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Sometimes it just happens: you get home from a long day and immediately go right to sleep with your face still fully made up. You wake up with foundation all over the pillow and mascara coated eyelashes glued together, regretting that you didn’t just take five minutes the night before to rid your face of product with a quick rinse before bed. And while it isn’t the end of the world if this is a rare occurrence, if you constantly find yourself sleeping with your makeup on, skincare experts warn you could be doing some serious damage to your complexion.
Your skin needs to breathe in order to be its best and brightest self, and when you sleep with makeup on you’re actually blocking your pores which can lead to a number of side effects. NYC Dermatologist Dr. Hadley King explains, “Sleeping with makeup can contribute to clogged pores and aging of the skin. Cleansing before bedtime is important to remove makeup as well as dirt, oil, and pollution that may have accumulated during the day. Pollution can also subject the skin to free radicals, which can contribute to the breakdown of collagen and elastin and lead to aging of the skin, so it's important to cleanse the skin to avoid these effects.”
If you forgo a good face wash before bed, you’re setting your skin up for a dull and uneven appearance the next day, leaving you looking worse for wear even with a fresh coat of makeup. Celebrity makeup artist and brand founder Jenny Patinkin notes, “It only takes sleeping in makeup once for you to wake up with clogged, irritated, or puffy skin. But sleeping in makeup frequently can leave you looking lackluster because your skin isn't getting all of the oxygen it ordinarily would, which can lead to the appearance of enlarged pores, patchy redness, and chronic inflammation. Also, it's icky to have makeup stained pillowcases.”
While the skincare implications are concerning enough on their own, they’re not the only part of your appearance that could suffer from sleeping in makeup. King explains, “Leaving mascara on throughout the night can also make lashes more brittle and prone to breakage. One of the ways mascara works is by making eyelashes stiff, so it makes them prone to breakage once mascara is on the lashes. And if you go to bed wearing mascara, this can crunch your lashes against the pillow surface and they may break because of their already brittle state.” If your lashes are an attribute you hope to keep intact, it’s best to make a concerted effort to remove your makeup each night before bed.
It may seem like an inconvenience in the moment, but removing your makeup each night is one of the most important habits to maintain a glowing complexion and combat signs of aging. All it takes is a good face wash to avoid the potential irritation, clogged pores and eyelash breakage that sleeping in your makeup can cause, and you’ll wake up feeling fresh faced and ready to start the day with a clean complexion.
