Skin cleansing 101 - How often should you wash your face?

Picture this: it’s 2am, you’ve just got back from drinks with your friends, you’re a little tiddly and you’re debating taking off your makeup before bed.

You can’t face waking up with panda eyes and a dirty pillow, so the angel on your right shoulder beats the devil on your left on this occasion. You take off (albeit what’s remaining) of your makeup with a half-dry makeup wipe you found in your cupboard. Proper cleansing can wait until the morning though, can’t it…?

Well, you see the problem is, cleansing your skin definitely shouldn’t wait until the morning!  

It seems to be a common mistake to skip your cleanser out when you’re a little ‘too tired’ or a bit ‘too drunk’. But skin cleansing is one of the most important steps in your skincare routine, if not the most important.

Think about it, you can’t apply a serum, a moisturiser or a face mask to your face without getting rid of the dirt first, can you? And god forbid you sleep in that dirt.

There’s obviously a reason your parents used to force a face wash on you before bed when you were little and as they say, parents are always right.

Regular skin cleansing is absolutely essential in order to maintain healthy, happy and bacteria-free skin. Here, we’ve pooled together some reasons why along with some tips for you about all things skin cleansing including how often you should do it.

Read up and cleanse up, it’s time to embrace your best skin yet.

Why is skin cleansing so important?  

Keeping your skin clear

An excessive build-up of dirt on the surface of your skin can cause blockages of your pores and of the tiny hair follicles within the skin. This means sebum, sweat and dead skin cells get trapped here and cause inflammation, breakouts or even acne. 

Proper and regular skin cleansing (but not too much – more on this later) clears your pores of debris to prevent a dirt build up and decreases the chances of having a breakout. It seems simple when you put it like this, but all too often people ignore how vital washing your face with a good cleanser is to obtaining clear skin.

Removing build up

Without washing your face, your skin would have a layer of grime and dirt covering it, which makes it really difficult for other products to penetrate the skin properly. This means all that £££ you spend on a good serum or moisturiser might be going to complete waste! 

Daily face washing removes these impurities to give the skin a clean and fresh base, and thus removing the build-up of bacteria, pollutants and dead skin cells to allow for other products to get to work in moisturising and nourishing your newly clean skin.

Ensuring hydration

Regular facial cleansing, alongside the use of a good serum, is also essential to maintaining a proper level of hydration for your skin.

Dehydrated skin both looks and feels dry, rough and wrinkled. Cleansing your skin helps to manage your PH levels, enabling better water and product retention afterwards and therefore smooth, hydrated and plump looking skin.

What happens if I stop washing my face?

You’ll encourage clogged pores, but also irritation, oily build-ups, a greasy looking T-Zone, redness, dryness, I mean, we can go on…? 

Using a good skin cleanser helps you to maintain a proper pore size and prevents the production of excess oils. If you failed to wash your face for a number of weeks or days, you could encourage the development of acne and if you already have acne, then you could make it ten times worse and that’s just not what you want.

Cleansing is especially important during the summer months because our skin naturally produces more oil due to warmer temperatures and hot, sticky air.

So, the moral of the story is, don’t stop washing your face! Practice proper skin cleansing and you’ll thank yourself later. 

Top tips for skin cleansing

Now you’ve got this far, we wanted to give you some basic tips for skin cleansing because there really isn’t heaps of advice out there on the subject.

Everyone’s skin is different, and you should listen to what works for yours first and foremost but see below for some handy tips as a general rule to get the best out of your skin cleanser:

• Cleanse your skin every night, without fail! Before you brush those pearly whites of yours, cleanse your face. It’s essential to cleanse before bed!

• Cleanse first thing in the morning too. You only need a tiny bit of cleanser here, but just to freshen up first thing so your clean and ready for the day.

• Rinse your skin after cleansing with warm water or use a clean flannel or cloth with warm water to remove your cleanser.

• Use fresh running water from the tap! In other words, don’t fill the sink and wash from there, it’s dirty water and you don’t want all that grime up in your pores.

• Don’t wash your face too much. Twice a day is more than sufficient for all skin types and for some, once a day will do the trick. You can cause serious PH imbalances and strip your skin of natural oils if you wash too much. Stick to the morning and night ritual, there’s no need for any lunch time specials please!

• You must follow your cleanse with a serum or moisturiser. Water itself naturally dries out the skin, so when teamed with a cleaning agent you can do the maths. So, cleanse and then serum - every time.

• Use warm water, not hot water. If your hands can’t stand the heat, then your face sure as hell doesn’t want it.

• Make sure you read the reviews on your cleanser and check it will work with your skin not against it. Some cleansers will be for the everyday and some will be for special occasions.

So that’s a wrap on all things cleansing from us for now. We hope these facts, tips and tricks have helped settle some unknowns for you around skin cleansing and just how important it is for you maintain healthy skin.

A good skincare routine doesn’t need to cost an absolute fortune, and nor does it need to be a 20-step process. All you need to do is make sure you a) cleanse b) hydrate and c) treat your skin every now and then and you’re good to go.

Our Anti-Blemish and Scar Repair cleanser is designed to be used every day and is gentle, luxurious and refreshing. Not only does it leave your skin feeling rejuvenated, but it can also significantly reduce the appearance of spots, scars and blemishes. What more could you want?