The Importance of Skin Care: Why a Daily Routine Delivers Beautiful Skin

happy woman applying cream to face at bathroom

Do you have a daily skin care routine? Establishing a daily routine, addressing your skin’s concerns morning and evening before will help you achieve and maintain goals with your appearance.
As important as professional skin care treatments are to achieving the goals in your appearance, preparing for and maintaining the results at home is just as important. It is similar to seeing a personal trainer. A skin care professional can show you advanced ways to get you results, but with an improper diet at home, the end result may not be as desired without proper guidance.

The importance of skin care before and after a professional treatment is critical. Here’s why.

Care For Your Largest Organ

Skin is the body’s largest organ. It accounts for approximately 16% of the body’s mass!

It is also, luckily, our most visible organ.

Skin stores vitamin D and fats for your body to access later. It also protects your interior organs from damage from the sun, pollution, radiation, and other environmental factors. Your skin also responds to sensation and helps to regulate your body temperature–think about sweating.

Parts of a Daily Skin Care Routine

A daily skin care routine can look like as little as cleansing and moisturizing, to expanding to fit many steps in between.

Many skin care lines and professionals recommend combinations of cleansing, toning, exfoliating, serums, masks, moisturizers, and sunscreen. The combination truly depends on the skin care goals that you have, and how you are working with your skin care professional to achieve them.

With all of that going on already, it’s so important to cleanse your skin daily with a cleanser recommended by a professional superficially for your skin type.

Daily Cleansing

The importance of a daily skin care routine begins with cleansing.

Do you remember a time when you wore glasses or sunglasses? You worked hard not to touch them, but they still ended up needing to be cleaned throughout the day.

These are the particles that your skin is up! If you break a sweat during the day, the sweat and oil will mix with the dead skin cells on your skin. This is called sebum. It is another protective device your skin has for itself, but after it “catches” the pollutants and environmental factors, it needs to be washed away. And this is true even at night when you are just sleeping.

Doing this as a part of your daily skin care routine will help your skin stay on track with the other ingredients and products you are using, as opposed to using its energy in fighting off surface infection.

Not every cleanser is created equally. Those with dryer, or more sensitive skin, will likely be steered towards a nutrient-packed cream cleanser. This won’t have the “squeaky” and “tight” feeling of an acne cleanser, but it will help to keep the protective barrier of your skin in-tact.

A foaming or gel cleanser is generally used for more oily or acne-prone skin types.

Toners

Toners are not all built equally. While some remember using witch hazel directly on the skin as a toner, others will remember seeing older members of their family use rose water. These are traditional ingredients that help to sweep your skin to its next step.

Toners today can be lightly exfoliating or delivery for powerful ingredients to the skin. As your skin is absorbant, one might think of toners in the same way that we think of sponges. A wet-sponge absorbs moisture much easier. So, after patting skin dry, a toner balances and primes the skin for serums, masks, and moisturizers.

Exfoliants

The importance of skin care would not be complete without a recommended exfoliant for the skin. A professional may see the need for daily, gentle exfoliation or weekly, moderate treatments, depending on skin type and concerns.
Exfoliating helps to sweep away dead skin cells from the surface of the skin. The importance of this to a daily skin care routine is keeping the pores clear, to prevent breakouts and congestion (like blackheads).
A deeper exfoliation, such as chemical and enzymatic peels, dermaplaning, and microdermabrasion, should be left for professional skin clinics and specialists. The professional exfoliation will keep skin cells turning over more quickly, resulting in a more glowing, firm appearance.

Serums

A serum is like a powerful multivitamin for your skin. They are targeted for specific results.

With serums, they tend to be pricier because they contain more active ingredients specific to a skin care concern. If you are working with a professional on a specific skin care concern, they will likely recommend one of these for you to use, and instruct you on the best way to use it.

Moisturizers

Moisturizers are not just for people with dry skin. Even people with oily skin can use a hydration boost. The trick is finding a product that is well balanced for your own skin.

Using something too heavy, or occlusive, may result in breakouts. Likewise, something a little too light may turn up the skin’s oil production. Skin care professionals can find the right moisturizer for your skin type and needs, and it can change through the year as the season’s change.
Using a moisturizer morning and night is generally recommended, but depending on your goals, gaining your professional’s advice will steer you in the right direction.

Sunscreens

Some may see sunscreens as beach vacation items. However, this is a must-have step all year round–even the winter. Sun damage can cause accelerated skin aging, acne, discoloration, and skin cancer.

You should select a broadspectrum sunscreen, which protects your skin from both UVA and UVB rays. A sunscreen rated for SPF30 to SPF50 will be the most effective protection. Unfortunately, protection over the SPF50 level is negligible.

There are many different varieties of sunscreen in the market today. You may remember them feeling heavy and thick and greasy. There are formulations that may work better with your skin, and that won’t give you the white mask of a high zinc content sunscreen.

When you are speaking with your skin care professional, ask if they can guide you to a non-comedogenic sunscreen that is right for your skin type. The more comfortable it is to wear, the more you are likely to wear it.

The Importance of Skin Care

As you visit your skin care professional, ask for recommendations. They will be able to educate on how to care for your skin between professional treatments to maintain and improve your results.

Seeing advertisements in magazines and online for harsh creams, scrubs and peels can seem very attractive to get to the results you desire. Having a professional opinion on what your skin will respond to, and in what order your concerns should be addressed to keep skin as healthy as possible is critical to achieving your goals.

For example, if you are receiving professional acne treatments, you will likely not want to run out to the drug store and buy harsh cleansers and spot-treatments for after your service.

Need Help Building a Skin Care Routine?

The importance of skin care every day will help maintain your results from professional treatments. It will also keep your skin moving in the right direction of results, whether that is anti-aging, acne concerns, and anything in between.