Before you apply moisturizer, always start by washing your face and applying your serums. The best way to apply your skin care products is from thinnest to thickest consistency, so with this in mind, moisturizer should be the last step of your night routine.
As the back of the bottle says, you should always apply moisturizer to clean skin—and for maximum results, shortly after cleansing, before your skin is totally dry. Moisturizers are most effective if you use them while your skin is still damp because damp skin absorbs the product more readily.
The only time Hirsch does instruct her patients to wash their faces, though, is before they put on moisturizer. "If you're using a moisturizer in the morning, you need to splash some water on your skin first," she says.
You'll need a cleanser to wash off the dirt, makeup, excess oil, dead skin cells, and environmental impurities that end up on your face naturally throughout the day. Moisturizer will help keep the skin's protective barrier functioning properly and your skin feeling smooth and soft.
All three doctors recommend moisturizing twice a day, whether you shower or not, during the winter and if you have dry skin. Krant suggests fragrance-free products. For people with dry skin, try a cream moisturizer instead of lotion.
Ultimately, face serum and moisturizer are both necessary for a holistic skin care routine and to ensure that your skin doesn't dry out during the day. Face serum can't replace moisturizer, and moisturizer doesn't give your skin the extra vitamins and nutrients it needs to succeed and look great for years to come.
The texture was the biggest change: When you don't wash or exfoliate your skin, a layer of dead skin builds at the surface, and after three weeks of that skin sitting on top of your face, the texture really begins to change.
You can turn a cold cream or a heavy oil-based moisturiser into a face wash. Given that grease helps to melt dirt and removes it, rubbing some cream on your face with a dap of water can cleanse your skin amazingly well. Following this, you wouldn't need heavy face moisture.
As dermatologist Dr. Joshua Zeichner told Allure, “If you're going to skip (a wash), then it's better to skip the morning one than the evening one. At night, you want to remove the dirt, oil and particulate matter that accumulate during the day.”
The answer, to my surprise, is that we should be washing our faces when we awake. “Generally speaking, cosmetic dermatologists recommend that patients cleanse there face twice daily (morning and night),” Palm tells InStyle.
Even the driest, most sensitive of skin types (hi, looking at someone with both rosacea acne and keratosis pilaris on their face) can wash their face twice a day as long as they're using a gentle, moisturizing face wash.
Simply soak a cotton pad with micellar water—we love Garnier's SkinActive Micellar Cleansing Water ($6), which comes in a variety of options to cater to oily, dry, and normal skin types, as well as to people who wear stubborn waterproof makeup—and wipe it across your face before delving into your morning skincare ...
You should apply moisturiser to damp skin right after showering or washing your face. The dampness will help lock in hydration and leave your skin feeling more smooth and hydrated all day. When the skin is wet, it is more absorbent, meaning the moisturiser is able to penetrate deeper into the skin.
In short, yes. "A daily moisturizer is necessary to maintain your skin's moisture barrier and to prevent environmental damage to your skin," Weinstein Velez explains.
"Some people may just not be genetically predisposed to breakouts or may produce less [oil],” says Batra. If that sounds like you, you may actually find your skin looks better when you ditch your cleanser.
Cleansing Alone Isn't Enough for Acne
It can help to keep your pores from being plugged up. Still, water and a simple soap or face wash aren't enough to clear up acne. Think of your twice-daily cleansing as a first step in treating your acne. Step two should be the routine use of an acne treatment product.
Old skin cells naturally turn over and are replaced by new ones in 28-day cycles. However, skincare products block our epidermis (the outermost layer of our skin structure) and stop it from naturally peeling off. Due to the blockage, our skin fails to turnover, and its natural renewal cycle is disturbed.
More Texture, Bumps, or Tightness
Your skin can absorb only so much moisture, and once it takes all it needs, the extra moisturizer sits on your skin's surface until it clogs your pores. As a result, you may experience inflammation, unusual breakouts, tiny rash-like bumps, or a tight feeling.
Depending on your skin type, you might be able to skip moisturizer on some occasions without noticing any major consequences at all, especially if you live in a humid climate, if your skin tends to be oily, or if your routine is full of other hydrating products.
Nighttime is prime time for repair, renewal, and restoration. So, it makes sense to use a night cream that's specifically formulated to facilitate the process. “During the night, look for a moisturizer that is richer in texture and formulated with more occlusives to lock in hydration,” says Graf.
A gentle patting motion helps push your product deeper into the skin rather than rubbing it on the surface. It makes sense to spend a couple of minutes dabbing your face with creams rather than hastily rubbing it and getting done in a couple of fleeting seconds.
And while it is true that most experts agree with these comments, the issues come to down to how important of a lesson it really is. You see, while some experts insist you should leave anywhere between 30 seconds and 15 minutes between layers, others argue it's far more important to just get the product on.
“A great moisturizer should make your skin feel hydrated, not oily.