You go to the mirror, take a good look at yourself, and, to your horror, you notice that you’ve lost your glow — on contrary, your skin looks dull and you look tired as heck.
You start drinking more cups of coffee and pinching your face’s skin in an attempt to wake yourself and your skin up, but nothing seems to work — you look as pale as before.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone, we’ve all been there at some point in our lives. But, luckily for you, we’ve found some of the main factors that cause your skin to look dull, as well as amazing tips on how to get back the glow you once had, so just keep on reading!
What is dull skin?
Before we jump into the main causes for making your skin look dull, let’s talk about what even dull skin is.
When talking about skin looking dull, cosmeticians refer to skin that lacks radiance or doesn’t reflect light well. Similar to dehydrated skin, dull skin might look patchy, dry, and even greyish.
In addition to that, dullness oftentimes goes hand-in-hand with uneven skin texture, making it rough and bumpy.
5 causes of dull skin
No doubt that there are far more than five reasons that make your skin dull but in this blog article let’s focus on the most common and important ones, so you can revise your daily routines and maybe catch what you’ve been doing wrong.
1. Air pollution and smoke
If you live in a city, you’ve probably already noticed the smog around all the buildings. The air that you’re exposed to on a daily basis not only affects your lungs as you breathe in all the pollutants, but the small particles from the air also adhere to your skin.
Thousands of microscopic particles, such as dirt, cigarette smoke, smog, dust, and vehicle exhaust, are present in the city air, highly contributing to the dullness of your skin, as well as making it textured and uneven. These particles also scatter light, making the skin on your face appear darker and causing more premature wrinkles.
2. Dead skin cells
Did you know that each day you shed millions of dead skin cells? If you’re not properly getting rid of them, they pile up on top of each other. These layers of dust-like particles on your skin make your face look ashy and dull because your skin is unable to reflect light.
Many dermatologists say that the dullness of the skin is usually caused by skin cells lacking hydration and moisture, making them dry. And not using gentle exfoliators at least once every week is going to make things even worse.
3. Stress
This one is kind of a vicious circle because you’re stressing out about your skin looking dull but your skin looks dull because of the stress. And this cycle can cause many other skin and health issues.
Stress is expressed in many different forms in our body. And due to our fight-of-flight mode, blood rushes to your critical organs, but not to your skin. As a result, your skin seems to be more dull and tired.
So the obvious solution would be to get rid of (or at least reduce the amount of) stress. Of course, it’s easier said than done because stress can lurk upon us unexpectedly.
4. Lack of nutrients and vitamins
Toxins, that a person inhales through smoke, can reach most parts of the body through the bloodstream, destroying various important vital substances.
That’s why it is critical to have a balanced diet since it provides your body with all of the nutrients and vitamins it requires to function properly and effectively.
Processed foods have significantly less useful components and are high in sugar, salt, and fat — the ingredients that can all negatively impact the brightness, fullness, and healthiness of your complexion.
5. Lack of sleep
Usually, your skin is able to renew skin cells during your sleep (and that’s when your whole body as well restores). The magic behind these processes lies in your hormones.
During your sleep, the levels of melatonin, the hormone that is responsible for human growth, are rising. The rising levels insure tissue repair. And while you sleep, your cortisol or stress hormone levels are significantly decreasing.
That’s why after a few lousy nights of sleep you can see noticeable indications of exhaustion, which can include dull skin.
How to brighten dull skin?
Now that we’ve got a closer look at 5 possible causes of your skin looking dull, let’s get to the good stuff we’ve all been waiting for — what are the possible solutions that can help to brighten your skin, making it look young and lively again.
Use skincare products that protect against air pollution
As already mentioned above, one of the main reasons for dull skin (and other skin problems as well) is air pollution. To protect your skin from the tiny, toxic particles that damage skin cells, use special cosmetics that are designed for exactly that.
For example, a skincare set from Regene Supreme is made for smoking men and women (as well as for people that live in big, polluted cities). This skincare course of 3 specific products — cleanser, day cream, and night cream — restores smoke-affected skin cells and creates a new protective layer, preventing premature skin aging and many different skin imperfections.
This rejuvenating skin protection set contains Ectoin – a powerful multifunctional active ingredient with outstanding efficacy, that prevents cell damage and provides repair and regeneration for aged, stressed, and irritated skin.
Use gentle exfoliants at least once a week
In order to get rid of the dullness on your skin, you need to remove all the dead skin cells that are piling up on the surface of your face. You can do that by using gentle exfoliators, such as light chemical peels.
Often, physical exfoliants like facial scrubs (and, heaven forbid, some people even use coffee grounds) are way too harsh for already irritating skin, making more small breaks in the skin.
Exfoliating at least once a week will help your skin cells to emerge, leaving you with a radiant glow.
Try doing facial massages (for relaxation)
As discussed, one of the main factors that make skin look dull is stress. So the best possible way to maintain the levels of it is by meditating and relaxing as often as you possibly can.
To feed two birds with one scone, you can try doing facial massages at home. Not only will they help you relax before the nighttime, but also keep your blood circulating underneath your skin, speeding up the regeneration processes in your skin cells.
Grab a light facial oil and use your palms and fingers to gently massage all the stiff and tense muscles in your face. You can also use special massaging tools like gua sha and a jade roller, just be very careful with them.
Get into a better sleep schedule
While most experts still to this day stand by the recommendation to sleep between seven and eight hours per night, this is different for everybody individually.
Only you know your body the best, so you have to play with different sleep schedules to find the right amount of sleep that makes you feel energized throughout the day.
One thing’s for sure — no matter, if you need seven or nine hours of sleep, you shouldn’t go to bed past midnight, as it ensures that you have enough daytime hours exposed to natural light to regulate the production of your melatonin.
Take your supplements
Healthy skin comes from a healthy gut, so you should pay special attention to your diet — are you consuming enough antioxidants and vitamins?
If you can’t access fresh fruit and vegetable from your local market or, in an ideal scenario — from your own garden, you should support your body with supplements from the pharmacy.
To make your skin glowy, you should take your daily dose of vitamins B12 and C to help you maintain strong tissue health and the formation of collagen. Also, supplements like zinc can help fight acne and other skin problems.
The bottom line
It is almost inevitable that at least at some point in life most of us come eye to eye with dull skin — whether it is caused by reasons mentioned in this blog article or other causes.
Either way, we really hope these tips will help you fight dull skin and get back the glow you once had! Even if you’re not battling dull skin at the moment, you should incorporate these steps into your daily routine to avoid it. Take care!