How to build a skincare routine for beginners? In this article I will answer that question and share with you the easiest skincare routine in 9 steps for beginners that will keep your skin looking healthy and radiant!
The face is undoubtedly the most valued part of the body for many of us. It is the object of all our attention, and we make sure that it looks its best for us but also for those we meet on a daily basis, at home or at work. We track down acne pimples, we fight against oily or dry skin and we try to get rid of the slightest imperfection. But did you know that the best way to take care of our pretty skin is to apply a skin care routine? We tell you everything!
What is a skin care routine?
A Skincare routine is a ritual of hygiene and beauty gestures that we adopt according to steps and a certain regularity, to pamper our face and preserve its natural radiance.
Why have a facial routine? Because the skin is like a plant, it needs to be watered every day to grow in good health. Like a plant, your facial skin needs daily care to treat and prevent all that is :
- pimples
- oily skin, dry skin, acne-prone skin
- dull complexion
- wrinkles
- other imperfections
The skincare routine is therefore necessary to provide your skin with everything it needs to be healthy and to fight (or prevent) visible imperfections. You would be wrong to neglect its importance.
Regularity and the use of good products are the secrets of a good routine.
What are the different steps of a Skincare routine?
To set up a facial care routine, you need to follow 9 steps. And yes, 9 steps is a lot, but don’t panic, you don’t have to do everything. We’ll tell you which ones are mandatory and which ones are not (but which can still help solve a specific problem. We will come back to this).
Moreover, regularity in the different steps, combined with the use of products adapted to your skin will inevitably give you visible results. A woman with dry skin, for example, will not use the same products as a woman with oily skin and vice versa.
Step 1: make-up removal
We can already see you widening your eyes! Yes, you have to remove your makeup even when you are not wearing makeup. With the external aggressions (dust, pollution even the hands carried to the face), you will be astonished to see the residues which you will withdraw from your skin by applying a make-up remover to it. Makeup removal should be done morning and night.
Step 2: cleansing
The second step is to use a gel or soap to clean your face right after the micellar water. Because yes, when we sleep, our face continues to secrete sebum without forgetting the impurities which can settle there. It is thus essential to get rid of it. This cleaning is to be carried out morning and evening. Remember to use products adapted to your needs to avoid aggressing your skin.
Step 3: Exfoliation
At least once a week (for example on Sundays), a deep cleansing is necessary just after step 2 to remove dead skin cells. You should therefore apply a scrubbing or exfoliating product to your face to obtain smooth skin but above all to prepare for the absorption of your moisturizer and the renewal of your cells.
Step 4: the mask
This step is also to be done once a week (at least) right after your scrub. Moisturizing, soothing, anti-stain or purifying, there are several types of masks adapted to the needs of each skin. Depending on the mask chosen, it nourishes the skin, unclogs and tightens pores, reduces blemishes, regulates sebum and can restore the skin’s hydrolipidic film. In short, it is an essential step in restoring radiance and vitality to your skin.
Step 5: Tonic lotion
Use it every day, morning and evening, just after cleansing your skin with your gel or soap and also after your mask (the day of your scrub and mask). It allows to sweep away the last impurities and to eliminate the remains of make-up remover or the traces of limestone if you pass your face under water. In the morning, it also refreshes the complexion and rids the epidermis of excess sebum produced during the night.
Step 6: the serum
This is a treatment that is applied after the toner and before the day cream. It serves as an intensive care layer before applying your daily moisturizing dose. A serum is not a moisturizer and will never replace your face cream. You must therefore put it on when you are looking for a very specific action. Sometimes morning and evening. Sometimes morning or evening. It depends on your needs. Basically, a serum is mostly used for the following problems:
- Severe dehydration that can’t be addressed with a cream
- A problem of spots or scars on the skin: the serum will have a deeper action than the cream
- A problem of radiance: dull face for example
- Acne
The serum is also useful if you have a problem that you are treating with a cream but you want to increase its effectiveness with the associated serum.
Step 7: Eye contour cream
An eye contour product is necessary to smooth the skin in the morning when you wake up and get rid of the bags under your eyes. It is a care adapted to this sensitive area that will take care of your look and ensure that you do not look tired.
Step 8: moisturizing
To prepare your face to face the day as soon as you get out of bed and after cleansing and nourishing it, you need to moisturize it deeply to prevent your skin from cracking if you have dry skin, from becoming sallow if you have combination or oily skin, or from suffering from discomfort even when you are lucky enough to have normal skin. This 8th step is also to be done morning and evening.
Step 9: Sun protection
We don’t always think about it, but applying sun protection is an important part of your face routine, especially in our hot countries and even more so in hot weather, even when you’re not directly exposed to the sun. And just because you have black skin doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply sunscreen. Black and mixed-race skin is also exposed to the sun. This gesture is therefore essential to preserve your health and have a beautiful skin.
Required steps – The foundation for a facial routine
Have you just made the decision to take care of your face? Then these mandatory steps are for you. You don’t have the budget for these 9 steps either, so focus on the basics, on these mandatory steps. You don’t have dark circles or specific imperfections on your skin? Then you don’t need to apply these 9 steps, stick to the basics.
Here are the mandatory steps for your face care routine:
- Makeup remover: morning and evening
- Cleansing (with gel or soap): morning and evening
- Scrubbing: at least once a week and at most 3 times a week
- Mask: at least once a week and at most 3 times a week
- Moisturizing cream: morning and evening
- Sunscreen: during the day for those who live in sunny countries all year round and in summer only for those who experience intense periods of yver with cold weather.
The non-obligatory but important steps according to the need
For those who want to go further with rigor and regularity, here are the non-mandatory but important steps if you want to solve a specific problem of imperfections on your skin:
- The tonic lotion
- The serum
- The eye contour treatment
These steps are only performed when you really need them.
Tips
The hardest and most important part of a routine is :
1- to be convinced of the importance of a routine: a healthy skin is a beautiful skin without make-up, even more beautiful with make-up and it is a skin without imperfections. Adopting a daily routine allows you to have this type of healthy skin.
2- Use the right products for your skin. The best way to do this is to test the products recommended to you or the products recommended by your favorite beauty store and listen to your skin. This way you will know which products are best for you and not someone else.
3- Be regular. Again and again. A routine is every day. Morning and evening. And at least once a week for the scrub and mask. You won’t get results by applying your products every 3 days or every 10 days. No! So be regular. And be patient.
Then, before you try to apply all the steps of the facial routine, get the basics of a facial routine right. Apply the mandatory steps with regularity before moving on to the extra steps. Be aware that your efforts are paying off with just the mandatory steps, and then you can move on to the extra steps if you find that you need them.
For those who want to apply all the steps of the routine and who do not have the financial means to buy all the products, rest assured and focus on the essentials: the mandatory steps and regularity. You will see visible results.
For those who have the purchasing power, who are convinced of the importance of a routine, who master the needs of their skin and who are already regular on the mandatory steps, you are certainly better equipped to go further and add everything that is serum, toner or other. And again, if you really need it.
On the other hand, don’t forget that there are natural options to take care of your skin. They are just as effective and inexpensive.
And finally, don’t give in (easily) to the overconsumption of beauty products. Take the time to test products, listen to your skin and identify those products that really work on you and stick to them. Your face care ritual can therefore be quite minimalist, just listen to your skin and it will thank you.
There, you know everything now. Here’s to your routine. And now!
