Why It’s Important Not To Touch Your Face

According to the CDC, one of the best things you can do to protect yourself from the coronavirus COVID-19 is to stop touching your face. This is besides washing your hands often with soap, coughing into your elbow, and generally avoiding contact with sick people.

Viruses, bacteria and germs can survive for a period of time on hand rails, door knobs, elevator buttons, and on other surfaces. Not just that, but you can also potentially have these substances stuck between your fingernails.

These harmful substances not only includes the coronavirus, but also the common flu and cold, plus bacteria and germs that can potentially do damage to your skin. Besides avoiding airborne sickness, you can also achieve clearer skin when you don’t touch your face. 

You can probably lose count of how many times a day you subconsciously touch your face, whether it’s rubbing your eyes, placing your fingers on your cheeks, scratching your nose, or touching your lips. For many people, this can be the cause of acne breakouts, inflammatory flareups, or even rashes.

One thing you can do to stop this habit is to have the presence of mind to know that you’re actually touching your face, and immediately stop doing so. Doing this on a regular basis as away of training yourself to limit the amount of times you touch your face will definitely help. You can do other little things too:

  • Carry around eye drops so you won’t need to rub your eyes when they feel dry or itchy
  • Wear lip balm regularly so your lips are moisturized, preventing you from potentially peeling off the dry skin
  • Moisturize your facial skin regularly to avoid it drying up and potentially scratching
  • Trim your fingernails really short to avoid the accumulation of germs and bacteria on your nails
  • Use sunglasses or eyeglasses as a barrier between your hands and your face

Washing your hands regularly will also help – the proper way to wash your hands is with soap, and to do it for at least 20 seconds. To train yourself for this, you can sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice while washing your hands, and when you finish singing it the second time, you will know your hands are much cleaner.

Doing all these little things will not just help fight the spread of COVID-19, but can also result in you having clearer skin and a finer complexion.