the basic skin care routine
The Beauty Biblethe basic skin care routine
the basic steps: cleanse, tone, treat, moisturize, and protect
1. Determine Your Skin Type
Before you even begin to start using products on your skin, it is important that you determine what your skin type is. This way, you will be able to know what your skin needs/doesn't need. Your skin type determines the kinds of products that you will be using, so be sure to make this your first priority.
There are 4 general skin types. It is possible for people to have characteristics of more than one skin type; however, people usually tend to fit just one type better. Listed below are some general characteristics of each skin type. Which skin type(s) fit you best?
1. Normal skin: skin is usually comfortable and not stiff/dry, may produce some oil but not excess oil
2. Oily skin: produces excessive oil mainly in t-zone (forehead, nose) and sometimes in u-zone (chin and cheeks)
3. Dry skin: tends to be red/flaky/sensitive, can feel stiff and uncomfortable, may still produce oil but not excessive amounts of it
4. Combination skin: feels oily in some areas (usually t-zone) and dry in others (usually u-zone)
Along with these 4 major skin types, there are also many other problems that can affect the skin. They are not exclusive to any skin type. Skin problems such as acne, eczema, and rosacea can affect any skin type. For example, someone with dry skin can still have acne. Someone with oily skin can still have sensitivity. Another thing to note is that skin type can be affected by various factors such as lifestyle, health, age, environment, etc. Therefore, it is possible for someone's skin type to change. It is also possible for someone to overlap between two categories. After all, these are not strict, definite categories. However, they can still give you some clue of where you likely fall and help give you a good idea of what kinds of products you should be buying/using.
2. Cleanse
One of the arguably most important step in your skin care routine would be to cleanse your skin. In order to rid your skin of impurities (dirt, oil, bacteria) and prep your skin for the rest of your skin care routine, you must first wash your face. (Remember: Water isn't enough! You need a good cleanser to be able to thoroughly cleanse your skin.)
Regular cleansing will result in healthier, smoother skin that is ready to receive maximum benefits from your other products (serums, moisturizers, masks). Be sure to never use hot water. Hot water can damage your skin, leaving micro-scars, and increase irritation and redness. Use lukewarm water that is comfortable to the touch instead.
Also be sure to choose a good cleanser for your skin. A gentle cleanser is the most suitable cleanser for any skin type. Harsh anti-acne washes and soaps are very harmful. Even oily skin does not need such harsh cleansers. Choose cleansers with gentle ingredients instead. If it leaves your skin feeling comfortable and refreshed without causing excess irritation or dryness, then it is a good cleanser! You want to wash the excess oil, dirt, and bacteria from your skin, but you don’t want to strip your skin of all its essential moisture and nutrients. Even if you use a moisturizer after washing your skin, the moisturizer may not be able to replace all of the lost nutrients!
3. Tone
After cleansing, tone your skin. This step is often left out in many people's skin care routines; however, this step is very important. Different toners have different skin benefits, depending on what ingredients they have. The general purpose of all toners, however, is to further remove any impurities that your cleanser may have missed and further prep your skin for skin treatments. Toners increase your skin's absorption by getting rid of impurities that may interfere with the absorption of your skin product. They also provide moisturization immediately after cleansing. However, avoid toners containing harsh ingredients, such as alcohol, at all costs! Alcohol is severely drying and damaging for your skin.
If your toner contains ingredients that help treat a specific skin condition (ex: salicylic acid for acne), wait 1-2 minutes before applying a skin treatment/moisturizer to allow the ingredients in your toner to fully absorb into your skin.
4. Treat
Once the skin is fully prepped (cleansed and toned), apply target treatments to the skin for your specific skin troubles/conditions. Target treatments include eye creams, spot treatments, face masks, serums, chemical peels, etc. Target treatments usually fall into 3 categories:
- acne treatments (reducing pore size, balancing oil production, eliminating breakouts, fading acne scars)
- anti-aging treatments (reducing wrinkles, improving firmness, promoting skin elasticity
- skin tone treatments (evening skintone, brightening skin tone, eliminating dark spots, fading acne scars)
Depending on the condition of your skin, use target treatments in either of these three categories. Different treatments may be used together to target different skin problems. Be careful if certain products are incompatible with others (ex: BHA must be used before applying AHA because AHA changes the skin’s pH to a level that interferes with BHA’s effectiveness).
