Healthy Skin Starts with Cleansing

Cleanse your way to healthy skin

Cleansing is the most important part of your skincare routine and consequently, neglecting this critical step is bad news for your skin. When we fail to clean our skin properly, dirt and grime build up in the pores, leading to dullness, skin roughness, increased congestion and breakouts. What’s more, by not effectively ridding our skin of make-up particles and pollutants, our skin may not only become sensitised, but it causes our skin to age faster. 

Consistent cleansing is the secret to healthy, radiant skin. By spending a bit longer on cleansing you can significantly improve the quality of your skin. A solid cleansing routine helps to refine the pores and promote a clear skin, prevent accelerated skin ageing, and most importantly, maintain a healthy functioning skin.

Double cleansing twice daily is the best way to achieve healthy looking skin. The first cleanse should remove surface build-up, so that the second cleanse can then clean the skin itself and within the pores, whilst treating your unique skin.

Cleansing: The Queen of your skincare

Cleansing will make or break the remaining steps of any skin care routine. Think about it. By skipping this step or not giving the skin a deep clean, the absorption of your serums and moisturisers is limited. And if you’re then applying these finishing products onto dirty skin, they’ll push grime and makeup into the pores, leading to congestion, breakouts and irritation. 

Cleansing should be the first step in your daily skincare routine. For a deeper clean, you can follow with exfoliation. We should aim to spend between one to two minutes cleansing our skin, both morning and night. Even though we’re not wearing make-up or haven’t yet had our hit of environmental pollutants, there’s still dead skin, dirt and bacteria from our pillow cases sitting on the skin’s surface in the morning that needs to be removed. 

The Dermalogica ‘double cleanse’

To get the very best out of your cleansing routine, it needs to be a two-step process, or what is called ‘double cleansing’. By cleansing the skin twice, you’ll ensure the skin remains healthy, clean, smooth and radiant. Your other skin care products can penetrate more effectively and you’ll have the perfect canvas for makeup. The first cleanse in a Dermalogica double cleanse should be with a plant based oil or balm cleanser as these are designed to thoroughly melt away the coating of makeup, dirt, and sunscreen on the skin’s surface. Then, the second cleanse is with a cleanser that’s selected to suit your skin type and/or skin challenges. 

When working your cleanser over your skin, massage using a light pressure in an upward, circular motion to lift hairs and get into the pores. Make sure to include your hair line, around to the back of your ears, under your jaw line and down the neck, as these are common areas for congestion. When you’re ready to rinse off your cleanser, check the temperature of the water first. Never use hot water when cleansing, as this strips the skin of the natural oils critical to maintaining hydration levels.

Which cleanser is right for me

Cleansers these days are diverse and advanced. There really is a cleanser for every skin need, especially when it comes to what Dermalogica has to offer. Be mindful when selecting your cleanser that it’s the right cleanser for your skin, otherwise it could exacerbate existing skin problems. 

For the first Cleanse choose from Dermalogica’s PreCleanse oil or PreCleanse Balm. Both pre-cleansers breakdown everything that’s sitting on the skin’s surface. The oil in these cleansers acts like a magnet, attracting the oil on the skins surface, as well as the dirt, make-up and sunscreen.  The PreCleanse oil is best if your skin is combination to oily and the balm suits a dehydrated or dry skin. If you travel frequently however, you may want to opt for the balm, as it’s a more convenient, travel friendly option.

Your second cleanse option will be selected based on your skin type or any prominent skin conditions such as acne or sensitivity. 

Oily, congested skin

Clay based cleansers are great for oiler skins as they draw out excess oil and impurities in the skin, leaving the skin feeling refreshed and squeaky clean. The Dermal Clay Cleanser has a creamy consistency so it delivers on deep cleaning without stripping the skin.

Combination/Normal skin

You can’t go wrong with Dermalogica’s hero cleanser, Special Cleansing Gel. Every skin can use this soap free foaming cleanser, but it’s the ideal option for a combination skin. It’s even gentle enough to even be used over the eyes.  

Drier skin types

Milky cleansers like the Essential Cleansing Solution help to replenish drier, mature skins. Rich in conditioning vitamins and invigorating extracts, this cleanser restores the driest of skins.

Sensitive, inflamed skins

Your skin’s in need of some TLC so choose a soothing cleanser such as Dermalogica’s UltraCalming Cleanser. This cooling gel cream cleanser provides instant relief and calming, and helps to prevent future flare ups. It can even be removed with tissues for those highly reactive skins.

Breakout prone skins

With stress being the biggest cause of adult acne, more and more of us are faced with this challenging condition. Dermalogica’s Clearing Skin Wash features 0.5% Salicylic Acid, a beta hydroxy acid, to gently clear clogged pores and tackle excess shine. 

Sun damaged, dull, ageing skin

As the skin ages, cell renewal naturally slows down which is why an exfoliating cleanser is ideal for a mature skin. The Skin Resurfacing Cleanser boasts 5% Lactic Acid which smoothes and softens fine lines, brightens and hydrates.

Cleansing not only impacts our skin, but there’s a knock-on effect with all skincare that follows this vital step, which may be positive or negative depending on our cleansing habits. With a little more effort put into cleansing your skin, you’ll see big differences in the health and appearance of your skin. Healthy skin is just a (double) cleanse away!