Women have been washing their faces for a very long time, and we have used a lot of different products to wash with as well. Back in the 1800’s they used lye soap – on their faces! Then again, their skin wasn’t affected by the chemical and processed foods that we subject ourselves to every day, so their skin was healthier to begin with. Still, lye soap; I can’t help but imagine it would be like rubbing steel wool over your face! Nowadays, we know a lot more about skin care and what works best with the face. We know that we need to treat our faces gently and take good care of them so that we can keep looking young as long as is possible.
One of the best ways to keep your facial skin looking healthy and young is to moisturize properly. This doesn’t necessarily mean going out and buying expensive creams and lotions and applying them 20 times a day! Actually, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on creams for your face, because believe it or not, moisturizer is not the number one facial product! You can apply and reapply moisturizer until you are blue in the face and still have dry or unhealthy skin. The key is to use toner.
There are a lot of 3 step facial care products out there, and they all include toner. However, a lot of them are also expensive, and if you are on a budget, you can get away with just buying the toner, no matter what the sales people will tell you. Most people already have some type of facial wash or cleanser and almost 100% of women own at least 5 or 6 different moisturizers. Any of these will work fine with any toner you buy. So what does toner do? It prepares your face for the moisturizer by opening it up and drawing everything out.
I used to think that toner didn’t matter, and I never used it. I have very dry skin and I had been trying all kinds of different creams for my face, but I never found any that really did the trick for me. A few months ago I walked into a beauty store and asked about dry skin products. After the sales lady found out that I wasn’t using toner, she took one of my hands and cleansed it, put on a toner and then moisturized it. The difference in my 2 hands was amazing! Without toner, the moisturizer just sits on top of the skin, unable to sink in and do anything for you. Most of the time we just sweat it off. Out of all of those creams and lotions I had bought, any of them could have worked if I had only been using toner.
Toner is one of the most important part of your beauty routine – especially if you have dry skin. You don’t need to put it on 2 or 3 times a day; once is enough. Most people prefer to put it on before bed, but if the morning works better for you, that would be okay too.
