We all definitely do skin care things we shouldnโ€™t. Not in the โ€œWhoops, I didnโ€™t wash my faceโ€ way, eitherโ€”but in the โ€œOh, no, Iโ€™ve made a horrible mistakeโ€ way, when you accidentally destine yourself to long-lasting disaster. Two very different experiences, but if youโ€™ve ever started picking a zit and come away with a gushing wound, you get it. The problem is, thanks to our one true love, the Internet, and our second true love, Sephoraโ€™s skin care section, itโ€™s harder than ever to tell whatโ€™s within our quasifacialist capabilities.

We ask you: Who among us hasnโ€™t watched a Dr. Pimple Popper video and thought, Yeah, I could express a juicy sucker? Who hasnโ€™t stuck their face over boiling pasta water, in the grand tradition of opening your pores to have some fun? Itโ€™s human nature to want some control. But ugh, the repercussions when things go awryโ€”not good. So we set out to learn our limits. Here, the top skin techniques you should really, truly leave to derms.

1. Picking Your Skin

We all knew this was coming but play it again, Hadley King, M.D.. โ€œThe biggest mistake I see is people picking at their acne. It really does create more problems than anything else,โ€ says Dr. King, a dermatologist at New Yorkโ€™s Skinney Medspa. Alas, the hope that youโ€™re maybe, potentially speeding up the healing process is a ruse.

According to Dr. King, picking almost always makes your zits worse, causing more inflammation and increasing the risk that theyโ€™ll get infected. And anytime thereโ€™s more inflammation, you also up the chances of scarring and discolorationโ€”even if you think it’s small enough to sneak by, Dr. King says. โ€œEven tiny blackhead and whiteheads, which you can sometimes get away with picking without causing big problems, you’re still traumatizing your skin.โ€