Facial cleansing is the most important step in your skincare routine. Lack of good facial cleansing habits can lead to dull, lacklustre skin and breakouts. Regular cleansing is essential to keeping your skin looking radiant and healthy.

Here are just a few reasons why it is essential to cleanse your face

REMOVES BUILD UP

We know that cleansers remove dirt, excess oil, and make up. However, our skin also gets covered in bacteria, pollutants, viruses, and dead skin cells. Daily cleansing removes these impurities to keep the skin fresh and clean allowing other products such as moisturisers and face oils to penetrate the skin.  It is pointless spending money on expensive moisturisers and anti-ageing treatments if your face hasn’t been properly cleansed as they wont work properly.

BOOSTS HYDRATION

Hydration is essential for skin health. Dehydrated skin can look wrinkled and aged. Cleansing the face helps to hydrate the skin (if you don’t use foaming or alcohol-based cleansers). It also helps to maintain the PH levels of the skin which in turn enables sufficient water and product retention.

PREVENTS BREAKOUTS

Tiny glands under the skin produce oil (sebum) which protect the skin from bacteria and other pollutants. If the skin is dirty, then these glands become blocked making it difficult for the oil to reach the skins surface. This also causes blockages, trapping sebum, sweat, and dead skin cells. The lack of sebum on the skins allows bacteria to penetrate the follicle causing inflammation leading to acne breakouts. A good cleansing regime clears the pores and prevents dirt from building up.

When choosing a cleanser please note the following tips

• Oil based cleanser is preferable
• Non foaming milk or gel cleansers also work well
• Make sure your cleanser is chemical and alcohol free
• Avoid perfume or ‘fake’ fragrance
• Don’t forget your neck when cleansing
• Never use face wipes

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU CLEANSE?

Always cleanse in the morning and the evening. The skin sheds while you sleep so in the morning you will have lots of dead skin cells which need to be removed. It is also likely that you have sweated through the night, so it is also important to cleanse this excess oil from your skin. A morning cleanse will refresh the skin making it ready for make-up application.

Throughout the day your skin will have been exposed to lots of pollutants, some of which have the potential to be carcinogenic, and therefore need to be washed off by the end of the day. It is also important to remove make up from your skin for a healthy complexion.

WHAT ABOUT DOUBLE CLEANSING?

If you wear, make up and/or SPF then double cleansing is a must. Product left on the skin overnight can speed up the ageing process and prevent the skin from breathing. Double cleansing in the evening helps to remove products as well as the pollutants which you have encountered throughout the day. This practice will ensure your skin is deeply cleansed.

Good facial cleansing is essential for radiant, younger looking, healthy skin.

Photo by Jernej Graj on Unsplash