All things face wash & cleansing tools

Ah, the art of washing your face, something applicable for all genders and all ages. It’s not only for removing mud or sweetie stains from a 4-year-old, or make-up and sweat build up as an adult. Also, just plain old water, a soap bar or a 3-in-1 shampoo, body and face wash doesn’t count (and please please PLEASE refrain from using dish-soap or hand-soap, you are a human being with delicate skin, not an egg pan). Regular and proper skin cleansing is critical to maintaining healthy looking and feeling skin. The whole point of it is to remove dirt, sunscreen, sweat, excess oil, make-up, etc. Do you go through the day without washing your hands or showering? (I hope not). And you use a particular soap for that right? So why should your face be any different? Let’s jump right in!

1. How to wash your face

I know, I know, you’re sitting there thinking “uh duh, water, soap, rinse” well, uh no. A lot goes into face washing actually. First of all, you have to get your hair out of your face, with a headband or hair-tie or whichever other method works for you. Tying your hair back is not so that it doesn’t get wet (although it can probably be a plus), but rather due to the fact that your hair and face have different oils and you don’t want the oils from your hair mixing in with cleansing, otherwise you just wasted time, water and product. After that’s all good and out of the way, you’re gonna have to wash your hands. I mean just think about how dirty your hands could be, do you really want all of that to spread to your face as well? Thirdly you have to remove your make-up separately to washing your actual face, in other words, “double cleansing” and the same goes for if you’re shaving a beard or mustache or peach fuzz. DOUBLE CLEANSE. Remove the added things first then remove the actual gunk embedded in your skin and pores. For make-up removal, I would suggest cleansing oils, cleansing balms, micellar waters, re-usable cotton pads (we’re still trying to be environmentally friendly right?) make-up removing wipes and cream cleansers. So now we get to the water part, so the temperature of the water is also skin type dependent, for example, if you have drier skin I would suggest staying away from hot water, as it can dry your skin even further and if your skin is on the more oily side, opt for warm water to open up your pores. My recommendation would be lukewarm water for all skin types to be gentle towards your skin but still aid in opening up pores. Okay, now you can finally cleanse, yay! Be careful with your cleansers though, you want something that your skin needs right now (see my recommendations under number 4). An added bonus to a skincare cleansing routine would also be cleansing tools. It’s not a complete must, but it does have so many benefits, such as a deeper cleanse, soothing and smoothing your skin and come on, it’s fun and makes cleansing something to look forward to! Again, be careful with which tools you use, some products might be very harsh on your skin and end up stripping your natural oils or damaging your capillaries. Now you can rinse your face after a good 30-60 seconds (or even 2 minutes) of gentle cleansing in, preferably, circular motions. The water temperature is important here too, lukewarm water is gentle, but cold water closes up your pores again. Lastly, drying your newly cleansed skin is a step on its own and even has a rule: pat, don’t rub. Or better yet, air-dry (my preferred method). Why? Because rubbing can be harsh on your skin and cause pre-mature wrinkles (no thank you!) More importantly if you are using a towel, make sure it’s clean! Otherwise, you did all that work for no reason. You are finally ready to apply your other products or even just moisturize and call it a day.

2. How often you should wash your face

Washing your face every night is a good start, even if you didn’t wear makeup the day. Natural oils, sunscreen, dirt particles, sweat, and literal pollution all build up on your face during the day, and not washing it results in irritation, inflammation, acne, premature aging, and honestly, that level of dirty on your face is pretty gross. Love yourself enough to respect your skin. So remember the whole hair oil thing? That’s a good reason to do a morning wash as well. You tossing and turning on your pillow at night aids in spreading saliva and hair oils on your face, plus it’s such a good and refreshing way to greet the day. Top tip: try to change your pillowcase as often as possible to minimize the dirt build-up (my recommendation would be every 3-4 days). Lastly, washing your face after a heavy sweating circuit is always a good idea, else your pores might be clogged which also leads to unwanted skin concerns. However, with all this being said, do not over wash your face! You don’t want your skin producing too many oils or drying out. Twice a day is a perfect amount. (If you are prone to skin infections you need to either wash more or not at all, depending on, speak to a dermatologist about this.) If you don’t wash your face your skin could appear dirty, greasy, oily, produce severe acne, and age significantly. Look after yourself honey, you’ll only benefit from it through looking and feeling great, allowing anti-aging products to work properly, maintain pore size, ensure hydration and prevent excess oils producing.

3. Different sexes need different products

What goes for the goose, does not go for the gander when it comes to face wash products (in most cases, again skin-type depending). Male individuals have an increased amount of collagen in their dermis, which results in tougher and mostly oilier skin. Along with this, daily shaving has an exfoliating effect on their skin which may slow down the signs of ageing (lucky). However, throughout history females have been known to take more interest in their skincare and use more products than the average male. (Please note these are world accuracies, I know some males are very skincare efficient, but this focuses on the broader spectrum). Therefore due to the differences in both skin types and behaviour in skincare, female and male face washes may have different ingredients. Lastly, different hormones produce different effects on the face (hello there period pimples) and would then require different active agents.

