Cleansing the facial skin is one of the basic elements of the evening and morning skincare routine. Neglecting this step can cause blackheads and imperfections or premature skin aging. Without a thoroughly cleansed skin, the next steps of skincare don’t make sense and won’t bring the desired results. So how to properly and effectively wash your face?
Double cleansing
One of the basic mistakes when doing the evening skincare routine is removing make-up and skipping the step of cleansing.
1. Make-up removal
First, we need to get rid of make-up, dirt accumulated during the day and the cream with a UV filter. We do this step with cosmetics designed for this purpose (oils, butters, micellar fluids) that will effectively dissolve all impurities. Oil products, that emulsify under the influence of water, work best. Make-up removal should be very precise, one rub with a cotton with liquid isn’t enough.
2. Cleansing
After removing the make-up, yoy should wash the skin (with gel, foam, emulsion). In the morning, make-up removal is of course unnecessary, unless you went to bed with full make-up (sic!). While we don’t wear makeup during the day, cleansing should be good enough, but when using a UV filter, a double cleansing is recommended.
Washing with mild cleansing agents
Cleansing the skin shouldn’t cause any discomfort. Using cosmetics with strong detergents may damage our hydrolipid barrier. Then the skin will be dry out and its defense mechanism will be the overproduction of sebum. This is a common mistake among people struggling with oily and acne-prone skin, drying skin gives the illusion of clean skin, but it’s a vicious circle. Unfortunately, still many cosmetics dedicated to teenagers contain strong detergents and alcohol. Also frequently used, regular soaps are similar to SLS, so they are irritating to the skin. Changing the washing product to a more gentle one was my breakthrough in skincare. How to recognize detergents in the composition?
Strong surfactants:
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)
Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate (ALS)
Gentle surfactants:
Lauryl Glucoside
Coco-Glucoside
Decyl Glucoside
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Sodium Cocoamphoacetate
Gentle cleansing
Aggressive rubbing of the skin doesn’t cleanse it better. On the other hand, it may result in irritation, redness and, consequently, damage of the hydrolipid barrier and drying of the skin. Hands and a gentle massage are the best for this step of skincare. Daily use of brushes, sponges and other accessories can also be too aggressive for it. Each such strong rubbing causes micro exfoliation of the epidermis. Another topic is proper hygiene of these accessories, their regular washing or disinfection is the basis of their use.
Other mistakes in cleansing the face
- not washing the micellar fluid
- not washing your hands before cleaning
- too frequent peeling
- washing with hot water
- using patches and peel-off masks
- lack of morning skin cleansing
- drying the skin after washing with a body towel