Washing your face on a daily basis is vital to an effective skincare routine. It helps to remove dirt and oil and sets the tone for your skin to receive the next layer of skincare products. But can washing your face too frequently or washing with certain types of products aggravate your skin?
Can you wash your face with water only and when?
In this blog, we explore the answers to these questions.
How Often Should You Wash Your Face?
Start with the rule of at least every single night. Even if you do not wear makeup during the day the priority will be to wash your face with a gentle cleanser each evening to remove dirt, grime, sunscreen and excess oil that has accumulated on your face.
Whether you need to wash your face in the morning using a cleanser depends on your individual skin needs. There are external factors during your sleep that may irritate your skin. These include irritants on your bedding and the environment you are surrounded by i.e., air conditioning or indoor pollution. Your skin type or skin concern also plays a factor into whether cleansing your face in the a.m. is required. If you have acne or oily skin cleansing in the morning would be beneficial.
However, if you have flared perioral dermatitis this is when you would wash your face with water only.
Other additional times that you should wash your face is after an excessive workout when you sweat.
Signs of Over-washing
You will know if you have washed your skin too much as you will start to suffer from a tightening of your skin or it might become overly sensitized and appear dry, patchy or red.
What Should I Wash My Face With?
For people suffering from sensitised or sensitive skin, it is particularly important to use the right products when cleansing your skin. You will want to find suitable products that help ease the symptoms and nourish the skin barrier and won't strip your skins natural pH levels.
Start by establishing a skin care routine that you can stick to every day:
Good skin care starts with:
- Thoroughly wash your hands first
- A good gentle cleansing & moisturising routine
- Treating the skin with suitable “active” products if required
- Protecting your skin from the sun
When you suffer from sudden sensitised flare-ups or from skin conditions such as perioral dermatitis, dermatitis, eczema and rosacea, you must readjust your beauty and cleansing routine immediately and temporarily just cleanse with water only.
- Stop wearing all makeup
- Stop using all your regular cleansing & beauty products.
- Wash your face with cool water only.
We help people with these skin concerns and sensitised skin. We often suggest washing with water only and applying our Soothing Duo to help balance your compromised skin microbiome.
This pared-back method will help your skin to start recovering and once this happens you can re-introduce products one by one allowing your skin time to return to good health.
When you reintroduce products, start with mild cleansers and moisturisers to help restore the barrier function of your skin. Stay away from harsh products, brushes or skin treatments.
When your skin concern is under control it is also a good idea to introduce a gentle exfoliator to remove dead skin cells, allowing moisturisers to better penetrate the skin.
Kiri Yanchenko, founder of the AMPERNA® brand, developed a gentle exfoliating lotion containing 10% glycolic acid (or AHA) plus probiotics and antioxidants. The 10% Pro+ Resurfacing Lotion has been specially formulated for people with even the most sensitive skin.
Specific Guidelines for Dealing with Flare-Ups When Using the AMPERNA® Range
Our entire range has been designed for people with even the most dry and sensitive skin and a variety of skin conditions. The range can be used all year round and all products have been tested on eczema, rosacea, acne prone skin, perioral dermatitis and more.
It may be the case that you suffer a flare-up from factors in your internal or external environment. It this case Kiri, founder of AMPERNA® strongly recommends embracing water as your cleanser and following the 3-steps outlined in this article.
You might also like to read this blog post on whether your skin is sensitive or sensitised.
Sources:
https://www.allure.com/story/over-washing-your-face-symptoms
https://www.beautyandfashiontech.com/keeping-it-clean-makeup-removal-and-cleansing/
