In simple words, why you should never wear make-up at the gym
2024-03-14 16:32:51
TiranaPost
Exercise is great for the body, but it's also great for the skin.
It promotes blood circulation to all organs, including the skin, providing oxygen and nutrients. But if you exercise with makeup, you can damage the health of the skin, thus causing the opposite effect.
To find out what makeup does to the skin during exercise, researchers applied a cream foundation to the forehead and under-eye areas of 43 university students. They left the bottom half of everyone's face makeup free. All students then ran on a treadmill for 20 minutes.
"Our hypothesis was that makeup can partially or completely block pores, and because pores are important for evaporation, sweating, and waste removal, makeup would negatively affect skin health," says Sukho Lee, a professor in the department. of counseling and health.
The skin plays an important role in helping the body regulate temperature, especially during exercise, when the heart rate increases and the metabolism speeds up. Allowing the pores to expand so that sweat can escape is just one way the skin releases excess heat from the body.
Using a device that can scan the skin for moisture levels, the amount of oil and the size of pores, the researchers compared parts of the face of people with and without makeup. Moisture levels on the makeup side were higher than those on the bare side—and while that may seem like a good thing, it actually indicates a negative effect of the foundation. "Moisture on the skin is evidence of poor evaporation, so a lot of moisture on the skin is not a good sign, as it needs to evaporate," says Lee.
"People's pores were also smaller in the areas with makeup, indicating that the skin wasn't able to open up and properly regulate moisture and remove oil and debris as it normally does," says Lee.
Sebum levels were also higher on the makeup side compared to the no makeup side. Sebum is a marker of debris, dirt and bacteria accumulated on the skin. Fat levels were lower on the makeup side, but it's not clear why, Lee says.
The findings also raise questions about other products people apply to their faces, such as sunscreen, which is designed to form a barrier on the skin against UV rays. With the help of dermatologists, Lee hopes to expand the study to include other types of foundations that contain different ingredients — such as oil-free formulas — as well as sunscreen to determine what they do to the skin during exercise.
