3 Beauty-Related Reasons to Stop Smoking

So you’ve been smoking for a while and want to quit. That’s great. The most important reasons to quit are for you and your health. We completely support that and are going to add even more reasons to your growing list. Your smoking habits affect you on the outside as well as in. Here’s how smoking affects you on the outside.

Skin

They greyish color some smokers acquire is because smoking reduces the amount of red blood cells your body produces. The nicotine and tar in the cigarette stains your fingers as you hold it, giving them a yellowy color.

Smoking also causes premature aging and wrinkles because your skin loses elasticity when you smoke. This happens because smoking dilates your blood vessels and decreases the level of oxygen in it. Collagen would typically help you reverse your skin’s aging but smoking affects that too. It releases free radicals that work against collagen production and speed up the aging process.

Teeth

Nicotine and tar stain teeth. Smokers are also more likely to get gum diseases that can lead to tooth loss because smokers are more likely to have bacterial plaque. Smokers typically have a harder time healing skin and gums so gum disease can spread faster and be harder to treat than with a non-smoker.

Hair

Another side-effect to smoking affecting your blood cells is your scalp is skin too. And if your scalp is affected so will your hair growth and health. Your hair may become brittle, thinner and dull-looking because it gets its nutrients from the scalp. Brittle hair is more susceptible to damage in general so it can create a cycle that leads to hair loss. You smoke, affect your hair, hair continues to get damaged by life and styling and may eventually break off. Restricted blood flow to the scalp can also cause you to gray earlier.