Raechele Cochran Gathers, MD Should your skin feel tight after washing? You may not be surprised to know that a lot of people still associate a tight feeling face with well cleansed skin. The truth is: A tight feeling face can indicate damage to the sensitive top layers of your skin.
Should Your Skin Feel Tight After Washing?
No, your skin should not feel tight after washing. After washing your face, your skin should feel supple and smooth. It shouldn’t pull and crack when you smile or move your face around! In fact, if you’re over-washing your skin and dehydrating it, you’re more prone to see fine lines in your skin, and you may jack up your skin’s oil production—which can actually lead to more oiliness and more breakouts! Some people say they don’t feel that their skin is clean unless its got that tight feeling. This is not true. Your skin can still be well cleansed without a tight feeling afterwards!
Why Does Your Skin Feel Tight After Washing?
When your skin feels tight after washing, it’s because of damage to your skin. Your skin can feel tight after washing when its barrier has been damaged and it’s losing too much water through evaporation. Soap, especially many bar soaps, are anionic (have a negative charge that binds with your skin). They are also very alkaline (have a high pH), which causes the top layers of your skin to swell. Your skin loses water this way.
When your skin swells from the alkaline pH of soap, the soap can penetrate deeply into your skin, sometimes causing irritation and itching. Even after you’ve washed your face, your skin can continue to lose its water and moisture through evaporation, which causes dry, tight skin. If you’ve got eczema or another skin condition, the excessive loss of moisture from your skin can really wreak havoc and make your skin drier and make your skin condition worse!
Best Face Cleansers
Don’t use a bar of soap to wash your face. This may make your skin drier and dehydrated, and could actually make any skin condition that you have even worse. Instead, look for gentle cleansers with a lower pH. Don’t worry: You don’t have to spend a ton of money either! Good gentle cleansers for the face include Cetaphil, Cerave and Olay Bar. In general, these cleansers shouldn’t make your skin feel tight after washing. Instead, your skin should feel soft and hydrated—and it shouldn’t crack when you smile. You may have to experiment some to find our exactly which gentle cleansers you like best.
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When you’re washing and rinsing your skin, remember to avoid water that’s too hot. Hot water can make dryness worse, and can definitely make your skin feel tight after washing. When looking for face cleansers, remember: The more lather, the more drying!
Moisturize After Washing
If your skin feels tight after washing, also consider how you’re moisturizing your skin. It’s best to apply your moisturizer within 60 seconds of cleansing your face. You want to make sure that you’re trapping the moisture in your skin before it has a chance to evaporate. Rosehip oil is a great for sealing in moisture after washing. You can read more about the benefits of rosehip oil here!
