The Basics of Your Skincare for Glowing Skin

Daily skin care depends on the basic skin type, which is generally predetermined. By taking regular and proper care (the basics of your skincare), the physiological character of the skin type can be checked.

There are Five Types of Skin

1. Normal Skin

Skin is neither oily nor dry. The moisture and oil contents are well balanced. Knowing your skin type is the first step in learning the basics of your skincare.

2. Oily Skin

The skin has a greasy and shiny look. Pores are often enlarged with blackheads and a tendency for acne. More common in adolescents as their sebum secretion is higher.

3. Dry Skin

Due to a lack of sebum and moisture, the skin looks and feels dry to the touch. Epidermal cells do not hold adequate natural moisture, resulting in premature wrinkling.

4. Combination Skin

This is the most common type. It is partly oily and partly dry. The T-zone, i.e., the forehead, nose, and chin, are oily, while the rest of the face is normal or dry.

5. “Mature” Skin

Skin starts maturing after 25 years of age. The natural oil and moisture levels drop, the muscle tone is decreased, and blood circulation becomes poor.

All these lead to dry, wrinkled, and shallow skin. A decrease in metabolic rate gives a puffy look due to the accumulation of metabolites.

The Basics of Your Skincare

1. Cleansing

1. Effective means of removing dirt, sebum, sweat, dead epidermal cells, bacteria, and cosmetics.
2. Normal and dry skin should be cleansed twice a day, whereas oily skin needs more frequent cleansing, i.e., 4 to 5 times a day.
3. An ideal cleansing agent should have a neutral pH value or a similar pH value to normal skin, i.e., 5.5 ‒ 6.5.
4. Commonly used cleansers are soaps that have a pH value between 11 and 14. Soap and water are okay for oily skin, but they should be sparingly used on normal and combination skin and avoided on dry and mature skin.
5. Alternatives to soap and water are various cleansing creams made of milk, lotions, foams, oils, gels, and liquids.
6. These cleansing formulations have three main ingredients, i.e., oil, wax, and water, modified by manufacturers in varying proportions to suit the skin type.
7. Liquid paraffin or baby oil can be used as a cleanser for dry skin.

Special Treatment

A scrub cleanser that contains tiny particles of crushed nut shells or polished plastic in a cream base can be scrubbed for 1-2 minutes on the face once a week for all skin types and twice a week for oily skin.

This cleanser exfoliates dead cells and mildly stimulates blood circulation. All types of cleansing are followed by a thorough wash of the face with tepid water.

2. Toning of Skin

1. Typically, the process of toning comes after cleansing the skin to eliminate any residual grease or dirt, aiding in restoring the skin's natural pH balance post-cleansing.
2. The key components of toners are water-based solutions.
3. Skin toners, refreshers, tonics, and astringents are synonymous. They come in different formulations tailored to various skin types. For oily skin, formulations with ingredients suitable for controlling excess oil may be used, while for dry skin, formulations with hydrating properties are recommended.
4. Toning is an elective intermediate step between cleansing and moisturizing.

3. Moisturizing of Skin

• Skin is a reservoir for 20% of the body’s total water content.
• The water or moisture content governs the skin’s softness and suppleness.

In normal environmental conditions, the skin protects its water content by:

1. Sebum reduces water loss.
2. Natural moisturizing factors (NMFs) retain moisture in the epidermal cells and
3. Finally, the cementing lipids between the cells act as a watertight barrier.
4. The use of moisturizers is necessary because external conditions frequently jeopardize the natural water content.

Moisturizers act as a two-way barrier; they replace the source of the water loss from the skin and also prevent its evaporation.

They are used after cleansing the skin. Moisturizing products fall into two major categories:

1. Humectants and oil in water emulsions ‒ Lotion form.
2. Occlusives/Water in oil formulations ‒ Cream form.

• Lotions should be preferred for daytime use on normal and combination skin and very sparingly used on oily skin.
• Creams can be liberally used on dry skin 2 or 3 times a day. They may be used as night creams on normal and combination skin.
• These moisturizers get absorbed into the skin, plumping out the fine wrinkles and giving the false illusion of eradicating the wrinkles.
• Most moisturizers contain a sunscreen factor, thus protecting the skin from UV radiation while moisturizing it as well.

Facial Skincare

Facials are supposed to stimulate, relax, cleanse, tone up, and rejuvenate facial skin, which is very important in the basics of your skincare.

Corrective facials are aimed at correcting common facial conditions like dry or greasy skin and superficial wrinkles, while preservative facials aim to maintain the health of the facial skin.

A facial is carried out in the following steps:

Skin analysis to know the type of skin, selection of correct skincare product, and the necessary facial:

•  Cleansing
•  Toning
•  Steaming
•  Blackhead extraction

1. Massage: Stimulates the cutaneous blood vessels, nerves, and facial muscles.
2. Facial masks and packs: These cleanse, tone, dry, or moisturize the skin. There are two types: setting and non-setting.
3. Toning: Helps restore the skin's balance and prepares it for subsequent skincare steps by refining pores and optimizing the absorption of moisturizers.
4. Moisturizing: Typically, this is the last stage of a facial, although if the client prefers, makeup can be applied afterward.

At the very least, if you want your skin cells to function optimally and recover and regenerate as quickly as possible, you need to drink at least 8–12 glasses (about 2 liters) of water every day.

As the largest organ in your body, your skin needs a lot of water to stay clean and healthy. Tell us in the comments about the basics of your skincare.

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