Let’s Talk Face Washing

If you can't tell by the photo, I get really excited to discuss skin. So here we go.....Face Washing 101!

First, the most important thing is please wash your face with a nice face wash. I say nice because I don't mean Dial soap or any soap that you use to wash your body. Those soaps are fantastic to use on your body but are a little too harsh for your face. You want to manage the pH of your skin and acid mantle...fancy words, right? Don't worry I will explain.

The purpose of washing your face is to remove the dirt, grime, sweat, makeup, impurity's, etc and to create a clean open surface for other skin products (if you are using them) to properly absorb. Not washing your face is also a good way to clog pores...Now this doesn't mean you need to wash multiple times a day. I will be honest, back in the day when I was dealing with tons of breakouts, I would wash my face multiple times a day. I loved that squeaky clean feeling. Do you know what I ended up with? More zits and an oilier face. 

Over washing your face strips your skin of necessary oil. It sends a signal to your body to produce more oil, leaving your skin oilier and with a better chance of creating more pimples and clogs. I personally find the ideal number of face washes a day to be one....at night. Yes, you can wash in the morning too if you like but I prefer a splash of cold water or a spritze of toner if im feeling fancy. 

I told you I'm the queen of simplicity when it comes to my daily routine. I will take my sweet ol time giving myself a facial but I prefer the simplest daily routine. 

pH of your skin and the acid mantle...whaaaat??? The acid mantle (which sounds scary) is quite simply the super fine and slightly acidic film that covers the surface of your skin. Think of it as a protective barrier for things that you don't want to get into your skin. We want it to be slightly acidic for it to work to the best of its abilities and wait for it.....to help protect us against aging. This is why we want to do a little more than just wash our face. Again, if you are a non face washer.... ignore all of this other stuff, start washing your face and then come back to this email in a few weeks. 

That squeaky clean tight feeling you might get after washing your face or the tingling feeling after an aggressive scrub....thats actually damage to your acid mantle. We don't really want that feeling, yes I know this will be very upsetting to some of us. It's kinda like the day we learned that St Ives Apricot Scrub is terrible to use on your face. Ps....if  you haven't got the memo and are still using it.....please...stop...immediately. The scrub is too grainy and it micro tears your face. 


Back to the pH, so those of you science fact geeks....the ideal pH of the skin is right around 5.5. How do we maintain the ideal pH? Its not as hard as you may think. Use a decent cleanser, spray your face with a toner (it helps to balance) use a moisturizer. Again, if you don't wash your face regularly disregard everything. Start washing your face first. We will deep dive into the acid mantle in later emails, for now we are sticking to the basics. 
 

Cleansing tip...the water in your shower is too warm for your face. Try washing your face after you get out of the shower using cooler water. 

Disclaimer.... these emails will be focusing on products from Blissoma due to the fact that I am currently using and selling this product line. However, I don't rule out talking about other product lines. If you have questions about products feel free to email me. I have worked with quite a few lines over the past 12 years. I don't believe there is only one good line and I love to switch things up. 

Now that we have that cleared up lets dive into our cleansers. Blissoma carries two cleansers and two bar soaps. For the sake of not sending you a novel as an email our focus will be on the two facial cleansers this week. Don't worry, we will go over the bar soaps, just not today. Side note, did you know that not all cleansers are created to remove makeup? Crazy I know. 

Meet the Rejuvenating Gel Cleanser... this particular cleanser is formulated to not damage the acid mantle while still leaving your skin with that "clean" feeling. If you have sensitive or reactive skin this is the cleanser for you. It is also made specifically to remove makeup AND cleanse your skin so this is the one I will typically recommend to start.

Now let's chat Mild Rice Facial Cleanser...I love this cleanser, however, it is meant to be used on bare (makeup free) skin. This cleanser has organic, whole brown rice to remove dirt and Willowbark extract which provides natural salicins that exfoliate by dissolving dead skin cells. There are no detergents in this cleanser, it uses oil in the cleanser (Apricot Kernal, Hemp and Sunflower) to mix with the dirty oil on your face and then lift the dirty oil. Interesting concept, isn't it? Think of it as "like dissolves like." This cleanser leaves vitamin rich nutrients on your skin, so if you are used to the squeaky clean feeling this will be a new concept for you. 
Those of you who love the exfoliation but have dry skin or who potentially have issues overdoing it, the Mild Rice would be great to add in as a second cleanse a couple times per week. If you are more the one size fits all....go with the Herbal Gel. Those of you who love a long skincare routine, Herbal Gel at night followed by the Mild Rice Cleanser

I know some of you are now like, I need both ASAP. Stop, breath, calm down. Use up the face wash you have right now, I really don't like to be wasteful. If you really just can't wait..start using your face wash on your chest, arms, legs, etc..it can be used elsewhere on your skin. ;) Or if you are like you had me at Willowbark and dissolving dead skin cells I totally understand. Add the Mild Rice Cleanser in with the cleansing routine you have now, either as a second cleanse or your morning cleanser.