Washing or cleansing the face is an essential part of any skincare routine. A clean face guarantees that your pores are unclogged, your skincare products absorb better, and your skin is free of dirt, germ and bacteria that could cause acne and blackheads. But a few people make the mistake of washing their face with soap. While using soap to clean the body is a common practice, washing the face with it is not right.

Is washing your face with soap safe?

We must keep in mind that the skin on the face is more delicate and softer than the skin on the rest of the body. So, soap can irritate your facial skin and cause other skin problems such as dry skin, itchiness, and even breakouts. Not only soap, any products you use to cleanse your body might not be appropriate for your facial skin. The face needs a cleanser with a gentle texture that won’t remove the natural oil of the skin and helps to keep the skin soft and moisturized.

Here are 5 side effects of washing your face with soap:

1. Too harsh for your skin

When you rub a bar of soap straight on your face to properly clean it, you risk leaving tiny tears in your skin. Your face has delicate skin, and soaps are abrasive and rough on it. The skin may become itchy and irritated after a soap scrub.

2. Leads to dryness

Your skin is acidic in nature, but the majority of soaps are alkaline. Hence, using soap can upset the pH balance of Your skin. Moreover, soaps include a lot of harsh chemicals that tend to drain your skin from its natural moisture, leaving it even drier and duller. Flakiness and breakouts can result from too dry skin.

3. Not user-friendly

With a face wash, you can use your fingertips to reach the nook and corner of your skin and cleanse it properly. However, with soap, it becomes difficult to wash the face thoroughly. You might miss some parts of your face while using soap.

4. Unhygienic

Soaps don’t keep you very clean. It has a tendency to collect a lot of dirt and bacteria, which you can apply to your face and spread there. It causes acne, blackheads, whiteheads, and clogged pores.

5. Harmful to the skin

Long-term skin damage from harsh chemicals like paraben and formaldehyde, soap’s alkaline nature, and its excessive scent and dye content is caused by all of these factors. Your skin becomes more vulnerable to ageing symptoms like wrinkles and fine lines and more vulnerable to sun damage since it becomes drier. When you apply soap to your face for a prolonged period of time, your skin becomes dull and loses its suppleness and brightness.

Also read: Is it okay to use soap to clean your vulva and vagina? A gynaecologist answers

It is best to choose a face wash for your skin based on your skin type, as it is more hygienic and contains the right amount of ingredients to maintain the health of your skin. Look for ingredients like hyaluronic acids, glycerine, and niacinamide in your face wash to provide nourishment to your skin.