There are a variety of causes somebody may splash their face with water. You may do it as a fast and simple morning cleanse, to chill down on a scorching summer season’s day, or to refresh whenever you’re feeling dirty or sweaty. Whereas splashing your face could appear innocent, it could possibly really trigger issues to your pores and skin and result in undesirable negative effects. It’s one thing I’ve seen lots of shoppers and prospects doing (particularly now that it’s getting hotter out), so I assumed I’d deal with it. On this publish, I’ll clarify how splashing your face with water might be harming your pores and skin and what you are able to do as an alternative.
Why Splashing Your Face With Water is Damaging Your Pores and skin
You could not assume a lot of splashing your face with water, however this seemingly innocuous habits is doing all your pores and skin extra hurt than good. Right here’s how.
Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL)
In the beginning, splashing your face with water units your pores and skin up for one thing referred to as transepidermal water loss (TEWL). That is when the outermost layer of our pores and skin loses water to the encircling air by means of evaporation.
The rationale splashing your face accelerates this course of is that water acts as a magnet for the encircling air and might be pulled out of your pores and skin in case you don’t seal it in. As moisture evaporates out of your pores and skin, it causes dehydration. This dehydration brought on by TEWL can disrupt your pores and skin’s protecting moisture barrier, which in flip can result in even extra dehydration. It’s a vicious cycle!
Harsh Minerals From Faucet Water
One other manner you’re damaging your pores and skin by splashing it with faucet water is by depositing harsh minerals and chemical compounds. This can range relying on the place you reside, but it surely’s frequent for faucet water to include minerals reminiscent of calcium, magnesium, and iron. Whereas these are high-quality for ingesting, they will irritate pores and skin and exacerbate sure situations like zits or eczema.
On prime of all this, faucet water tends to have the next pH than our pores and skin—one other issue that may trigger irritation and disruption of your pure moisture barrier.
Given all this, you may be left questioning, “If faucet water is so damaging, how am I supposed to clean my face?” That is the place toner is available in. After cleaning with a pH-balanced, sulfate-free face wash, I at all times suggest swiping an alcohol-free toner over the pores and skin. This can stability the pH stage of your pores and skin whereas eradicating impurities left behind by faucet water. Nonetheless not satisfied? Listed below are 5 causes try to be utilizing an alcohol-free toner.
Eradicating Protecting Merchandise
It appears pure to splash your face with water noon to chill down or refresh. However, likelihood is you’re rinsing away your moisturizer and/or sunscreen. Not solely does this take away necessary protecting elements and go away your pores and skin weak, but it surely additionally sensitizes your pores and skin to warmth in the long term. By eroding your moisturizer, you’re leaving your pores and skin and not using a barrier so it turns into extra dehydrated and hot-feeling.
In case you’re splashing your face with water very first thing within the morning rather than cleaning, you might not be correctly eradicating your nighttime merchandise or your pores and skin’s pure oils. This may even make your protecting daytime elements much less efficient and go away your pores and skin weak.
What to Do As a substitute of Splashing Your Face
Now that you simply perceive how splashing your face with water is definitely harming your pores and skin, right here’s what you are able to do as an alternative.
If You’re Feeling Scorching and Need to Cool Down Noon
Chilly temperatures can profit the pores and skin in a lot of methods: they cut back irritation and redness by proscribing blood vessels, assist stop pigmentation, and might quickly make pores seem tighter. Listed below are a couple of nice methods to chill your pores and skin down with out inflicting any unfavourable negative effects.
- Use a jade curler stored within the fridge
- Use ice cubes made out of your favourite alcohol-free toner
- Apply a water-based gel masks stored within the fridge. In case you’re carrying make-up and don’t need to disturb it, you may also attempt a reusable sheet masks with cooling gel inside.
- In case you like instruments and gadgets, I just like the Joanna Vargas Magic Glow Wand (it has a cooling setting) or the Georgia Louise Cryo Freeze Software.
- In fact, in case you’re in a pinch, a bag of frozen peas may even do!
If You Really feel Sweaty or Dirty and Want a Refresh
There’s nothing worse than feeling sweaty and sticky, however once more, merely splashing your face with water just isn’t the answer! As I’ve stated, it’d make you are feeling higher quickly however will in the end simply result in a cycle of dehydration and sensitization.
As a substitute, attempt placing a few of your toner in a sprig bottle and misting your pores and skin. I’m not a fan of conventional face mists as a result of most of them are water-based and can trigger TEWL, identical to splashing your face with faucet water. I keep in mind, for instance, when the Evian Water face mists have been actually in style a couple of years in the past and shuddering. Keep in mind, water acts as a magnet for the encircling air and might be pulled out of your pores and skin in case you don’t seal it in. Have you ever ever licked your lips to alleviate them of dryness, solely to search out that they maintain getting drier and drier? It’s the identical idea, and the one answer is to make use of a well-formulated lip balm with elements that can lock moisture into your lips so it doesn’t evaporate.
In case you’re misting your pores and skin with a toner, I actually like Moisture Infusion Toner for that reason. It contains elements reminiscent of black cumin and raspberry seed oils, B3 (niacinamide), and sodium hyaluronate, the biggest type of hyaluronic acid. These elements all assist stop TEWL to maintain your pores and skin pleased and hydrated. In fact as of late, skincare merchandise have gotten extra refined so you possibly can actually discover face mists available on the market which can be particularly created to forestall moisture from evaporating out of your pores and skin.
If You Need to Save Time or Don’t Like Cleaning within the Morning
Sorry to disappoint, however sadly, I don’t have any skincare “hacks” for you right here! Cleaning your face within the morning takes about sixty seconds and has lots of advantages.
In case you’ve ever stated one thing like, “My pores and skin is definitely worse after I cleanse within the morning, so I simply splash it with water,” likelihood is you’re not utilizing the correct cleanser to your pores and skin sort. No matter your pores and skin sort, it’s so necessary to make use of a sulfate-free cleanser with out synthetic fragrances or dyes. Sulfates disrupt the pores and skin’s pure pH inflicting dryness, irritation, and sensitivity.
Listed below are eight frequent cleaning errors you should cease making.
I hope you discovered this publish useful! Hopefully, you come away with a greater understanding of how water and moisture work together with the pores and skin in addition to a couple of useful suggestions for cooling and refreshing your pores and skin now that it’s summer season.

Movie star Esthetician & Skincare Professional
As an esthetician skilled in beauty chemistry, Renée Rouleau has spent 30 years researching pores and skin, educating her viewers, and constructing an award-winning line of merchandise. Trusted by celebrities, editors, bloggers, and skincare obsessives across the globe, her huge real-world data and fixed analysis are why Marie Claire calls her “essentially the most passionate pores and skin practitioner we all know.”