehand. Therefore, less face washing occurs. It hasn't caused me to break out, so I can get away with it. 

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2. You should always moisturize your face before bed.
    The acne treatment I use, which I'll talk about in a long overdue updated skincare post, remains slightly sticky and can get a bit diluted with an added moisturizer. If my skin is really awful, there is no way I want to dilute the medication. It will obviously leave my skin drier in the morning, but, as far as I'm concerned, the faster the breakout is gone, the better.

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3. Be very, very, gentle with wet hair.
   I really should practice this one, but I am incredibly impatient. I know wet hair stretches and should be treated with utmost care, but I just don't have the time! Recently I've been getting a large knot at the back of my hair after every shower that I simply cannot gently comb out. I have to use my fingers, and breakage will occasionally occur. No amount of leave-in conditioning and detangling spray can solve this problem for me.

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4. Get frequent trims if you want your hair to grow longer.
   First of all, this is a misconception. If you get regular trims, and the same amount trimmed each time, your hair is not going to grow much. Most likely, it will simply retain its length. I understand cutting off the damage before growing your hair out, but you have to go longer between trims if you want it to grow. I've probably had only two trims all year, and this is the first time anyone has noticed it growing longer, including me. I'm sure it's somewhat damaged from daily wear and tear, but I have used heat a grand total of one time all year, and I tend to wear it in braids to bed. There's no way it will grow if I get it trimmed every six to eight weeks.

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5. Never, ever, fiddle with blemishes.
   I'm usually pretty good about this one, but if I have a zit right smack between my eyebrows or on my nose, you can bet that if it's not gone in a few days, I'll do something about it. Yes, I have been known to pick a pimple to get it out of my sight, if temporarily. I do know that this can cause scarring, but I've never had any permanent scars from this, so I'm going to keep right on at it when I have to.

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6. Stay away from sulfates.
   Besides the fact that this is pretty difficult to do, not all sulfates are actually harmful. Sodium lauryl sulfate is the one to watch out for, and it's the one I avoid. Sodium laureth sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, and ammonium lauryl sulfate are actually benign and won't harm you. Therefore, I don't avoid them, despite all the claims from various beauty sources. I'm sticking with science here.

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7. Never use mineral oil or petrolatum.
   This one is relatively recent, and I'm not sure where it stemmed from. Since when is Vaseline bad? Haven't we all read countless articles on the multiple uses for it? If you're unsure, you can read about petrolatum here and mineral oil here. I promise you, neither of them are actually bad for you. I use Vaseline, or petroleum jelly, for extra chapped lips and flaky skin. It also works wonders for removing long-lasting lipstick. 

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8. Always use a separate base coat and top coat for your nails.
   If I can save some money and use one product to do both jobs, you can bet that I will do just that. I use the Wet 'n Wild Shine Clear Nail Protector, reviewed here, and it works just fine.


Those are all the beauty rules I break, at least all those that I can think of right now. Some of them are rules I really should practice, and others are simply myths that turned into law somehow.

What beauty rules do you break?

xEsther