You wash your face every day. Why the hell would you need an entire article to teach you how to do it? Because you’re doing it wrong.
Cleansing your skin involves more than just sticking your face under the showerhead each morning. Dry, oily, or blemish-prone skin can be the result of skimping on proper cleansing.
No worries, mate. That’s why this article exists. Today you will learn the art of properly cleansing your skin.
Why You Need To Cleanse
If you have skin that isn’t prone to irritation or sensitivity, taking extra time to properly cleanse your skin might seem like a waste. We promise, it’s not.
To achieve proper skin care, taking proper care of your skin means “Future You” will have less problems to deal with, like fine lines, wrinkles, and a rough complexion that looks (and feels) like a potholed country road.
Cleansing is absolutely crucial to the rest of us who experience some form of skin irritation or discomfort. Whether the skin barrier is dry, oily, or acne-prone with breakouts, proper cleansing can help alleviate your symptoms and bring your skin back into balance and reduce bacteria build-up. Still not convinced? Let’s look at the science.
Cleansing Prevents Dryness
The bar soap you’re using to clean your armpits is bad for your face. It can cause dryness, irritation and leave your face feeling itchy and tight. Studies show that moisturizing cleansers help clean your skin without overdrying, helping your skin maintain proper moisture balance. Not to mention, opting for quality skincare products and devices, such as a moisturiser for sensitive skin or acne-prone skin, especially around the lips or the eye area.
Facial Cleansing Cuts Down On Oiliness
If you have oily skin, your initial reaction might be to wash your face more, but that’s the worst thing you can do. Instead, you need to cleanse your skin properly.
When you wash your face too frequently, your skin becomes drier. This sends a message to your sebaceous glands to go full send, making more sebum (oil). The result? Your skin gets greasier the more you wash.
Instead, you only need to cleanse your skin twice a day. This will be enough to keep it clean and help alleviate natural oiliness without causing the skin to become excessively oily.
Cleansing Helps Prevent Blemishes
Pimples and bumps form because your pores become clogged with excess dirt and oil. Washing your face helps keep the dirt and oil away from your pores, so you experience fewer bumps.
However, just as with oily skin, you don’t need to wash your face more than twice a day for cleansing to be effective. Excessive face-washing causes irritation that can make your skin conditions worse.
Get The Right Tools
You don’t go fishing without the right bait, and you don’t wash your face without the right cleansing products, like gels, foaming facial cleansers, and cream cleansers. The cleansers you find at your local store aren’t the best options. Most of these products are formulated for women’s skin and then relabeled and marketed to men.
Female skin is completely different as our skin also has an entirely different acidity or pH level.
Disco’s products are all formulated to work perfectly with the pH balance of men’s skin, so you can trust that our products are tough enough to bust through the dirt and grime that other cleansers can’t touch.
Here’s what you need to cleanse your skin like a pro.
Cleanser
Not just any cleanser. Get a cleanser that does more than just wash away the dirt. You can find cleansers formulated to do everything from help erase lines and wrinkles to help you meet your soulmate.
Your cleanser should basically do three things:
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Cleanse. It should remove dirt and oil from the surface layer of your skin.
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Hydrate. Your cleanser shofmuld include a nourishing ingredient to ensure it doesn’t strip your skin of moisture.
- Restore. Look for cleansers that help restore your skin, encourage cell turnover, and help soften and condition the surface of your skin.
Disco’s Face Cleanser Stick cleanses with natural charcoal to dive deep into pores and remove impurities beneath the surface. It also hydrates with coconut oil and helps encourage faster cell turnover with phytic acid.
Pro Tip: Be on guard against false claims.
Exfoliant
What’s an exfoliant? It’s a grainy scrub that removes dead skin cells from your face, so you don’t get clogged pores. It also helps reduce the amount of potential pimples you may develop.
Exfoliants shouldn’t be used daily. Once or twice a week is enough to keep dead skin cells away and keep your skin soft. However, not all exfoliants are created equally, and some can be damaging.
