We’ve seen a picture of a client this week, who won’t take the advice of her therapist and is exacerbating her skin issues with too many products. Are you overcomplicating your skincare routine? Your skin is a living organ that reacts to its environment; what’s put on it, what it gets from your bloodstream, and what it’s exposed to. You can’t make your skin listen to you, all you can do is listen to your skin. So when it starts reacting, whether through itchiness, redness, flakiness or spots, it’s time to step back and rethink.
Simplify your routine
The best solution for skin that isn’t behaving the way it should is to simplify your skincare routine. Whether it’s your ten-step routine or using a strong exfoliator, there’s bound be something more complicated than it needs to be. If you have three different serums in rotation, or you’re using a scrub every single day, it’s only a matter of time before your skin plays up. Now is the time to stop overcomplicating your skincare.
Back to basics
The first step in simplifying your skincare routine is to choose one cleanser, one moisturiser and one SPF product to use. Select products that you’re confident your skin gets on with and use only them. See how your skin gets on with these – is it calmer? Does it look better? After this, introduce a gentle exfoliator into your routine, once or twice a week. Stop overcomplicating your skincare, don’t be tempted by the array of acids and scrubs and facial brushes out there. Pick one simple, gentle product and stick to it.
Essential skincare
Many people fail to understand that our skin has evolved to cope with everything that’s thrown at it; so you may be able to happily use lots of products for a long time, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is what your skin needs. A basic, essential skincare routine provides your skin with cleansing, protection and consistency. If your skincare routine has too many ‘extras’ in it, you won’t be helping your skin, you’ll be forcing it to cope, and it won’t be able to do that forever.
Image:istock.com/PainterSaba
