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With so many products promising results to everything from redness, blemishes to dry patches, we are easy to take this message for granted ––more equals more.
But piling on product after product with a heavy skincare routine can sometimes leave even the healthiest of skin much more sensitive, leading to conditions starting with irritation and itchiness.
We believe that an effective skincare routine doesn’t have to be super lengthy or take up tons of time. The truth is, you can get healthy and glowing skin in not five, but just three steps.
The skincare diet is all about minimalism. It’s shaped around making sure your skin is getting exactly what it needs, nothing more and nothing less, but to ensure that it will stay at the most balanced condition it can be.
Beginner Guide for 3-Step Skincare Diet
Before the journey begins, the first thing would be cleansing up your current routine, so that you would have more space to reshape your own skincare diet. (Read more: Why Minimalist Skincare Routine could be the Answer to Healthy Skin)
If you are ready to take a chance on this skincare diet, consider these 3 steps as you whittle down the skincare routine:
Step 1: Identify what category your skincare products belong to
Most skincare products can be categorized into 2 types: Water-based & Oil-based products. Here we use “W” for water-based and “O” for oil-based products.
It can be further divided into 2 small groups in each category as determined by the concentration of water or oil in the products:
Water-based products:
- Group W1 (more water content, towards runny consistency) include: toner, spray, astringents
- Group W2 (less water content, towards viscous consistency) include: serum, essence, elixir, ampoule
Oil-based products:
- Group O1 (less oil content, towards lighter texture) include: lotion, facial gel, moisturizer
- Group O2 (more oil content, towards oily texture) include: cream, facial oil
Step 2: Dial down
If you are new to skincare diet, try to cut down the products in the same group first (if you have more than one). Let’s say, you have one lotion and one moisturizer (both belong to Group O1) for morning and night skincare routine.
An easy way to do this, is to cut down either one (especially when the formulation doesn't differ that much in both products) based on your skin’s needs.
As skin doesn’t like being overstressed, having layer after layer of product not only increase the risk of unnecessary irritation and negative reaction, but could also end up just being a waste of your valuable time and money.
Advanced Decluttering Tips:
Scenario: if you are suffering from dry patches or redness at the moment, and that you have more than one product in your W-groups, for example you have both the toner (Group W1) and serum (Group W2).
We would recommend that you can cut down on toner (W1), as products in W2 usually carry more active ingredients than product in W1 according to the nature of their formulation.
In this case, serum may provide more sustaining and effective results of soothing dry patches or redness than toner does.
Step 3: Listen to your skin type
For those who want to keep their skincare routine as minimal as possible but not sure whether you should cut down the product in Group W or Group O, here’s the rule: let your skin type guide you.
⁂ If you are dry skin, normal skin or combination-dry skin type: try cutting down the products that belong to Group W (W1 or W2) as your skin may need more oil-based products than water-based products for complete moisture.
⁂ If you are oily skin, combination-oily type: try cutting down the products that belong to Group O (O1 or O2), as your skin may already provide you with enough oil, so you can just restore hydration through using water-based products.
Another key to remember is to carefully browse through your skincare products and discovering the ingredients that go into each product, so you can remove the one that's less beneficial for your skin.
Know more about a clean choice for Group W: Know More Luminosity Serum
Know more about a clean choice for Group O: Know More Resilience Facial Oil
Even if it's a skincare diet, like any other diet, there just isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Let your skin observations be your compass for your own slimmed-down skincare recipe.
In Conclusion
At its core, minimalist skincare routine is rooted in the purpose of giving the skin a much-needed break, so allowing your substantial skincare cabinet take a backseat long enough to see the improvements.
While it is true that you will need to update your ingredient knowledge and take the courage of whittling down your routine to the product that make sense, but, isn't that the fun of skincare anyway?
Know more about: Unnecessary Ingredients