In this article we are going to be going over how to pick the best cleanser and also help you understand what’s the best cleanser for your skin type. When someone meets with me and they say okay well I have sensitive skin so I don’t often like to wash my face very much because I’m scared to make it more sensitive. Well first off all you want to be cleansing the skin morning and night and a little tip and trick when you’re cleansing the skin is to sometimes do a double or a triple cleanse at nighttime. I even like to recommend that if your acne prone use great skincare to get your cleansing and the evening done in the shower or the bath. That’s a really nice little extra tip for you. Now we’re going to help you figure out what your skin type is so that you can pick the best cleanser.
If you are acne prone you really want to be looking for cleansers that have things like glycolic acid and salicylic acid. Glycolic acid and salicylic acid are really helpful for chemically exfoliating the skin which is great for reducing buildup on the skin and when your acne prone that congestion leads to breakouts so really important usually like a two to four percent salicylic acid is great. I like to recommend that if you are acne prone to stay away from things like oil cream cleansers and using things that have a consistency that’s maybe a little bit more like a gel consistency.
Nine times out of ten when a client meets with me and they have kind of red reactive skin they’re often not cleansing their skin enough because they’re worried about making it more sensitive. My answer to that is more often than not clients just simply aren’t using their skin care properly or they’re not using the right products. If you are rosacea Prone you want to be cleansing the skin morning and night That’s really really important.
Another thing I like to consider when helping someone select a cleanser is what season are you in. Are we in the summertime and you’re creating a little bit more oil or are you in the winter months and it’s a little bit drier because of indoor heating. All of these things are really important. During the wintertime even though I’m acne prone I will prefer to use something that’s a little bit more gentler on my skin and kind of go towards more of like a gel creamy type consistency. In the summer when I’m sweating lots I want to get my skin a really good clean because when you’re sweaty you can actually get a bit more congestion. I will switch to more like a really thin kind of like serum gel type cleanser. I love to recommend a cleanser for people that also takes off your makeup because honestly makeup removers and toners they’re things that you really don’t need in my opinion
Your products if they’re properly made they should already be pH balanced to the skins pH. That’s essentially what a toner does. What I find people like about toners is that it helps to get rid of excess buildup of makeup along the hairline.
I like to recommend that people use as few products as possible to reduce the cost of their skincare and to simplify their routine. Also if you’re really sensitive it’s one more formulation that you’re not exposing your skin to. So let your cleanser do double duty and clean your skin and also take off your makeup. Some cleansers are going to be better than others at that job.
There are different types of cleansers. I’ve already mentioned Gel cleansers and I’ve already mentioned cream cleansers. What I’ve noticed to be a really big trend lately are oil based cleansers. I don’t really like oil based cleansers very much because I find that they are kind of a bit of a trend. If you already have pretty okay skin sometimes you can deal with an oil based cleanser but if your acne prone or sensitive or rosacea prone I just doubt that those types of cleansers will have things like glycolic acid or salicylic acid that are going to give you that extra little degree of a really good deep clean which is important so that you don’t get congestion which can add to breakouts and irritation.
Another question I’m often asked about cleansers is how much cleanser do you use. I often like to recommend using about a teaspoon of your cleanser and at night time do that two to three times. In the morning just do that once. I wash my hands first before ever touching my face. Don’t flush the face. Wash your hands, get your hands wet, put your cleanser in your palm and then go for it and rub your product on your face. Let it sit for about a minute because these really good muck great formulations are already PH balanced and they’ll pH balance your skin in about a minute so. I like to leave it on for a minute. Sometimes I’ll brush my teeth at the same time and then do your rinse off and then do a quick little you know wipe with the towel along the hairline to get a little bit of extra dirt oil debris and makeup gone.
I never fully completely dry my skin because when I apply my serums and moisturizers and my eye creams I actually want my skin to have just a little bit more humidity to it. I find that that helps my serums and my eye creams on my moisturizers even actually go a little bit further because there’s already a little bit of slip to it. I clued into this when Halle Berry said in an interview that when she gets out of the shower she doesn’t completely towel dry herself off before applying her body moisturizer. She’ll actually apply her body moisturizer while she’s still kind of a little bit wet. If you will just do like a little pat down and then apply your body products or your face products but you don’t have to completely dry the skin. The next question.
I’m often asked about cleansers and how to pick the best cleanser. What’s an appropriate price range when you go to the drugstore? You will find cleansers that range from about $4 to about $25. When I have used really low grade cleansers such as items from brands like Neutrogena, they’ve been really stripping on my skin and I can feel the difference between an over-the-counter product like that one and a really good medical grade cleanser like the illumi a acne balancing cleanser which is actually my favorite cleanser of all time. It takes off my makeup and it’s got some style silic acid and all that good stuff in it so I absolutely love it. A really good medical grade cleanser will range from about 35 to about 60 something dollars and they should last you for oftentimes about six months or so.
You may notice that the cost of an over-the-counter drugstore product is a little bit less expensive than medical grade. You might already be spending the same amount of money so my advice to you is switch to medical grade. You’ll just be getting much more bang for your buck.
