The Ultimate Guide to Perfect Skin Care Routine
A proper skincare routine is needed for perfect skin. Below is a step-by-step skincare routine for day and night.
Morning Routine
Cleanse
People usually feel like not doing facial cleansing in the morning, as they clean their faces at night. However, your face will not be cleaned by just splashing water on it. Regardless of price or quality, applying the facial product without cleansing your face with a cleanser in the morning will not work. Even at night, your skin still produces oil. Thus, products only work, and your skin absorbs efficiently on debris-free skin.
Tone
You need to apply products from thinnest to thickest, so apply toner before any skincare products. Apply toner after cleaning your face, as it calms down your skin and astringes your sweat pores that were enlarged during facial cleansing. People with acne or oily skin benefits from toner as it is formulated for removing oil and dirt from their pores.
Treat
Next; you need to treat your skin after applying toner. The term ‘treat’ in a skincare routine refers to applying serum or essence before applying moisturiser. Face serum benefits our skin a lot as it absorbs quickly into our skin due to the formulations being lighter than moisturisers and soothes sensitive skin protecting it from oxidative damage from the environment. Thus, choosing skincare loaded with antioxidants helps smooth skin texture, so you’ll have a good base for further routine or makeup.
Moisturize
After the serum, do remember to apply a moisturiser such as moisture cream or water-based moisturiser to lock the moisture from the serum and potentiate the active ingredients. Moisturisers assist our skin in preventing water loss. You can use paraben-free face moisturiser for healthy skin and anti-ageing moisturiser for people who like to avoid pre-ageing.
Eye Cream
The last step for your morning skincare routine would be to apply eye cream. This is to moisturise your under-eye area to get rid of wrinkles and fine lines by tightening it; we know that our under-eye area is more sensitive than other areas. Applying eye cream will also help to prepare our skin for makeup by reducing dark circles and minimising our wrinkles.
Sunscreen
Although eye cream would be the last step in the morning skincare routine, applying sunscreen will improve our routine. Sunscreen is best for anti-ageing and protects us from UV light damage. You must apply sunscreen at the very end of the morning skincare routine and beyond the makeup process. This is because sunscreen act as a product containing SPF to prevent sunray from penetrating the skin instead of absorbing the ingredients from sunscreen to our skin. Moreover, the recommended volume of SPF for daily activity is 50, so it can effectively prevent our skin from getting damaged by sunlight.
Night Routine
Cleanse
After spending the whole day outside, cleansing yourself is a must. We shouldn’t bring dust from outside to our bed, thus cleaning our body, and apply cleanser on our face to remove impurities. You may include exfoliating during the cleansing process a few times a week, as it helps to clear off dead skin and pore-clogging impurities.
Tone
Same as the morning routine, apply products from thinnest to thickest. Hence, calm down your skin by applying toner after cleansing to remove dirt from your pores. Toning will help our skin balance as your skin’s pH level will change after cleansing, while our skin’s normal pH level is around 4.6 and 6.4.
Treat
Next, treat your skin as well after toner. For the night routine, you may choose to apply the mask before applying serum. If applying the cream mask, ensure that you apply it before the serum; for the sheet mask, you may multitask or apply it after taking off the mask. You may choose a mask that targets a particular skin concern, such as dehydration, redness or ageing, or even undereye lines or lip crack.
Moisturize
Lastly, moisturise your face to lock the essence from the serum and mask. You might be using the same moisturiser; however, you may consider targeting two different moisturisers, such as day cream and night cream, to target different skin concerns.
Best Skin Care Ingredients For Better Skin
Hyaluronic Acid
As we know, our skin needs to stay hydrated to prevent dry skin. Hyaluronic acid can be found in our human body, and it takes part in maintaining healthy skin. It helps the skin to stay moist and prevents it from evaporating into the air. However, the level of hyaluronic acid declines and leads to dryness and wrinkles as time passes. Thus, skincare products containing hyaluronic acid boost skin hydration and reduce wrinkles on the face. A skincare product with a high-level concentration of hyaluronic acid will boost skin hydration to the maximum.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a type of nutrient that can be found in foods such as oranges, cabbage or spinach. The type of Vitamin C we need in our skincare products is ascorbic acid, which absorbs quickly and has the highest potency. After absorbing, it helps to stabilise our skin, creates collagen molecules, and effectively reduces hyperpigmentation, so it is one of the best anti-ageing products. It is important for maintaining healthy skin as it protects our skin damaging from sunlight and environmental pollution. It helps brighten our skin when applying it topically.
Green tea
Due to its effectiveness, many products have been including green tea as one of the ingredients in skincare products. Green tea contains large amounts of antioxidants to fight free radicals, and caffeine helps free the body from toxins and improves complexion. Moreover, green tea has more effects, such as anti-inflammatory to help with acne-prone skin and Vitamin C, which protects our skin from UV radiation. Green tea also acts as a moisturiser to keep our skin hydrated whilst stimulating skin to shed dead cells.
