Cleansers

Cleansers are one of the most important aspects of your skin care regimen. They set the stage for the rest of the routine.

Cleansers that dry the skin really reek havoc. Usually people with oily skin feel that they need to dry out their skin so they use cleansers that strip the oil. When the natural oil of the skin is stripped it dries out the outer layer. The skin then tells the oil glands "OK I'm dry" so the oil glands produce more oil than is actually necessary to compensate for the dryness. It also creates a layer of dry, dead skin. The dead skin falls into the follicle mixes with the excess oil and boom, you get a blackhead or a blemish or whatever decides to rear its ugly head that day. People with oily skin should stick to a nice basic cleanser. One that doesn't leave their face feeling tight after they use it. If oil is a concern use a wash one or two times a week that has salicylic acid in it. If breakouts are an issue use a wash with benzoyle peroxide in it. Again just one or two times a week. Using it too often can over dry the skin.

Now if you have dry skin to start with you can understand how bad the wrong cleanser can be. The biggest problem with dry skin is when you dry out the outer layer it makes a barrier of dead skin. Dead skin cannot hold moisture. So you can put 10lbs of moisturizer on but it will not get through to the cells you need them to get through to. People with dry skin should use a gentle, milky cleanser that doesn't leave the skin feeling tight or dry. Using an exfoliating cleanser once or twice a week helps to remove dead skin build up. Also using a cleanser with an alpha hydroxy acid regularly helps to keep the skin exfoliated. Exfoliated skin can better except any product applied afterward.

I carry many different kinds of cleanser. One or two for every skin type.