Lemon Juice can help to exfoliate dead skin cells and reduce excess oil from the skin. However, despite the potential skin benefits it should never be applied direct on the skin as it can cause irritation, sunburns and skin damage. The safest option is when diluted with other ingredients, such as honey, banana or yogurt.
Applying lemon juice direct on your skin can cause the following issues;
1. Irritation
The side effect of acids, like those in lemon juice is irritation, which weakens and damages the skin barrier. According to experts, it results to symptoms such as, peeling, dryness, stinging, and redness, depending on the skin tone.
2. Increased photosensitivity
Lemon juice makes your skin more sensitive to sunlight. This can cause sunburns which are inflamed, irritating and painful.
3. Pytophotodermartitis
Lemon and other citrus fruits contain chemicals called furocoumarins and psoralens, which are fine on the shade but when you go to sunlight they turn into nasty irritants.
These chemicals also have the ability to interact with DNA, especially those on the skin. This can trigger skin cell damages and inflammation.
4. Weakens the skin barrier
The reason as to why we apply skin care products is to strengthen the skin barrier. However, regular application of lemon juice on the skin has the opposite effect. This is due to the fact that lemon is highly acidic, it changes the natural pH of the skin, causing a weakened skin barrier resulting to irritation, dryness and dehydration.
5. Burns
The sensitivity to sunlight caused by lemon juice can result in a severe sunburn. This not only speeds up the aging, but also increases the risk of skin cancer.
