Sorry, this might be a bit of a long post, I hope you make it to the end! ha ha!
I know I've touched on this in a blog post in the the past, but today I really wanted to go a bit more in depth about cleansing the skin properly. How it should be done and how often. This of course is only my opinion, but in my experience this is what I have found works best for myself and also my clients...
Let's start with what are you cleansing with?
This is obviously super important. The products that you use to cleanse on the skin will depend on the results that you get. I find a lot of the time, if clients change up their cleansing products, you can see a massive difference in their skin - good or bad! If you are using something like a face wash, you can find that your skin might feel quite tight and dry after you have washed your face. This is because the wash is stripping all the natural oils off your skin and also damaging the natural barrier. This can change the way that the skin functions as it then has to work hard trying to replace the oils that have been stripped away. This can then lead to oily t-zones half way through the day and a greasy face by home time. Then, you go home and wash off all that 'grease' that's built up with a face wash to dry it out and be oily again by morning. It's a horrible viscous circle which you need to try and escape from. If not that, you may find your skin just gets drier and drier and begins to look really dull. Either way, something needs to change.
Other products that create a similar effect are harsh toners and face wipes. These products generally contain a lot of alcohol and also witch hazel which is not good for the skin.
So, what's left? Lotion and cream cleansers can be much more gentle on the skin, but do not always give it a real 'good' clean. You can find there is still make-up on your face the next morning too. So, I created my cleansing balm which is a natural oil based cleansing method. The product is made of pure oil and does not contain any harsh chemicals which will dry or strip your skin. It just removes make-up and oil, yet leaves the skin feeling nice and soft. Yes, this even works on some of my clients who have oily skin - don't forget, the only thing that dissolves oil is oil! (except possibly Fairy Liquid and we don't want to use that on our face!)
The other products that I have in my clinic for cleansing are the Nimue Cleansing Gels. These are very gentle, yet effective face washes which leave the skin feeling nice and clean, but not tight and dry. I would say these are the only face washes I would ever recommend to my clients. They provide a very gentle exfoliation using fruit acids to keep the skin looking fresh and radiant.
What are you removing?
As a rule, whether you have nothing on your face during the day or are fully made up I recommend always cleansing before bed. It's always great to remove any dirt and grime from the day and I can almost guarantee if I don't wash my face before bed I WILL get a new spot if not two! I would say though, if you have been to an event or wear very heavy make up during the day, you should ideally do a double cleanse at night to remove all traces of product. You may find otherwise that you can get a bit of a build up of makeup if you don't remove it all properly and then end up with breakouts.
The Importance of Massage
I think that sometimes we relate massage to facials and body treatments. Like massage is something that we experience when we are having a treatment in a salon or spa, but not in our own homes and done by us. This is so wrong! Massage is so important for the skin and if we can make time to do it everyday (or at least 3-4 times per week) we should see some great results! I don't expect you to do anything too advanced or long for that matter, but even just 1 to 2 minutes of gentle massage at night can really do wonders for our skin. The massage helps boost the circulation which will bring oxygen and nutrients to the skin and give it a glow. Why not try spending a couple of minutes on yourself using the cleansing balm as your base, apply it to your skin and use deep, lifting massage movements all around your face and neck to really stimulate it. You want to always use upward and lifting movements, pinching and gentle tapping too. Or, if that just seems a little bit too foreign to you, then why not try a cleansing brush to do it for you instead. Either way, you want to get the blood flowing to really get a good detoxification of the skin.
To tone or not to tone?
I have this question pop up quite a lot from clients. Should I be using a toner? Do I need one? Well, I guess I would say yes and no - sorry to sit on the fence! I guess it all depends on you, your skin and what you want from your skincare routine. If you struggle with problematic/acne prone skin then I would say probably yes, but something that is very active but not harsh (such as the Nimue Conditioner) as opposed to any toner for oily skin. I would say though, toning the skin is not always necessary. I like to use rosewater instead of a standard toner (or if I am going through a bit of a breakout, then I use the Conditioner from the Nimue Skin Technology range). I use this usually in the morning just to freshen my face instead of doing a full cleanse, I find it's nice, quick and easy and saves me some time too. I don't use a toner at night thought after my cleanse as I don't feel my skin needs it. On saying that, if you like to use one then make sure it's something nice and gentle. You don't want to dry your skin too much with it.
If you have any queries or just simply don't know if you are doing everything right for you, then why not book in for a skin consultation with me and then we can go through it together. Why not send an email to bookafacial@outlook.com and we can go from there.
Thank you so much for reading this long post! I hope you all have a great Bank Holiday weekend!
Emmaline x