a fluid without extra emollients, and oily/combination skin would have ingredients that are helpful to balance oily skin.
You then follow with an exfoliant in a formula appropriate for your skin type. We explain at length in the next chapter why an exfoliant is a basic item in any daily skincare routine.
A serum can be your next step to give your skin a concentrated dose of the brilliant ingredients skin is hungry for, including antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients. This is a wonderful basic step that many overlook, but the benefit may be worth experiencing for yourself before you write this step off as being a waste of time.
It goes without saying, but we will say it anyway: During the day you must wear a sunscreen with SPF 30 or greater and you must experiment to find a texture of sunscreen that makes your skin happy. For someone with dry skin a creamier formula should be perfect, for someone with normal skin a lotion formula will be great, and if you have oily/combination skin, a matte-finish sunscreen would work best.
At night you need a moisturizer to feed your skin once again, with healthy amounts of antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients. The texture of your moisturizer must be appropriate for your skin type. If you have oily/combination skin, a liquid, gel, or thin serum would be ideal; dry skin would need a rich emollient cream; and normal skin would do great with a lotion.
Layering Skincare Products
The first building block for finally achieving the best skin of your life is a core skincare routine, as mentioned above. Those basic, and critical, steps—water-soluble cleanser, toner, exfoliant, SPF moisturizer during the day and moisturizer at night—are essential products for everyone. All of these core products must have a texture that is appropriate for your skin type and must contain the same indispensable ingredients for skin.
As we explained throughout the opening chapters, and it bears repeating, everyone needs antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients. If you have dry skin, the texture of the products should be emollient creams and serums; if you have normal skin, they should be lightweight lotions and serums; if you have oily/combination skin, then gels, liquids, and thin serums are best. For some skin types and skin concerns, the basics might be all you need to have smooth, soft, and radiant skin. If your skin concerns are more complicated, or if you have more than one skin type on your face, then additional steps are vitally important—this is where layering skincare products becomes imperative.
Depending on your skin concerns (breakout-prone, blackheads, advanced sun damage, rosacea, among many others) and/or on your special skin type (seasonal changes to skin, more dry patches than typical for combination skin, super oily skin, extremely dry skin), you might want to consider layering one or several uniquely-formulated products with the products in your core skincare routine.
Layering involves supplementing your core routine with products usually referred to as specialized serums, essences, boosters, or medical treatments (over-the-counter as well as prescription), either every day or as needed. As you will see in the following chapters, we explain how you can add a specialized product or products to your core routine to address specific problems such as skin discolorations, extra moisturizing for dehydrated skin, more emollients for seasonal dryness, anti-acne products for breakouts, increased exfoliation for stubborn blackheads or advanced sun damage, and so on.
You can add these types of targeted, or focused, products at almost any point in your skincare routine, after cleansing and toning. Depending on the type of problems you are addressing, these targeted treatments can be used daily, every other day, once a week, or seasonally.
The most important thing to understand is that no single product can do it all when you have distinct and disparate skin concerns. It’s possible that it may take only one extra product, but this depends entirely on the problems with which you are dealing. Layering is not a new concept in skincare, but given the new and advanced lightweight and highly compatible formulations that can truly make a marked difference in specific skin concerns, better skin awaits you once you understand how layering works and what products will produce the best results.
Chapter 4
Which Skincare Products You Need—and Which Ones to Avoid
Cleansers
No other aspect of skincare is quite as basic or as important as using a cleanser. Cleansing the face sets the stage for almost everything else that will take place on skin. A good cleanser removes excess oil, dirt, and makeup and helps exfoliate, leaving skin smooth and fresh without feeling greasy or dry.
If you don’t cleanse your skin regularly or if you don’t remove all your makeup, your skin will pay the price, with irritation, potential breakouts, dry patches, and puffy eyes being the cost.
Thorough cleansing is essential for every skin type, and it’s equally critical—for every skin type—that the cleansing products be gentle. Over-cleansing or using cleansers that are too drying are major causes of skin problems, especially dryness, flaky patches, and redness.
On the other hand, using a cleanser that leaves a greasy film on the face or that doesn’t clean well can lead to clogged pores and dull-looking skin, and prevent moisturizers from absorbing and doing their job. It is essential to get this step right, and that means thoroughly, but gently, cleansing your face.
Should you start with a makeup remover? Many people feel their cleansing routine should start with a makeup remover, such as a liquid, makeup wipes, or cleansing oil. Although these work well for some people (particularly if you wear a heavier makeup application), they are merely an option, not a requirement.
Regardless of the type of makeup remover you use, the action of wiping at the face, especially around the eyes, is a problem. Tugging on skin damages its elastin fibers, increasing the potential for sagging. The less you pull, the better your skin will hold up in the long run.
We recommend starting out by washing your face with a gentle water-soluble cleanser because it reduces the amount of pulling necessary (the water reduces friction) and because most, if not all, of your makeup is rinsed down the drain. Then, if you still need a makeup remover to remove the last traces, it will be only for touch-ups (such as along the hairline or lash line), causing minimal pulling.
As is true for many aspects of skincare, you should experiment to see what works best for your skin type and your own personal preferences—but do take care not to pull or tug on skin.
What about facial cleansing oils? As stated above, using a makeup remover, which includes facial cleansing oils, that needs to be wiped off has inherent problems because the wiping and pulling at your skin increases sagging by breaking down the elastin fibers in skin—that’s just a physiological fact. If you see skin moving up or down, you’re helping it to sag faster than it would normally. Gravity will take its eventual toll, but in the meantime you don’t have to make matters worse by constantly pulling at your skin. The goal for facial skin is to move it as little as possible.
The term “facial cleansing oil” is a bit confusing because the category is not clear-cut. Some facial cleansing oils are “oils” in name only; they’re actually more like emollient water-soluble cleansers that are meant to be rinsed off. These can be a great option if you have normal to very dry skin.
Traditional facial cleansing oils, meaning an actual oil or blend of oils, that are gently removed can be effective for many reasons. They dissolve makeup quickly and efficiently while feeling soothing and softer than a water-soluble cleanser.
If you have very dry, sensitive skin, the cleansing
