Skincare Sunday: Spring-clean your regime

If there is one thing that can truly transform your skin, it is cleaning it properly. “Nearly all skin problems start with bad cleansing,” says Dr. Barbara Sturm – either not cleaning well enough (pollution particles left on the skin degrade it) or overdoing it and stripping away the natural oils. I advise using a cleansing balm as these work beautifully for most skin types; especially dry and sensitive, but even oily, too, as natural oils actually balance the overproduction of sebum. Alternatively, you can go with a non-oil-based balm such as Sunday Riley’s sugar-based Blue Moon Cleansing Balm or Charlotte Tilbury’s Multi Miracle Glow Cleanser. But whatever you use, take time to really massage it in. Start tonight and do it properly – this one change really will improve your skin’s quality, clarity and brightness in a matter of days, I guarantee it.

Fine lines and crepey skin texture often owe nothing to aging but a lot to dehydration. “100% of people need more hydration,” says Dr. Sturm – even those with oily, congested skin. As Texas-based esthetician Joanne Czech agrees, “If your skin is dehydrated, then nothing will ever look as good as it should.”

Ensuring you’re not over-cleaning keeps your skin’s protective barrier working and holding in water as it should. But, for the majority of us, using a hyaluronic acid hydrating serum every day should be as basic as cleaning your teeth.

We love serums because they are easy to layer in under other favorite products, but their real superpower lies in their potency. “A face cream has, at most, 10-15% of active ingredients – any more and it becomes unstable,” explains world-renowned cosmetic doctor Jean Louis Sebagh. “But in a more fluid, water-based serum, we can use up to 95% of actives.”

In the same way that we switch our gym workouts to keep the muscles working hard, research shows that if we stick to the same old daily skin routine, results plateau. “This is why I’m a little anti-routine,” explains skincare formulator Sunday Riley. “I encourage women to alternate; maybe using AHAs for three weeks, then swapping to a retinol.”

Other experts suggest using AHAs in the summer and retinols for a two-month course over winter. Dr Eric Schulte, a retired plastic surgeon and the founder of QMS skincare, created his intensive four-month home peel program “because by that time, you will have better skin but you will have achieved the maximum your skin can achieve, so there’s no point going on month after month just doing the same thing,” he explains.

So, rather than seeing these more active ingredients as just another step in your daily regime, focus on using just one at a time, and over a set period of time – four to five weeks will cover the full cycle of your skin cells.