Morning and Night Skin Care Routine Perfecting Your Skin’s Glow
Your skin goes through a lot during the day. Sun, wind, makeup, food, germs, from holding a phone up to your face to oil production, there’s a definitive need to take care of it.
While your morning and nighttime skin care routine aren’t as different as night and day, there are some noticeable modifications. Before heading out for the day, cleansing, moisturizing, and protecting your skin correctly is necessary to leave your skin at its best. During the night, your skin should enter repair mode and having the proper bedtime skin routine can help you defy aging effects over time.
While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all routine, there is a regimen that everyone should have in place, no matter your skin type. Check out the following expert-suggested routine and products to achieve glowing, radiant skin. And remember, the most crucial step is being kind to yourself and your skin. The damage didn’t occur overnight and may take time to reverse.
Perfecting Your Morning Skin Care Routine
Wish your skin a bright good morning, wake it up, and get it ready to start the day. It’s not just about using the right products; it’s also about the order used. By applying the right skin care products correctly, you’re ensuring that they’re working correctly, you’ll also save money in the long run. Ready? Let’s get your skin glowing.
Step One: Cleanse
Facial cleansers are the first step in every morning skin care routine as it preps the skin to receive active and hydrating products.
Step Two: Toner
After cleansing your face, it’s time to add toner to ensure that all products applied in the following steps are appropriately absorbed. Toner also helps pores appear tighter, controls excess oil, and balance your skin’s nature PH.
Step Three: Serum
Serums are super-concentrated, nutrient-dense treatments that tend to brighten and correct products.
Step Four: Eye Cream
Applying eye cream regularly can help maintain the health and thickness of your skin. Starting at a younger age can ultimately help support the laxity and smoothness under your eyes, but it’s never too late to get started. If only we could turn back time and create a regular skin care routine before we actually needed it!
Tip: Wearing sunglasses outside will help the fight again skin damage and reduce the lines that show up over time from squinting.
Step Five: Moisturizer
Every single skin care routine must include a fantastic moisturizer. Why? It helps improve dry, flaky, and itchy skin. Do you have oily skin and question the necessity of moisturizer? Even if your body naturally creates oil, you still need a protective coating and extra hydration against damage from outside elements, including the sun and chemicals. Plus, it positively affects rough texture and consistently improves your radiance.
Step Six: Sunscreen
Most people wait to put on sunscreen until they’re already in the sun, but that tends to be too late. Apply sunscreen in the morning before stepping out your front door. And to maximize protection, it’s imperative to reapply throughout the day.
Tip: When in doubt, apply skin care products in order of consistency—meaning from thinnest to thickest.
Perfecting Your Nighttime Skin Care Routine
Remember hearing about beauty rest? It turns out that during the night, your skin does absorb nutrients better than during the daytime. Without external factors, like sun and dirt, your skin can absorb your products without disturbance. And while you may feel too tired to implement an entire nighttime skin care routine, it’s crucial to keep your skin vibrant and young.
Step One: Cleanse
You’ll want to start with a cleanser to remove excess oil, makeup, and debris as with your morning routine. If you tend to wear a lot of makeup, one suggestion is a double cleansing process. First, you’ll use cleansing oil to remove makeup and then a gentle cleanser to remove excess.
Step Two: Toner
Following closely with your morning routine, it’s important to apply toner after properly cleansing your skin to ensure the removal of all traces of oils and impurities. It also minimizes pores and helps the rest of your products to absorb.
Step Three: Serum
Treat your skin like a queen by adding a nighttime serum to your routine. Just as it’s essential to apply in the morning, it can be more effective when used before bed because you’re not adding things like sunscreen and makeup. The right serum can help resurface and repair skin while helping to reduce fine lines and aging.
Step Four: Eye Cream
One of the essential anti-aging skin care products is eye cream. It’s necessary to apply an eye cream nightly and, if possible, twice a day. The skin around your eyes is thinner than the rest of your face, so the area can always use some TLC.
Step Five: Night Cream
A rich night cream will work while you sleep to moisturize, brighten, and even out your skin tone. While you can use the same cream as in the morning, we suggest using a thicker one that doesn’t absorb quickly. You won’t be applying makeup after your morning routine, so adding a thicker product is ok.
Frequently Asked Skin Care Questions
Choosing the right cleanser for your face should depend on whether you have oily skin, dry skin, combination skin, or acne and redness-prone skin. Light and gel cleansers work best for combination and oily skin, while creamy and lotion cleansers are ideal for normal, dry, and sensitive skin.
Great question! If you’re adding exfoliations to your skin care routine, once a week is plenty. Once your skin can tolerate more, experts suggest exfoliating up to three times weekly. If your skin starts to get irritated, it’s essential to decrease your usage.
In short, yes! Cleaners are not specific to morning or night use. But, as mentioned above, makeup wearers may want to try a double cleansing process. First, you’ll use cleansing oil to remove makeup and then a gentle cleanser to remove excess.
Cleansing your skin should always be the first step in any skin care routine. Even if you wash your face before bed (and you should), you’ll want to remove night creams and serums, plus any bacteria accumulated throughout the night. And if you work out in the morning, washing your face is non-negotiable.
Did you think all washing is the same? Think again! A few easy tips can keep your face looking its best.
1. Wet your face with lukewarm water
2. Use fingertips to apply cleanser
3. Rinse the cleanser with lukewarm water and pat dry with a soft towel
In short, the answer is now! While most skin doesn’t start showing signs of aging until your late 30s or 40s, you can counter those effects by creating a routine in your teens and 20s. Are you older? No problem. Healthy skin care habits can help at any age. Speak to your doctor about the products and routines to meet your specific needs.
Whether you want to get a facial, injections, micro-needling, or chemical peels depends on your goals, budget, and skin type. There is no one-treatment-fits-all solution, so speaking with licensed medical aestheticians is essential.
Product Recommendations from Our Medical Spa:
Sunscreen Recommendations
EltaMD Sunscreens are formulated with zinc oxide, a natural, mineral compound. Because zinc maintains its protective ability in the sun, it is more photostable than some chemical ingredients that may degrade. Zinc sunscreen blocks the widest spectrum of UVA and UVB rays, protecting skin against burning and the premature appearance of aging and risk of skin cancer. Zinc is safe for even the most sensitive skin types.
Talk to an Expert About Your Skin Care
Remember, you don’t have to adopt an all-or-nothing morning and night skin care routine. Making small steps and easing into your new products will help turn the unknown into a must-do. It’s all about finding what works best for you!
If you have questions about creating the proper morning and nighttime routine for your skin you should make an appointment to see a licensed medical aesthetician at our Medical Spa. Our Medical Spas are located in Midtown Atlanta and Alpharetta. We provide concierge-style services in beautifully appointed spa rooms and our results will speak for themselves. Our medical aestheticians will help you find the right products for your skin type.
