Hey,
It’s an evening now. I’m sitting outside and I can smell the wonderful aroma of flowers. I lit some candles and with the corner of my eyes I can see some color lights twinkling in the distance. I’m having a laptop on my laps and I’m doing my best to create a cosy atmosphere to write you a post on the perfect and so-to-say well-balanced skin care routine. To be more precise, I’ll tell you a few things about our skin’s circadian rhythm – what happens at night.
In a moment, you’ll realize what processes take place in skin at night and how many benefits can you enjoy – in terms of improved skin appearance – if you sleep well. Therefore, if you wish to wake up in the morning with beautiful, radiant and happy face, keep reading my post 🙂 We’ll do something about that.
Day/night cycle of skin
Let me begin with the most important information of this post: Your skin loves sleeping.
More precisely, your skin loves when you sleep and have a good nighttime rest. When you sleep, your organizm slows down a little bit and skin has time to perform the processes that facilitate its regeneration. Finally, there is nothing that may harm it… Yes, HARM. I’m not writing a Sci-Fi novel now. Just look how many factors are hazardous for your skin: toxins, exhaust fumes, dirt, grime, urban pollution, stress, makeup products, sunlight (UV rays), HEV (high-energy visible light). Indeed, even the light generated by computer/smartphone screens negatively influences your skin. Okay, but let’s get back to the benefits that sleeping has for your skin.
At night, your skin totally winds down. Happy and relaxed because there is nothing that stays on the way to free and undisrupted regeneration and recovery. And skin does that provided that you help it a little bit. What does it mean? How can you aid your skin in carrying out its self-regenerating processes?
1. MAKEUP REMOVAL
Don’t you ever go to bed wearing makeup! Would you like to got to sleep being wrapped with foil? I thought so. Your skin feels this way if you don’t take the makeup coat off. It can’t breathe, it’s unable to shed the dead epidermal cells, skin pores remain clogged… Just remove these nasty color cosmetics, okay? It’ll take you just a moment, won’t it? And later you can enjoy your well-deserved, 8-hour nighttime rest.
2. CLEANSING AND PEELING
Making skin clean is what your face adores too. This treatment doesn’t only encourage skin regeneration but also makes it more effective. This in turn results in better functioning skin, if I can put it that way. Obviously, you don’t always have to reach for facial scrubs, but keep this in mind that it’s a powerful tool. I personally like enzymatic peel but of course different strokes for different folks. It’s up to you what form of face cleansing you choose, bear in mind however that no matter the washing method selected, always do this in the evening. One of the widely-recognized ways of freeing skin from impurities is Oil Cleansing Method, which is pretty simple to perform. Just combine castor oil with one of your favorite natural oils, e.g. jojoba, argan, sweet almond, and apply the blend to your face.
3. FACIAL MASSAGE
Although there is a bunch of various tools to massage face with, I prefer using my own hands – they flawlessly feel what “portion” of pressure should be given to the particular face part and it relaxes me better than, for example, a jade roller. Actually, I know some girls who love this tool but I think it’s more beneficial to use it in the morning. This cold stone will stimulate and invigorate face skin and help it wake up. But coming back to the evening skin care, it’s a good idea to give a short and relaxing massage to your skin after applying a face serum. If you have no idea how to perform such procedure, go on YouTube to find thousands of tutorials on facial massage. Let me just tell you that a 3-minute massage will do.
4. GOOD FACE SERUM
There is no such thing like good beauty ritual without a face serum. Don’t follow TV commercials blandly, nor choose just any face serum. It’s better to read the list of ingredients to check for example whether the face serum you’re holding in the hands contains a stable form of vitamin C, if it has vitamin A that actually works instead of breaking down before even hitting your skin. For example, my face serum has vitamin C form that is the most beneficial for skin and. Also, the list of ingredients isn’t long. I prefer narrowing down the number of active substances on the favor of a bigger vitamin C portion.
5. NIGHT CREAM
I hate to break it to you but if you think that you do good to the skin if you treat it with a day cream at bedtime… well… then you are wrong. Night cream is definitely far richer in nourishing substances than a regular moisturizer you treat your face with in the morning. In other words, a night skin care product is infused with more active substances than a day cream that must “seat” sun protection filters and other skin protecting agents. Therefore, buy two separate creams to treat your face morning and evening.
6. WATER, OXYGEN, SLEEP
These three factors are essential for skin to perform its regeneration processes at night correctly and wake up rested, supple and vital in the morning. Therefore, get enough sleep (at least 7 hours), let some fresh air get into your bedroom, and drink fresh mineral water. Actually, try to drink water before going to bed, not only throughout the entire day. Soon you will see how your complexion improves.
Take care!
