Skin Rehab: How I Wash my Face

Yeah, I'm serious. This is about how I wash my face. You may be thinking that nobody wants to read about washing your face but I will defend proper cleansing for the miraculous work it has done to my skin. I won't say that I'm breakout free, as I'm still waiting on some angry, cystic buggers to fade away, but I have seen dramatic improvements in my skin over the past few weeks. I've been a maniac about washing my face for about a year, and until I became obsessed with the beauty community, I never really knew how to properly wash my face. I'm not saying that this is the ONLY way to properly wash your face, but it works for me and it might just work for you. I'm willing to bet that there are a hefty number of people who wouldn't have skin issues if they cleansed properly. Here's my routine:

MORNING:
When I wake up in the morning, I probably have the residue of multiple treatments left on my face. Some people argue that if you washed your face the night before that your face is still clean in the morning. That's both WRONG and GROSS. You can't expect for any products you put on your face to work properly if you are in fact, rubbing them into a dirty face. This is how I like to wash my face in the mornings:

• Step 1: Use a gentle cleanser (I use Clarins Cleansing Milk with Gentian but any gentle and non-foaming cleanser will do) and massage into your dry skin. Really massage the product into your skin and give yourself a mini face-massage. 
• Step 2: Use a hot face cloth to wipe the cleanser off of your face. In my experience, I cannot completely remove a cleanser with running water, the hot wash cloth method is a great way to remove every last bit of cleanser while mildly exfoliating the skin.
• Step 3: Rinse out your wash cloth again and wipe off your skin one more time to make sure you have properly removed the cleanser. 

NIGHT, THE DOUBLE CLEANSE:

It is most important to wash your face before bed. Especially if you wear makeup, you must wash it off properly to prevent your skin from getting congested. I once relied on eye-makeup removers to remove all of my eye makeup before washing my face, but I have become lazy. Instead I love to use cleansing oils to bust up ALL of my makeup in one go. I used to be afraid of cleansing oils, thinking that using an oil to wash my acne-prone skin would cause breakouts, but I have since changed my way of thinking. Even if you have oily skin, putting more oil on your face will not make your face greasier. In fact, stripping your face of oils by using harsh and stripping cleansers will actually cause a rebound oil production in your skin and make it even oilier! Using oil on your skin helps to balance it out and let's your skin know that it doesn't need to produce any more oil. I am a firm believer in double cleansing. If you wear makeup or anything that includes SPF, you should wash your face twice to ensure that all the junk has been cleansed off your face. This may seem excessive, but it's the one thing that has radically changed my skin for the better. Some people like to use two different cleansing products, but I've seen good results with using the same cleanser twice. 

• Step 1: Take a pump or two of cleansing oil (I use The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Oil but there are so many great products on the market, and some people swear by coconut oil from the organic section of the grocery store!) and massage it into your dry skin. Really take the time to massage it into your skin and get it into your eyelashes to break up the mascara. 
• Step 2: Take a hot wash cloth and wipe away all of the oil and makeup from your face.
• Step 3: Take another pump of cleansing oil and massage into the skin once again and massage it in well to pick up any of the product that may have been left behind in the first cleanse.
• Step 4: Rinse out the wash cloth and use it again to wipe off the cleansing oil from your face. 
• Step 5: I like to rinse out the wash cloth one last time with hot water and run it over my face just to make sure that every last drop of cleansing oil has been washed away. 

When you break it down, it's incredibly simple. So simple that very few people talk about how to properly cleanse the face. I'm fanatical about the double cleanse, and I would recommend to everybody. I've seen such a difference in the number of breakouts I deal with, as well as the overall condition of my skin. 

How do you wash your face? Do you double cleanse? Am I a skincare freak? Please let me know your thoughts and recommendations in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.