We hate to say it but you might have 'toilet plume' on your face (so here's how to avoid it from now on)

So you've spent half an hour applying all your various lotions and potions onto 'freshly cleansed' skin and you've headed to bed. Then in the morning, you've washed your face to freshen up for the day and you're about to layer on an array of different day creams.

Think about what you grab to dry your face off post-cleanse: your towel. Your body towel. As in, the towel that's been hanging in your bathroom all day/week/month depending on your washing schedule, that you've just wiped your entire body down with. Now that you're thinking about it, it's extremely gross, right? Right.

But it's not even just the bacteria that's come from your body (think dead skin) that you need to worry about transferring to your precious face. If your towel is anywhere near your toilet, your towel is actually being showered with something called 'toilet plume' pretty regularly.

We don't want to go into too much detail, but let's just say 'toilet plume' refers to the tiny particles released into the air when you flush. Those particles make it onto your towel, and then you wipe them directly onto your skin, whilst still thinking of it as 'freshly cleansed'. And all those luxurious products are being layered onto a face cloaked in toilet plume. Hardly how they were designed to be used most effectively...

So how do you get around it? Well, you start by keeping your body towel for your body. Because the breakouts, redness and even infection that can be caused by this kind of bacteria on the skin are not going to help any of us on our journey to hitting our skin goals.

Instead of swiping the same dirty towel across your clean, delicate skin, you're going to swap in the POLSO Cleansing Cloths ($34.99 at POLSO). Of course, their biggest pro is 'not being your dirty, toilet plume-covered towel', but aside from that, they're also 100 per cent biodegradable and plant-based whilst still offering a single-use towel solution for your face.

Their single use status allows you to significantly reduce the amount of bacteria hitting your ski, and these specific wipes are even designed to be especially gentle on the skin, so they're not the drying, dragging wipes you've tried before. In fact, they're soft enough for even the most delicate complexions, as they're made to protect your skin barrier. They can be used in multiple ways: wet with your cleanser of choice if you'd prefer a wipe over your hands, and dry to pat your face down afterwards.

They know you don't want to leave every at-the-sink cleanse with dripping wrists and hair in need of a fresh blowout, either, so you can also find a whole array of wash cuffs and hair protectors in their range.

So if you're more interested in allowing topicals to sink into skin instead of toilet plume (still shuddering), your next step should be crystal clear. Add the POLSO Cleansing Cloths ($34.99 at POLSO) to cart, and then let everyone else in your life know that there's an alarming fact they really need to know...

Main image credit: Getty

Once you're *actually* confident you're starting with a clean canvas, it's time to shop the top serums for glowing skin...