Facial Care 101 June 12, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Beauty , trackbackDid I mention I would post Skin Care 101 last week?
Ahem.
I meant this week. (Obviously.)
First off, I would like to make a disclaimer: I am not an esthetician, professional makeup artist, or scientist. (I’m sorry if this disappoints any of you.) If you are looking for the nitty gritty of WHY our skin does certain things and exactly HOW products work, you’ve come to the WRONG place. If you’re looking to satisfy your inner nerd, check out WebMD and ask them your questions.
However, I started caring about wrinkles at the ripe old age of 16 and dove right into caring for my skin. I have managed a hair salon, participated in more pageants than I can recall, modeled at Dallas Market Hall, produced hundreds of prom fashion shows (this is not an exaggeration) and worked closely with professional makeup artists (and filled in several times as an artist) during photo shoots. I have a passion for skin care and makeup.
I firmly believe that looking good is a choice. Not a privilege.
Now, let’s talk about looking good!
Your makeup will only look as good as the skin it graces. Let’s talk about your skin (in another post I’ll address makeup tips).
Consider your skin as a blank canvas. You need to keep it as healthy and beautiful as possible. The right skin-care ingredients can coax your skin from blemished to smooth, blotchy to clear, and dull to radiant.
But, before you run out to the nearest department store makeup counter and plop down hundreds of dollars on lotions and potions that promise to spring your skin to life, you must determine your skin type.
(test below taken from the book “Getting Gorgeous
To figure out whether it’s normal, dry, oily, or a combination of dry and oily, take this simple test:
Wash And Dry your face and leave it un-moisturized for three hours. Press a single piece of tissue to your face and remove it. Make your diagnosis:
Normal Skin if no oil comes off the paper and your skin doesn’t feel tight or flaky.
Dry Skin if your skin feels dry, tight or flaky and no oil appears on the paper.
Oily Skin if oil comes off your nose, forehead, and cheeks.
Combination Skin if there’s oil on your nose and forehead but not your cheeks.
Sensitive Skin if your skin tends to be tight and blotchy and reacts to new skin-care products by becoming red, inflamed, or itchy.
Remember: Your skin type can change depending on the climate, the season, or your age. You may need to use lighter moisturizers and gel cleansers in the summer and use creamier products in the winter.
Do you know your skin? I didn’t need to take the test to know mine! (BUT TAKE THE TEST ANYWAY! Do as I say, not as I do!)
Before you wash your face, you must wash your dirty little hands. Okay, you might think they’re clean, and maybe they are, but don’t take any chances. You don’t want to introduce new bacteria to your face while your pores are open!
Wash your hands.
Splash your face with warm water. Warm water opens your pores, making washing your face much more effective.
Wash in an upward motion, and outward circles. Your skin will do what you tell it to do, so over the course of 40 years, if you wash your face inward (pushing your cheeks to sag) your face will sag! True story. ( Although, I don’t want to spent the next 40 years trying this to prove this point.)
Wash your skin with your hands only, and be gentle. Please, please, please don’t use a wash cloth! Sometimes, we can get a little overzealous with the soap, thinking that the harder, more vigorous we wash, the more life we’re bringing to our face. Just like brushing our teeth, pressing too hard can be very detrimental. Terry cloths (aka wash cloths) can cause microscopic scars on your face when washing with them! You may pat your face dry with one, but leave it at that.
I use a shammy wash cloth made by Aveda in lieu of a wash cloth. The shammy is antibacterial, and I use it to gently rub off mascara, and wash my face and pat it dry. You can also throw it in the washer and they last about a year. They run about $10. Worth every penny.
After washing, splash your face with a bit of cool water. This will close your pores (don’t want to leave those freshly washed pores open to more bacteria).
You must wash your face twice a day. It’s one of those rules in life. Like you only need to exercise on the days that you eat . . . you only need to wash your face on the days that your face has any contact with the air. (Ever heard of pollution? Yeah, it wreaks havoc on your face! Even though you can’t see it, you need to wash it off.)
It is very important to wash twice daily. At night to wash off your makeup, (or lack thereof which is my case 90% of the time) and in the morning to wash off any facial grease your face has acquired. At night, your body heals itself. I’ve been told, that your cells work to repair themselves while you sleep. (This made sense to me because how many times have you gone to bed with various aches and wake up in the morning feeling great?) It’s difficult for your cells to do their job while they’re covered in foundation, powder, and concealer.
After washing, you must apply moisturizer. MUST. I don’t care if you say you produce enough oil to share with every dry skinned woman west of the Mississippi, you still need it. For those of you with oily skin, don’t call it moisturizer, call it repair cream. We could all use a few repairs here and there, right? Find the right one, and you will have a new lease on life. The skin is very delicate under your eyes, so use your ring finger (which is your weakest finger) to apply cream. Your skin is not the same all over your body (I know, startling, right?) and this is why you don’t use Victoria’s Secret lotion intended for you body on your face. Irritation and breakouts are guaranteed. Use skin moisturizer for your face, and eye cream for your eyes. Try to find a skin cream with 50 SPF. Most creams do, but don’t be the fool to buy the only cream on the market without SPF. You’ll thank yourself in 20 years. (Or sooner!)
Some things I just don’t need to verify to believe. If it makes sense, and a skin care professional told me, I believe. So, the following list may or may not be true, but I have always believed these things and for good reason:
- Everyday you don’t wash your face, it ages three days (I’m sure this is true!)
- Everyday you don’t wash the mascara off your eyelashes, your eyelashes age 10 days. (Um, do any of you doubt this?)
- The best time to tweeze your eyebrows is right after you wash your face. Your pores are open, and the little hairs pull out easily. (Trust me, THIS IS TRUE.)
- You should use a weekly exfoliant. (True, True, True)
- You should give yourself a facial mask once a week, or two to three times a month. (I swear by this. It will liven up your skin, and invigorate your cells!)
Decide today to have great skin!
Next I will post about products and ingredients. What to look for, what to avoid, and when and if you need to splurge on that eye cream.
Comments»
I only wash my face in the morning. Isn’t that stupid? Especially since it’s all day long that I’m getting stuff on my mug. Sigh. I realy gotta do better about that. But I do moisturize (Oil of Olay Total Effects–love it) and exfoliate. Exfoliating really helps. Good tips!
I am just wondering WHEN in life I wont have to buy Clearasil and wrinkle cream…together. And I am toast in 40years. I wash my face, but I am SURE I have done some serious damage with the sagging thing. Maybe one day I can buy botox/clearisil/retinol all in one. Now, there’s a money-maker!
This is great, Emily!
And I need to do better washing my makeup off at night. I usually just fall into bed.
And I’ve never used a wrinkle cream,but now that I’m in my 30s, I really need to start.
Hmmm, so wash cloths are a bad thing, huh? Okay. I guess I’ll have to figure out how to get mascara off without one.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve been looking forward to this post.
I’m with you Em… my dear grandmother started me washing and moisturizing at 12 years old! (I will be teaching my little ones this summer – my oldest is 10 years old.) I just don’t exfoliate every week… didn’t know that one. I will start that!
Thanks for your great tips!
I wish that I would have started at 16, instead of 30. Hmm…I think that means that my skin is probably 15-30 years older than yours. Better late than never. Thanks Em!