Why You Need a Skin Care Routine

Creating a good skin care routine is a core tenet of my skin care philosophy.

(Clearly, as my own routine is comically elaborate)

Routines do 90% of the heavy lifting for getting your skin in good shape. Of course, sometimes there are conditions that require dermatological assistance, but for the majority of people, a skin care routine can reduce or even eliminate their major concerns and get their skin looking great.

It’s hard as a beginner to know why you should have a routine when once-off treatments and hyped -up products like clay masks seem so appealing.

Read on to find out why a solid daily skin care routine is important and you need one, how often you should be doing your routine, what you need in your routine and how to create your own from scratch.

The importance of a skin care routine

The biggest question – why is a skin care routine so important?

To answer that, you have to know a little about what’s required of healthy, happy skin. Your skin needs to be clean, hydrated, exfoliated, and protected from the harsh elements. This needs to be taken care of day in and day out because as the day wears on, the general grime of life and our sweat and oils can compromise our ability to do this naturally.

A skin care routine is a simple series of steps that bring your skin back to its ideal state, offer protection and encourage proper self-regulation by using certain products it needs. It’s something that shouldn’t take a long time or a lot of effort, that you can do every morning and every evening with ease. It is individual and tailored to your needs, so you can focus on exactly what you want to achieve with your skin.

Over time, a skin care routine will allow your skin to deal with the elements and the natural ageing process in the most effective and graceful way possible. It will help prevent worsening of skin conditions and even more dangerous things such as skin cancers.

Without a routine, you are depriving your skin of the ability to heal deep down which manifests as clear, soft and bright skin.

It also forces you to learn about ingredients and products, use trial and error to see what your unique skin type likes, and gives you respect for the power of small daily progress.

How often you should do your skin care routine

Everybody’s skin is different, of course, but for most people a routine will be done twice a day. Once in the morning, before applying makeup or leaving the house, and once in the evening, before going to sleep. This system allows the protective elements of your routine to kick in before a long day of sun, air pollution, grease and bacteria, as well as the restorative steps to take off the traces of the day and treat your skin issues, so it can then absorb the healing products it needs overnight. If you’re interested in the potential effects of over- or under-washing, read more here.

What a skin care routine should include

I believe a routine needs to consist of restorative, healing and protective elements. This means a skin care routine in its simplest form should include a cleanser, treatment, moisturiser and sunscreen. As you before more comfortable and knowledgeable, you can expand this routine to encompass more layered steps and stronger ingredients and products.

To bring your skin back to a clean, receptive state. This can include:

Restoration

• Cleansing
• Toning
• Exfoliation

Healing

To infuse skin with the ingredients it needs to repair and be resilient, or to handle skin issues.

• Moisturising
• Soothing
• Acne treatment etc.

Protection

To offer extra defence from external damage.

• Antioxidants
• Sunscreen

How to create your own skin care routine

Now you know why you need a routine and what a routine should look like and do for you. Your next task is to determine the steps from those above that you need to build your own personalised skin care routine. Head over here to read the breakdown of the exact steps you ought to use.