How do you choose a face cleanser adapted to your skin?
Cleansing your face and neck is an essential part of your daily routine. It helps keep your skin healthy in addition to delaying the first signs of aging. You need to choose right products to fully benefit from your cleansing routine. Easier said than done, given the multitude of products available on store shelves. Gel, cleansing foam, milk... We give you the lowdown on face cleansers.
Why should you use a face cleanser?
To remove impurities
After a long day’s work, the skin has accumulated stress, fatigue and especially toxins and impurities. This is even more true for city dwellers. Cleansing helps to remove this layer of pollution and excess sebum, allowing the skin to breathe once again. If left to accumulate too long, this layer may smother the skin and clog your pores.
Cleansing your skin helps reduce imperfections like acne, blackheads, or other more serious problems such as redness or skin diseases. Over the long term, this build-up of impurities may result in an imbalance or cause damage, thus making skin more sensitive and reactive. Now more fragile, the skin loses its elasticity, and the signs of aging may appear more quickly. Not cleansing your skin on a regular basis is a surefire way to see more spots, lines and wrinkles on your face!
The skin barrier is our first protection against outside intruders. Altering it may be harmful not only to your beauty but also to your health. It is thus crucial that you cleanse your skin every evening, and even in the morning, when pollution, sebum and dead cells have built up on the surface.
To revitalize your skin
By removing impurities, cleansing helps keep your skin looking young and healthy. The active ingredients in the product, combined with a massage using your fingertips, stimulate subcutaneous blood circulation and improve skin elasticity.
When properly cleansed and free of impurities, the skin is better prepped to receive and absorb the skin care you apply. At night, these products reinforce the skin’s regenerative action and help it to repair itself deep beneath the surface. In the morning, cleansing helps start your day on a beautiful note and prepares the skin to protect itself throughout the day. In the evening, it stimulates the epidermis and boosts cell regeneration.
Elasticity is restored, circulation stimulated, regeneration boosted... In other words, your skin is repaired and rejuvenated, and your face is radiantly beautiful!
How to choose the right face cleanser
To fully benefit from your face cleanser, it must be adapted to your skin type. Many are overly harsh and often strip away the sebum entirely. A good cleanser removes only excess sebum in order to maintain the skin’s balance and to avoid altering its hydrolipidic film and making the skin more fragile.
Adapting your products and beauty routine according to your skin type is thus essential. Unsuitable products are counter-productive: at best, they have no effect; at worst, they cause the skin to become inflamed and reactive. Every person has their preferences, and every skin type has its needs. Finding the right product may involve a lot of tests, and some fails. But you can start heading in the right direction by following a few basic tips.
Dry skin, for example, has a lipid deficiency in its hydrolipidic film. The skin is thus more vulnerable and can quickly become sensitive to external aggressions. As a result, dry skin would prefer cleansers with a richer, creamier texture that replaces this lack of lipids. The skin is cleansed and even nourished, without becoming even more dried out.
Oily skin also involves a malfunction in the skin barrier. This imbalance triggers excess sebum production, which clogs the pores and skin. Many of the commercially available cleansers pull out all the stops to remove this sebum entirely, despite it being essential to effective skin protection. The result is totally stripped skin that is open to attacks from harmful particles on its surface. The skin makes up for this lack of protection by producing even more sebum, thus entering into a vicious cycle of continuous sebum secretion. The ideal cleanser would, therefore, be gentle on your skin, removing only the excess sebum while regulating the skin. This is the case for zinc-based cleansers, for example, which help restore the skin’s balance.
Combination skin is oily on the T-zone, while the rest of the face is normal to dry, particularly on the cheeks and temples. This makes finding the right cleanser complicated, as you need one which is suitable for both skin types. Luckily, more and more formulas adapted to this specific skin type are popping up on the market. In fact, combination skin is the most common skin type, and the stores are filled with such products.
Finally, sensitive skin is prone to redness, tightness and other feelings of discomfort. All skin types may be affected. In this case, a gentle cleanser comprised of non-allergenic ingredients is preferred to avoid irritating reactive skin even more. For dehydrated skin, which simply needs a bit more water, most cleansers are suitable as they are sufficiently hydrating.
In terms of texture, a cleansing gel is typically recommended for normal to oily skin, whereas a richer cream or ultra-rich soap bar is better suited to dry skin. A cleansing foam can be used on all skin types.
Each skin type has its advantages and irregularities, which must be taken into consideration when choosing a cleanser. Collosol has formulated Eau de Lait to cleanse and protect all skin types. When used as a make-up remover and cleanser, it provides a soft sensation and subtle floral fragrance to start off your routine with all-enveloping comfort.
How to use your face cleanser
Cleansing: a key step in your beauty routine
Face cleansing originated as a step in the Japanese beauty routine known as “layering”.
To better clean your skin, and thus remove more impurities, cleansing must follow a make-up removal step. The latter removes the larger harmful particles and, of course, your make-up. For greater efficacy, a make-up remover oil is recommended, as it is perfectly adapted to all skin types. It helps keep the skin balanced, whether it is dry, oily, dehydrated or sensitive. The key, once again, is to select the right oil for your skin type. Oils also have the advantage of removing make-up from the eyes effectively, without stinging.
Once this first step has been completed, you can move on to a gentle cleanser. When applied to a damp face, it unclogs the pores deep beneath the surface, removing any trace of dust on the skin. Certain cleansers are formulated to target your skin’s specific needs.
After rinsing with clean water and drying your face with a clean towel, simply continue with your usual skin care routine. You may want to use a lotion to remove any last traces of make-up, or to provide soothing relief for skin rinsed with overly hard water. Complete your routine by applying your serum and/or cream. Now that your skin is totally clean, these products will be better absorbed.
Once or twice a week, gently exfoliate your skin to unclog pores even more thoroughly, but mainly to remove the build-up of dead cells that can sometimes remain even after cleansing.
The double cleansing ritual should be completed every evening to remove anything that may have accumulated on the face throughout the day, especially if you have gone out. It may also be completed in the morning to remove any dead skin cells that may have formed during sleep, or if your skin produces excess sebum throughout the night. This can also help you feel refreshed and prep your face for make-up, after applying your usual skin care of course. What a great way to start your day off on the right foot!
Good skin care habits
Follow a few simple tips to ensure your skin takes full advantage of this cleansing ritual.
To start, keep a clean towel on hand: drying your face with a towel previously used to dry your hands, hair or body is hardly helpful and may even spread germs onto your face.
Whether drying off your face with a towel or applying your cleanser, be gentle. Your skin deserves to be taken care of lest it becomes fragile. Why not take advantage of this cleansing ritual to give yourself a face massage? Using your fingertips, massage your skin in a circular motion. In addition to relieving tension and promoting relaxation, this helps stimulate subcutaneous blood circulation for genuine anti-aging care: rejuvenate your skin!
Don’t forget your neck region! Like the face, it is also exposed but too often forgotten. It may thus lose elasticity and show the signs of aging quickly.
Cleansing is thus an essential step in any beauty routine, and choosing the right face cleanser is equally essential in order to get the full benefits. Collosol works hard to keep your skin healthy. To this end, we are currently developing a range of cleansers adapted to all skin types, even the most sensitive, for more beautiful and more comfortable skin.
