Everyone is different. Advice is everywhere for how to wash your face. I had heard forever that you don’t want to scrub your face with a washcloth. It is just grinding dirt into your pores and would actually clog them. And if you had breakouts you needed to use salicylic acid and mattifying moisturizers. Oil-free everything. It was all so wrong for my face.
What I needed was to scrub my face gently with cheap scratchy washcloths and use as much oil and moisture as possible. Then I stopped breaking out. As it turns out you can break out if your skin is too dry. All I was doing before was making it worse. I needed to take the time to figure out what my skin needed. Turns out there is more than one best way to wash your face.
The Low Down
- Remove makeup. Take it all off, baby! Slowly, gently, don’t tug so hard. You want to be kind to the skin on your face. As you age all of that rough handling will catch up to you. Yes, baby wipes work and are cheaper than makeup wipes. Babyganics wipes are great, nice and large. I also like the Makeup Eraser it’s magical but that feels like more laundry. I reserve it for days when I did a full-on face of glam.
- Brush your teeth first before you wash your face. This may seem silly, but while you’re spending 2 min brushing your pearly whites you are letting your face dry out…. NO, don’t let that happen. You really do have to apply the face creams and what not the second you finish washing. Dry girls out there, just trust me on this.
- Wet your face with warm water. Just splash it on with your hands. A perk of brushing first is you are not wasting water or time waiting for the water to get warm.
- Apply your cleanser. I currently use Skin Laundry Gently Foaming Face Wash. (The product I use to wash varies but it is usually gentle and foaming) Rub that around for 30 seconds or so. Not too long or even the best cleanser can dry out the skin.
- Rinse. Thoroughly. Leave no trace of cleanser.
- Rub with the washcloth. Use a fresh washcloth each night. Be reasonably gentle. I admit to scrubbing like crazy if I haven’t had a chance to wash properly for a few days (sickness, travel, when you can’t even) But for every day please be kind to your face. Rub in a soft circular motion in little sections and move over the whole face. Try to hold the washcloth taught and move on to fresher sections of the washcloth as you move to other sections of your face.
- Rinse. If you’re like me you now have gross little balls of dead skin all over your face…. yuck. Rince that all away. Don’t try to brush them off. It doesn’t work, and I have tried, Lord knows I have tried.
- Gently pat dry but not too dry. Get off the big water drops, but leave the face somewhat moist.
- QUICK apply product!!! Put on a toner, essence, serum, something! Even if I am not going to apply all my products immediately I put something on my face asap then finish the rest when I can.
- Moisturise. Don’t wait too long after washing. Follow with your usual skincare ritual. You can read my full one here. Simply stated, tone, serum, eye cream, moisturizer.
I do have a fancy Clarisonic cleansing brush. I love it. The way it tickles my nose is maddening but otherwise, it’s amazing. I even have the makeup attachment. Let me know in the comments what is your favorite Clarisonic attachment. I want to try some new ones. They are really branching out with their attachments.
Foaming cleansers are my friend. Something about them is so nice. They seem to rinse away better. I hate the feeling of residue on my face after cleaning it. Kind of defeats the purpose. Currently, I am in love with Jurlique Herbal Recovery Antioxidant Cleansing Mousse & Ole Henriksen African Red Tea foaming cleanser. Jurlique has a slight edge at the moment. It is more moisturizing since it’s an oil-based cleanser. But, by some dark magic, is residue free.
The important takeaway here is your own skin care is a personal journey. I, and others well-meaning individuals, share our stories with hopes that it helps you. But this is your face and your life. Try something unconventional if this doesn’t work for you. I hope this helped you figure out a method for how to wash your face.
I want to know what piece of conventional wisdom you had to throw out and what was the replacement that worked for you?