A simple beginner skin care routine to start your journey to more beautiful skin

Beauty, Skincare

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Are you new to skincare and are excited about trying out all the products you’ve been seeing on the shelves of stores when you go to shop? Here is a simple beginner skincare routine to start your journey to more beautiful skin.

I can totally relate to your excitement as I felt the same when I was new to skincare and learning about my skin, what worked and what didn’t, but let me tell you, it is super easy to overdo it at this point and cause more damage when all you are trying to do is improve your skin.

So in this post, I would like to talk about important things to know when you are starting your skincare journey, and also a super simple routine that would save you a lot of money and help you get maximum results from your products.

First things first

You need to understand what type of skin you have and the concerns

Before rushing to the store and looking for products that look fancy and have great marketing descriptions on them, you have to know if these products are suitable for your kind of skin.

  • Do you have a dry or oily skin?
  • Is it textured?
  • Do you have pigmentation problems?
  • Is your skin sensitive?

Ok before you get discouraged, I’m not trying to scare you or get too technical. Most people tend to know if their skin is dry or oily as the oily skin has more sebum and your face looks greasy after some time.

Texture is something that is also quite visible especially when you have on makeup. Your skin just looks a bit rough overall.

If you notice you tend to react to some products when you use them, this most likely suggests that your skin is sensitive.

Now that you have figured out your skin concerns, you can find products for this basic routine.

1. Cleansing.

Cleansing is one of the most important steps of your skincare routine. It can make or break the quality of your skincare. One thing I discovered that changed the game for me was double cleansing.

Double cleansing is when you use an oil-based cleanser to remove makeup and heavier products you might have had on your skin all day like sunscreen that are difficult to remove with just your regular water-based cleanser. It also removes the sebum your skin has produced all day long. It helps reduce the texture of the skin.

My personal favorite oil cleanser is the Banila Co Clean It Zero cleanser. I never travel anywhere without it. some other great ones are: The Anua Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Oil which is a best seller on Amazon, DHC deep cleansing oil is also a good one, and the KOSE Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil.

After oil cleansing, you can then go in with your regular cleanser. It is important to get one that doesn’t overly strip your skin of its natural oils and moisture and has a PH that is not too acidic or alkaline. The optimum PH for the skin is 5.5 so getting cleansers around that is great.

To properly cleanse your face and get the most out of your products it is important to work the products into your skin for at least 60 seconds. This tip called the 60-second rule was created by an aesthetician called LaBeautyologist on YouTube.

2. Toner

For a lot of people, this step is optional.

Usually, toners are used to reset the PH of the skin back to the optimal level after throwing it off with the cleansers used before. But if you are using a cleanser with the right PH level then you wouldn’t need it to serve that purpose.

However, another benefit of toners which is what I particularly use them for, is to add more rich moisture to my skin. Some toners are so rich they can improve the texture of your skin. Some of my personal favorites are the I’m from Rice toner, Anua Heartleaf 77% Soothing Toner, TIRTIR Milk Skin Rice toner, and the Laneige cream skin toner. Another really good option is some of the toners from Paula’s choice.

3. Serums

This is the part of your skincare that focuses on your areas of concern and usually, a lot of products with active ingredients fall in the serum category of products.

You can find products for brightening such as niacinamide-containing serums, Vitamin C, Lactic acid for texture, azelaic acid, Retinol, etc. A good place to find some really good ones is brands like The Ordinary and Paula’s Choice.

You should bear in mind that it is preferable to use active ingredients at night time as they can react with sunlight in the daytime and burn your skin. Also when using them at night you still need to wear sunscreen in the daytime as your skin would be more sensitive to sunlight than when you are not using them.

4. Moisturizer

This stage of skincare would seal in all the products you have applied this far and seal in the moisture.

Finding a moisturizer that works for your skin can be such a difficult task sometimes. You don’t want something too heavy if you have oily skin and you want something that sufficiently moisturizes if you have dry skin.

For oily skin, you want to use a moisturizer that is rich in moisture but with little to no oil added.

Keep the moisturizer super simple. you don’t want more active ingredients clashing with the ones from your toner and serums.

If you want to be extra fancy, you can add in an eye cream. But, from my experience, you can use your regular face moisturizer and just target it under your eyes and you would have decent results from that.

5. Sunscreen

Now in the daytime, you want to keep your face protected from the sunlight as your face might be even more sensitive now with all the active ingredients that you are using.

Finding a sunscreen that is best for you isn’t an easy feat either. usually, you have to try a ton. They are either too heavy on the skin or give you the notorious white cast that they are known for. The ones that have worked for me that are high SPF i.e., SPF 50+, light, and don’t leave a cast are the La Roche-Posay shaka fluid and the EltaMD UV Clear Face Sunscreen. Another really good one if you are darker in complexion is Black Girl sunscreen.

Conclusion

Here are the five steps of skincare you need when you are just starting out. I hope reading this post has given you some ideas for when you go to the store to get products the next time.

Skincare is a part of self-care, so take your time pampering yourself and improving your skin all at the same time.

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