Skin Care Tips Before You Start
Three Main Steps
Think of your skin-care routine as consisting of three main steps:
-
Cleansing — Washing your face.
-
Toning — Balancing the skin.
-
Moisturizing — Hydrating and softening the skin.
The goal of any skin-care routine is to tune up your complexion so it’s functioning at its best, and also troubleshoot or target any areas you want to work on. “Beauty routines are an opportunity to notice changes within yourself,” says the San Francisco skin-care specialist Kristina Holey. As your skin needs shifts with age, so will your products. Still, she adds, “it’s not about creating perfection.” Allow these three steps to become your daily ritual that fortifies your skin and grounds your day.
Tip: With any skin-care product, apply in order of consistency — from thinnest to thickest. For example, cleanser, toner (if you use it), serum, and then moisturizer.
How to Wash Your Face Like a Pro
Did you know there’s a best way to wash your face? Here’s how skin-care specialist Kristina Holey does it.
1. “Rinse your face with warm water to moisten the skin. If you’re using an oil, shake your bottle, apply one pump into your palms and rub hands together. The liquid will start to emulsify.
2. Massage the cleanser into your skin and slowly add more warm water to create a lather. (Insider Tip: add tiny handfuls of water from the faucet, keeping your face low in the basin.) I like to use the first three fingers of each hand and work them together, in symmetry. Think about massaging the muscles under the skin rather than the skin — you don’t want to be so gentle you can’t really feel anything, but you don’t want to pull on the skin either. It may take a few times to really figure out the right pressure and rhythm.
3. Work the cleanser all over the face; begin with the nose and cheekbones, moving outward. Try rubbing back and forth over the bridge of the nose, and down and around the nostrils. Then draw circles around the eyes, work up and outward on the forehead, around the ears, down the sides of your face, jawline/chin, and do small circles up the neck. I like to apply a little pressure and work the circles on my lymph nodes under my jaw and top of neck for a while (about two minutes).
4. Rinse your hands in running water and follow the same pattern with water, slowly removing the cleanser; this can be repeated multiple times.
5. If you’re wearing heavy makeup, soak a warm muslin cloth in water and gently swipe across face, removing any residue and drying the skin. Or some people opt to just rinse off their oil cleansers with water.
6. After the face is thoroughly cleansed and rinsed, pat dry with a soft towel. You can also moisten a cotton pad with a hydrating facial mist and swipe across face as a quick alternative to the double cleansing technique.
Protect With Sunscreen
All of the experts we consulted unanimously agreed on one thing: that sunscreen is, hands down, the most crucial skin-care product. It’s “of utmost importance as part of your year-round regimen,” Dr. Charles points out. “Daily and consistent sunscreen use helps to prevent the development of fine lines and wrinkles, textural imperfections, and changes in the appearance of pores over time. More importantly, daily sunscreen use can help to prevent the formation of certain skin cancers.” To make it easy to remember, experts recommend using a daily moisturizer with a built-in broad spectrum SPF of at least 30.