Do you touch your face a lot during the day?

@AmbiePam (93892)
United States
August 5, 2008 6:27am CST
It has been proven the more our hands touch our face during the day, the more likely our skin is to get oily or break out. You know how when we were younger, some of us would lean our face into our hand with our elbows on the desk? It was just something that I know I did when I was tired or got bored. But I try not to do that. I don't want skin issues with everything else. I find more often I have trouble keeping myself from putting my hand under my chin if I'm leaning my elbow on a desk while I'm at the computer. I have to work on that! It's bad for my posture anyway... So do you have a habit of doing that? Or have you really never thought about it?
9 people like this
32 responses
@Bluepatch (2476)
• Trinidad And Tobago
5 Aug 08
Yes, ma'am, I do. Now that you mention it definitely yes ! I feel my nostrils and touch my forehead and pull my ears and God knows what else ! Its a yes to this one !
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
5 Aug 08
Well, you kind of sound like you're a touchy feely kind of person. LOL Nothing wrong with that!
1 person likes this
@gemini_rose (16264)
5 Aug 08
I do not actually touch my face much during the day I do not lean on my hands or anything. I do seem to scratch my face a lot, but that is just because my hair always tickles it a lot! I do not get many spots and my skin is not oily but it is very dry at times.
4 people like this
@smilyn (2967)
• United States
5 Aug 08
I don't touch my face unnecessarily during the day..But I have a habit of washing my face very often. I wash my face atleast 10 times in a day..But I think that would be the main reason why my skin is glowing without any pimples..Other than that I do not even touch my face. I never look at the mirror more than twice in a day..I personally feel that once you start looking at the mirror very often, your hands will automatically move towards your face..Then this can become a habit too.
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
5 Aug 08
I wash my face in the morning and at night. I never sleep in makeup because I read how unhealthy that is. But I try not to wear makeup very much if I don't have to. I want my skin to still look good when I'm in my sixties. : )
@mamacathie (3928)
• United States
5 Aug 08
Yes, I have always heard that also and I know that is not the best thing to do. Our hands are so dirty and oily and we do not need to share that with out faces. God bless you!
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
5 Aug 08
Hi mamacathie! Yes, it is kind of scary to think what germs we have on our hands that we can spread to our faces. If we really thought about it, it might give us pause. I mean people who are in public places, and then lean their face on their hands... It doesn't seem like a big deal, but now that I think about it, I wonder what else is on our hands!
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Aug 08
i get really conjested especially at work because it's so dirty everywhere.I even wear gloves because i have to touch alot of things because i'm a cashier.
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
6 Aug 08
That's a good idea, to wear gloves. Your job would definitely keep you in contact with germs.
@ellie333 (21016)
5 Aug 08
Hi AmbiePam, I have never really thought about this before. I very rarely lean on my hands though with my face but I should imagine that unconsiously I must touch my face a fair few times during the course of the day to either sweep back my fringe or put my hair over the back of my ear, wipe a crumb from the edge of my lip, rub my eye that sort of thing. I have always had very good skin and non-oliy so I don't suppose I must touch my face that much though in that case eh! Ellie :D
2 people like this
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
5 Aug 08
I was blessed with good skin. I always say that is because God knew I was going to lose most of my hair! HaHa
2 people like this
@ellie333 (21016)
5 Aug 08
God certainly has a good sense of humour doesn't He? LOL. Ellie :D
1 person likes this
@Katlady2 (9904)
• United States
5 Aug 08
I've never really thought about that until right now. And looking back, I really do touch my face a lot during the day. Hmmm....maybe that's why my skin is breaking out like a teenager's. Grrrr! Great discussion hon.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
6 Aug 08
And that's just not fair. It should be a rule once we get past our teenage years, we should get no zits!
• China
6 Aug 08
Actually I don't touch my face during the day with my hands since I read a lot about how to keep our face look health and the most important thing is that never use our hands touch the face ,as the article mentioned "touching our face with the hands would transfer bacteria to our face".If I am really tired I would do the same thing as you do and what's more if I am really so tired I can sleep any where I want ..haha .We'd better not sleep with our elbows on the desk as it is unhealthy not only to our body ,imagine ,and health as well.so why not we find a bed and have a sound sleep to keep our mind sanity..
