How often do you remove all your make up (if you wear it) before bed?

[sniffysnuffler]

Question prompted by discussion with a friend. I have always removed all make up, scrubbed face, and moisturised before bed. No matter how tired, drunk, or whatever. Same with brushing teeth. These are non negotiable bedtime activities. Friend claims that plenty of people go to bed without removing make up - hadn't considered this before but I'm surprised (like, doesn't it make the pillow grimy?!)

Do you cleanse before bed? Or just roll into bed and worry about it later?

(No disapproval implied AT ALL btw. I have plenty of nasty habits! Just genuinely curious.)

I don't wear makeup much, but when I do it's all taken off before bed.

"Oh I couldn't sleep in a face full of make up"

This is probably the difference. I don't wear a full face of makeup.

I do wonder if there's a correlation between the people who sleep in make-up and those who say on the comeptitive cleanliness threads that they wash their bedding twice a week

Reading this in bed but I feel like getting up and thoroughly cleansing my face again , only good thing about lockdown is that I am not wearing make up.

Haha. No, I doubt it.

Judgemental much

I never remove it and I have great skin - I'm 58 and never removed it before bed ever. I'm just too tired. Never had a spot or a blemish other than an age spot which I had lasered off a couple of years ago.
Ok I wake up with mascara all over my face and I do wash it off in the morning but quite honestly it has made no difference whatsoever to my skin.

Madcat 🙌

People are just jealous of our perfect low maintenance skin

I cleanse 99% of time, tone, serum, moisturiser, face oil, etc.

I do however feel that since I've had a very good skincare routine, my face is looking older and haggard.

Maybe I will stop cleansing and see if I'm over cleansing my face?

Only occasionally if really drunk so I miss washing my face. And I regret it !!! Then change my sheets.

Otherwise cleans every night, makeup or not. Followed by rest of skincare routine :)

Always for nightime sleeping bed. Not for a little friendship bed at other times.

Always.

Always but I love the ritual of cleanse, serum, oils etc.
Also have an irrational fear of skin not being able to breath

Always remove makeup and follow up with my skincare routine before bed. My skin is oily so if I slept with makeup on, it would probably transfer all over my white pillowcases

I have briefly napped with makeup on occasion though - sometimes naps are uncontrollable. Nothing bad happened but I admittedly felt a bit gross after.

Always!
And I'll also shower every night before bed. It's non negotiable... I can't sleep unless I've had a shower

@Sunshineskies The routine I mention removes mascara .. wet face, massage in oil (I use apricot kernel oil), remove with hot flannel. I never need to use any make up remover etc in addition to this. I guess I massage it into my lashes for 20 seconds or so to get it all off. You could try a 'tubing' mascara that comes off with hot water?

@SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing I like Superdrug Vitamin E cream (I use the one without SPF because I like using a separate 'physical' sunblock if I need it). Have tried a LOT of creams etc over the years, cheap and expensive, and honestly I don't think you need to spend a ton. Also re the pillowcase ... unless you sleep on your back the whole night, surely the side of your face rests on the pillow? Though I guess maybe that wouldn't get mascara on the pillowcase!

I always take my make up off before bed, I can't relax if I don't. The only exceptions are times when I've been very drunk and have fallen asleep by accident but usually I manage even when drunk. I might not do as good a job of it as I usually do but I always give it a go

I always remove make up, shower, brush and floss teeth. Never skip it, regardless of how drunk, tired, sick etc I might be.

What with people saying they sleep in make up and their skin is fine ... maybe the lesson from this is that it's ok just to wash/cleanse it regularly, doesn't necessarily have to be at night? I can understand how people who don't cleanse before bed but do it in the morning would not necessarily have bad skin - they're probably cleansing as much as everyone else, but just doing the 'deep' cleanse at a different time of day.

I also know from experience that too-vigorous cleansing is a bad idea ...

@Honeybee85 I used to floss every night too! That was also non-negotiable. Then a couple of years ago I read that the benefits are unproven, and dentists are divided on whether it's beneficial or not. Given the disagreement I decided to go with the low-effort option and stopped :D (Except for occasionally when I visibly have stuff between my teeth)

I just don't get the concept of not washing your face before bed, full stop.

Whether I wear make up or not, brushing my teeth and then giving my face a once over with a flannel and warm water signals 'day over, bed' (obviously the flannel and water also includes a cleanser if I've been wearing make up).

I guess it must be a ritual thing for me, not necessarily about hygiene.

I don't wear very much make up but always clean it off before bed. I don't think I've ever slept with make up on, no matter how tired or drunk.

Actually a few years ago I watched a beauty programme where they recommended taking off your make up and cleansing and moisturising as soon as you get in from work, so you have the whole evening with a cleansed face and extra moisturising time, rather than wait until you are going to bed. I've done this ever since and it does feel much nicer and make a difference to my skin.

@sniffysnuffler

A close friend of mine is a dentist and she told me I should floss every day. I used to wear braces as a teen and still have those steel things on the back of my teeth to prevent them from moving back. Dentist friend said these parts are esspecially prone to caries and I should give them extra attention with brushing but also flossing.

Maybe it's no harm to your skin to leave on your makeup but still, seriously, my point remains, your sheets/pillowcases must be bleurgh. Unless you change them daily, and surely that's a whole lot more trouble than taking off makeup. I don't sleep on my face, but I do sleep on my side. My face still rubs the pillowcase.

Does anyone not remember the case of damage to eyelids from unremoved mascara?
Scientific case report
Link to press article with a nice big gross photo

I always remove mine, using Aldi's version of Cleanse and Polish. I very rarely wear mascara, so it's not much effort to take off. I have no particular belief that sleeping in make-up would damage my skin, it's just that washing my face is a normal part of going to bed, plus I don't want foundation on my pillowcases.

I remove mascara with makeup remover and cotton and then shower/bathe before bed. I rotate cleansing products (cleansing oil/creamy wash/salicylic acid wash) and then rotate sera and creams as per skin needs/whims. Always finish with a light oil.