There are so many products on the shelf for skin care these days.  It’s hard to navigate through the different products and ingredients.

The skin care industry is alive with many different products, treatments, and expenses.  It’s hard to navigate and understand what is relevant and what is not.  How do we find the right skin care regimen day in and day out.  Furthermore, what difference should I be noticing?  What are some things that are recommended and what things are just marketing gimmicks with no proven results?

I’ve been a self-proclaimed skincare guru for many years.  But whenever I bring up the term to friends, it sounds feminine and not quite applicable to different genders.  However, skin care is not just for women.  It’s something that benefits everyone – and, especially with time, everyone wants to achieve healthy, glowing and youthful skin.

My favorite skincare products include retinol and sunscreen

Use an Evening Retinol

Evening retinol should be the foundation of every evening routine.  What is retinol you might ask?  It is a form of vitamin A that helps stimulate collagen, reduce fine lines, unclog pores, exfoliates skin and increasing skin firmness.  It boasts a huge range of benefits and is really the key ingredient with a long history of demonstrated benefits.  I use my retinol every evening religiously.  However there are a few caveats to using retinol.  Firstly, initially starting on a retinol could cause some flaking, irritation, and redness to the skin.  However, after your skin adjusts to the compound it will be able to accept even higher (potentially prescription strengths) of retinol.  Secondly, when on retinol, sunscreen is a mandatory part of the morning routine.  This is because retinol can make your skin more sensitive to the sun, leading to sunspots and pigmentation.  Never forget to put on sunscreen when using retinol!

Use a Daytime Vitamin C Serum

Another gem of any skincare routine should be Vitamin C.  Generally, I put vitamin C serum on in the morning.  This ingredient is critical to collagen synthesis and also increase photoprotection.  Thus I usually put this ingredient on in the morning before my sunscreen.  One key thing I’ve learned about Vitamin C is to not cheap out!  Buying a good Vitamin C will mean you can use the product day in and day out.  Moreover, you are more likely to reap the benefits of a good Vitamin C serum.  Vitamin C tends to oxidize easily and thus a Vitamin C serum from a no-name company could be of little to no benefit to the skin since it’s already oxidized before it even touches your face!

My skin is much healthier now with a consistent routine of retinol, vitamin C serum and double cleanse.

Double Cleanse Before Bed

This is another skincare tip that I learned throughout the years.  Some days I’d feel lucky if I could even cleanse my skin once!  However, makeup on the skin is one of the worst things for skin health.  During the day, our skin encounters many environmental pollutants, dust, debris, and perhaps makeup that could irritate and damage the skin.  Double cleansing, as the name suggests, means you’re cleaning the skin twice.  The first time should be with an oil or non-water based cleanser because it removes grease more easily than water.  The second cleanse is with water and a gentle water-based cleanser.  The second cleanse truly helps unclog pores and allowing your evening serums to penetrate deeper into the skin.