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
6 Aug 08
Hi Molly! Thanks for answering!
• China
6 Aug 08
Hi,dear AmbiePam ,You are most welcome...haha
1 person likes this
@chrislotz (8137)
• Canada
10 Aug 08
I haven't really thought about it before, but yes, I do touch my face alot. I find now that I have read this, that I am a toucher and am always touvhing my face with my hands and fingers. I don't have a problem with my face skin, I rarely ever get a pimple or anything, so touching my face has not really been a problem for me. But I can see it being a problem for some people. You do state your case really well here about this topic. I will have to think about it some more and maybe make an effort to not touch mine so often. Thanks.
1 person likes this
• China
6 Aug 08
Yeah,I do that quite a lot.It's terrible.I have to get rid of the bad ones.
1 person likes this
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
7 Aug 08
Hey ambie. It's funny but as I'm readying this I am leaning my face on my left hand! Guess that answers the question! I don't think I touch my face other than that. I never really had skin problems when I was young. The weird thing was that as I got older in my 30's my skin started to give me problems. It seemed the older I got the worse my skin got. I asked the dermatololist about it and she really didn't say much. It apparently isn't uncommon. I couldn't understand how I got through my teenage years with fairly decent skin and then in my later years started having problems.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (93892)
• United States
7 Aug 08
Hormones probably. They are not our friend, lol.
@LOULOU323 (213)
11 Aug 08
Hi Maybe I will often brush the hair from my eyes,but I have no habit of touching my skin,the more that you touch the skin the more likely that you will become susceptible to spots and infections,if you keep your hands well away from your skin,then just wash the face at the end of the day,it is a much better idea altogether
@diutay (1327)
• Philippines
5 Aug 08
Well, I am not supposed to but I can't help it. My skin can attest to that and it's a habit that I'd like to break.
2 people like this
• United States
7 Aug 08
I have never thought about that. I probably do that like 100 times a day. Not only the oil but all of the things your hands have touched as well. Thank you for your time and good luck.
1 person likes this
@subha12 (18441)
• India
6 Aug 08
yes i touch it. i think its not right to do so.my skin is also very oily. may be i touch to see how much stcky its feeling.
1 person likes this
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
6 Aug 08
I do touch my face alot throughout the day. I know it is not good to do so. I do it sometimes just because of my nerves, I think. I wish I could stop doing it because they say if your hands are dirty, it makes your face break out.
1 person likes this
@izathewzia (5134)
• Philippines
6 Aug 08
I don't touch my face regularly. Only when i am washing it. Or if it is irritated. But as much as possible, I avoid touching it. Because i don't want to have pimples. And I don't want my face skin to get irritated further.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
6 Aug 08
hi ambiepam I try not to but end up somtimes touching my face. I dont do that so much when I am mylotting, what I do do when i am trying to think to do a discussion or sometimes a response that is trickey,is to take a lock of my hair and chew on it. I know its disgusting and not too good for my hair, but if I am uptight I find myself again slipping into that old habit. My husband used to 'try and break me of that by saying does it taste good, but all that did was anger and embarrass me.So I try to police myself and usually it really works.
@Elixiress (3878)
6 Aug 08
I touch my face a lot during the day, because I have dry skin and find the need to put cream on it throughout the day and then check to see if it needs cream at other parts of the day. As I have dry skin, I do not get oily skin and very rarely get spots, so that is not really a issue for me.
1 person likes this
• Spain
6 Aug 08
yes, i have this habbit of touching parts of my face a lot because of various minor issues as you described, like when it gets too dry or oily depending on the part, or even just as reflex. Honestly i did think about it, but what i try to do is to don't stress myself out with it and washing my face/hands more often during the day when i realize this is occuring. Normally, there are already way too many things to worry about that i really don't think it's something you should actively spend energies on trying to force yourself out of this kind of secondary habbits, although. Of course it's also a matter of how often it occours during the day, and how rough it gets, as i do know people that actually get to the point of hurting themselves doing it, so if you find yourself in an excessive situation related to this, it might be a good idea to work on that.
1 person likes this