Your Intelligent Cleansing Ritual

STEP 1 in our 5 STEP PROGRAMME

CLEANSING – The key to your Glowing Skin Routine
Choosing the right cleanser is key, it’s the first step in your routine to great skin. Your cleanser needs to multitask, it needs to prioritise your skins needs, to simultaneously remove and replenish at the same time.

Why does it need 'Intelligence?
It’s a difficult task, requiring the perfect, intelligent formula. Your cleanser needs to remove the dirt of the day or the residue from overnight. It needs to remove the SPF, remove makeup and then cleanse and decongest your skin. All the while it needs to leave your surface biome ‘live’, it needs to balance the surface pH acidity and it needs to replenish and restore your skin barrier.

What does it mean for the 'Barrier'
Because your skin barrier is responsible for protecting your skin and acts as a shield from damage, pollution and environmental stress. Your barrier is also responsible for keeping your skin hydrated by locking in moisture. It’s made out of cells, ceramides, lipids and microorganisms that make sure your skin stays in balance.

A compromised or damaged barrier is like leaving the door wide open on your skin, letting everything out and anything in. A damaged barrier leads to accelerated TEWL (Trans Epidermal Water Loss) causing you to need more hydrators, more frequently and the feeling of dry, dehydrated skin. A damaged barrier can cause more breakout due to bacteria being able to penetrate deeper into the epidermis and disrupt the skin.

If you have a damaged skin barrier, your skin might be red, dry, irritated or inflamed. It might feel rough in texture and be sensitive or reactive. Environmental factors like sun exposure, pollution and smoking along with the products you use and how you use them can all have a negative impact on your skin barrier.

The product that starts your skincare routine sets the stage for all your follow on products. Using the right products on your skin to keep it protected and healthy, without damaging your skin’s natural barrier, is the secret to glowing, radiant skin that’s perfectly in balance.

Which is why you need to consider your cleansing routine as an extremely important and crucial role in your skincare. Choosing a makeup remover to lift all makeup and SPF means that your cleansers start to work immediately on your skin, not your makeup – being able to ‘Deal direct’ with your skin.

Leaving residue of makeup on your skin when applying any follow on product can stop the nutrients from working their hardest and absorbing efficiently and deeply. Using a cleanser that is too harsh and that may strip the skin of natural, protective oils can set your skincare routine back rather than promoting skin health. Irritating your skin with an alkaline pH or foaming products can result in you needing extra products in your range to calm an issue that you caused, which is wasteful and should be avoided.

Cleansing isn’t the step that ‘gets the makeup off’ so that you can start applying the targeted products. Cleansing is the most important preparation for application. Clean skin prepares the skin for optimum absorption of your skincare routine, getting the best out of your products and seeing the results in the mirror.

You can also add to your cleansing routine with a weekly, deeper cleanse.

• Try a gentle steam over a bowl of warm water.
• Leave a balm cleanser on your skin (re applied after initial cleansing) to allow the waxes to decongest and the oils to balance.
• Apply a clay or mud masque after cleansing to truly decongest the pores, calm and de stress the skin.
• Book in for a professional facial once every 6 or 8 weeks to put your cleanse in the hands of the professional.
• Use a Face Lift Blade or Gua Sha tool to gently massage your cleansed skin, bringing a light flush or pinking to the skin means you have stimulated the blood to the surface, oxygenating the skin and introducing the light ‘wound/heal’ response to encourage collagen stimulation.
• Facial massage from the centre line of your face, out into the hairline or down towards the neck/collarbone brings blood to the surface and this gently subsides to take any of the inflammation to the lymph nodes and flush them out of your system – cleansing your skin from within. 

Why not introduce a truly Intelligent cleansing ritual for the next few weeks and literally see the difference it makes for your skin.

Our INTELLIGENT CLEANSER COLLECTION delivers every aspect of good cleansing needs for every skin type. Which ones will you choose.