Well and Good posted “If you want to save money in your skin-care routine, derms say to stop buying face mists” featuring Dr. Purvisha Patel and Visha Skincare.
I’m calling it—face mists are over. It’s my honest opinion, because—and I’m sorry to say this, hydrosol fans—they really don’t do much.
Before you roll your eyes, close this tab, and spritz your skin with your elixir of choice in a defiant protest, hear me out. The general point of using a face mist is to give your skin a refreshing dose of moisture, anytime and anywhere. And that’s really cool, especially considering how many of our faces are generally dehydrated (or bound to feel a little thirsty at some point in the day).
But it’s not as simple as that. They’re certainly not doing your skin any harm, but, as I’ve learned from dermatologists, depending on the ingredients, face mists can have the opposite effect when you overuse them (which is easy to do if you carry one everywhere) and dry your skin out. According to Julie Russak, MD, a dermatologist with Russak Dermatology, our skin’s literally designed to not allow things to penetrate. “The biggest problem with a face mist is really the fact that our skin’s designed to be a protective barrier,” she says. “When you put ingredients in water, our cells really only allow hydrophobic and fat-soluble ingredients to penetrate. So spraying a little bit of water with molecules to your skin doesn’t do much—it just sits on the surface of the skin.”
“Spraying a little bit of water with molecules to your skin doesn’t do much—it just sits on the surface of the skin.” —Julie Russak, MD
Back to the not-so-ideal sitch of going spritz-happy with a face mist. “Putting facial mists on top of your skin-care regimen, especially serums, can dilute all the hard work you just put in applying the products,” says Purvisha Patel, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and founder of Visha Skincare. “The actives get diluted. Over-misting results in the water evaporating and can cause drying instead of hydration.”