Wash on, wash off

So, here's the thing:

At a sleepover one night my friend, Meghan, and I stood at the bathroom sink and washed our faces. I asked for a washcloth and she looked at me as if I had sprouted a third nostril. "Ew, you don't use a washcloth on your face! That's wrong! You will get wrinkles!". Wrinkles? I had never thought of that. My mom's friends had Wrinkles and they always told me I was lucky I didn't have them, too. It was a good thing I had Meghan; she showed me how it was done: Neutrogena Original Cleanser squirted on your hand and rubbed around on your face. Then, the all important Splash. You know the Splash. The luxurious cascade of water every carefree model in the commercials uses to remove whatever cleanser she is selling. Finally, Sea-Breeze. Squirted on a cotton ball and stroked on the face and neck in an upward motion ( again, to defy the Wrinkles). Sea-Breeze was the secret. It had magical properties, smelled like peppermint, and burned like fire.

All throughout our Teen years and, no doubt, into our Twenties, we stripped our skin bare of all moisture and oils with harsh chemicals. Our faces weren't clean unless we felt The Burn. We couldn't sleep unless our skin was so tight dry it felt like a Dixie paper plate. Boy, were we dumb.

Finding the perfect cleanser is like finding a great hairstylist: you have to kiss a lot of frogs and go up to a lot of strangers while screaming at them to reveal their secret until you find the one that fits. There really is no secret, however. Cleansers are a basic part of our daily skincare regimen, and just need to remove impurities and give us a clean enough slate on which to layer our Products.

Go Basic. Cleansers are on your face for less than a minute. They do not need to contain magical seaweed extract and the blood of Unicorns to be effective. Get something that removes makeup and dirt while washing clean (NOTE: "clean" does not mean Dry as Dixie. It means that it does not leave any residue on the skin). Some great ones: Boots Expert Sensitive Cleansing Wash, Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Extra Mild, Eucerin Sensitive Skin Gentle Hydrating Cleanser, Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser, Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser.

Use a washcloth. I cannot stress this enough. using your palms to push cleanser around on your face may remove your makeup, but it will not clean out pores and remove dead skin cells. Wet a washcloth with warm (read: not hot) water. Add cleanser and rub over entire face including neck and decolletage, remembering to use a very light touch. Rinse out washcloth and wipe your face off. Repeat. Dry face.

NOTE ON TECHNIQUE: The Splash is lovely. Really. It's just not effective. It removes cleanser and surface gunk but that's about it. Employ it after the Washcloth if it's absolutely necessary for you to feel like a Cover Girl.

That's it. No magic. No unicorns. No Burn.