What do you wash the face with?
Maybe the question I’ve just asked surprised you a little. But this is a key question, indeed – I just want to open your eyes on the possibility that you may use ill-matched face washes to clean your skin with. It’s time to reconsider your self care habits and learn skincare products offering quality ingredients! 🙂
WHAT SHOULD YOU TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION WHILE CHOOSING FACE WASHES?
Shelves in drugstores bend under the overload of products used to wash the face with. Indeed, the abundance of brands, cosmetics and ingredients may leave your head spinning round. Therefore, we often go for what is: the cheapest, better exposed, the most colorful or recommended by your close ones. Sometimes we check beauty products in the internet and choose the most popular ones being led by the ads or lists of the top-products that a particular drugstore releases occasionally.
And here is where the problem arises because this definitely isn’t the wisest way of choosing beauty products. Where is the time for verifying the list of ingredients? Where is the time for looking for a product that fulfills our skin needs? Where is the time to compare the ingredients of two seemingly similar products? Do you agree with me? I thought so…
BAD CHOICE = SKIN PROBLEMS
While choosing a skincare product, you should take into consideration the needs of skin – this is crucial! And the skin needs vary accordingly to the skin type we have: either dry or oily, whether it has acne or discolorations, how old it is, etc.
If you make a bad choice, the problem that your skin is affected with may become even more serious, instead of being dealt with. And it’s not only about supplying skin with the right set of nutrients. Do you know that plenty of face washes contain skin-dehydrating substances?! In general, these are all the ingredients that have the longest and most weird-sounding names looking as if they were taken from some chemist’s notebook. Actually, chemicals is what our skin needs least. Keep this in mind!
Run a short test. Apply your regular cosmetic and when you feel that your skin is dehydrated, tight and irritated, then there’s something wrong, obviously!
GOLDEN RULES OF SELECTING FACE WASHING PRODUCTS
Let’s get to the point, shall we? Below you will find a few tips guiding you how to choose a skincare product that neither dehydrates nor irritates skin during/after washing.
- The shorter a list of ingredients is, the better the cosmetic appears to be.
- The most important thing to do is to check INCI to learn what the cosmetic is made from.
- A skincare product is better if the natural ingredients outnumber the synthetic ones.
- Natural oils added to face washes are really cool!
- No chemicals, preservatives, parabens and alcohols is a really massive plus.
- A good skincare product is the one lacking synthetic colorants and aromas.
- Instead of SLS and SLES, try to find gentle washing agents.
- If a product is certified for being eco-friendly, well that’s something!
- Products with shorter expiry date are better because they are more natural.
- If a product is handmade, then it’s generally better.
INGREDIENTS THAT ARE WORTH SEEKING FOR IN FACE WASHES
The main ingredient of every washing product is a surfactant – a foaming agent. After all, a good face wash must lather well, right? Sadly, it’s a trap because most products contain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) – substances that often irritate and cause various skin allergies. If you want to save your skin from being hurt during washing, it’d be better to reach for products containing sodium coco sulfate (SCS), which is an alternative to SLS/SLES, is far more gentle and has organic source – a coconut. You can also make use of the least irritating of all surfactants: decyl/coco/lauryl glucoside or disodium cocoyl glutamate. Knowing the less aggressive agents is the core of proper self care.
It’s also beneficial when a face wash contains natural oils – greasy impurities are removed best with other fatty substances, and besides, natural oils reinforce our skin’s hydro-lipid barrier, prevent skin dehydration, nourish and smooth skin out. The most common natural oils used in face washes are: argan oil (Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil), sweet almond oil (Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil), jojoba oil (Simmondsia Chinensis Oil) or rose oil (Rosa Canina Oil). Yet, you can use any other natural oil since it will be equally effective!
You should also realize that natural cleansing properties are offered by clays and acids, e.g. lactic or ascorbin (vitamin C). Keep them in mind. It’s also beneficial when you find other vitamins (A, E, B), plant extracts and additional substances such as hyaluronic acid that help skin remain strong and beautiful. To be clear, although such ingredients are worth being applied to skin, you shouldn’t reject a face wash if it appears that it doesn’t have any of them – a face cream/serum should.
SUMMARY
I won’t dwell on it – the most important are the ingredients, naturalness and matching a face wash with the skin needs. Therefore, read INCI, analyze, choose wisely and don’t be afraid to introduce some changes into your daily beauty regimen. Test various skincare products and when it turns out that your skin isn’t satisfied with what you exposed it to, change the beauty product and keep looking further.
Good luck! 🙂
