What steps does the skin care process include?

Cleansing, moisturizing, and sunscreen, all other steps are optional and can be added as needed. There is no need to follow the "standard process" that often has seven or eight steps online.

Not long ago, my cousin just went to college and was taught by a beauty blogger a whole set of skin care routines, including cleansing balm, cleansing, serum, toner, essence, lotion, face cream, eye cream and sleeping mask. It was a nine-step process. After using it for less than two weeks, her face became dull and closed. She went to the dermatology department at the hospital. The doctor directly told her to stop all the superimposed products, leaving only three amino acid cleansers, repair creams and sunscreen. After a month of use, her skin became smooth again.

Of course, this does not mean that multi-step skin care is wrong. The "simplified skin care" and "layered skin care" that have been discussed online for a long time actually make sense. The core thing is to look at your skin type and appeal. For example, if you have normal skin with good tolerance and want anti-aging + whitening, after washing your face at night, add an anti-aging A-alcohol essence and a whitening essence. As long as the skin does not become red, stinging or otherwise uncomfortable, it is completely fine. ； If your skin becomes dry and irritated after staying in a heated room in autumn and winter, adding a strong occlusive cream after the essence to lock in moisture will be better than applying three thin layers of lotion. Oh, by the way, if you wear heavy makeup or waterproof high-power sunscreen that day, you only need to add extra steps to remove makeup. Otherwise, if you only wear ordinary commuter sunscreen, you can completely wash it off with amino acid cleansing. Excessive makeup removal will thin the stratum corneum, which is not worth the gain.

For example, there are a lot of debates on the Internet now about "Is toner a tax on IQ?" "Should we exfoliate regularly?" "Is it necessary to buy eye cream?" In fact, there are no black and white answers at all. For example, I have combination oily and acne-prone skin. When I get a lot of oil in the summer, I use acid cotton pads to gently exfoliate my skin once every two weeks. The blackheads on my nose have been reduced a lot. However, my best friend with sensitive skin cannot even use scrub-type cleansers. Her skin is very healthy without exfoliation in her life. ； I like to use a refreshing oil-controlling toner in summer. In winter, I find it troublesome and skip applying essence, and I don’t feel any discomfort on my skin. ； I always keep an eye cream, because when I apply face cream, I always accidentally get fat particles around my eyes. Using a refreshing eye cream doesn’t have this problem. However, my mother usually wears the anti-aging cream directly around her eyes, and she doesn’t develop any fat particles, nor does she have more eye wrinkles than her peers.

To put it bluntly, sunscreen is the only thing that cannot be skipped regardless of skin type or season. I was too lazy to apply sunscreen when I was learning to drive in the summer. I got two shades darker in a week and got two sun spots. It took me more than half a year to get rid of them. The rest of the steps can be done as you feel comfortable. There is no need to increase the burden of skin care on yourself just to follow the so-called standard process.