Now, I know I wrote that I would have this post in a day or two ago but, hey, it's the holidays and I'm still waiting for a moment to get to the laundry, a growing mountain no one will scale for me. This is why we get married: I'll hose out the trash barrel while my mate folds t-shirts. Little hope of that for us singles unless you're lucky enough to have a doting mom around. Ah, love...
Facial cleansers, that's what I wanted to talk about. You probably have one. You might have several of them. Possibly, you have a dozen different ways to clean your face, including a few methods you don't want your friends to know about. You know what I mean, and just look hat it did for the shower tile! But, all you really want to do is something good for your skin that actually makes sense, starting with a thorough cleansing step before moving on to the next. How important is the cleansing process? Consider this:
• At night the skin perspires, pores receive nasty secretions from the lymphatic system, and all this is stuck in whatever hydrating products you used before going to bed.
• During the day everything in the air you pass through sticks to the daytime product, including pollutants, dust and dirt, dead skin flakes, plus bacterial buildup. Without turning this post into a physiology lesson you don't have time for just trust me—you don't want to keep this stuff on your face even if anti-aging isn't your worry du jour.
What to use: as far as I'm concerned many skin cleansers are simply over-formulated, meaning that there are lots of ingredients found in some of them that will have neither the time nor conditions present for them to perform their intended magic. Not that a finely formulated cleanser is a bad idea—it isn't. But, your larger investment in skincare will be better appreciated in treatment products that stay on the skin, those given a work shift that actually permits them to get the beauty-preserving job done. Select a product that fits your skin type, interest and budget but please stay away from the super cheapo varieties, those brightly colored, sickly scented do-all cleansers you find in drug and discount stores. Convenient 5-gallon tribal size containers is a clue. Sure, it's great on kids, pets, even driveways, but you are worth more than that. This is why mirrors were invented. I like products sold by skincare professionals (spas, estheticians, physicians, etc.) as these people have a great interest in obtaining the best possible results from their advice and products, and they've dedicated their careers to understanding how to achieve this—I being one of them. We're happy to help you evaluate your skin type, listen to your appearance desires and help lead you to a more beautiful tomorrow. Department store personnel tend to rely far more on company marketing lingo than actual hands-on science when it comes to understanding how skincare products work for the vastly differing individuals they advise. And if television commercials and infomercials are leading your buying decisions I wish you luck with that.
Some basic wisdom about skin cleansing:
• Avoid hot water at all costs! It dries up the skin, increases capillary dilation and can stimulate already over-working oil glands.
• Products with rough grains can be hard on delicate skin, especially when capillaries are a problem, and don't really work all that effectively in removing embedded debris or expired skin. Some popular electric skin cleansing brushes that gently agitate but don't spin are pretty efficient in loosening up unwanted material during cleansing. I own one though I don't always remember to use it, especially when Petey is demanding food and unread email is piled so high I can't close the laptop lid anymore.
• Rinse and rinse again (tepid to cool water, thank you) but don't follow instructions to double-cleanse unless you're just too lazy to do a good job the first time (and, if you are, you're certainly not going to go back for a repeat effort!) But, if you want to turn an 8 oz. bottle of cleanser into a 4 oz size, be my guest. Manufacturers will love you for caring about yourself that much.
Okay, now that you've performed this twice daily and great-feeling process we can move on to something of importance but often misunderstood: skin toner. This we'll save for next time.
Have a question? Just post it here or write to skinartz@gmail.com.
Wishing you all the best and beautiful New Year ever and please remember this as you glide into 2011:
Beauty is something that lives in the heart, not a reflection of the current perfection of our face or body. If that weren't true then we would lose our best human qualities along with our youth. The most beautiful people on earth are never the best looking, the youngest or the most glamorous—they are the ones with the deepest wisdom, those that display the greatest love toward all people and things, usually the older sages without a trace of cosmetic surgery or racks of Christian Louboutin shoes in assistance. When everything else we value eventually departs, a depart they will, may we hope that a radiant and generous heart eliminates the need for anything more. Because when it comes to making our world a decent place to live in a flat smooth brow won't do much to help.
You're beautiful,
Douglas Preston
The Preston Beauty Blog
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