'It's disgusting': 5 things a skin scientist would never do to her face.

If there's one thing we all love doing, it's picking the brains of beauty experts - especially when it comes to skincare. Because it can be very murky out there on the social media streets. Lots of silly claims. Tonnes of misinformation.

Sometimes you just want someone to separate the facts from the marketing and tell you what ingredients you should use, how to know if a brand is worth the hype, how to not f**k up our skin, etc. 

Well, that's exactly what scientist Hannah English does. Which is very handy for us.

Watch: 6 facts about body hair that will surprise you. Post continues below.

With a background in pharmaceutical research, the beauty writer, content creator and author of Your Best Skin makes the science around beauty feel accessible and relatable - which is no easy feat. As we said before, it's a very loud and confusing space, the beauty industry.

So, when we came across Hannah's recent TikTok on the five common skin mistakes everyone makes - we knew we needed to sit down and discuss it with you.

Check it out below:

@ms_hannah_e what would you never do? #skintok ♬ Luxury fashion (no vocals) - TimTaj

Here, we break down five things skin scientist Hannah English would absolutely NEVER do to her skin.

1. Use a loofah.

That moist, minty-coloured loofah hanging in your shower? It's time to get rid of her. Because apparently loofahs really mess with your skin. 

"They are disgusting, no one ever washes them and they probably definitely have mould in them," said Hannah.

"If you're getting rashes on your body, it's probably your loofah."

A mould rash, you guys. 

We know. We know. We've never really thought about it either, but it makes... so much sense.

When you leave a damp loofah in the shower, it becomes the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. 

You basically exfoliate your skin and remove dead skin cells, and then the next time you jump in the shower and use it, you're essentially just spreading the bacteria you washed off the last time.

The result? Rashes and breakouts on your cute bod.

"Get rid of it. Use your hands."

*Throws loofah in bin*

*Cries in corner*

2. Spray perfume on your neck.

THIS ONE. While we're still drying our tears over the whole loofah fiasco, Hannah goes on to say, "I would never spray perfume on the neck or chest area."

Hands up who does this? Pretty much all of us, right?? Because that's where it's supposed to go, RIGHT??

Well, apparently spraying perfume on your neck and chest is Really Not Good for the poor delicate skin in that area - and you should stop doing it, like, immediately.

"Perfumes often have compounds in them that aren't necessarily bad for you but they do make your skin more photosensitive," explains Hannah.

Basically, the alcohol in the perfume can attract the sun and speed up sun damage. No good.

It doesn't mean you have to ditch your favourite scent though. It just means you should apply it elsewhere.

"I always spray my perfume on the back of the neck at the hairline. It lasts longer that way too," suggests Hannah.

3. Mix something into sunscreen.

If there's one thing you should know about Hannah English - it's that she's big on sunscreen. HUGE.

She's the queen of SPF in Australia - consistently reminding her followers to protect their skin, cover up and re-apply.

So, when she tells you that you're doing something very wrong with your SPF - you're going to want to listen.

And apparently, there's one key thing you might be messing up on the SPF front.

"I'd never mix anything with my sunscreen," said Hannah. "By all means put your moisturiser on, let it dry, put your sunscreen on, let that dry and then apply your makeup or bronzer or whatever."

"But do not - please - do not mix any tint, any bronzer, any highlighter into your sunscreen. The reason for that is - it needs to form an even film on your skin, so the coverage is not patchy," said Hannah. 

"You could destabilise the whole thing by adding whatever you added."

So, no mixing!

4. Use 'preservative-free' beauty products.

Off the back of the whole 'clean-washing' beauty trend, there's a lot of confusing terminology floating around - and it can make it really difficult to know what's actually 'good' or 'bad' when it comes to ingredients in our products.

Well, the whole 'preservative-free' thing is one term you can cross off the list. Because our friend Hannah just broke down why preservatives in skincare aren't actually... bad.

"I would never think of preservative-free as a good thing," she said. "Preservatives are in your products to keep them from getting mould in them."

"Once again with the mould - we're trying to prevent that so we don't get a rash and a lot of other harmful stuff. If a water-based product has no preservatives in it, it will get mould in it."

5. Rely on sunscreen in makeup.

Fact: The SPF in your foundation isn't enough to protect your skin.

"I would never rely on sunscreen in makeup," said Hannah. 

"Your makeup may well be SPF30 or SPF50+, but the correct amount of sunscreen to put on your face to get that protection is 1/4 teaspoon - so about one millilitre."

"And if you've ever measured out 1/4 teaspoon of foundation and tried to put it on your face - you'll know that no one wears that much foundation."

If you want to know what 1/4 teaspoon of foundation actually looks like - this is exactly how much foundation with SPF you'd need to wear to get enough sun protection.

What are some things you'd never do when it comes to beauty? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Feature image: TikTok/ms_hannah_e