7 Ways Smoking Ruins Your Looks
shivani k 
Image: Shutterstock
Won’t you agree that smoking has become a common vice these days? Some do it for fun, some do it to forget their sorrows, and some are just habituated to it (like life seems dull without the infamous Sutta and Chai ). We all know how much damage cigarettes can do to our body, especially our lungs. They can cause serious damage to our heart as well. We might be deterred from taking risks in our lives otherwise, but when it comes to something that sparks an addiction, we’re willing to take that step and risk our lives. And we do this for what? Just for momentary pleasure!
Irrespective of the colossal damage smoking can cause to our bodies (internally) it can cause an equal amount of damage externally too. If you’re still scratching your head trying to understand what we mean, read further to get a better idea.
You’re Not Going To Be ‘Oh, So Pretty’ Anymore
Hey! It’s alright if you had no idea about this before. We got to know about it when we came across a wordy article which spoke at length about a campaign started by Queensland Government that focused on the dangerous side-effects of smoking on one’s physical appearance. The campaign was called “Your future’s not pretty” (1).
As a part of this campaign, a video showed a young girl smoking, and as she takes a drag, the viewers are given a quick peek into her future where we see a glimpse of an aged and decrepit version of the girl. It’s symbolic of smoking impacts the health of her skin, hair, nails, and eyes. As it was intended to be, it was an eye opener for us. And we quickly tried to learn more about it and made a handy list of a few facts that we thought you ought to know too before it’s too late. Read on.
1. Your Lustrous Hair Will Lose It’s Wow Factor
The chemicals present in a cigarette not only harm your lungs, but they also cause serious collateral damage to your hair. They attack the DNA of your hair. This makes the hair lose its strength and shine. You might also find yourself developing a receding hairline much sooner than expected as a result of smoking.
2. You Will Age Sooner Than Expected
We are often very generous when it comes to spending money on beauty products, especially the ones that have labels like anti-aging, anti-wrinkle, etc. Smoking can render these products ineffectual. The nasty toxins that a smoker inhales obstruct the oxygen supply to his/her skin, which makes their skin develop wrinkles sooner than expected.
3. You’re At A Greater Risk Of Getting Psoriasis
You know about this dry skin disorder, don’t you? It’s related to the immune system and is normally passed down genetically. If you’re a smoker your chances of getting psoriasis are increased by 20 percent. (50 percent, if you’re someone who is a one-pack-a-day kind of a smoker — yikes!)
4. Your Teeth Will Hate You
Nicotine, the main ingredient in cigarettes not only causes your teeth to turn yellow and develop brownish stains. It’s also likely to cause serious oral health issues because of the gum decays or infections that are known to be associated with consumption of nicotine. Smoking also leads to bad breath. So, dating someone who smokes like a chimney is not going to be a pleasant experience. Anyway, in the long run, it could lead to oral cancer as well.
5. You Might Just End Up With Perma-Painted Yellow Nails
Believe us, yellow is definitely not the color you’d want on your nails. And this yellow effect is because of two reasons — one is partly because of the chemicals of the cigarette that you smoke, and another is due to the stain of the orange filter that comes in contact with your fingers every time you happen to touch a cigarette.
6. You’ll Get Deep Bags Under Your Eyes
We mean this — smoking prevents you from getting a good night’s sleep which means that you’ll be tossing and turning around all night like a rolling panda in a Kung Fu Panda movie (the unfortunate truth being that you’ll be a panda on your bed and not on the mountain). All of this will give you dark circles and deep under-eye bags. So, maybe you should give that cigarette a pass!
7. Your Body Will Turn Into A Heat Machine
When you smoke, you inhale hazardous chemicals which cause immense heat in your body. And if you’re a chain smoker, you’re going to end up developing a lot of mouth ulcers which are extremely painful, and it will be very difficult for you to even eat food.
We don’t mean to scare you, we are just being good Samaritans. You can go ahead and call us conceited, but hey, we care about our looks and we definitely don’t want to toss it away for a pack of smokes. So, are you going to think twice before you light a cigarette? Let us know in the comments below.
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