Your skin is under serious assault each time you are out and about in the city. Dirt, pollution and a zillion other skin enemies work their way into your skin on a daily basis and that leaves you with dull and dry skin that suffers from acne, blemishes and what not! You deserve better than that—clear complexion and glowing skin with no blemish in sight. A good hour of face clean up can get all the dirt and blemishes off from your skin (and lives) and give you smoother, spotless skin. But, getting pampered with a relaxing cleanup session in a salon, however tempting, isn't always possible, thanks to the busy schedules and never-ending to-do lists. Then what do you do? Go on about your life with dull, blemished skin? No way! It's time to get rid of those pesky blackheads and blemishes once and for all and get flawless skin. Do away with the dirt of the day with a simple face clean up that you can totally pull off at home and achieve clearer skin in minutes. Read on as we tell you how to score a salon like a face clean up all by yourself when you don't have time to hit the salon. All you need to do is follow these 6 simple steps for an at-home face clean up...
01Start with a clean face
The very first step of skin care regimen or any skin treatment is cleansing your face . Wash off every last bit of oil, makeup and dirt from your face before you get on with your face clean up. And thus, washing just with water isn't enough. Double cleanse your face to get it squeaky clean and fresh. First, take a cotton pad and makeup remover and wipe your face thoroughly with it. It will help get all the makeup and sweat removed from the face. Next, take a face oil on your fingers and rub it onto your face. The makeup and dirt settled deep into the skin will get off by the oil cleansing method. Rinse your face with water and move on to foam cleansing. Take a dime size amount of a foam cleanser that suits your skin and gently massages your face. Splash the product off with cold water and pat dry with a towel.
02Take steam
Heat is known to be excellent for the skin as it makes it relaxed and damp. Treating your skin to steam helps open up the pores and thus cleanses the skin better. This step also makes skin absorbent for the products to follow like a toner and moisturiser. If you are blessed with oily or acne-prone skin, this step will help you big time as it cleanses the pores and zaps excess oil from the face. Prepare it by boiling water in a pot and keep the steaming water at a table. Cover your head with a towel and bend over the pot to take steam. Do it for 5-10 minutes and take the towel off every now and then if you need air. To make it a relaxing, salon-like experience, you can add some aromatic essential oils like lavender oil or rose oil to the water. Put therapeutic herbs like green tea or rosemary for extra skin benefits and aromatherapy treatment. After the steam, your skin is damp and warm so it is easier to get all the impurities and oil off from the face. Before using a scrub, take a comedone extractor or blackhead removing the tool and scrape off the blackheads and whiteheads from the nose, forehead and under lower lip area.
03Scrub well
Scrubbing is the most important step in the face clean up as the granules in a scrub helps remove dead skin cells, oil, dirt, any product build-up that are settled deep into the skin. For radiant, smoother skin, it is important to scrub one a week to get the daily build up and dirt off from the face. If you have oily skin, exfoliate with a gentle scrub twice a week. Dampen your face with water. Take a pea-sized amount of mild face scrub and massage it gently onto face and neck in a circular motion. Scrub essentially on the nose and chin area to deep cleanse and get all the blackheads and dirt out from the skin. It will polish the skin and making it smoother and brighter. Rinse your face with cold water and wash away the scrub.
04Treat your skin with a face mask
Here's the fun part! After all that scrubbing and steaming session, your skin needs some serious TLC. A nourishing and moisturising face masks will close the pores and hydrate your skin while removing all the impurities and giving its glow back. Grab a sheet mask like Simple Kind To Skin Rich Moisture Sheet Mask or a cream mask like Lakmé Absolute Skin Gloss Overnight Mask and enjoy some relaxed time while your skin relaxes as well. You can also DIY a natural face mask according to your skin type and requirement using ingredients from your kitchen. Just put chilled cucumber slices on your eyes and leave the face mask for 15 minutes before washing it off.
05Next, use a toner
You know toner as an essential skincare staple in your daily CTM routine but is also very important in a face clean up. The toner soothes the skin and heals any breakages that happen in the exfoliating process. If your face feels itchy or appears red, toning will calm your skin down right away. After your skin is all relaxed and has absorbed the nutrients and moisture from the mask session, it is time to get toning the skin . Pour a small amount of your toner on a cotton pad and move it on your face gently and let it dry. It will help restore the balance of the skin and shrink the pores. This step is essentially beneficial for acne-prone skin as it closes the pores and doesn't let the dirt settle in on the skin which is the prime cause of acne. We suggest Lakmé Absolute Pore Fix Toner . It shrinks and tightens pores that were opened during the steam and leaves skin clean and bright.
06Finish with a moisturiser
Cleansing, scrubbing and the hot steam may dry out your skin and this last step provides the moisture it lost in the process. Finish up your home face clean up with a moisturising face cream. A moisturiser will hydrate the skin and lock in the moisture and goodness of the clean-up. Get a lightweight, water-based moisturiser if you have oily skin or oil based rich moisturiser if you have dry skin. Take a small amount on your hands (make sure they are clean) and apply it all over your face, gently massaging with your fingertips. Slather the cream onto face and neck and let it absorb in the skin. If you're performing the facial at night, finish with applying eye cream to nourish the under eye area. Follow up with an eye cream and night cream if you're doing the face clean up at night and wake up to clear, smoother skin the next morning.
