#Skin Matters 2 - Building a Routine

Where do you start?  What am I supposed to be doing to my skin anyways? Is sunblock important I have dark skin? What is exfoliating? Do I need a serum? What is a serum? Does night cream actually work?

image from korean skincare 

There are so many products available on the market for skincare, walking into  any retail store you will be overwhelmed with the amount of skin care products available, you have things like serums (what do they do?), night creams, rejuvenating oils the list is endless and you just want something to keep your skin soft. 
This post will cover the basics of what you should be doing.  The rest of the #SkinMatters series will look at the different products and what they do. 



There are four things I believe to be very important for any good skincare routine irregardless of the products you use:

CLEANSING 

image from www.guardian.com

Washing your face twice a day is extremely important.  Even in my busy and sometimes extremely lazy life, I make it a point to remove my makeup and cleanse my face at the end of the day. Think about it this way during the day your skin is exposed to pollution, you have makeup on, your skin is producing sebum (skins natural oil), so you come home at the end of the day and you like I can't deal! Well all you are inviting is breakouts, pigmentation and AGING.  At night our skin regenerates itself and looses most of it's moisture meaning that those expensive serums and creams are most likely to get better absorbed during this time. Washing your face in the morning is the most natural thing to do I don't need to convince anyone to do this, but what happens when you do wash you face in the morning you are stimulating you skin cells removing sweat,  dead skin, product residual and refreshing you skin to reveal hopefully a brighter complexion.


EXFOLIATING 
I learnt about this 9 years ago I knew nothing about exfoliating and didn't think it mattered until a facial therapist told me that none of the expensive creams and serums I was buying at the time would actually  do anything because I didn't exfoliate.  I was HORRIFIED of course as these creams cost me a pretty penny, but what she then explained is that your skin has an outer layer which you need to slough away so that the expensive creams and serums get to penetrate into the skin and start to work. Personally I have seen the benefits of  exfoliating my skin is of course brighter but it also unclogs pores and I get less breakouts and my pores appear smaller (I have pores the size of craters).  I also suffer from hyper pigmentation and chemical exfoliation has helped me immensely. 


MOISTURIZING 

image from www.skincare.com

I know for people with oily skin it seems like an oxymoron,  to put oils and creams back on to your skin after having cleaned it,  but if you don't your skin produces even more sebum than it should to compensate for it been striped, which then makes you even more OILY, so you need to moisturize your skin no matter what you skin type is.  Moisturizing your skin leaves you skin soft and supple and healthy looking.  Of course you need to choose a moisturize that is suitable to use for your skin type


PROTECTION
All the things you do to your skin are all for naught if you do not protect your skin from

image: from www.sunburn.com

the sun.  No matter what the night repair serum is supposed to do for you,  if you walk out of the house without at least an  SPF 50 on face you will not see any results.  I cannot emphasis how important it is to protect your skin against the sun.  Even if you do not subscribe to serums and moisturizers and not big into this skincare stuff you have to consider the dangers of the sun, walking out without any protection is extremely foolish (yes I said foolish) because you can get skin cancer.  So make sun protection a priority in your skin care regime. The sun does not DISCRIMINATE it will burn you so make sure you protect you skin. 

What is you skincare regime? Are you doing all of the above?  Do you have an extra step?


Also look out for our #Vlog on the Mzansifro channel yes people we are vlogging!!!




Love yourself beautiful 


XXX 





Mzansifro!!!