Published: September 15, 2023
Even if you were to arm yourself with the most potent skincare products in the world, they won’t be able to do much for you unless you’ve first cleansed your skin. This is why many argue that, other than SPF, cleansing is the most important part of any skincare routine, making it essential that it’s done correctly.
Unfortunately, it’s so easy to develop bad skin habits when it comes to cleansing, but this is where CBGärdN can help. Read on as we share eight skin habits worth adopting when it comes to your cleansing regimen.
1. Cleansing Every Evening
Let’s start by talking about when to cleanse your skin. While those with oily skin may find it useful to cleanse twice a day, most people tend to cleanse once. There’s nothing wrong with this, so long as you’re saving your daily cleanse for the evening.
Why is an evening cleanse better than a morning cleanse?
If you only cleanse in the morning, then that means that you’ll be heading to bed each evening with a face full of dirt, sebum, and all of the other pollutants and impurities that have attached themselves to your skin over the course of the day. Allowing these to remain on your skin while you snooze leaves you susceptible to free radical damage. Over time, this will significantly accelerate the skin aging process.
On the other hand, if you cleanse in the evenings, you’ll be going to bed with a clean face. So long as you’re sleeping on a clean pillowcase, you’ll then be able to simply splash your face with water in the morning before carrying out your AM skincare routine, since your skin will still be relatively clean from the night before.
2. Using the Right Cleanser
Shockingly, research shows that 52% of people use hand soap or bath wash when cleansing their faces. It’s easy to understand why they do this – after all, soap is soap, right? So long as the product you’re using has cleansing agents in it, why shouldn’t you use this on your face?
The answer is simple. The skin on your face has a very different consistency to the skin on your hands or body. It’s much thinner and more delicate, meaning that it’s more prone to damage. This is why the skin on the face tends to age at a much faster rate than the skin on the body. Many people notice wrinkles appearing on the face (and neck) several years before they experience creases or sagging anywhere else.
That’s why, in order to give fragile facial skin the care that it needs, one of the skin habits that you need to get used to is using a dedicated facial cleanser.
The best one to go with would be a formula that’s suited for your skin type – dry skin requires a much gentler cleanser than oily skin, for example. With that said, some cleansers, such as the CB Facial Cleanser, can be safely used on all skin types. This formula contains hydrating and moisturizing ingredients for dry skin, yet it’s lightweight and thorough enough to do a fantastic job on oily skin types too.
3. Removing Your Makeup Before Cleansing
Although some facial cleansers may do a relatively good job of removing makeup, you should still always remove your makeup first before cleansing your face.
Why? Because, in addition to makeup and dirt, you also want your skin to be free of sebum and dead skin cells. If you apply your cleanser over the top of your makeup, it may very well clear away that makeup, but it will struggle to do anything about the sebum, dead skin cells, and other impurities beneath it. As a result, your face won’t be fully cleansed.
When it comes to removing your makeup, you have a couple of options. The first is to use a dedicated makeup remover before applying your cleanser.
Alternatively, another one of the skin habits that you could work on adopting is to double cleanse. This consists of using an oil-based cleanser first, which will effectively remove any makeup and sebum. This is then followed up with a water-based cleanser, such as the CB Facial Cleanser we featured above, to get rid of dirt, dead skin cells, and other impurities. It’s a fantastic technique to try if you want to ensure that your skin feels deeply cleansed and detoxified.
4. Toning After Cleansing
Once your skin has been cleansed, you can then move on to the rest of your skincare routine. At this stage, most people apply a serum. However, those in the know tend to dab a toner onto their skin after cleansing, before applying any other skincare products.
Why should you use a toner?
Because not only will a toner remove any residue left behind by your cleanser, but it will also help your skin’s pH to feel better balanced. Cleansing usually throws this out of whack, particularly if you’re using a harsh foaming cleanser. Following this up with a toner will help your skin to feel restored once again. In turn, this will prevent a number of skin concerns from arising, which is extremely common if your skin’s pH level is out of balance.
How do you decide which toner to use?
