7 Simple Rules for Washing Your Face Properly

Of the many things you learn in school, chances are you did not learn how to care for the largest organ in your body-the skin. As important as cleaning your face is, washing the wrong way and with harsh chemicals is a superb way to get a lot more skin injury from your day-to-day activities.

The temperature of the water, type of products you use, and how you dry you are some things to be mindful of when you cleanse. Regularly washing your face with the wrong technique can stir up a slew of problems and eventually cause your skin to dry, flake, breakout, and, surprisingly, age faster. If you want to keep your pucker palace looking great, you need to check your routine and save your skin from unnecessary destruction.

Knowing how to wash your face the right way is tricky since there aren't many resources that discuss it out there. Thankfully, skincare companies like GLAUX CHEM® educate the masses about proper skincare. Here are seven rules that will revolutionize your wash routine and make your face glow brighter than the North Star.

Pre-wash with an oil

If you already have dry skin, then pre-washing your face with oil like GLAUX CHEM®'s Face & Body Oil is a definite prerequisite. This technique helps remove days of old dirt and prevents your skin from flaking and drying out by keeping your natural oil levels in harmony.

You'll for sure want to adopt this routine when you wear makeup, too. Gone are the days of scrubbing the bejeezus out of your face with soap and water, burning your eyes and trying to get the last bit of eyeliner and mascara off. This excessive washing destroys your skin, causing redness and irritation.

Using oil to remove your makeup before you wash is a less-damaging alternative that saves time (and your skin)! Apply a few drops of oil to hands and gently massage the oil onto your skin before you wash and viola. Your skin must be clear of all dirt and makeup to breathe, recover, and rejuvenate.

You can thank us later for your new-found skin radiance.

Use lukewarm water

One of the many jobs your skin does is regulate the temperature of your body. Your skin is sensitive to temperature changes and responds to hot and cold things in different ways. To get a silky smooth touch and look after washing, you need to be mindful of the temperature of the water that touches your face.

Avoid putting cold water on your face at all costs. The cold water tightens your skin by slowing down blood flow and can reduce how deep your moisturizers penetrate. If you have dry skin or chronic inflammatory skin issues, this step is crucial since washing your face may further dehydrate by sucking water and oil out of your skin.

On the other end of the spectrum, you don't want to wash your face with scorching hot water, either. Steaming hot water damages your skin's keratin causing dryness and irritation and makes your blood vessels rupture. If you've ever had red skin after washing, chances are your water was wayyyyy too hot.

Stahp the scorch and turn that faucet to the midway point.

Cleanse with unscented bar soap

We've said this three hundred times and will say hundreds more...if you currently cleanse with liquid water-based soaps, you need to ax these from your routine, pronto. Why?

Water-based cleansers are full of alcohol and artificial preservatives like sodium benzoate and EDTA that weaken your barrier by pulling water and oil and throw off the pH balance in your skin. When your skin lacks the required amount of water to stay happy, this deficiency can invoke flaking, cracking, and make your breakout.

The whole point of washing your face is to keep your skin healthy, smooth, and blemish-free.

Scrub with your hands

The next thing you want to be mindful of is what you use to wash your face with, physically.

Despite all the cloths and loofas, your palms are the best tool for cleaning your face, hands down (pun intended). Fabrics and loofas a breeding ground for bacteria, but most store-bought items are textured and made from synthetic materials like polyester, which is rough on a microscopic level and can cause minor tears and scratches to the surface of your skin.

Washing your face daily with these unfriendly, and not to mention unsustainable materials, literally scrapes off micro-layers of skin and damages your precious collagen and elastin that keep your skin hydrated, plump, and resistant to tears. The surface of your hands are smooth and will not hurt your proteins, and best of all, they are free.

Woo hoo for complimentary benefits to your skin and bank account.

Pat your face dry

Another common mistake you might make after washing your face is to rub your skin dry, rather than pat dry. If you are in the habit of the rub-a-dubb, then you'll want to train yourself to stop.

Rubbing your skin, especially after a steaming hot shower or bath, makes your barrier vulnerable to stretching and minor tears. When the top layer of your skin is damaged, you become susceptible to oxidative damage by free radicals from the sun's UV rays and environmental pollutants. Free radicals are your worst enemy and can cause your skin to dry out, flake, wrinkle, and lose luster.

The best way to dry your skin after showering or taking a dip in the pool is to pat or air dry (in the summer days). We recommend using a towel made from a friendly material like hemp or cotton.

Use a natural toner

If your skin is oily, prone to acne and breakouts, you might use a toner as a part of your daily face cleansing to help tame that greasy look.

The purpose of a toner is to help remove excess dirt and oil and restore the pH balance to your skin. The pH of your skin runs a little below 5, and if your toner is full of alcohol and harsh salts with a pH above 5, you'll want to kick it to the curb. Harsh toners can mess up your barrier by throwing your skin's pH out of whack and destroying the fats that line the outer layer of your skin.

The greasy molecules like ceramides and fatty acids that construct your barrier are sensitive to pH changes and, once broken down, cannot stop your skin from losing water from the top and dehydrating.

We suggest either cutting out the astringent entirely from your routine or switch to a natural formula like witch hazel or a citrusy one. These products get the job done and won't weaken and thin your skin by breakdown the oils that make up your barrier.

Moisturize with plant oils, post-wash

Moisturizing after each time you wash is imperative if you want to prevent dryness and damage to your skin. Washing removes good things like dirt and bacteria but also strips your skin of natural oils and moisturizing with conventional water-based lotions and creams does not provide your skin any real benefits.

Water and oil are opposites, and you cannot expect to replenish your natural oil levels by applying watery products, so you need to use a plant-based moisturizer to hydrate and replace your skin's oil levels.

GLAUX CHEM® 's skinoils are derived from plants like hemp and pomegranate and full of skin-loving fats like omega-3 and omega-5 fatty acids that function to strengthen your barrier, balance your oil production, lock in water, and give your skin a natural dewy glow.

Proper hydration with nutritious ingredients is the key to having a silky smooth face with an eye-catching luster.