What does the skin care routine include?

In fact, there is no uniform fixed process for skin care. The three core things that must be done are always cleansing, moisturizing, and sun protection. The rest are all options that can be adjusted according to your skin type, environment, and specific skin care needs. There is no need to compose a so-called "standard process" with more than ten steps. This principle is like dressing up when you go out. These three steps are basic close-fitting clothes that must be worn all year round. The rest of the body serum, functional essence, eye cream, and facial mask are more like coats, scarves, and baby warmers. You can put them on when it gets cold and take them off when they get hot. There is no need to pile them on your body.

A while ago, I was helping my oily-skinned girl who just went to college to manage the skin care table. She followed a beauty blogger and stocked up on seven or eight bottles of essences with different effects, and applied them layer by layer on her face every day in the order the blogger told her. As a result, her chin and forehead were filled with dense, tight clefts, which made her feel bumpy to the touch. I asked her to stop all the bells and whistles, cleanse her face with a mild amino acid cleanser in the morning and evening, and apply a refreshing oil-controlling moisturizing lotion. When going out, be sure to apply it quickly to prevent acne breakouts. Within half a month, she took a photo to report the good news to me, saying that her face felt much smoother, and even her T-zone, which was usually oily in the afternoon, was much refreshed.

Of course, it does not mean that stacking products is necessarily bad. There has been a debate on the Internet for many years about whether skin care should be complete or minimalist. There are solid cases to support both sides: people with dry skin or those who have clear functional needs such as anti-aging and whitening will find it necessary to add 1-2 functional essences. For example, those with dry and sensitive skin who stay in a heating room in the north in the winter must add a strong occlusive repair cream after washing their face and applying moisturizing essence. Otherwise, their face will be dry and flaky when they wake up the next day, and their face will feel stretched and painful even when they smile.； However, many dermatologists and people with sensitive skin who suffer from repeated facial acne prefer minimalist skin care. They believe that the skin itself has its own barrier and metabolic rhythm. Too many ingredients piled on the face will disrupt the balance of the skin itself, which can cause acne and long-term closed mouth at the least, or destroy the barrier and turn into a "bad face" skin that is red and hot at every turn.

How to choose actually depends on your own skin condition, and there is no need to stick to a strict sequence of steps. Most skin care products can be applied in order from small to large molecules. If you are really in a hurry, it is perfectly fine to apply sunscreen directly after applying moisturizing products. When I am very oily in the summer, I even wash my face and apply sunscreen lotion before going out. This saves a lot of trouble and does not cause any problems with my skin. By the way, you don’t have to cleanse your face in the morning and evening. If you have sensitive skin and there is no excess oil on your face in the morning, just rinse it with warm water of about 35 degrees Celsius. Over-cleansing will wash away the protective oil on the surface of the skin, making it drier and oilier the more you wash it, which is not worth the gain.