When it comes to simple skincare routines, less is more as far as the number of products. Not only does this keep things simple as far as executing a routine, but it also makes it easier to keep an eye on what’s working for your skin, and what, perhaps, isn’t.
The foundation of a simple skincare routine covers: gentle cleansing, hydrating (which isn’t the same as moisturizing – see this blog post), moisturizing (lipid barrier support), and some form of sun protection during the day. So, if you already have a simple routine that makes up the foundations of a simple skincare routine, why might you want to add a facial mask in every so often?
In a nutshell, for additional skin support when your skin needs it. Commonly, we see the support that’s needed the most is for one of the following reasons:
- Hydration
- Calming
- Nourishment
We’ll explore each of these, through a 3 part series, to figure out if your simple skincare routine could benefit from a facial mask. This is part 2. See part 1 here and part 3 here.
Reason 2: Calming
Asking whether our skin could benefit from calming down can at first seem like a no brainer. If our skin is upset, sensitive, or breaking out, it stands to reason that calming it down by reducing inflammation and soothing an irritation is priority number one. However, sometimes we can miss the signs that our skin is telling us that it’s experiencing irritation, inflammation, or sensitivity. So to be crystal clear, let’s explore why our skin could benefit from an additional skin soothing skincare step.
Signs that your skin could benefit from a targeted boost of calming ingredients:
- Your skin is going through a detox (see: our 30-Day Detox Challenge)
- You’re in the phase of your hormonal cycle where inflammation, breakouts, and oil production shifts. For most this is the 10 days before menstruation during the perimenstrual phase of our cycle.
- You’ve noticed (or often struggle with) redness – even though you haven’t noticed any stinging or blatant irritation from anything specific.
- Your skin has seen a lot of “the elements” lately – wind, extreme temperatures (hot or cold) or humidity, sun, pollution.
- Your skin is prone to being sensitive or reactive
- Your skin is attempting to adjust to a seasonal shift. This is common when nature quickly changes from one season to the next. This seasonal adjustment is felt for an extended amount of time during the “transitional” seasons of spring and autumn.
Helping our skin to reduce inflammation, calm irritation, and supporting our skin it during shifts (whether seasonal, internal, environmental or more), doesn’t have to stress us out (in fact, it shouldn’t as stress isn’t good for our skin either). It can be as easy as using an extra gentle touch when cleansing, minimizing exposure to the things that stress our skin out (for example, applying an extra layer of moisturizer before exposing our skin to winter winds), or providing our skin with a face mask packed with calming natural ingredients when it needs the extra support.
Example of calming face mask that’s sensitive skin safe as well as acne-prone skin safe:
There you have it! Calming ingredients are the second reason you may want to add a facial mask to your routine. In our next post of this series, we’ll talk about the nourishing effects a facial mask can have on your skin! Miss the first post in this series? No worries! Just click the link below.
- Face Masks: Should your simple skincare routine include a face mask? Here’s how to know: Part 1
- Face Masks: Should your simple skincare routine include a face mask? Here’s how to know: Part 3
With love and radiance,
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