Video / Sharecare Experts / Rosemarie Ingleton, MD / Can I Over-Wash My Face?

Can I Over-Wash My Face?

Can I Over-Wash My Face? (0:49)

It is indeed possible to overwash your face, especially if you use a medicated cleanser for acne or anti-aging, which can be strong. In this video, dermatologist Rosemarie Ingleton, MD, explains why washing your face too often can be bad for skin.

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It is absolutely possible to over wash your face specifically if you are using a medicated cleanser soap, so if you are using a cleanser that's for acne or for anti-aging they have active ingredients in them that are going to strip away some of your normal skin cells and set you up for excessive dryness and irritation so you don't want to over use those.

Those products are generally used once a day. If you're using just a general cleanser, using that more than once or twice a day is also going to set you up for more irritation. So it's really what is happening with the type of product that you're using that is the big problem it's stripping your skin, it's taking some oils with it, so your skin, you're just setting yourself up for all the things that come when you take the oils away from your natural skin.

You're going to start getting dry and cracked and looking old just from your cleaser.