6 Amazing Things That Happen When You Stop Sleeping With Makeup On
1. Your pillowcase stays cleaner.
Perhaps the most obvious of the lot, but when you go to sleep with makeup on, it makes a mess on your pillow. During sleep, your pillowcase aborbs oil, dirt, germs, and dead skin cells from your face—and that's even when your face is clean. If you go to sleep in your makeup, all the bacteria from the entire day will end up on your pillow. And if you don't wash it, the same thing will happen the next day. It's a vicious cycle that is harmful to both your skin and your white linens. I love Skin Laundry's Sleep Cycle Pillowcase With Silver Ion Technology ($30) because it provides a natural antimicrobial effect to help reduce the presence of harmful bacteria.
2. You slow down the aging process.
"Sleeping in your makeup allows all those free radicals on your skin to cause quicker skin aging, leading to more wrinkles even sooner," warns Rachel Nazarian, MD, of Schweiger Dermatology Group. Moreover, this is the time "when the skin is able to repair and restore itself," says Mary DeRolph, an esthetician at La Prairie spa. "It creates new, healthy skin cells during this resting phase. Cleansing is necessary to remove layers of makeup, which prevent normal skin shedding and interfere with the recovery process."
3. You get fewer eye infections.
"Makeup clogs up those delicate glands around your eyes, triggering styes and other eye infections," Nazarian explains. Gervaise L. Gerstner, MD, adds, "Flakes of mica and minerals from your eye shadow or mascara should never end up in your eyes. But when they've spent time on your lids throughout the night, they're bound to cause some damage."
4. You get fewer breakouts.
"Occluding skin with makeup leads to a blockage of your pores, triggering the acne-creating cycle. You'll wake up with less pimples if you take the time to wash your face before bed," says Nazarian. Gerstner agrees: "You'll notice a decrease in comedonal acne (a plug of oil and dead skin cells within the hair follicle or pore), which can be exacerbated when makeup is left on overnight."
5. You'll grow longer lashes.
"While you're sleeping and moving around, makeup also moves around and clings to your eyelashes," Nazarian notes. "This leads to more fragile, brittle, broken lashes. Keep them healthy and long by rinsing everything off before you go to bed."
6. You'll notice more even-toned skin.
This one is perhaps the most visible after a night sans makeup—think puffy eyes and blotchy skin. "Sleeping in your makeup increases inflammation in skin, which can cause redness and broken blood vessels," says Nazarian. "Ultimately, you'll see a much more even skin tone by washing it all off every night."
After realizing this entire list was, in fact, accurate, I set out to overhaul my nighttime skincare routine. I asked a dermatologist and celebrity esthetician to run through each product I was using, critique it, and, ultimately, toss it and suggest a better option. Below, find all the products that made the cut and why they're great.