Things the internet says to put on your face but are actually damaging your skin

I think we've all Googled home remedies for various skin issues - oily and dry skin, acne, black heads, hyperpigmentation, sunburns, etc. A lot of the time we'll find articles saying, "You can treat ___ with items you already have in your cabinets!" and feel a glimmer of hope. However, a few of these home "remedies" can actually worsen your skin issues. I did some research on common household items that are often said to treat specific skin issues. Keep reading to find out why these common items can be causing more harm than good!

+ Witch Hazel

Witch hazel is derived from a flowering shrub; the leaves and bark are processed to create that clear liquid that everyone's buzzing about. The distillation process uses denatured alcohol, and the extract contains about 14%-15% alcohol.

People with acne-prone or oily skin tend to reach for witch hazel to use as a toner. Yes, it does remove oil from your skin, but does so because of the alcohol in it. Applying any amount of alcohol on your skin is always a bad idea (I don't think I have to tell you why)! Witch hazel also contains a group of chemicals called tannins. Tannins compress proteins in skin that can minimize the look of enlarged pores and temporarily remove oils (sounds great), but can have long term damaging effects because tannins are sensitizing. Witch hazel typically contains 8%-12% tannins.

New York City-based board-certified dermatologist Debra Jaliman, MD, stated witch hazel has antimicrobial properties; it can help reduce bacteria growth on the skin and in turn potential breakouts. However, the drying effects of witch hazel can lead to adverse acne concerns - when your skin is dry, it becomes irritated and tries to compensate for the dryness by producing even more oil. Welcome back oily skin.

+ Apple Cider Vinegar

I've heard of people using this for acne and hyperpigmentation.

Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is made from fermented apple juice. The fermentation process creates a compound in the vinegar called acetic acid, which has antibacterial and antifungal properties. ACV has a pH level of between 2.0 and 3.0. Your skin's pH should be around 4.5 to 5.5. That should tell you enough - ACV is too acidic for your skin to handle! Overuse of ACV can even lead to chemical burns. Once your skin experiences that level of acidity, it becomes inflamed. You're probably thinking, 'Okay what about all the other acids in skincare products like salicylic acid or glycolic acid?' - well they're usually very diluted and their pH levels are a little more skin-friendly, around 3.0 and 4.0.

Oily skin might be annoying for some, but those oils help maintain the barrier function of your skin. Once you strip your skin of its natural oils, you're compromising your skin barrier which may allow bacteria to enter the lower layers of skin, leading to even worse acne and possible infection.

+ Lemon

I'm not gonna lie, I've tried this one for acne scars when I was younger. Although lemon contains some ingredients used in skincare - vitamin C, niacin, citric acid - please don't slather a wedge and/or lemon juice onto your face. This is probably common sense, but lemon is also too acidic for your skin to handle; its pH level is around 2.0!

According to Dr. Michele Green, a cosmetic dermatologist based in Manhattan, lemon juice can:

• help treat acne by reducing inflammation and oil production

• help reduce blackheads from forming by breaking down the accumulation of dead skin cells

• help lessen discoloration and scarring

BUT... there's a big difference between rubbing raw lemon juice on your face and finding lemon juice on the ingredients list of your beauty products. You may see vitamin C serums list lemon juice as an ingredient, but obviously chemists are behind the scenes and make sure the serum has a safe amount of lemon juice.

Applying lemon juice as a DIY treatment can lead to irritated and damaged skin; one may experience excessive dryness, redness, and peeling. Even worse, it can lead to sunburns and phytophotodermatitis - in this condition, contact with certain plant chemicals can cause skin inflammation when exposed to sunlight.

Save that lemon for your water!

+ Baking Soda

Okay, I've also tried this item on my skin and actually mixed it with the next item (toothpaste) #guilty because I read that it removes black heads. Some use it as an exfoliator/scrub or face wash.

We've been talking about acids, now we're bringing in an alkaline. Anything with a pH below 7.0 is acidic and anything above 7.0 is alkaline.

Because baking soda is an alkaline chemical compound, it can alter the natural pH of skin. Baking soda is an alkaline chemical compound with a pH of 9 (and to think ammonia's pH is somewhere around 11 - scary), and because it’s alkaline, baking soda can increase the pH of skin, leading to dryness, irritation, the stripping of necessary skin oils, and disrupt the acid mantle of the skin. If you've never heard of your skin's acid mantle (I hadn't!), it's a slightly acidic, very thin, protective later on the surface of your skin that keeps the good stuff in and the bad stuff out. Protect your skin mantle and only keep that baking soda around for baking and cleaning!

+ Toothpaste

Guilty of putting toothpaste on my zits and combining it with baking soda to get rid of blackheads.

I'm pretty sure this is an old "trick" that everyone's heard of - seeing an angry zit and dabbing a little toothpaste on it in an attempt to get rid of it. First of all, toothpaste is made for teeth (duh), it was never made for your extremely sensitive facial skin. Toothpaste does have a few familiar ingredients that can dry out pimples - baking soda, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide. The drying of the pimple may cause it to shrink, but at a cost; these ingredients will irritate your skin barrier. Additionally, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, and sodium fluoride can strip the natural lipids from the skin, leaving you with dry and irritated skin. Just like I mentioned above in our witch hazel section, having overly dry skin can lead to excess oil production. Lastly, the harsh reactions from toothpaste can also lead to acne scarring.

Don't get me wrong, some home remedies definitely have their place. But, let's stay away from these.