THE world of skincare can be overwhelming to say the least.
With a million hero ingredients (and each have their own confusing names), knowing how to curate a daily skincare routine that will benefit your goals can be tricky.
First things first: to create an effective simple skincare routine it helps to understand why we structure each step the way we do.
There are some products that are essential for everyone: youthful, mature, dry.
A skincare routine for beginners should always focus on the following fundamentals (in this order):
Cleanser: Clean skin is essential for healthy skin.
Throughout the day (or night), we encounter stressors that can cause skin issues to occur, like bacteria, pollution and dirt.
Impurities like dirt and oil can accumulate on your skin.
If not removed with a gentle cleanser, these impurities can clog your pores or even contribute to skin concerns like dullness and irritation.
A cleanser helps to remove those impurities and return our skin to a neutral state.
Cleansing removes debris from the skin’s surface, cleans pores, and primes the skin to absorb topical products (like moisturisers and serums) better.
We recommend applying it to damp skin and massaging it onto your face for a full minute before rinsing with lukewarm water.
Exfoliator: You may be under the impression that exfoliation is too stressful for sensitive skin or not relevant for those with oily skin types.
In fact, all skin requires gentle exfoliation – though there are differing methodologies for how best to apply this step across the skin types.
Exfoliators can be physical or chemical, and work to remove dead skin cells while further cleansing skin.
Serum: A key aspect of skincare for beginners, serum application is essential for a range of skin concerns.
Serums provide a high concentration of active ingredients in a lightweight formula, each with a different purpose.
You can think of a serum as a multivitamin for your face, delivering key ingredients to help address specific concerns like dryness or dullness.
While there are plenty of powerful serums out there, we suggest keeping it simple with a gentle hydrating serum at least for now.
Moisturiser: After applying serum, you can move on to the next skincare step: moisturising.
The best-known step, moisturisers appear in everyone’s regime from the most complex to an absolute beginner skincare routine.
Moisturiser supports the ever-crucial skin moisture barrier, which protects from external stressors and keeps fatty acids, sebum and water content in.
Without proper levels of moisture, oil-flow increase, dryness and sensitive reactions are more likely to occur in skin.
No matter what type of skin you have, or what issues you are looking to address, moisturiser is essential for healthy-feeling, hydrated skin.
While moisturisers come in an array of formats from lightweight gels to rich creams we recommend opting for a non-comedogenic lotion that hydrates without weighing the skin down.
SPF: Sun protection should be at the top of everyone’s skincare list.
Especially in Africa, the simplest skincare rule to stick by is everyday application of sunscreen.
It is also recommended to reapply your SPF every two hours, or after sweating or swimming, to help keep your skin protected against damaging UV rays. — Online.
