Exercise is great for the skin!
It increases blood circulation to all organs, including the skin, delivering oxygen and nutrients along with it. But if you work out with makeup on, you could be harming your skin's health.
To find out what makeup does to the skin during exercise, researchers applied a pharmaceutical brand of 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 run 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 dirt removal, makeup would negatively affect skin health," says Sukho Lee, a professor in the department. of counseling, health.
The skin plays an important role in helping the body regulate temperature, especially during exercise, when the heart rate increases and the metabolism increases. Allowing the pores to expand so that sweat can escape is just one of the ways that 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 make-up side were higher than those on the no-make-up 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 where they wore makeup, indicating that the skin wasn't able to open up and properly regulate moisture and remove oil and dirt as it normally does, Lee says.
Sebum levels were also higher on the makeup side compared to the no makeup side. Sebum is a marker of dirt and bacteria build-up on the skin, which can contribute to acne.
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 formulations — as well as sunscreen to determine what they do to the skin during exercise.
