Washing your face is vital for keeping your skin healthy, young and blemish-free. However, there are certain cleansing techniques that work better than others. When you wash your face, you don’t want to just get it wet and get rid of makeup. You also want to anti-age your face and keep it looking perfect every day of the week. New research is always finding improved ways to practice skincare. These are some of the latest and greatest.
1 Use Warm Water, Not Super Hot Water
While it’s true that hot water is a bit better at killing germs and bacteria, it also dries out your skin and can lead to itching and flakiness. Turns out that lukewarm water is just fine for getting a good cleanse. The products you use to wash your face do more of the work to kill icky stuff than the temperature of the water. So, tone down the temp a little bit and you’ll still be happy with the results.
Frequently asked questions
2 Stop Scrubbing so Hard – It Doesn’t Help
You don’t have to apply a ton of pressure to slough bacteria and products off your face. In fact, being too rough when you wash your face can damage your skin and lead to wrinkles. Gentle pressure is enough to get rid of makeup and bacteria and leaving you with a freshly cleansed face without worrying about making things worse.
3 Use Your Fingers Instead of a Washcloth
Here’s something that I recently learned and it makes totally sense. When you wash your face with a cloth, you run the risk of swiping off the protective layer on the surface of your skin that keeps it safe. On the other hand, using your fingers keeps that layer intact, while also ensuring a good clean on your face. Gentle pressure with your fingers is the best way to wash your face.
4 Wash at Least Twice per Day, but Three Could Be Good Too
You know that you should wash your face in the morning and at night, but if you work out during the day, you should also be washing afterwards, bringing your daily total to three. When you exercise, your face becomes covered in sweat, which contains bacteria. Letting it hang out on your skin until you wash at night could leave you more prone to breakouts. Wash after your workout to prevent this issue.
5 You Might Not Need Soap in the Morning
Experts say that if you don’t feel any residue on your skin when you get up, you might not need a cleanser. In that case, you can just use lukewarm water to refresh your skin before applying your products and makeup. If you have oily skin, you may need a facial cleanser to keep shine at bay.
6 Do a Double Cleanse at Night for Better Results
You read that right. You should be washing twice in the evening. Use the first cleanser to remove makeup, dirt and junk from your face. Then follow it up with a cleanser designed to exfoliate and remove dead skin cells and other debris that’s hanging out on your skin. This simple method will you leave so much happier with your skin.
7 Don’t Be Tempted to over Cleanse
Washing is great, but don’t be tempted to do more than is necessary. Cleansing too often can strip your skin of the waxy outer layer it needs to keep your face hydrated and healthy. Unless your dermatologist tells you otherwise, limit yourself to two cleanses per day, unless you exercise mid-day. Then you need a third. More than this can make skin issues worse, not better, and can leave you with a dry, dull complexion.
8 Pick the Right Product
When washing your face, you always want to be sure you're using a product that's right for your skin. Non-oily skin using an oily product will only dry it out more. And if you have oily skin and you're using a moisturizing product, you will wind up with more breakouts. Pick a cleanser that fits your skin profile to create glowing healthy skin.
9 Not RinSing Throughly
You may think a quick splash of water over the soap is good enough, but it's not. You need to be sure you're rinsing off the product, or even just your makeup if you aren't using soap, throughly. Not doing so causes buildup in the pores which leads to icky skin conditions.
10 Not Moisturizing
After you're done washing your face, you need to apply moisturizer immediately to lock in your skin. If you over dry your skin then apply, you won't get the right effects from the products you're using. This will counteract with your skin leading to dull looks you're trying to avoid.
What’s your best facial cleansing tip? Do you think you’ll try any of these ideas?
