Clean face 101

Welcome to the basics of facial cleansing 101 and may the odds be ever in your favor.

I decided to start the very first article with cleansing. Come on people, if your skin is not clean, there is no point putting on serums and other stuff, it just won´t work. Perfectly cleaned face is super ready to welcome goodies on your skin. And trust me, double cleansing IS the life changer.

So ... I couldn´t help but wonder, isn´t just splashing water on our face sufficient enough? Can we get that fabulous feeling of freshness? No. But cleansing is fancy, wait for it and you´ll definitely see the difference in about month.

Do I have to clean my face everyday, twice a day?

I mean ... do you brush your teeth twice a day?

Listen, you want to take off all that pollution, sweat, SPF, make up. You want to leave your skin clean, fresh, glowy, youthful. And don´t you dare going to bed with makeup on – EW!

Evenings

Let´s start with taking your makeup off. It always depends on what you prefer and what is your skin type - it will save you money knowing what works for your skin, what is the right texture you want, what is the effect you´re expecting.

I have dry, sensitive skin and I absolutely despise anything with gel consistence. I take my eye make up off with eye remover. It´s great to let your tampon soak and hold it on eye for few seconds, since rubbing can cause wrinkles. I publicly admit I rub it instead of waiting sometimes, but I´m gentle, don´t hate me lol. Continue with cream makeup remover – my favorite is Toleriane, so soothing and micellar water afterwards. It´s up to you what order do you prefer, just clean it.

Oil make-up removers are also good option. Balm removers too - I am currently getting to know balm removers, like Madonna says – touched for the very first time haha. Don´t even get me started with that ridiculous hate for micellar waters. I take last bits of make up off with micellar water, it works perfectly. Wash you face. It doesn´t matter if they say on package this does not have to be washed of. Well it does. Always wash you face after using micellar water and any make up remover. Always.

Cleanser is our holy grail in today´s session. Again, know your skin type – I have dry and sensitive skin, so La Roche Posay Toleriane is like Patronus charm on my face. I love creamy consistences, nothing irritating. I know Cerave is very popular and pretty good, you only decide which one do you prefer based on skin type.

The very important thing is to check INCI if there is surfactant – like sodium laurel sulfate – SLS – I am looking at you, Cetaphil, felt like bitch slap on the face – it overly strips your skin barrier and we don´t want that in our skincare ( and PLEASE, avoid bullshits like 3 in 1 products).

Don´t use scrubs – if you want to smooth your skin, get rid of flaky skin, get a fresh look or get the London look – exfoliation is a theme itself, it can´t happen every day and we´ll dive into it in upcoming days. The bottom line – don´t use scrubs everyday, it will break your skin barrier and it will only result in breakouts and more damage.

Wet your face – always lukewarm – gently rub your face. There is no need rubbing your face for a minute with cleanser. Just a few seconds is enough and touch gently your face, don´t be harsh. Pat your face with clean towel, trust me, towels are life-changing. Double cleansing and using little face towels changed my face towards better tomorrows. It depends on you if you use one in the morning, the other one in the evening or same for both times, at the end of day it has to go to the laundry and you, only you use it, face only, don´t share this one.

Why is there even need to write about this? Because of all the shit our skin goes through the day - pollution, sweat, make-up, sun, stress (oh trust me, my skin is a pro haha) and we want to be sure all of this goes out and we get proper cleaning. Monica clean (any Friends fans here?).

It´s important to make sure at the end of the day, we take out all this shit out from our skin, so then we can properly hydrate, moisturize, soothe.

What about makeup remover sheets?

NO.

How are mornings different?

In the mornings, I prefer just cleanser, not even micellar water (if you like it, it´s still okay. It´s all about what you prefer and like, that´s all, the point is to use something). So first step is washing my face, getting the dirtiest stuff off. Of course I love morning dewy look, but it´s actually oil and sweat lol. Anyway, you put cleanser on wet face, massage, cleaning again.

Congratulations, you finished first level, you´re officially on your way towards better skin. You can move to the level 2 of Jumanji - putting on your skincare. We´ll talk about it in future articles.

Whether it´s morning or evening, don´t wait too long with applying on your skincare, damp skin is good.

The bottom line is mornings are okay with just one step, evenings need two steps – make up remover and cleansing.

Wait, keep reading, I want to mention another contributors towards clean skin

Don´t touch your face during the day, it helps, causes less breakouts.

Change your bedsheets once a week. You go to sleep with that fine amount of products on your face (yasss girl), but something always ends up on pillow.

Drink enough water.

Clean your make-up brushes. For the love of god, do it.

Don´t touch your face with dropper. I always wash my hands and put product in my clean hands and then face, it works. (total Monk, i know)

Be careful about foaming products, they might be irritating and overly stripping (I personally avoid those).

Pimples. Don´t.

Exfoliate once a week.

Make up removers and cleansers don´t need to be expensive, you wash it off and they go directly to the drain.

If you use toner and say „oh it finishes the cleaning, look, final dirt is going off“ then no, your micellar water or remover is bit shitty, or your cleansing, that´s all. Second of all, it´s so 90s. Be more diligent, it´s your face.

ps: here are some brands - La Roche Posay, Eucerin, Cerave, Clinique, Heimish, Banila ( actually, K-beauty, offers gazillion options), Bioderma etc.