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Beauty

Liz Hurley Is Stunning, But Her Moisturizing Habits May Be Doing Her More Harm Than Good

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Eternally radiant Liz Hurley has let us in on the secret to her youthful glow. Before you guess, it’s not eight glasses of water and a good night’s sleep (or even Botox). The 53-year-old actress told Woman & Home magazine, “I’ll moisturize my face about six times a day, and my neck about 10 times a day. Lightly dab it over your face, and it instantly makes you glow.”

Ever since makeup ads started feeding us the belief that we should be highlighted at all times, I get the desire to be glowy. Glowing skin will never not be in, but Hurley’s method seems like a bit much. If, for argument’s sake, Hurley is awake between the hours of 8 a.m. and 11 p.m., this means she’ll be reaching for her creams every hour and a half. Now, that’s just plain excessive. And let’s not get started on how fast she must go through the product. Either she’s using the wrong moisturizer, or the joke’s on us.

To clear up whether this is a miracle elixir or modern-day snake oil, we asked Imogen Bexfield, BChD, medical director of White Swan Aesthetic and skincare expert. “It’s a common misconception that the more moisturizer you use, the more effective it will be,” she tells us. “On average, our skin can only absorb up to 60 percent of what is put onto it, and anything more than that will just sit on the surface, clogging up your pores, suffocating the skin, and affecting its barrier and the way it works. This can cause a multitude of problems. [Even if] the skin feels tight or dryer than usual, you shouldn’t be slathering it with moisturizer. This will only make conditions worse.”

I asked Dr. Bexfield if it is actually bad for the skin to use this much moisturizer. “It certainly isn’t good for the skin,” she says. “In fact, over-moisturizing will only worsen the majority of skin concerns, not only making your skin reliant on that additional hydration, but it can also result in an overproduction of sebum; leading to inflammation, clogged pores, redness, flaking, pigmentation, and acne.”

Now Hurley, of course, looks wonderful. Whatever she’s doing, I’m sure she can keep doing it. But as for the rest of us? Maybe this is one celeb beauty tip we should pass on.

This article was originally written by Lucy Morris. For more, check out our sister site, Grazia.

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