After applying your skin treatment, wait 5-10 minutes before applying another treatment or your moisturizer to allow your skin to fully absorb the ingredients. Waiting may also prevents different ingredients from interfering with each other.
How to Apply your Treatment(s)
5. Moisturize
After applying your targeted treatment(s), apply a moisturizer to "lock in" the treatment products and provide extra moisturization. Remember, after cleansing your face, not only are the impurities removed, but the essential oils of your skin are also stripped away. A toner and a targeted treatment will be able to return some of the lost moisture back to your face, but it is usually not enough. Only a moisturizer will be able to fully restore the necessary amount of moisture back to your face. Just like cleansers, it is important to choose the right moisturizer for your specific skin type.
1. Normal & Dry skin: a cream moisturizer that can provide a rich hydration
2. Oily & Combination skin: a gel moisturizer that can provide a refreshing hydration (added bonus: the moisturizer has balancing properties)
Wait 5-10 minutes before applying sunscreen or makeup to allow your skin to fully absorb your moisturizer’s ingredients.
6. Protect
At the very end of your skin care routine, apply sun protection. Like toning, sun protection is often left out of many people's skin care routines, which is very dangerous. Damage incurred through overexposure to the sun can be very serious, even life-threatening. The sun's UV rays damage deep tissue layers of the skin, often dramatically changing the appearance of the skin. The damage incurred is usually permanent or hard to reverse. This is why using sun care products is incredibly important.
There are two types of UV rays: UVA and UVB. The sun's UVB rays are the ones that cause sunburns, and UVA rays are the ones that damage the deeper layers of the skin and cause wrinkles, dark spots, freckles, and even skin cancer. Comparatively, UVA rays are more dangerous and concerning.
Many sun care products use SPF (Sun Protection Factor) as a basic indicator of how much protection you have against UVB rays (a SPF of 15 blocks 94% of UVB rays, a SPF of 30 blocks 97% of UVB rays, but none of them offer 100% protection).
Sadly, many countries have not yet developed the same rating for UVA rays. In many Asian countries, however, the PA rating system is used. The rating system of PA+, PA++, and PA+++ will show the amount of protection the products offers from UVA rays. Asian sun care products will usually show both a SPF and a PA rating.
For products that do not indicate a PA rating, simply make sure that the sun care product is "broad spectrum," meaning that it protects against all types of UV rays. Sun care products that include at least one of the following ingredients will protect your skin from UVA rays: zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, avobenzone (butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane), Mexoryl SX (ecamsule), or Tinosorb.
Most skin care specialists today agree that a broad spectrum sun care product with a SPF of 30+ is necessary for most people. Sun care products should be applied at the end of your skin care routine and 15-20 minutes before exposure to the sun. Sun care products should also be re-applied every few hours (2-3 hours). If exposed to water, sun care products should be re-applied more frequently (every hour).
It is also important to note that UVA rays can penetrate through clear glass that do not have a UV coating. Unless otherwise stated, most objects (umbrellas, sunglasses, hats, clothes) do not fully protect your skin from UV rays. Even a sun care product cannot protect your skin from UV rays completely. This is why it is important to remember to re-apply your sun care product and try to avoid unnecessary sun exposure as much as possible. (**This does not mean to avoid the sun completely!) Sun protection, however, is usually not necessary at night, so you may skip this step for you night routine.
Another important thing to note: the SPF or PA ratings of different products cannot simply be added together. For example, using a moisturizer with a 30 SPF and a BB cream of 50 SPF will not necessarily give you a total of 80 SPF. SPF does not work that way. It is a bit more complicated. Still, using both products will give you more protection than just using one.
Comments