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Beauty-Basics.Net |
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Skin CleansingCLEANSING THE SKIN: Lotions or water?Should you wash your face with tap water? There are some women, such as Liz Taylor and Claudia Schiffer, who claim never to let water touch their skin. But unless your skin is ultra-sensitive and reacts to water as if it were acid, there is no reason not to wash your face with ordinary tap water. The alkaline nature of basic, old-fashioned soaps stripped sebum from the skin and left it feeling taut, but today's cleansing bars and foaming cleansers arc more gentle, formulated to respect skin acidity as well as its dry, normal or oily status. Many women love them because they're quick, easy and less messy than creams and lotions. They're easy to rinse off, too, and that final splash of water comes as a refreshing wake-up or calm-down tonic at either end of the day. Dermatologists argue in favour of washing because water acts as a natural exfoliant, softening and sweeping away dead skin cells more efficiently than creams. If you gently whisk cleansing foam around your face with a soft brush you cleanse crevices around the mouth and nostrils, and the inner corners of the eye while also boosting exfoliative action. The warmer the water, the more grease-solvent your wash but hot water encourages dilated capillaries. Keep the temperature just warm enough for comfort both for washing and thorough rinsing, and use several clean bowlsful. A final cold water splash, may evince a temporary glowing and firm- ing effect, as the circulation rushes to the surface of the skin in response to the cold. Creams and lotions, too, can be removed with warm water - a good compromise for those who like the comforting feeling of creams, followed by an invigorating splash. Use a face cloth to work creams into crevices and to speed up the rinsing off. Still loathe the idea of water? Massage your cleansing milk or lotion over your skin with your fingertips, then gently tissue off. Repeat until the tissue tests clear. CLEANSING THE SKIN: FrequencyHow often do you need to cleanse the skin? Over-zealous cleansing can either disrupt the acid mantle, or excite sebaceous output - the last thing oily skin needs. Improved cosmetic formulas may mean that make-up no longer dries the skin - quite the reverse. But taking it off at night is still considered wise. Pigments can mingle with sweat and sebum to create the appearance of dingy, clogged pores, although not necessarily comedones (blackheads). The oxidized tips of solidified oil plugs, blackheads can mar even the cleanest skin. More significantly, if you remove make-up at night, you re more likely to apply moisturizer as the next step. In the morning a light cleanse removes excess night cream, kick starts the circulation and prepares the skin for moisturizer and make-up again. A cautionary word about AHAs in cleansers. Manufacturers say that as natural exfoliators, it makes extra sense to include them in cleansers. But some dermatologists worry that as cleansing - especially washing - naturally loosens the bonds that hold dead surface cells together, AHAs may encourage bond loosening further down in the epidermis. This would make the skin even more receptive to other skin-care ingredients, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, an overload may cause sensitivity. If you're worried, restrict use of AHA cleansers to two or three times a week or avoid them altogether. |
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