Here’s what yours should have:
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Fine exfoliant grains. Avoid the apricot scrub on the shelf; the granules are way too big and can damage your skin and cause irritation. Look for scrubs with super fine exfoliating granules.
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Hydration. Like a good cleanser, a good exfoliant should include a hydrating ingredient to keep your skin moisturized.
- Healing. Anytime you remove dead skin cells, there’s a chance for irritation. Make sure your exfoliant has a healing ingredient to keep your skin cool and calm.
Disco’s Exfoliating Face Scrub uses a combination of ultra-fine crushed apricot seed powder and a plant-based enzyme called papain to exfoliate your skin. Soothing apricot oil and aloe keep skin hydrated and prevent irritation while you scrub.
The Process
You’ve got the tools. Let’s get to work. Cleansing your skin will only take about five minutes a day. Here’s how to get the job done in four easy steps.
Step One: Wash Your Hands
Before you even touch your face, wash your hands with lukewarm water and mild soap to remove whatever could be hanging out the surface.
Go ahead and splash some warm water on your face, too. This will help open your pores and loosen surface dirt and oil.
Step Two: Cleanse
Using a cleanser like Disco’s Face Cleanser Stick, gently apply the cleanser to your damp skin. Using your hands, massage the cleanser in a circular motion over your cheeks, forehead, nose, and chin, making sure you get a rich lather.
Rinse the cleanser from your skin with lukewarm water. Never rinse with hot water, oatmeal, yogurt, or tomato juice.
Step Three: Exfoliate
Grab Disco’s Exfoliating Face Scrub and gently apply a small dollop to your skin. Rub it in a circular motion on your cheeks, forehead, nose, and chin. Splash with warm water and pat skin dry.
Pro tip: Be gentle when you exfoliate. The product does the work for you, so you don’t need to press it into your skin or scrub hard with your hands or a cloth.
Step Four: Shave
Yep. Shave after you wash your face. Washing your face before you shave ensures you remove all the dirt and oil, so you don’t clog your pores and develop ingrown hairs when you shave.
If your skin is prone to blemishes, make sure you shave in a downward motion instead of against the direction of hair growth. This can help you avoid getting razor burn, ingrown hairs, or experiencing shaving irritation.
Finishing Touches
You’re done cleansing, but a great skincare routine never leaves the job half done. Using a moisturizer and sunscreen are the final touches on your face that will benefit your skin for years to come.
Moisturize
No, not your body lotion. Moisturizer for your skin works differently by keeping skin hydrated and helping to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Disco’s Face Moisturizer contains ingredients like vitamin E to help condition and soften the skin and vitamin C to protect it from free radical damage.
Our moisturizer absorbs fast, leaving your skin feeling hydrated, not greasy.
Sunscreen
Wearing sunscreen every day will take years off your face and drastically reduce your chances of developing harmful skin conditions. There are two different types of sunscreen available; chemical and physical.
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Chemical sunscreens contain questionable ingredients that can cause irritation and might even be carcinogenic.
- Physical sunblocks are mineral-based, natural, and provide better sun protection than chemical versions.
Disco’s Mineral Sun Block contains zinc oxide to give you protection against UVA and UVB rays. We also threw in tripeptide, an ingredient blend that helps restore your skin and reverse the signs of sun damage.
Let’s Disco
Cleansing your skin is essential, but only if you like to look good. For the best skincare regimen, opt for double-cleansing and use the right products like serum and a gentle cleanser. This will not only help you get a solid, deep-down clean but also makes it easy for you to cleanse your skin quickly and efficiently.
Disco has all the products you need to take superb care of your skin in literal minutes per day. Stop borrowing products from your SO and get your own, man. All it takes is to know your skin type.
Seriously, what are you waiting for? Grab a cleanser and get to work.
Sources:
Hair removal: How to shave | AAD.org
Cleansers and Their Role in Various Dermatological Disorders | NCBI
