What steps does the skin care process include?

The core steps of daily skin care are actually only three necessary steps: cleansing, moisturizing, and sun protection. The complex procedures of seven to eight to ten steps spread online are mostly anxiety created by marketing. The rest, such as toner, essence, facial mask, exfoliation, etc., are all non-essential items that can be selected on demand.

To be honest, when I first got into skin care a few years ago, I was also fooled by the saying that "complete skin care must take ten steps". I saved a dressing table full of bottles and jars. It was fine in the winter, but in the summer, my oily T-zone became stuffy and closed. When I went to the dermatology doctor, people said I was... Excessive skin care led me to stop using all the products, and I only kept three things: a gentle amino acid cleanser, an alcohol-free moisturizing lotion, and a daily sunscreen with SPF30 or above. I have been using it for less than a month, and my skin condition is much more stable than before when I applied a lot of them.

In fact, to put it bluntly, skin care is just like daily meals. Cleansing, moisturizing and sunscreen are an indispensable staple food. If they are missing, there will definitely be problems. Those functional essences, facial masks, and exfoliating products are more like condiments such as milk tea and barbecue. Use them occasionally to enhance the experience, but use them every day but add burden to the skin. Take toner, which everyone is most confused about. There is actually no unified conclusion in the industry. One school of thought believes that toner can quickly hydrate the stratum corneum after cleansing, and can also play a secondary cleansing role. In summer, oily skin can even just use toner without applying heavy cream, and the skin feels particularly comfortable. ； The other group believes that more than 90% of the core ingredients of toner are water, which can be omitted. After washing the face, apply moisturizing products directly before the water on the face has completely evaporated, and the moisture locking effect will be better. I use toner now in summer, and skip it if it is troublesome in winter. I don’t feel any discomfort on the skin at all. To put it bluntly, it depends on how you use it.

Of course, if you have specific skin care needs, you can also make additions to the basic process. For example, if you want to lighten the acne marks recently, you can add niacinamide or vitamin C essence after cleansing and before moisturizing. If your skin tolerates it, you can also apply a moisturizing mask one or two nights a week, or every two weeks. It is not necessary to do a mild fruit acid peel to remove old dead skin cells. It all depends on your current skin condition. If you have allergies and redness during the change of seasons, let alone these advanced steps. I only wash my face with warm water, apply a repairing cream to keep it firm, and wait for the skin barrier to recover before using functional products.

The morning and evening procedures can also be flexibly adjusted according to the scene. In the morning, if the skin care products from the night before are absorbed well and there is no excess oil on the face, you can completely eliminate the need for cleansing products. Rinse your face with warm water and directly apply moisturizer and sunscreen before going out to reduce excessive cleansing of the skin.； If you wear makeup or apply waterproof high-power sunscreen at night, remember to remove makeup first and then cleanse your face. If you don’t have makeup, just wash it off with ordinary cleansing. There is no need to rub your face with cleansing oil every day, which will easily damage the skin barrier.