Dermatologist's stark wash cloth warning - and it could ruin your skin

13 January 2024 , 14:30

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The skin doctor revealed 5 things she would never do to her skin (Image: @shereeneidriss)

A dermatologist has revealed the reason you need to be extremely careful if you are using a cloth to clean your face, as well as the other things she would never do to her skin.

It's pretty much frowned upon these days to have single-use wipes and cotton wool as part of your skin care routine as we strive to reduce waste and have less of an environmental impact in our day to day lives. For this reason more and more people are incorporating reusable cloths into their beauty regimes to clean their faces and remove makeup.

However a skin expert has a very stark warning if you use any form of cloth that you reuse because it could be causing damage to your skin thanks to the germs it probably contains.

Dr Shereene Idriss is a board-certified NYC dermatologist and she shares her professional expertise in TikTok videos, where she has over 600k followers. In one she reveals the top five things she would never do to her skin and the washcloth comes in at the top.

"No. 1, I would never use the same facial washcloth two nights in a row," she says. "I know it sounds excessive, but you don't wash your face and then introduce a dirty underwear to wipe it off.

'I don't want children staying up late at weekends - I really need adult time'

"Because that's essentially what you're doing when you use the same facial washcloth two nights in a row."

Obviously no one wants to imagine wiping their face with dirty pants but using a new cloth every night would mean having a huge stock of them and having to wash them constantly. Shereene has the solution to the problem though.

"It's really not that bad or hard to do or expensive," she assures. "You buy seven small little washcloths, I used to use them on my babies, and then you do your laundry once a week.

"And voilà! You don't have to think because if you're doing it once a week and you have seven washcloths, boom, each time you wash your face, you have a clean washcloth."

Her other tips for beautiful skin include never using a blackhead removing tool. The straight talking doctor admits that even as a skincare specialist she still loves to have a pick but warns against using the device. "Bottom line, that s**t is going to f**k up your skin," she says.

Shereen also advises you should never use a suncream that's out of date and if you have Botox to always let your natural movement come back before having more. She explains why: "Because you want your ethos to be alive. You want your personality to come through. You don't want to be flaccid and look flat your whole life."

Despite hyaluronic acid serum being hugely popular, Shereen says she would never use it and we don't need it because it can cause redness and inflammation.

What do you think of her advice? Let us know in the comments below.

Beth Hardie