Why should you cleanse your skin?
Because we don’t want to keep the particles of sunscreen, makeup and pollution forever on skin.
How many times a day should I cleanse?
Once in the evening is perfect. As over cleansing skin causes more problems than under cleansing skin. If you sleep on a clean pillow cover and your Hair & Scalp is also clean you don’t need to cleanse in the morning. Instead, you can use a skin-nourishing herbal mask or treatment.
Why is over cleansing a problem??
It can cause either of 2 things-
- Make your skin dry as skins barrier gets damage
- Make it produce more oil, here skin plays defence and tries to produce more sebum that contains Oleic acid which causes more acne.
What should a cleanser do??
Remove oils, oil soluble sunscreen agents, makeup and pollutants that stick to oils from the skin. As water-soluble stuff can be removed from water wash itself.
What should a cleanser not do??
Remove all oils and proteins from the skin. As it makes skin barrier weak and all the unwanted substances like pollutants and bacteria can easily enter the skin.
How will I know if my cleanser is taking away too much oil and proteins from my skin??
Your skin feels tight within 5-10 min after washing.
Deep Cleansing Vs Over cleansing???
Deep Cleansing is getting the bad stuff stuck inside your pores. While over cleaning is stripping all the possible oils from your face. It’s best to use Mild cleansing + Deep cleansing for acne prone skin as they have a tendency to get their pores blocked. Mild means gentle on skin, and deep means getting the bad stuff out of your pores.
Kinds of cleansers to choose from?
Mildest
- 1. Micellar water
- 2. If you don’t expose too much makeup, sunscreen or pollution; Oats + Herbal based powders are fine.
- 3. Protein or Amino acid based cleaners are also extremely mild.
- 4. Cream Cleansers which are a combination of Oils and surfactants.
Medium cleansers
- Based on Glucosides, Isethionates and other milder surfactants like CAPB.
Harsh Cleansers
- Based on Sulphates and SLES
- Sometimes non-SLES based cleansers can also be harsh as the company use a higher % of Surfactants
Finally, you cannot say Glucoside based cleanser is milder than SLES based ones as percentages may differ. There are also some nice cleansers based on SLES. What they do is take SLES and mix with some mildness increasing stuff so that the whole formula gets milder. Generally, it’s best to avoid SLES ones.
All you need to do is let your skin guide you. Your skin should not feel tight after washing.
Tips for Milder Cleansing
- Use cold water as hot water makes any ingredient penetrate better into the skin, you don’t want your cleanser to penetrate deeper as it causes more irritation.
- Oil cleanse your skin if you feel your facewash makes you feel tight
- Use a protein or amino acid-based cleanser
What about Deep Cleansing?
Deep cleansing is clearing the pores. Which can be done by exfoliants like Salicylic acid. It’s best to use a mild cleanser and an exfoliator. As most salicylic acid based facewashes are over cleansing and pore clearing. It causes more problems.
Is Oil Cleansing Good??
Oil cleansing is from the concept that like dissolves like. Oils remove unwanted oils and other stuff (makeup, sunscreen dirt) that is stuck to oils. It is a gentle way of cleansing. Unless you cannot tolerate any remaining oil on your face. In such cases, you have to double cleanse your skin. First oil cleanse and then cleanse with a facewash.
And if you are oil cleansing and then want to apply a moisturiser with glycerin and other water-soluble stuff, they may not penetrate better. As oil already forms a film on the skin. So I like the idea of double cleansing. or use a cream cleanser which usually contains both oils and surfactants that remove oils.
