Skin Cleansing FAQ

By Hannah Mereana

5/31/2022

Why do you need to cleanse?

Cleansing your skin is recommended to remove the daily build up of pollutants and makeup products. At the end of each day, impurities will have built up on your skin. It could be perspiration (sweat), dirt, pollution, makeup, or skin care products. If you don’t cleanse – this could cause a build up of these impurities, which can further irritate and cause problems with the skin.

When to cleanse & how often to cleanse your skin?

Use a cleanser once a day. Yes, that’s right – ONCE a day, preferably at night.

In the morning

All you need in the morning is water! Soak your skin with water and 2-3 Janesce Soaking Drops (plant essences) to gently rinse away impurities (such as traces of your night cream), promote hydration and improve the absorption of actives by the products to follow (serums, moisturisers & sun care lotions).

In the evening

In the evening, use a gentle cleanser (such as Janesce Rose Cleanser) to remove surface impurities without striping the skin. Follow with your soaking ritual, before locking in that water with your Janesce Floral Mist and appropriate Janesce Moisturiser.

How to cleanse?

Each cleanser may have more specific instructions, but generally dilute a small amount of your cream cleanser with water, and apply with fingertips and massage over your face and neck, or use damp cotton pads. Rinse with tepid to warm water, and continue your skin care routine. For oil cleansers, massage into the skin without water then remove with a damp warm cloth.

What facial cleanser to use?

Cream, oil or lotion cleansers. Oil cleansers are great at helping to dissolve stubborn makeup. If the cleanser you are using comes with a toner, you do really need to use them together. Try our Janesce Rose Cleanser. As it’s pH balanced for the skin, it won’t be stripping the acid mantle of your skin.

What to look for in your skin care products

What is the acid mantle?

The acid mantle is the skin’s natural protective film. It is made up of our skin’s perspiration (sweat) and fatty acids (sebum or oil). As the name suggests, it is more acidic than alkaline. A pH of 4.5 - 5.5 to be more specific. Our acid mantle protects the skin from the environment and prevents irritants from coming into contact with the skin. Bacteria thrive in an alkaline environment – so you can see why our skin is designed to be naturally acidic to counteract this and prevent infections and other problems. It is our protective coat. It keeps OUT bacteria, and keeps IN water. The acid mantle is vital for preventing water loss and maintaining hydration. Cleansing your skin will disrupt this layer, meaning your skin needs to rebuild the acid mantle again. This is why it is imperative to use an appropriate (and gentle!) cleanser, to prevent disturbing the acid mantle where possible. Yes, we still need to cleanse our skins – but gently! The acid mantle is vital in maintaining skin health!

Learn more about skin

What should you avoid when it comes to cleansing?

Foaming Cleansers & Soaps

Foaming cleansers, soaps and anti-septic washes generally have a pH of around 8-10. This is too alkaline for the skin! Choosing a foaming or ‘purifying’ cleanser for acne or oily skin is also a common mistake. These strip the skin of it’s natural oils, and cause more harm then good. Your skin has to work twice as hard to get back into balance, and often will pump out more oil to compensate for the water it’s now lost. This is why, more often than not, oily skin is due to dehydrated skin - and not a true oily skin. Keep that skin barrier and acid mantle in tact and choose a cream, lotion or oil cleanser.

Mechanical Brushes

Despite their marketing, these should not be used daily. This is a form of exfoliation, no matter how gentle you or your cleanser is. If you MUST use it, go gently and no more than once per week.

What about your muslin soaking cloths? If you’re skin soaking (which you should be!), don’t use the cloth as an exfoliation. As gentle as they are, it still counts if you’re scrubbing and rubbing your skin. When skin soaking, you are pressing the water and ‘soaking’ your skin. No rubbing required!

Over-cleansing

Avoid cleansing too often (this goes for all over your body!). Cleanse once at the end of the day, to remove pollution & makeup built up from that day. Because you’ve cleansed well in the evening, there shouldn’t be any reason to use cleansers in the morning. A little bit of sleep or traces of your night cream is all that’s on your skin, so in the morning all you need is to soak your skin with water to gently cleanse and hydrate, then lock in all the moisture with your moisturising step. For your body, you don’t need to lather up your entire body with soap to be clean. Some soaps can actually strip your skin and cause even more problems, especially eczema. For most people, using soap only on your “smelly areas”, such as armpits, groin and feet - is enough. You’ll need a proper cleanse here to break down bacteria secreted by different glands to the rest of your body. The sweat on rest of your body is water soluble and can rinse off in the shower.

What happens if I don’t cleanse correctly?

Without a healthy acid mantle, the skin is stripped and exposed to the environment. It can become sensitive. Water is lost and the skin dehydrates rapidly. As the skin dehydrates, the surface of your skin becomes tighter as the skin cells dry and ‘curl up’. It can make your pores look larger. Sebum (oil) can become trapped under the skin, your products can’t absorb as well into the skin, your skin’s oil glands can over produce to try to compensate for the lack of water giving you an ‘oily dry skin’. Another reason to hydrate your skin is so your skin cells are plump, full of water and lie flat protecting the skin from irritants and further water loss. Dry ‘curled’ skin cells will curl upwards, causing further dehydration with irritants being able to enter the skin.

Protecting your skin barrier

Imagine your skin as a house. Think of the top layer of your skin as the roof of your house. You wouldn’t remove half the roof tiles and expect to still be able to protect all your furniture and important things within, would you? So don’t do the same with your top skin cells.

You wouldn’t invest and go to all the effort of redecorating and renovating the inside of your house (i.e. all your skin nutrition goals) when at the same time you’re peeling your roof back to expose all of it to the elements and who knows what else. Surely this would lead to internal and structural damage?

Protect your skin barrier. We believe that your skin care products should feed, nourish and support your skin. It is vital that we understand and work with the skin rather than against it.