The Lesser-Known Reasons You Need To Upgrade Your Body Skincare Routine

We spend all of our allotted skincare time and anti-aging efforts on our face, but the truth is the face is only a portion of the largest organ on our body. Body skincare routines matter because the health of the skin on your body matters, too.

Not to come in hot with the scare tactics, but skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, affecting around 20% of all Americans. 1 in 5 is not the best looking statistic. All skincare routines (curated by Deux, anyways) contain antioxidants, the ingredients that combat free radical damage on the skin. (Free radical damage leads to skin cancer!) It’s important that the skin on the body is treated with the same amount of thought as the skin on the face. That discount body wash from the grocery store *might* have antioxidants, but it's worth double checking.

Another aspect body skincare affects is skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis, acne that are common in places other than face. Using a typical body wash with cheaper ingredients could potentially exacerbate the symptoms of these conditions, due to the drying nature of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, the surfactant that makes most soaps foam up, that's in most over-the-counter cleansing products. It's completely possible to have a foaming product without this very drying and potentially harmful ingredient, but those alternatives cost more, so most companies don’t do it.

The potentially harmful side effects of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate are as follows:

• Pain, itching, and redness when it comes in contact with the eyes

• Excessive dryness and mouth sores when used in toothpaste

• Alters taste for up to 4 hours (when used in toothpaste)

• Strips the skin of natural lipid barrier and moisture balance

• Toxic in high quantities

Secondly, the vainer reason- anti-aging. There’s a saying “the neck, hands, and chest tell the age”. This is because usually people take wonderful care of their face and neglect the rest of the body, which causes the face to age slower than everything else. Getting injections of Botox and/or filler only makes this difference even more apparent. Using medical grade, high quality body care will even out this process a bit, so neither your face NOR your neck/chest/hands tell your real age.

A body skincare routine is not optional. You already have one! Every night you already cleanse the body, and maybe use a lotion. Why not upgrade the quality and make sure that these things are working FOR your skin?