4. Finding a face wash for your skin type & B’s recommendations

Yay products! I have to admit, upon researching these, my list of “products I want to try” became verrrrrrry long, also friends and family guess what gifts you’ll be getting for Christmas and your birthdays from me forevermore. To make this easy, I separated the products according to skin type (or skin needs)as best as I could (most of these washes would work for other skin types as well) instead of cleanser/wash type (such as a foam or a gel cleanser for example).

Men: Feel free to try any of the products mentioned below as well (especially those under sensitive skin), they won’t do any harm, however, there are specific products formulated for men for good reasons, (see above). Products: La Roche-Posay Pigmentclar Foaming Cream Cleanser; Clinique for Men Face Wash; Vaseline Men Face Wash Oil Control; Sorbet Man Face Wash (there are different ones depending on your skin type); The Body Shop Guarana & Coffee Cleanser; Longmarket Barber Exfoliating Face Wash (B’s top pick); Nivea Men Originals Deep Cleansing Face Wash

Oily and Acne-prone skin: Cetaphil Oily Skin Cleanser; Kiehl’s Calendula Deep Cleansing Foam Wash; African Extracts Rooibos spot-control Face Wash (this is the one I’m currently using, even though I have dry skin, but stress is a real acne causing factor, so B's top pick); Ponds Pimple Clear; SKOON Whitewash purifying cleanser; Neutrogena Soothing Clear Turmeric Mousse Cleanser; The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash; Hey Gorgeous Banish & Repair Cleanser; Clean & Clear foaming face wash; Himalaya Herbals Purifying Neem face wash

Dry Skin: SKOON gel-to-milk cleanser; Annique Lucid Calming Cleansing Crème; Hey Gorgeous One Step Rosewater Cleansing Milk; Africology purifying cleansing gel; Africology hydrating cleansing lotion; Lulu & Marula Balancing Cleansing Balm; Glamglow Hydrating Jelly Balm Cleanser (B's top pick); Elemis Pro-collagen cleansing balm; Neutrogena Hydro Boost hydrating cleansing gel

Sensitive Skin: Garnier SkinActive Soothing milk face wash with rose water; Lush Ultrabland; The Body Shop Calming Foaming Wash (B’s top pick); Hey Gorgeous Calming Lavender Cleanser; Skin Creamery Oil-Milk Cleanser; REN Evercalm gentle Cleansing Gel; nimue Cleansing Milk; Bioderma Sensibio Gel Moussant Sensitive Skin; Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser; Pond’s Cold Cream Cleansing Balm

Normal Skin: (You can basically use any skin product mentioned here, just be careful of the ones listed under oily as to not dry out your skin) African Extracts Rooibos Classic Care (B’s top pick); Mineraline Dead Sea Face Wash; Garnier SkinActive Water rose micellar Cleansing water; Himalaya Herbals Aloe Vera face wash; Clinique Take the day off cleansing balm; The Body Shop Vitamin E Gentle Facial Wash; nimue cleansing gel; Bioderma Atoderm Gel douche

Combination Skin: Feel free to try any of the products under oily and dry skin, depending on what your skin needs, further products are: Sorbet Salon Skin 3in1 Cleansing oil; Annique Hydrafine Gentle Cleanser; REN T-Zone Control Cleansing Gel; The Body Shop Seaweed Cleansing Gel Wash (B's top pick); Bioderma Sebium Gel moussant; Clinique liquid facial soap; Garnier Pure Exfoliating Face Wash; Nivea Purifying face wash

Mature Skin: Feel free to try any of the products mentioned above, the key to combating mature skin lies more in the serums and moisturizers applied, but here are some recommendations either way: Sorbet Age Affect cream cleanser; Babor Cleansing Foam (B's top pick); Estee Lauder Perfectly Clean; Dr. Hauschka Cleansing Cream; Estee Lauder Advanced night micro cleansing foam; Hey Gorgeous Shea & Jojoba cleansing gel; The Body Shop Drops of Youth Foaming Face Wash

Tools: As mentioned above, you want to be careful when picking facial tools as to not cause any unwanted damage to your skin. In terms of reusable cleansing pads, I recommend Msulwa Reusable Facial rounds and Glov Moon Pads. Glov also has adorable make-up remover gloves that caters for all skin types. For the facial cleansing brushes I recommend the Lumi Spa, Sorbet Hydro Skin Silicone Facial Cleanser (B’s top pick); Sorbet silicone face brush; Igia FeSonic facial cleansing system; Clarisonic Mia Smart 3-in-1 Connected Sonic Beauty Device

So there we have it my lovelies! I hope you gained some more insight on the importance of cleansing your face and that I could possibly assist or inspire you to have a healthier approach to taking care of your skin. Love the skin you’re in (I mean, hello you’re BEAUTIFUL) and look after yourself, you might just motivate the next person to do the same.

Keep going, keep glowing, and keep growing. You’re doing amazing

- B x