The number one rule of skin health, and the key to any effective skincare routine, is skin-prep. Skin-prep means starting every routine, regardless of your skin condition, with two essential steps; cleansing and gentle exfoliation, making sure you’ve got the best products to do so.
Think of skin-prep like an artist’s canvas. An artist never starts a masterpiece with a compromised canvas or without the correct tools and your skin is no different. The right cleanser and exfoliant should provide you not only with a deep cleansing action but also leave your skin barrier intact, meaning it shouldn’t strip, dry, or irritate your skin.
So, how often should you Cleanse?
The simple answer is twice per day, morning, and evening. Here’s why:
• Once in the Morning: Ensures you’ve gently removed excess oils and impurities and have clean, clear skin ready for your corrective serums and hydrators.
• Twice in the Evening: Double-Cleansing every evening is crucial to ensure you have first thoroughly cleared away makeup, oils, and environmental pollutants and second, totally cleaned your skin to maintain or work towards clearer, brighter skin.
Gentle Antioxidant Cleanser is the perfect choice as it’s suitable for all skin types, doubles as an eye makeup remover and will leave your skin feeling clean without that stripped feeling. Double this with a silky-smooth cleansing cloth like The Skin Shammy and you have the ultimate cleansing action with the softest feel and finish.
What about a Toner, do I need to tone?
The truth about Toners is this – a good cosmedical cleanser shouldn’t leave the skin unbalanced so that they would require rebalancing with a Toner. Instead, we recommend Micellar Treatment Gel, a second-generation toner, meaning its purpose, rather than rebalancing the skin, is to provide an extra deep cleanse or take the place of a morning cleanse for those looking for a simpler routine.
O Cosmedics Micellar Gel Treatment contains active ingredient EXO-P which goes one step further and provides your skin with a protective shield against dehydration, pollutants, and environmental stressors as it purifies and brightens your skin.
Why do I need to exfoliate?
The beauty world is no stranger to Exfoliators. The truth is, we love them! They feel like they’re working, and leave our skin soft and smooth but, like all of our favourite things, too much can actually be VERY bad for the skin, stripping, disrupting the natural oil balance and skin barrier and integrity. That’s why an Exfoliant really shouldn’t be added to your routine without the guidance of your skincare professional.
That said, most skins will benefit from a form of gentle exfoliation once to twice per week. A home exfoliation, whether it be physical, enzymatic or AHA should assist in releasing redundant keratinised skin cells that need extra help being released from the surface without stripping or breaking down the barrier.
New age exfoliants like Multi-Functional Peel you intense smoothing and softening without irritation due to skin-friendly AHA’s which utilise slow-release technology. Its lightweight serum formulation allows it to be simply added into your night-time routine straight after using Gentle Antioxidant Cleanser and Micellar Treatment Gel before your other nightly serums and hydrators.