The best toners provide a plethora of hydrating ingredients while also containing compounds that will diminish the look of enlarged pores. One such product is the CB Facial Toner. It boasts sodium hyaluronate and glycerin, two of the best moisture-binding ingredients out there. These are combined with niacinamide, aka vitamin B3. It’s loved for how it reduces the look of pore size while also leaving the skin tone looking more even and balanced.
5. Rinsing Your Face With Lukewarm Water
One of the skin habits that many people are guilty of is using hot water to cleanse. However, this is something that could be seriously damaging your skin…
Each time hot water touches your skin, it strips away some of your skin’s natural protective barrier. This barrier is responsible for maintaining skin moisture levels while keeping environmental impurities away from your skin’s deeper layers. Once this barrier is compromised, a number of skin concerns can quickly arise.
So, while there’s no denying how relaxing it can feel to splash your skin with hot water, your skin will look and feel so much better if you turn the temperature down to lukewarm instead. This way, the water temperature will still be tolerable but you won’t end up unintentionally damaging your skin.
6. Cleansing Your Neck
As we mentioned earlier, the skin on your face is much more delicate than the skin anywhere else on your body. This is why it requires a dedicated facial cleanser.
However, it’s not just your face that needs this special care…
The skin on your neck is also extremely thin and fragile. As a result, it should be treated in the same way as the face, rather than the body. This will help to keep the skin on your neck feeling firm and tight, preventing it from looking wrinkled and loose.
Fortunately, this is one of the easier skin habits on this list to adopt. All you need to do is bring your regular facial skincare routine down to your neck each time you carry it out, and this includes your cleanser.
If possible, try to draw your products down even further, so that they cover some of your chest too. Just like your neck, this area is also very thin and susceptible to damage. This is why it responds better to facial skincare products than it does to body care products.
7. Using Your Fingertips Instead of a Sponge
If you currently use a loofah or a sponge to cleanse your face, then this is another one of your skin habits that needs to change.
What’s wrong with using a loofah?
When done correctly, absolutely nothing. However, using a loofah correctly is far more challenging than many would imagine.
For starters, loofahs, along with other sponges, are known for harboring huge amounts of bacteria. According to studies, even new and sterile loofahs contain bacteria, with this steadily multiplying once the loofah turns damp. Considering that loofahs often never get the chance to fully dry out since they’re usually hung up in a damp and humid bathroom, it’s hardly surprising that the average loofah ends up overloaded with bacteria.
This worsens even further once the loofah has been used. All of the dead skin cells and sebum that you’ve cleared off your face will end up tucked into the hundreds of nooks and crannies in a loofah. They mix in with all of the bacteria that are already there, promoting their growth even more.
One way to get around this is to boil your loofah in between uses, before making sure that it fully dries out. However, let’s face it, that’s a lot of work, especially since you don’t actually need to be using a loofah at all.
Instead, simply using your fingertips to massage your facial cleanser into your skin is more than enough. In fact, this can actually be more beneficial than using a loofah because your fingertips are less abrasive. You’ll be causing less damage to your skin’s natural protective barrier, which means healthier-looking skin overall!
8. Patting, Instead of Rubbing, Your Skin Dry
We’ve already discussed how important it is to keep your skin barrier feeling resilient and healthy during the skin cleansing process. However, your work doesn’t stop there – you need to consider your skin barrier when you’re drying your skin too.
If you currently rub your skin with a towel to remove excess moisture, then this is one of the skin habits that you need to stop doing. Rubbing at your skin not only interferes with skin barrier function but can also exacerbate fine lines and wrinkles.
Instead, all you need to do is gently pat your skin dry with a clean and soft towel. You don’t need to completely dry your skin either. Skin is more permeable when it’s damp, meaning that you want to leave a little moisture on the surface of your skin before moving on to the next step of your skincare routine.
Establish Healthy Skin Habits With CBGärdN
It’s so easy to develop bad skin habits, making it important to reassess your skin cleansing methods every once in a while. Fortunately, so long as you follow the eight tips above, you’ll be giving your skin the very best cleanse possible, leaving it looking as healthy as it feels.
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