Most Makeup Wipes Don’t Do As Much For Your Skin As You Think, And Here’s Why:
Disposable makeup wipes are looked to as a super easy quick fix for when you don’t have time to clean your face before bed, or you don’t have enough time in the morning from a night out with the girls.
On the surface it appears that your face is clean and ready for a new layer of makeup, but that’s not actually true. These makeup wipes are full of synthetic fibers such as rayon and polyester, and can cause irritation due to not only the toxic fibers, but the rubbing of the wipe itself on your skin.
In addition to the irritants, the wipe itself doesn’t clean your skin as much as it appears to. They are designed to break down and clean the makeup off your skin, but otherwise does nothing to clean your pores. Since it is a wipe and you aren’t rinsing your face, the grime and dirt of the day doesn’t really come off of your skin, but move around it instead.
Bad For Your Skin, Worse For The Environment
Just like these wipes leave remaining grime on your skin, they leave an even larger amount in the environment.
Since these wipes are made out of synthetic materials, they are not biodegradable. This means that they have a hard time breaking down, therefore contaminating the land and water sources. Even if your wipes end of dissolving, they will leave behind traces of the nasty materials they were originally made with.
These materials contain contaminants such as plastic, silicone, and even metal. You wouldn’t want to put these things on your skin, so why put it into the environment?
There Are Far Better Alternatives
Don’t lose hope yet! There are other ways to clean your skin more efficiently without poisoning your skin or the environment.
One way would be to double-cleanse your skin. Double-cleansing is far more gentle and cleans a far larger amount of dirt and grime than your standard makeup wipes. Not only is it better to use water-based cleansers as a gentle alternative, but the act of massaging your skin itself helps stimulate lymphatic drainage which promotes the stimulation of collagen (protein that keeps our skin firm) production.
Another alternative, and what is a personal favorite, would be to use bamboo makeup remover pads. Unlike disposable wipes, these pads are soft and gentle to prevent wrinkling and irritating the skin. Not only are they gentle on your skin, but they are also gentle on the planet!
Rather than consistently using only one wipe and then tossing it in the garbage, bamboo pads can be used over and over again with a simple wash. I have recently started using EVXO brand Bamboo Velvet reusable pads, and I am in love. I really enjoyed the fact that not only did I get multiple pads, but I also received a laundry bag to put my pads into once I clean off my makeup, making for easy clean up and even easier washing!
Find them here, https://evxocosmetics.com/collections/face/products/reusable-bamboo-velvet-makeup-remover-pads, if you would also like to reduce your beauty footprint in an effective way!