It seems that multi-step skin care processes are all the rage these days on social media, in the press, and at the stores. These multi-processes promise beautiful flawless skin and a lot of your time. But do you really need all these steps and is more and more really better for your skin? To separate marketing from the truth we listened to dermatologists to get the real deal.
Need vs. Desire
There’s nothing wrong with a multi-step process but there’s also nothing wrong with a simple skin care process. It comes down to need vs. desire.
As dermatologist Dr. Jennifer Chwalek explains “I think part of this whole trend of wanting to do multi-step skin care comes from a real need or desire in our society to do more self-care”.
Self-care isn’t a bad thing. But self-care also doesn’t need to be complicated or long.
As dermatologist Dr. Anna Guanche says “need is a relative term” – which we take to mean that it really depends on the person and their skin.
And both Dr. Chwalek and Dr. Guanche agree that a good skin care routine can be composed of only two or three basic products. Here’s why…
Quantity vs. Quality
According to these dermatologists it’s more about quality than quantity. In fact they feel that doing too much to your skin can actually irritate it. Part of doing too much is that most people don’t know how all the ingredients in their products will interact with one another. As Dr. Chwalek explains when you use many products “you’re also adding on top of something where there are other ingredients that could be deactivating the active ingredient, or affecting the pH at which the active ingredient works…It’s hard to know if the active ingredient of the last thing you added actually got [to where it needed] to be in the skin, and if it wasn’t deactivated by something else you put on.”
Of course they do believe that there are certain basics to a good skin care regimen. For Dr. Guanche it’s about these three things – cleansing, wearing sunscreen and moisturizing.
She believes cleansing shouldn’t be missed because “leaving a residue of makeup on the skin can cause inflammation and premature aging” and adds “…[sunscreen is a must] as premature aging occurs from daily UV exposure.” Finally she says”….[a moisturizer gives] an overall healthy, hydrated look”.
Those are three key steps we agree with too.
A Healthy Skin Care Regimen
Your skin care process is a personal decision – it may be something you like to spend an hour or 5 minutes on. Just make sure you understand the products you are using and that your regimen includes at the very least the fundamentals – a cleanser, a sunscreen, and a moisturizer. And if you want to skip a step, an SPF moisturizer works too – just make sure to apply it everywhere: face, neck, ears, hands…anywhere you have sun exposed skin.
For even more healthy skin care tips check out our Skin Care blog series.
