Why You Should Never Wear Makeup to Bed (and How to Remove It Properly)

Makeup can be a healthy form of self-expression. Not to mention, it can be fun, including when holidays like Halloween roll around and face paint is part of your costume. Yet if you’re a regular makeup wearer, you may experience some unfortunate side effects — particularly if you don’t remove it properly before bed. “Sleeping in makeup is a bad idea,” says Debra Wattenberg, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in New York City. “It clogs your pores, inflames your skin, makes it dull, and creates more wrinkles.”

Remembering to remove makeup before you snooze is step No. 1. Step No. 2 is understanding how to do it correctly to keep your skin looking and feeling healthy. Read on to learn why sleeping in makeup is a big no-no, and how to remove your products the right way before you hit the sheets.


What Happens if You Don’t Remove Makeup Before Sleeping
Nighttime is when your skin heals itself, and sleeping in makeup disrupts this process.

“There is some truth to the term ‘beauty sleep,’” says Jamie R. Manning, MD, a double board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon with a specialty in skin cancer surgery and cosmetic and procedural dermatology. “During the day, the skin acts as a protective barrier to ward off sun damage and oxidative stress, whereas during the nighttime, the skin is able to go into repair mode, regenerating and rebuilding cells and tissues,” Dr. Manning explains.

Dr. Wattenberg says wearing makeup at night “prevents your skin from breathing and healing, causing your skin to create more free radicals and clog your pores.”

Free radicals are substances that create inflammation, causing redness and dullness in the skin. “Free radicals destroy collagen and also cause wrinkles, clogged pores, acne flares, and blackheads,” Wattenberg adds. Research has demonstrated how the creation of free radicals, whether by things like the sun and air pollution, or chemicals put on the skin, can accelerate the aging process. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) adds that some chemicals in cosmetics can contribute to acne, so a nightly face-washing routine is key.

If you’re wearing makeup for Halloween, consider using products you already own (like your black eyeliner to make dramatic cat eyes and whiskers) rather than costume makeup, which may have more irritating ingredients and can be harder to remove, according to Baylor College of Medicine.

Also, if you have a skin condition such as eczema or psoriasis, removing makeup properly before bed is especially important to keep symptoms tamed. “Most skin conditions will be negatively affected by sleeping with makeup,” says Wattenberg.

When washing your face at night, be sure to tend to your eye area. Leaving eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara on overnight may contribute to eyelid dermatitis, which the Cleveland Clinic notes happens when your eyelid comes in contact with an irritant, causing redness and scaliness. Another potential result of wearing eye makeup overnight is a sty, “which occurs when the small hair follicles and sebaceous glands are blocked on the eyelid,” Manning adds.

How to Properly Remove Makeup From Skin
“Washing your face and applying appropriate moisturizer creates the perfect environment for your skin to renew and heal,” says Wattenberg. Leaving makeup on, though, does the reverse. “Sleep is the time when your skin does a lot of work with skin cell turnover,” says Angela Lamb, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and the vice chair of clinical operations at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “So, if you sleep in your makeup, it is difficult for this to happen.”

Follow these dos and don’ts for removing makeup to maintain healthy skin.

Do Consider a Double Cleanse
“Using just a gentle cleanser alone will often leave a thin film of makeup on your skin,” Wattenberg says. That’s where double cleansing comes in. Before applying a gentle cleanser or exfoliator (that is, those that are sans alcohol), you’ll swipe an oil-based cleanser or micellar water onto your skin. If you’ve never heard of the latter, think of it as a modern-day toner — except it’s gentler on sensitive skin because it doesn’t contain alcohol, per the Cleveland Clinic. Rather, micellar water is a water-based product that contains moisturizers and mild surfactants that together can help remove makeup, dirt, and excess oil from the skin. To use it, either pour micellar water in your hands, then massage it on your face or pour it onto a cotton pad to gently remove your makeup, the Cleveland Clinic suggests.

Don’t Use Just Any Old Makeup Remover
“All makeup removers are not created equal,” says Wattenberg. “Most contain fragrance, surfactants, emulsifiers, formaldehyde releasers — any of the ingredients can be irritating.” To be safe, consider sticking with the micellar water or look for products that are fragrance-free and don’t contain those ingredients. Also, avoid makeup-removing wipes. “They often have preservatives in them that can be irritating,” Lamb says. “It's better just to wash your face, particularly if you have worn makeup."
What’s worse is when you scrub the skin with those makeup wipes. “The act of scrubbing your face and eyes with makeup wipes can also cause inflammation and create microtears in the skin,” says Manning, adding that wipes are typically not biodegradable, so can be harmful to the environment.

Do Handle Skin Gently
Scrubbing skin in general is a no-no, because it causes irritation, notes the AAD.
After cleansing, rinse off any cleanser residue, then pat your skin with a towel so that some moisture remains, according to Mayo Clinic. Avoid rubbing your skin to dry it, according to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, because this removes too much moisture.

Don’t Skip a Moisturizer
Moisturizer should be an essential part of your evening skin-care routine. If you are used to leaving makeup on at night, your skin may be dry, says Manning, which makes this step extra important. Moisturizers contain substances that help hold water on your skin, thereby preventing dryness, according to Harvard Health Publishing. After patting dry your skin, immediately apply your moisturizer of choice (unless you’re applying a serum first, for example). According to the AAD, applying moisturizer on damp skin traps the moisture in, so your moisturizer is more effective. As for which type to use, talk with a dermatologist who can suggest options based on your skin type, the AAD adds.