Finding a good Skincare Routine that’s customized to your Skin can be a difficult task to accomplish! There are a million different products on the market and it can seem impossible to know which are necessary and which are a ploy designed to take your money. It’s almost like you need a professional to help build your daily skincare routine. Well it’s your lucky day!
I happen to be a licensed esthetician, and I am here to help you learn what is crucial to use on your skin every day and what is just fluff. Sadly, because the skincare industry is booming there are lots of companies that want your money and make lots of cute, fun, and (mostly)useless items. They tell you that you need this product when in reality it’s not doing anything. I prefer to take a no nonsense approach when it comes to skincare.
Bear in mind, this post won’t be telling you what exact products you need to use. Everyone’s skin has different needs, and it would be impossible for me to tell you what your skin needs without seeing it in person. Rather, this post will be explaining the types of products that are essential for a solid skincare routine.
The four pillars of a daily skincare routine should be: cleanse, tone, moisturize, protect.
And they should be applied in that order. But what exactly do those mean? I will explain more fully! All of the steps are important, and it’s nice to know that having a good daily skincare routine doesn’t have twenty steps.
Ideally, you should be doing this routine twice a day. Once in the morning when you wake up, and then before you go to bed. Of course, we are humans and sometimes we will forget or be too tired to do it. It’s fine if you aren’t perfect at it! But keep in mind that the more regularly you do all of this, the better the quality of your skin is going to be. Your skin loves consistency!
Cleansing the skin is the first step to a daily skincare routine.
This is a step you are likely familiar with. Basically, you wash your face. Cleansing is important because it keeps the dirt and oil and bacteria from building up on the skin. It prevents blemishes from forming, and makeup from staying on your skin and irritating it. In addition, it keeps the skin clean from debris so that any other nourishing and strengthening products can penetrate the skin and, well, work.
There are many cleansers on the market, and lots of good ones too. They have many various benefits from anti-aging to hydrating. However, the main purpose of a face wash is to clean! Whether you are using an oil, gel, or cream cleanser, your first step in your routine should be to cleanse.
The second step is to tone.
After you cleanse you will want to use a toner to bring the skin back to its natural pH. This product could come in a spray, cream, or foaming form. The whole purpose of toning is to bring the skin back to its natural pH, which is around 4.5 – 5.5. If you want a detailed explanation of pH in skincare, visit my blog post here.
In short, your skin’s pH should be in the 4.5 – 5.5 range, and if a skincare product is outside of that range, it can change your skin’s pH. Then, your skin can do wacky stuff when it tries to get back to 4.5 – 5.5.
In order to combat this, we use a toner, which is a product that restores your skin to its normal pH, so you don’t have to suffer the adverse effects of a wonky pH. They are often very hydrating and soothing products. One of the toners I love that works on most skin types is this rosewater toner.
Some cleansers will be pH balanced, meaning they already keep your skin at a normal pH level. If this is the case, you do not have to worry about finding a toner, because there’s no need for one. You can usually find out if your face wash is pH balanced by reading the back of the bottle, or simply by looking it up online.
Next, you need to moisturize.
I think it’s safe to say that we all love moisturizing. Who doesn’t love the feel of a soft, hydrated face? It’s pure bliss to me.
After you’ve toned, you will want to make up for natural moisture loss that comes with age and time spent out in the elements. Especially if you have naturally dry skin! But don’t think you do not need to moisturize just because your skin is oily. When your naturally oily skin doesn’t receive the moisture it wants, it will produce more and more oil to overcompensate. Prevent this by moisturizing!
Another benefit of this step is that often the molecules of a moisturizer are quite large, meaning that the water already inside your skin won’t be able to escape. Create that occlusive barrier with your moisturizer and your face will thank you.
The last step in your routine should be protect.
Protect your skin?! From what?! Well, the sun. And bad eyebrows, but that is a topic for a whole different post… What you need to be concerned about is the sun’s harmful UVA/UVB rays.
The sun is responsible for a whopping 90% of skin’s aging and skin damage.Yikes! To prevent this damage, as well as the sucking away of all moisture away from our face, wear sunscreen. It keeps your skin looking young, healthy, and decreases your likelihood of getting skin cancer.
You only have to wear it during the day, because there are no UVA or UVB rays at night. There are three main options for incorporating a sunscreen into your daily routine. The first is that you can buy one moisturizer with spf included and use it both day and night. The second is that you can buy a seperate moisturizer, one for day and one for nighttime use.
The third option is my personal favorite, and that is that you get one moisturizer, and then one facial sunscreen. You will apply the moisturizer both day and night and then just use the sunscreen before you go out for the day. My all time favorite is Dermalogica’s solar defense booster, but there are lots of good ones on the market.
What isn’t necessary?
As I mentioned earlier, there are a million products out there, and lots of people are claiming that you need them all. Here are just some examples of some such superfluous products, included but not limited to):
Eye creams, serums, hydrators, masques, lip creams, essences, exfoliators, night creams, facial oils, scrubs, and many more.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that all of these kinds of products are a scam and have no place in a good skincare routine. In fact, I use many of these products on clients and on myself!
What I am saying is that you don’t absolutely need them. They are the fun garnishes on top of an already good routine, not the meat and potatoes. You do not have to feel like you are taking bad care of your skin because you aren’t using them all. In fact, I would err on the side of simplicity when deciding what to use on my skin.
Hopefully after reading this post you’ve gained an idea of what your daily skincare routine should look like, and what you can leave out if you want to keep it simple and effective.
If you liked this post, be sure to check out my posts on the dangers of chemical peels, or on why you should start waxing. Be sure to subscribe so you can be notified by email every time I upload something new!
SURE LOVE YA! — Miss Aphrodite Darling
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