Should I be cleansing and moisturising every night?

If you are young and your skin is still fresh as a daisy, you might be able to get away without a regular night time moisturiser without showing the side effects, but for the rest up us, a great night time cleanser and moisturiser should be your go-to staples.

We know you know it’s important to clean your face in the evening before you moisturise, but thinking about why you should do it is just a little bit gross! Aside form any makeup you layered on in the morning, over the day your face collects a layer of environmental grime and debris which you definitely don’t want to take to bed with you.

Your skin does its best regenerating while you sleep — a process that releases your dead skin cells and builds new ones. If you go to bed with a buildup of makeup or environmental pollutants on your face you make things harder for your skin to get rid of the dead cells. This can lead to clogged pores, and in some cases acne or spots.

So, now we are clear on the importance of cleansing before you moisturise, the next question is ‘when?’

Do you usually wait until bedtime to cleanse and moisturise? There’s a school of thought that says washing your face should be top of your list when you first get home — why sit around in makeup or the day’s accumulated dirt for hours more than you need to? If you are someone who likes to wash your hands and cleanse your face as soon as you get home, we salute you!

For the rest of us, who never seem to manage it until it’s time to hit the sack, we can remember it’s always ‘better late than never’!

When choosing a cleanser for your nighttime routine you should first think about your skin type. For oily skin and those suffering from spots or acne, a foaming style cleanser is often the best choice, as these tend to have less or no oil in the formulations. For oily or reactive skin, we recommend using only certified natural products on your face, and looking for products which a have gentle formulations, which don’t feel like paint tripper when applied! You want to help your skin curb any over-production of sebum, and rediscover a normal oil balance, rather than strip all the natural oils with harsh or abrasive cleansers.

For normal, dry and matures skin, most people tend to prefer a creamy textured cleanser, which will melt away makeup and grim in a wipe or rinse off and leaves the skin feeling soft and moisturised.

If you are into the three step routine, post cleansing you might like to spritz on a toner. We love the kind in mister bottles for practicality and speed when your bed is calling!

Last, but most importantly, it’s time to moisturise. If you have a serum and are looking for best results, apply this in a fine layer underneath your night time moisturiser, before you gently pat on the final layer of night cream.

Serums in all textures and types and you’ll probably need to try a few out before you find out what works best for you. If you are looking to reduce dark patches of even your skin tone you might like to try a brightening serum underneath your moisturiser on a nightly basis. For added radiance you can use a boost like our Regenerating Elixir to support cellular regeneration while you sleep.

Your night cream should help provide moisture but shouldn’t feel heavy or greasy on your face. If you don’t have dry skin or find your skin has started breaking out you may prefer to actually use a day cream instead (which tend to be a lighter consistency).

If you feel it needs a bit more oomph, you can boost it by blending in a drop of two of organic facial oil. Our product designer, Juliet, likes to blend this in the palm of her hand and then apply the DIY mixture in a single layer — or you can do the oil lightly as a separate layer, the way you would with a serum.

So in short: Yes, unless you are a youthful spirit who always gets a full eight hours, you should probably be caring your skin with a simple night time ritual that involves at least a cleanser and night (or zooped up day) cream.

If you have access to good quality, natural skincare products that suit your skin and your lifestyle you’ll find it doesn’t need to be complicated to work, but it does need to happen regularly to create results!

Like some personalised advice for your skin concerns?
Email advice@lindenleaves.com for a personal consult.

Keen to check out independent reviews of Linden Leaves Regenerating Night Cream?

https://www.beautyreview.co.nz/catalogue/skin-care/linden-leaves-regenerating-night-cream-with-organic-white-tea-and-goji-berry-review

Thanks for reading! 🙂