Beauty expert Cora Gold wrote today’s post to show us that we should consider more than skincare products when caring for our skin — we need to think about our bedding. Enjoy, darlings!
We carefully consider the products we put on our skin, but what about our bedding?
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Splurging on beauty products isn’t the only way to feel great in your skin. You can also support your pores with improved sleep hygiene. Clean bedding benefits the skin in numerous ways. Check out a few ideas you can use to prevent breakouts and get better rest.
Why Is Clean Bedding Good for Your Skin?
How often do you think of the tiny fibers making up your fitted and top sheets? While they ensure you’re comfortable all night long, they also absorb whatever they come in contact with.
When you wake up feeling sweaty, your sheets pull those droplets into the fibers around you. They also collect whatever bacteria and dirt are on your body or clothing. A study completed in a hospital setting found the amount of bacteria fluctuated on patient pillow cases throughout the year, even with the antibacterial cleaning supplies used to keep hospitals pristine.
Anything lingering on your sheets directly touches your face and body. The microscopic particles clog pores, leading to more skincare challenges.
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Tips for Maintaining a Clean Bed and Healthy Skin
You don’t have to worry about your skin when you go to sleep tonight. Use these tips to maintain your new sleep hygiene and improve your skin’s health.
1. Create a Wash Schedule
It’s easy to forget to wash your sheets. You already have so much going on that you might not even make your bed routinely. Everyone has those days sometimes, but you can improve how well you care for your bedding with recurring reminders.
Set reminders on your phone or computer that pull your attention with alarms. Digital calendars could also alert you whenever it’s time to throw your sheets in the washing machine. Use the alerts to wash your sheets twice a month and keep them cleaner than ever.
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2. Upgrade the Fabric
Some fabrics hold onto dirt and sweat more effectively than others. Try switching your current sheets for alternatives with different fabrics. You could sleep on silk or hypoallergenic linen fabrics to see how your skin does over the following days or weeks. You may even discover they help you sleep better since fabrics like silk keep the body cool even under heavy blankets.
3. Skip the Fabric Softener
Fabric softener can leave chemical residue on your linens when you take them out of the wash. The residue can irritate your skin and leave your sheets feeling scratchy over time. If you don’t like how your laundry feels when you skip the fabric softener, try an alternative, like wool dryer balls. You can even add a few drops of essential oils onto the dryer balls before putting them in to leave a subtle scent on your bedding.
4. Wear Pajamas to Bed
Sometimes people are so tired that they fall asleep in the clothes they wore all day. Those fabrics collect dirt and bacteria as you move through the world. Wearing them to bed increases the pollutants your sheets absorb.
Pick one or two pairs of pajamas you’ll only wear to bed. We like these organic cotton ones. You could change into them before sliding between your sheets at night. You’ll know they’re clean, which could help you fall asleep more quickly. There won’t be any reason to worry about your skin.
5. Find Your Body’s Preferred Sleep Temperature
Sweating in your sleep is unavoidable, but you don’t have to wake up damp every morning. Bacteria thrive in wet conditions, building colonies that affect your pores and even your overall health.
If you sweat in your sleep, consider finding your body’s preferred temperature at night. It may take time and experimentation, but you’ll prevent bacteria from harming your skin.
Use a smartwatch to track your body temperature while you sleep (one of the reasons Honey loves her Apple Watch!). You could check the results each morning to see if removing a blanket or wearing different pajamas lowered your temperature. You could also pay attention to the dampness of your sleep clothes after waking up. Tricks like adjusting the thermostat, sleeping under fewer blankets and even resting with your feet out of the covers could prevent future breakouts.
Improve Your Household Hygiene Today
Anyone can improve their skin’s health by keeping cleaner bedding. Set reminders to wash your sheets regularly, try new sleep habits or invest in new sheets made with different fabrics. You’ll eventually find a better sleep routine and watch your skin thrive.
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Author bio: Cora Gold is a skincare and beauty writer, as well as the editor at women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. Connect with Cora on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest.
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