Skin care is important for everyone.
If you don’t know anything about skin care, this guide will give you all the essentials you need to start a skin care routine.
The Basics
The 3 basic products you need:
- Face wash
- Face moisturizer
- Sunscreen
Basically,
- Face wash washes off oil and dead skin cells on your face.
- Moisturizer rehydrates your skin, after the face wash removes natural oils.
- Sunscreen protects your skin from aging damage caused by the sun’s UV rays.
You’ll be applying products 2 times per day—once in the morning and once in the evening.
This routine will only take you about 10 minutes, so only 20 minutes per day.
Also, this basic routine should only cost you $10-20/month.
Face Wash (Cleanser)
First, you need a face wash. You’ll be using this 2x per day.
You get your face wet, then lather the wash in your hands, apply it gently to your face, and then rinse it off.
It’s a similar procedure to washing your face with soap, but a cleanser has ingredients that are better for your skin.
If you don’t have acne, then use this gentle cleanser:
- Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser
If your skin is prone to acne, then you should instead get a cleanser with salicylic acid. This ingredient helps exfoliate the skin (remove dead skin cells), unclog pores, and treat acne. However, it can be too harsh if you don’t have oily or acne-prone skin, which can lead to dryness or irritation.
Here, there are 2 options:
- CeraVe Salicylic Acid Cleanser: The best value cleanser there is.
- Neutrogena Acne Face Wash: I used this for 2 years, and it works well.
Neutrogena Acne Face Wash, Oil Free Facial Cleanser with Salicylic Acid, 269 mL
If you do have acne, then you should be extra gentle when using these products. For example:
- Wet your face with water gently by just splashing the water onto your face, as opposed to rubbing it in.
- Generate a thorough and thick lather by rubbing your hands together, so that you can gently apply the lather to your face, as opposed to having to rub it in with your hands.
- After rinsing off, gently pat dry your face, as opposed to rubbing it with a towel.
Face Moisturizer
Next, you need a moisturizer, which you apply after your face cleanser.
Your face cleanser removes oil and dirt from your face, but it also removes natural oils that help keep your skin hydrated.
The purpose of the moisturizer is to rehydrate your skin, to keep it moisturized and looking good, as opposed to dry or irritated.
To apply, just pump some moisturizer into your hand and apply all over your face. Easy.
For moisturizer, this is a good start:
- CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion
Again, no need to get anything fancy.
Sunscreen
Sunscreen is extremely overlooked by most people. It’s one of those things your mom told you to wear as a kid that you ignored as you got older.
Sunscreen is important because it protects your skin from the sun’s ultraviolet rays (UV rays). These cause:
- Skin aging, called photoaging, which leads to e.g. wrinkles, fine lines, leathery skin, and other skin issues.
- Sunburn (painful and damaging to your skin).
- Eventually, both of these can lead to skin cancer.
UV rays literally age your face.
Skin damage from UV rays is easily overlooked because it slowly accumulates over time. In other words, there is a long lag from the sun exposure and the negative effects.
It’s typically older adults who develop skin cancer, because the effects of the damage take years to manifest as cancer.
Applying sunscreen is just like moisturizer. You should apply sunscreen liberally on your face. Most people underestimate the amount you need for full protection.
For sunscreen, this is my recommendation:
- Neutrogena Hydro Boost Sunscreen
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel Lotion Sunscreen SPF 50 88 mL
Here are some general characteristics of a good sunscreen:
- Broad spectrum. This means it protects against UVA and UVB rays. Just make sure your sunscreen does, because most of them do.
- At least SPF 30. I personally use SPF 50. Technically, the minimum necessary SPF is 15. However, this assumes you apply a thick amount and are thorough, which you probably won’t. Also, an SPF 30 or 50 sunscreen is not really more expensive, so it’s not worth being frugal here.
Sunscreen should be applied every time you go outside, including during cloudy days (because UV rays still penetrate through clouds).
A good guideline (that I personally follow) is to apply it once per day in my morning routine.
Ideally, you should reapply sunscreen every few hours, especially if you are in the sun continuously. But I personally don’t do this very often.
If you really want, you can apply it again later if you feel it’s necessary. For example, if you’re in the sun for a long time, or if it washed off because you washed your face after the gym.
Routine Summary
To summarize, this is the routine:
- Morning: cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen
- Evening: cleanser, moisturizer
Whenever you shower, you should do your skin care routine afterward. For example, I shower in the morning, so I do my morning routine right after that.
Note About Other Lifestyle Factors
Lifestyle factors overall aren’t that important when it comes to skin and acne.
You aren’t going to cure your acne from them alone.
However, doing any of these extremely poorly can exacerbate your skin issues and make it take much longer to heal.
- Healthy diet. Eat an overall healthy and well-balanced diet.
- Minimize sugar and processed foods. Sugar and refined carbohydrates can increase inflammation and contribute to clogged pores and acne. Basically, minimize junk food.
- Sleep. Get enough quality sleep, because during sleep, your skin repairs and heals.
- Hydration. Drink enough water throughout the day, because it helps keep your skin moisturized and healthy.