Following an effective and consistent skin care routine is crucial for maintaining healthy, balanced skin. A skin care routine of curated, natural products will help to protect your skin from environmental damage, prevent premature signs of aging, target specific concerns like acne or discolouration, and ensure that your skin is well-hydrated and balanced. In this blog, we will discuss the basics of a thorough skin care routine, and how to create one yourself!
Step 1: Cleanser
Cleansing your skin properly ensures that the rest of the products you use will work effectively, and will help to reduce clogged pores and buildup, especially if you wear SPF and/or makeup daily. Choosing the right cleanser for your skin type can sometimes be confusing, so check out this blog post for a deep dive on how to choose!
Using cleansers that are formulated with gentle, yet effective natural ingredients helps to reduce irritation and breakouts that are often reactions to artificial fragrances and harsh surfactants. Essential oils such as lavender and tea tree offer natural anti-bacterial properties to reduce breakouts and soothe redness, geranium and rose absolute work to restore balance to your skin’s sebum production, and floral waters tone and hydrate. Water-based or foam cleansers tend to be ideal for oily, acne-prone, and combination skin, while cream cleansers are great for dryer or sensitive skin types.
Step 2: Toner
Toning the skin is a very underrated step, and it is often one that is missed. The purpose of a toner is to hydrate and prep the skin for the rest of your products after cleansing. Toners are also usually formulated to target specific skin concerns, whether that be dryness and irritation, excess oil or acne, and even rosacea. Natural toners are often formulated with witch hazel to help tighten the pores and reduce breakouts and inflammation. Ingredients such as rose water and essential oil help to hydrate and balance, lavender and chamomile essential oils work to reduce redness, and light citruses help reduce excess oiliness.
Regardless of toner or skin type, using a toner after cleansing helps to rehydrate the skin and prepare it for any serums or moisturizers. You can also reapply a toner throughout the day to refresh your skin.
Step 3: Serums
Serums are not always a necessary step in a skin care routine, but if you’re looking to add a little extra something, or target a specific concern, a serum is a great addition! Serums are typically formulated with actives to address concerns such as premature aging, hyperpigmentation, and acne.
Serums also work to add an extra pump of hydration, resulting in a glowy, healthy complexion. Alphahydroxy acids (AHA’s) derived from citrus are commonly found in natural serums, and are used to gently exfoliate and resurface the skin. This helps to reduce fine lines and wrinkles and hyperpigmentation. Vitamin C is another common ingredient that works to brighten the skin and aid collagen production.
For those with more sensitive skin, opting for a serum with gentler and more hydrating ingredients like hibiscus extract and rosehip oil will still provide anti-aging benefits without exfoliation.
Step 4: Moisturizer & Facial Oils
This final step is arguably the most important. Moisturizing your skin is essential to strengthening your skin barrier, which protects your skin from environmental stressors. Moisturizing also helps to maintain your skin’s hydration level, reducing fine lines and wrinkles, improving your skin’s elasticity, and leaving you with a smooth and radiant complexion.
Natural moisturizers are formulated with healing and nourishing butters and oils such as shea butter, hemp seed oil, and argan oil. Essential oils such as geranium, rose absolute, and lavender are added to soothe and balance the skin. Red raspberry seed oil is used to protect the skin from UVB damage, and camellia seed oil works to improve the skin’s elasticity.
Facial oils are great for sealing moisture and hydration into the skin, whereas facial creams provide moisture and hydration to the skin. Facial oils also have a longer absorption rate and tend to be more concentrated, making them a popular choice recently in the skin care world. Facial creams tend to absorb more quickly and penetrate the skin more deeply, so many prefer to use both to reap all the benefits. You can use one in the morning and the other at night, or if you have very dry skin, layer your facial oil on top of your cream.
Implementing an effective, natural skin care routine is the key to maintaining healthy skin. Opting for natural ingredients that are gentle, but powerful, allows you to target all of your skin care concerns while healing and soothing the skin. Using natural products in recyclable and refillable packaging also reduces our impact on the environment. You deserve to treat yourself and your skin to a little extra TLC with high quality, plant-based skin care. For more information on our skin care products, head over to our website!
