If a crystal clear, glass skin has been your long awaited dream, and despite careful curation of skincare routine that’s perfect for your skin, your skin still has that occasional breakout or blemish, it’s time you looked at the makeup products you used. The number one culprit? Your trusted, silky, smooth primer! Your mattifying foundation that gives you runway worthy skin comes a close second. Why, you ask? These products and many other products contain silicone in them. While they definitely provide instantaneous results like a smooth skin surface and mattifying skin, it damages the skin in the long run. Ahead are reasons why you should be avoiding silicone altogether.

If you are layering products (which most of us do!), silicones can prevent them from doing their jobs properly. Let's say you use a silicone-based micellar water or serum. Any moisturizers or treatments you put on next would have a diminished ability to penetrate, rendering them less effective.

The most common silicone, dimethicone, is extremely heavy and leaves a coating on the skin unless it is carefully removed.This is often why people see such a difference from nightly double cleansing, because it's properly removing the silicones from your skin—a single pass with a regular face wash simply isn't enough!The same goes for silicone hair conditioners. Even if you've rinsed with water, they can leave behind residue that triggers back and hairline acne

When you use skincare products heavy in silicones, you're not actually hydrating or nourishing your skin, no matter what the label may claim—it's simply a short-term smoothing. As beauty consumers, we deserve higher-quality ingredients that support skin health. Think: botanicals like aloe vera, and safe butters and oils such as shea and jojoba, for starters.

Just like a plastic wraps stops a leakage from happening, silicone products create a fool-proof barrier that while temporarily controlling sebum and excess oil also traps dirt, bacteria sweat and skin cells. One would need a deep cleanse to get rid of it.

This is in continuation of the previous point. Because of the trapped dead skin cells, bacteria and sweat, the skin is in constant exposure to it. If your skin is acne prone, silicones are the key ingredient for a disaster. Silicones not only seal all the bad stuff, but also clog your pores with it, leading to a full blown breakout.

Silicones are essentially used to control excess oil production of skin. But continued usage of it prevents additional moisture from getting in and dehydration of pores, damaging the skin’s natural regulatory process. This ultimately leads with skin being unable to shed dead layers- thus translating to skin that is dull and dehydrated.

Cell renewal is the process of skin forming new layers of skin by shedding off old, dead skin cells. This happens every 28 days. But application of products with silicone slows down the production of new cells and keeping dead cells stuck longer.