With today’s changing environments and increased air pollution, cleansing your face on a daily basis has become important now more than ever. Why? Your skin is precious and delicate, making it easily susceptible to conditions outside of itself. Daily mistreatment can lead to irritation, wrinkles, and sagging. However, it’s not just the environment making direct contact with your skin everyday - it’s you! Here are the do’s and don’ts to cleansing your face, so you don’t become you own worst enemy.
Water Temperature
It all starts with step one. Wetting your face with water preps it for the cleansing process, but in more ways than you may think. Warmer temperatures stimulate and open the pores of your skin, which allows your cleanser to penetrate and remove any dirt and grime your pores collected throughout the day. But be careful! Hot water can be damaging to the skin and strip it of its natural oils. Use lukewarm water when first wetting the face to safely open your pores and fully prep your face for cleansing.
Application
Next is applying your facial cleanser. When it comes to the amount you use, a little can go a long way. This is definitely the case with our Purifying Oil Cleanser, designed to effectively emulsify when stimulated to cover large surface areas of the face with little product.
When applying the cleanser, the trick is to start at the bottom of your face and work your way up to prevent premature sagging of the skin. Use the pads of your fingertips to prevent abrasive contact. As you move upwards, gently move your fingertips in small, circular motions; this allows the product to penetrate your pores for an effective cleaning, open and ready to receive after tip #1!
However, all of these tips can be done automatically and to the best possible ability, if you pair your cleanser with our Ivy Leaf® Facial Scrubber. Experience optimal pressure and motion with effectiveness and precision; simply be sure to move your scrubber from the bottom of your face up!
An extra tip: extend your use to also cleanse the front of your neck, swiping the product in an upwards motion to prevent sagging. By tackling this area here, you won’t have to scrub the front of your neck with the rest of your body aggressively in the shower, further preventing premature sagging of your neck!
Facial Cleansing by Hair.com
Product
Some people think that as long as a product does its job - in this case cleansing - it's perfectly good to use. But here is the harsh truth; what you put on your skin matters. Why? As the skin absorbs and reacts to a product’s ingredients, our bodies continue to absorb until they filter into the bloodstream, affecting our bodies beyond our skin. The majority of skincare products are made up of a concoction of chemicals that rarely take into account the everlasting effects they have on our bodies.
If you’re reading this we hope it’s because you've tried our Purifying Oil Cleanser, formulated to keep the well-being of your entire body in mind - inside and out! Cleansing yet moisturizing with natural ingredients, our cleanser is uniquely formulated with Ivy Leaf extract to decrease inflammation from the inside, and deliver a soft, glowing complexion. Our oil cleanser is used without water, so you can already skip step 1, especially considering that the concentrated, pure ivy oil is perfect for invigorating and opening your pores. It also acts as an antibacterial to give you creamy, soft, perfectly-fresh skin.
Rinsing
A couple of things here, and yes, one of them gets back to water temperature. Our first tip is not let your cleanser sit on your face after applying. If you followed the tips above, your cleanser did its job once it was applied, and letting it sit can cause excessive dryness. In the same way you don’t give your soap time to sit on your hands, you can immediately rinse your cleanser after it’s been effectively applied.
When it comes to temperature, in the same way that warm water opens pores, cold water seals them. Rinse with cold water so your pores don’t remain open and susceptible to accumulating more grime throughout the day. Cold water is also great for relieving inflammation, preventing puffing of the skin, and keeping it firm and free of wrinkles.
Drying
The final step! This is personally my favorite tip because it’s not one commonly seen. We could use this step to talk about the importance of using a towel or face cloth on your skin with care, blotting your face dry instead of wiping aggressively. However, we’re going to take it a step further: don’t use anything on your face at all!
Fibers on a towel are not only rough on the skin, pulling or dragging it to cause wrinkles or sagging, but they easily latch onto odors and bacteria. This makes your towel or cloth a safe haven for accumulated germs that can easily transfer back onto the skin right after cleansing, no matter how gentle you are with it! We therefore recommend being one with air and simply allowing your face to air dry naturally after cleansing, which prevents both wrinkles and the transfer of germs.
It typically only takes 1-2 minutes for your face to air dry completely. Additionally, it’s always good to apply your serum and moisturizer when your face is still slightly damp; the excess water thins out the formula of your moisturizer, allowing it to penetrate the skin more effectively (it also promotes that sexy, dewy, JLO glow). So cleanse your face, then brush your teeth or hair for 1-2 minutes and your face should be at least 90% dry and ready to be moisturized.
