When building high quality skin care products we have spent quite some time to study, experiment, learn, and evaluate skin and how different substances affect it (sure, you can call us nerds..). We are aware that all skin is unique, but we believe some common traits exist. Some say experience is the sum of your mistakes, so here is our attempt to share our experiences on a good daily skin care routine.
We find some skincare routines quite extensive. For this reason, we also give suggestions on how to remember doing your skin care routine well – keep in mind though, whatever your skincare routine is, consistency is the single most important factor for better results. If you – like us – sometimes forget steps in your routine, or to even do it at all, try to set up triggers for yourself. This could be, “When I brush my teeth, I must also wash my face“, which might help you remember more often – after all, your skin should be as important as your teeth.
Alright, so the three basic steps for a skin care routine are:
First a look at the basic steps followed by an explainer of each. Keep in mind that the sequence is important to achieve the best results. Essentially, you can follow these three overall steps and build on.
1. Cleanse
Every good skin care routine starts with cleansing. This step is an important to remove pollutants, dead cells, and excess oil from your skin and allows you to reveal fresh skin cells. Further, it prepares your skin for absorbing vitamins and hydration in the following steps.
The simplest routine is to wash your face with lukewarm water – be aware that the water does not get hot. A more common routine is to use a cleanser that fits your skin type. For that purpose we have developed our Rosy Soufflé Cleanser. When using a cleanser, first rinse your face with lukewarm water, apply the cleanser and scrub your face for ~10 seconds, and finally apply sufficient water to rinse in the end – and your skin is now ready for the next step!
Tip: Remember to use a clean towel and pad your face until dry – optionally, you can use a face towel for this purpose.
2. Balance
Let’s move to step 2 – the balancing part. This is when you infuse all the goodness into your skin such as vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants. Sometimes forgotten in a busy daily life, this step is key to spark new energy to your skin after a long day or a good night’s sleep.
The first part is to use a toner, which essentially prepares your skin for receiving the all the goodness. Back in the days, toners were tough liquids based on alcohol, but much has changed in this area, and today they are an essential part of recommended skincare routines. Our take on the toner, Cellular Recovery Toning Serum includes some serum like features to detox cells and infuse nutrients – which also happens to be good for your budget.
If you want to advance your skincare routine further, you can add a second part by applying a serum after applying your toner. A serum is a dense and concentrated extract that benefits your skin in various ways. When we look at effects of skincare, serums are often an important part as they are richly packed with wonderful ingredients. You can check out of our versions of serums, the Morning Dew Serum or the Moonlight Serum. After applying your serum, this is also the point to apply eye cream if that’s part of your skincare routine.
Tip: Ever been surprised by an annoying spot from acne? Try applying some spot treatment at night and let it sit during the night and work its magic. We’ve made one for acne, our Ultimate Illuminating Blemish Eraser, but if you experience dark spots, scars or something else try looking for another spot treatment to apply for the night.
3. Hydrate
Finally, at the last step we want to make sure our skin is ready for the day or the night. We do this by applying hydration to our skin. Apply moisturizer by tapping your product and tap it onto your face – this can feel weird at first, but maximizes the effect. When hydrating after applying both toner and/or serum, we suggest a light-weight moisturizer (our take is the Aqua Power).
Tip: If you are heading out for the day, remember to apply SPF30 or more (which actually also applies in the Winter months). This helps reduce premature aging, acne scars, and generally reduces your risk of skin cancer. Once again, find one that suits your skin – for lighter skin you can check out our Second Skin Tinted Moisturizer with SPF30.
Other tips & tricks
Your skin is your largest organ and inseparable from your body and mind. This is evident when we get redness or breakouts due to high pressure situations or the food we eat. Therefore, there are other important important aspects to help your skin – and your body as a whole – to stay in good shape:
- Drink water: About 8 glass per day should be enough to hydrate depending on your body weight.
- Eat healthy: Eating seeds, nuts, and greens helps to boost e.g. chlorophyll and omega 3.
- Sleep well: And change your pillow cases (remember that our face spends ~ 8 hours there every night!).
Time to set up or optimize your skin care routine? – we hope our mistakes can become your learnings. If you want other tips, check out this article from New York Times on How to build a skincare routine with loads of good info.
Reach us at hello@solskindk.com if you have questions or comments. 🙂
