Cleansing: Why your skin needs it.

Hi everyone! Today, I thought I would talk about the importance of cleansing and the steps you need to follow in order to achieve the best skin you possibly can!

I have read many girls of late on various websites, beauty groups and pages talking about using face wipes as a method of cleansing. Now to clarify, I am not talking about the dry facial towelette wipes that can be used in conjunction with your cleanser and other face products to help to provide a sanitary way of cleansing, no. I am talking about pre-packaged facial wipes that you buy in the supermarket. 

These wipes have their place, and when used appropriately, there is no harm. However majority of these wipes are too course for the skin and can irritate the skin. This isn't really the problem though, the problem is that the girls are using it as their ONLY method of cleansing. As a beauty therapist, this makes me shudder, ESPECIALLY if you are someone who wears makeup. I can guarantee that this isn't an effective way of cleansing the face. Now, I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I am truly trying to help. While on the topic of ineffective cleansing, I have also heard multiple girls using eye make-up remover as a method of cleansing. This doesn't cleanse the skin.

Facial wipes were not designed for cleansing the face, nor were they designed to help the time poor. They were designed to remove your makeup, sure - but not to cleanse your face. Facial wipes are simply wipes saturated in an eye makeup remover. The reason that this is an ineffective cleanse is that the ingredients in eye makeup remover are often an oil in water emulsion that helps to dissolve makeup, but not cleanse it from your face. That is what a cleanser is designed to do.

Whether or not you would like to spend a lot of money on facial products is completely up to you. I am not telling you what you should or shouldn't do, I am simply offering my knowledge. If you can afford it, however I would suggest you visit a Beauty Therapist to get your skin analysed and to use the products that will work best for your skin type & condition.

As to the order of what to use first, here it is! I have had so many girls ask me what order to use their products in, so I thought that I would kill two birds with one stone in this post! First is the eye makeup remover - now this is important whether or not you are wearing eye makeup, because the pores around your eyes are much finer and require special care. This can also be used to remove lip makeup. An oil-in-water emulsion is recommended for proper removal, used on damp cotton pads. Next, comes any pre-cleansing products, which are available in some skin care ranges, remember not all ranges have these, so don't stress. Now if you don't have a pre-cleansing product, this is the part where you cleanse twice if it is night time, or just once in the morning. Cleansing both morning and night is important as majority of your skin's rejuvenation happens while you sleep, so the skin needs to be cleansed to remove any debris. Next comes a toner/lotion - whatever you call it, these days most do the same thing, being that they rebalance the skin's natural pH and they prepare the skin for the next step. This is followed by an exfoliant - side note: you only need to exfoliate once a week, any more is too much. I would recommend that the day you exfoliate is also the day you apply a face mask, as exfoliating helps to remove the dead skin cells and allow the mask to penetrate the skin better (the mask is the next step, by the way, this should also only be done 1-2 times per week). Now comes any serums you may have, keeping in mind that most vitamin C serums can have a bleaching affect when worn under sunlight - which is why they are recommended for night use (another reason cleansing in the morning is important). This should be followed by an eye cream - now same goes here as for the eye makeup remover, eye cream is specialised for the eye area due to the smaller pores of the area and the more sensitive skin, moisturiser can cause milia (white heads) under the eyes due to it being too rich. Moisturiser is next, and for day wear this should be followed by a sunscreen. Sunscreen is important, as the sun speeds up the process of ageing, not to mention causing various skin cancers.

There you have it! Just to reiterate that I am not trying to offend anyone! I am truly trying to help & thought that my professional opinion & knowledge may help to inform you of a few things I have learnt. If you disagree, that is fine, but keep in mind that I do know what I am talking about & everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Plus, I understand that skin care is not always affordable, checking out the ingredients often helps and if you would like help with cheaper priced cleansers, let me know in the comments & I will do a post about it! 
Until Next Time ..
-Beauty Geek x