Argan Oil
Argan oil is derived from the kernel of the argan tree and is suitable for all skin types. What makes it less heavy than another natural oil is it has a balanced ratio between oleic and linoleic acid. Besides, argan oil is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, preventing our skin from sun damage and healing and hydrating it. It also reduces our wrinkles and fine lines, as well as reduces scars and stretch marks. As a result, any antioxidant essence skincare or anti-ageing moisturiser, including argan oil, benefits our skin.
Algae Extracts
Extracted microalgae are a powerful ingredient in skincare products as they improve skin elasticity and reduce wrinkles and fine lines. Algae extract is 6000 times stronger than Vitamin C and 150 times stronger than Vitamin E. There are a few types of algae. Red algae can produce 128 per cent moisture with one application. Spirulina contains a large amount of chlorophyll, which helps to keep skin soft and hydrated. It also possesses cleansing properties. By reducing collagen breakdown, astaxanthin provides anti-ageing benefits since algae contain anti-inflammatory and antioxidant substances, such as high levels of Vitamin C, so algae ingredients are often used as antioxidant essences and moisturisers.
Signs That Your Skin Barrier Is Damaged
You must be aware of your skin condition, as your skin condition always reflects whether you have used the wrong product or been exposed to a polluted environment.
These are the signs that your skin barrier is damaged:
- Dry and scaly skin
- Itchiness
- Acne
- Sensitive skin
- Skin infections
These are the possible factors that affect your skin barriers:
- Sun exposure
- Skin products with harmful ingredients
- A too-humid or too-dry environment
- Stress
- Over-washing
Harmful Skin Care Ingredients To Avoid
Parabens
Parabens are a type of chemical preservative to prevent mould and bacteria growth. Parabens can usually be found in moisturisers, shampoos or conditioners. It is harmful as it causes cancer, and hormone disruption sensitises our skin and leads to allergic reactions.
Phthalates
Continued by Phthalates is a type of fragrance in skin products. This is much more harmful than fragrance as it may cause altered puberty, the risk of getting cancer may increase, and even lead to male and female fertility issues, which pregnancy loss would be the worst case.
Polyethylene Glycols (PEG Compounds)
PEG is a petroleum-based compound that usually acts as moisture-carriers, thickeners, solvents and softeners. It can be found in cleansers, moisturisers, or sunscreens. The potential health risk if our skincare product contains PEG, especially on damaged skin, would lead to irritation and system toxicity.
Hydroquinone
Hydroquinone is the agent for skin lightening in skincare products. However, it lightens our skin through chemical destruction by forced and harsh alterations. This leads to skin problems, more blemishes on the face, and pre-ageing. The worst case would be caused to skin diseases such as Ochronosis.
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid (EDTA)
EDTA is a type of preservative to prevent the growth of bacteria and help products produce foam; thus, we usually find it in cleansers. Sadly, it is harmful as it impacts body cell health, reproductive systems and skin irritation since it penetrates our skin barrier and bypasses our natural protective layer.
Key Ingredients To Look Out For To Fight Anti-Aging
Fullerene
Fullerene comprises 60 linked carbon atoms, and the size is super tiny molecules with only 0.7 nanometres. The function of fullerene is to assist other ingredients in skin care products to penetrate deeper and transform your skin. Fullerene also acts as an antioxidant, protecting the skin against free radicals, which are the main cause of ageing and various diseases. This ingredient also prevents breakouts and acne by balancing oil production and improves skin texture by suppressing melanin production. Guess what? Fullerene has 172 times more potent than vitamin C, but it's rarely used in skincare products as it is considered a pricey ingredient.
Hyaluronic Acid
As hyaluronic acid is included in the best ingredients for better skin, it is also a key ingredient to fight anti-ageing. The components help the skin to stay hydrated and are pleasing for dry skin, preventing wrinkles. Hence, an anti-ageing moisturiser containing hyaluronic acid is a good skincare product.
Vitamin C
Firstly, Vit C protects our skin from UV rays and is free from radical damage. Besides, it helps build collagen to maintain our skin’s firmness. Collagen occurs naturally in our body, ensuring the skin’s bouncy appearance. However, it decreases as we age. Do remember to look for Vitamin C serums formulated with ferulic acid, as the ingredient helps stabilise Vitamin C formulas, not to mention it is a powerful antioxidant as well.
Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF)
Growth factors are important for cells to regulate in the human body, where EGF was discovered only 30 years ago. EGF decreases as humans age, so the skin will soon be less elastic, leading to wrinkles and dullness. Thus, skincare products containing EGF help stimulate fibroblasts, cells in human skin that produce collagen and elastin to clarify, thicken and tighten our skin.
Niacinamide
Being a skin-care ingredient formed by vitamin B3, niacinamide has shown its effect on fighting free radical damage, brightening dark spots with managing acne. Skincare products with niacinamide ingredients can brighten skin with fewer side effects which is friendly for sensitive skin users.
In conclusion, a proper skincare routine is essential for perfect skin. Whether it’s in the morning or evening, and with the right products, your skin will look and feel its best. These steps require special attention and the right product choices for your skin type. Although it may feel overwhelming to try and juggle all of those steps, it is worth the effort when you have healthy and glowing skin. Why not start today by investing in good quality products?