Dear Kate, does touching your face cause spots?
Helena P.
Dear Helena,
Oh God, does this bring back terrible memories? Throughout my teenage years my Mom (who has the most gorgeous skin) would always scream at me "keep your fingers off your face!". Oh I hated that, I wanted to be fidgety in peace but it was never allowed! Now with the benefit of age I know how right (and how irritating) she was! Touching your face during the day can cause breakouts. The culprits are bacteria, viruses, pollutants, chemicals and ink (who said reading the newspaper was good!). Really anything that your hands come into contact with during the day; from keyboards to telephones and door handles. Repeatedly touching your face with unwashed hands can cause microscopic abrasions in the skin that can absorb all these little nasties and cause infections leading to a breakout. To protect your skin keep a little bottle of antibacterial hand gel close by and use throughout the day. Its also a good idea to dollop a bit of the gel onto a tissue and clean the telephone. Telephones can really harbour a wealth of horrid bacteria and can cause breakouts around the jaw area. While you are possessed of the cleaning bug, have a cleansing swipe of your keyboard. The only downside of these antibacterial gels is that they are chock full of alcohol and though powerful bug busters they are incredibly drying so always remember to use a nice and gentle hand balm. My Rosewood Hand Balm combines the antibacterial action of Lavender essential oil with the gentle skin healing action of Rosewood.
Hands Off!
Train yourself to keep your hands off your face. I know its easier said than done, but it is worth it and you will see a difference. You have two ways to tackle this; you could borrow my Mom and she could scream at you every time you touched your face, which though highly effective can be somewhat disruptive in the workplace! Or you could simply dab a drop or two of Lavender essential oil on both wrists. Then when you raise your hands to your face the scent will make you aware of what you are doing and stop. Lavender is also a good choice as if the desire to touch your face is stress/anxiety related as the relaxing scent will calm you and hopefully remove that desire to fidget!