Learn how the basics of skincare will help give you beautiful skin.

Although the skin has 10 essential needs to maintain optimal form, meeting the basic, daily needs with five regimen steps creates the foundation of daily skincare. The five essential steps are cleanse, exfoliate, tone, protect, and hydrate. A look at each step individually will help to clarify how it specifically addresses the essential needs of your skin.

Skincare Basics for Beautiful Skin:

• Cleanse: This step meets the skin’s basic need to be free of excess oil, dirt, and pollutants. If these impurities are not removed, you may experience dull, sallow skin; clogged, inflamed pores that can discolor and scar; or free radical oxidation that can damage cells, affect healthy cell renewal, irritate the skin, and initiate hyperpigmentation. To avoid these negative effects, cleansing should be performed twice daily. I recommend a gentle cleanser that will clean but not strip the skin of your natural oils.

• Exfoliate:  A gentle exfoliant scrub is a must, twice weekly or more.  Removing dead skin cells will help to revive, renew and give your skin a more vibrant look but, more importantly, it makes all your skincare products work that much better.
• Tone: Toning fulfills a basic daily need by preparing the skin to receive the benefits from other products and should be performed twice daily, after cleansing. Toning works in several ways: it calms and soothes the skin while minimizing the appearance of pores and balances the skin’s pH.  Please choose one without alcohol.  Not all toners are created equal.  Alcohol will dry your skin out.
• Protect: The protection step meets the skin’s basic need for a morning moisturizer with SPF to guard against harmful UV rays and environmental stressors. Sun damage degrades the moisture barrier and structural proteins and promotes discoloration—all signs of premature skin aging.
• Hydrate: The hydrate step provides vital lipids, replenishing moisture, and key repair components for optimal nighttime recovery.  With nighttime skincare, hydration should be applied once daily in the evening. See below for more specific instructions on this part of the routine.

Nighttime Skincare Regimen:

Repeat cleanse and tone, but use a nighttime moisturizer. Nighttime moisturizers do not contain the SPF.  This nighttime step is many times over looked and this is a critical time where the skin will renew and repair itself.   With these skincare basics you will wake up to more beautiful skin.

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