Yonka-Paris Facial Cleansers explained

Yonka makes five daily cleansing products (only 2 are shown in this photo). For their latest invention, see New WATERLESS Cleanser from Yonka: EAU MICHELLAIRE. They also make a product specifically for men: Yonka for Men—Foam Gel Cleanser. The remaining three are the cleansers I sell the most: Lait Nettoyant, Gel Nettoyant, and Nettyoant Creme. Nettoyant means cleaner or cleaning in French. From here on out, I’ll use the names Milk Cleanser, Gel Cleanser, and Wash Cream to describe each one.

All three cleansers are appropriate for any skin type. I have many clients with true-dry skin who love the Gel Cleanser and clients who have an oilier skin typed who love the Milk. My personal favorite, and the cleanser I’ve used for almost three decades, is the Milk Cleanser. As with anything you use on your skin, it is an individual preference that will attract you to one product over another. In the case of these three products, any skin type can use an of these cleansers. You really can’t go wrong whichever one you choose to use.

LAIT NETTOYANT, or “blue milk cleanser,” as I describe it and use as its name for my client’s benefit (who can pronounce nettoyant?!) is silky and delicately scented. This milky cleanser is appropriate for all skin types. “It cleansers and removes makeup from your face and eyes in a single wipe and rinses off with water. Gentle and protective to the skin’s natural balance, it leaves skin perfectly clean, supple and comfortable.” This is really saying that this cleanser, like all Yonka products, is pH balanced—acidic on the scale, which is what you want (vs. alkaline). All traces of makeup are removed leaving the skin perfectly clean, supple and soft.



Essential ingredients:

• Gentle plant-based cleansing agents—cleaning, makeup removal
• Borneol—purifying
• Brown seaweed derivative, vegetable glycerin—softening, hydrating

Directions for use:

• Apply LAIT NETTOYANT over face and neck
• Gently massage in
• Splash-rinse with tepid water
• Pat skin dry
• Apply Yonka spray toner, moisturizer, and eye cream 

Whenever possible, use hands to apply or remove products. Washcloths harbor bacteria and can be harsh on the skin; using your hands allows you to feel your skin. And always use tepid or room temperature water on your face. Never hot, never cold.

---

GEL NETTOYANT is an “ocean-blue gel that creates a smooth and silky foam appropriate for all skin types. It gently cleanses and removes makeup from face, eyelids, and eyelashes; it purifies and revives the skin. Gentle and protective to the skin’s natural balance, it leaves skin supple, fresh, and comfortable.” Again, this means it respects the natural acidic pH of the skin, which some cleansers, namely alkaline soaps, do not.

Essential ingredients:

• Gentle plant-based cleansing agents—cleaning, makeup removal
• Red algae (seaweed), iris—softening, hydrating, purifying
• Essential oils of lavender, geranium, litsea cubeba—refreshing

Directions for use:

• Apply GEL NETTOYANT over face and neck
• Gently massage in
• Splash-rinse with tepid water
• Pat skin dry
• Apply Yonka spray toner, moisturizer, and eye cream

Whenever possible, use hands to apply or remove products. Washcloths harbor bacteria and can be harsh on the skin; using your hands allows you to feel your skin. And always use tepid or room temperature water on your face. Never hot, never cold.

---

NETTOYANT CREME, or Wash Cream, is a rich cream cleanser that is perfect for sensitive skin that is true-dry. Other skin types can certainly use this cleanser, but generally an oilier skin will prefer a milky wash (Lait Nettoyant) or even a foam gel cleanser (Gel Nettoyant) over a thicker cream. Wash cream goes on like butter and has all the wonderful Yonka Quintessence aromatics, making this a pleasure to use day and night. I have several clients who like to have two different Yonka cleansers on hand, and Wash Cream is definitely one of them. Try this cream cleanser as part of your daily Basics routine. 

Essential ingredients:

• Gentle plant-based cleansing agents—cleaning, makeup removal
• Red algae (seaweed), iris—softening, hydrating, purifying
• Essential oils of lavender, geranium, litsea cubeba—refreshing

Directions for use:

• Apply NETTOYANT CREAM over face and neck
• Gently massage in
• Splash-rinse with tepid water
• Pat skin dry
• Apply Yonka spray toner, moisturizer, and eye cream

Whenever possible, use your hands to apply or remove products. Washcloths harbor bacteria and can be harsh on the skin; using your hands allows you to feel your skin. And always use tepid or room temperature water on your face. Never hot, never cold. WASH CREAM makes a great shave cream for men.

No matter what cleansing product you decide to use, Yonka or otherwise, keeping your skin clean is paramount to healthy skin.

For more information, see:

• The Basics 1-2-3 Program for proper skin care
• CLEANSERS 101: What IS a cleanser? What to look for and what NOT to use—updated 
• Do I really need to clean my face? 
• Advanced Steps for Cleansing

Yonka for Men: AGE-DEFENSE—Anti-aging hydrating cream

From Yonka headquarters: “AGE-DEFENSE is a lightweight, anti-aging lotion that plumps the skin with rich hydration for a smoother complexion. Two hours after application, the skin’s hydration levels are increased by up to 115%, thereby softening fine lines and wrinkles and promoting increased radiance. A blend of botanicals and essential oils supply exceptional protection, purification and rejuvenation, helping to diminish and prevent visible signs of aging. Formulated especially for men, Age-Defense is great for use after shaving and as a rejuvenating night cream.”

Age-Defense is a favorite with many of my male clients. It is non-greasy yet gives lasting moisture for the face. Non-irritating, this cream provides the skin with antioxidant, anti-aging properties, helping to soften fine lines and wrinkles while imparting a subtle Yonka aromatic.

Essential ingredients:

• Virgin baobab oil—hydrating
• Essential oil of grapefruit—revitalizing, invigorating
• Moringa seed extract—hydrating
• Beech buds, imperata cylindrica—phyto-stimulants
• Yonka “Quintessence” (essential oils of thyme, lavender, cypress, geranium, and rosemary)—oxygenates, brightens, purifies

Directions for use:

In the morning and/or evening:

• After cleansing and shaving
• Spray Yonka Lotion toner (Men’s Lotion YK, Lotion PNG, or Lotion PS)
• Apply a pea-sized dollop of AGE-DEFENSE cream over face and neck
• Then use eye cream

For more information, see:

• Men & Proper Skin Care
• Men & Skin Care: One profile—is this you?
• Men’s Skin Care Dos & Dont’s  

Pillow Talk—let lavender lull you to sleep

Lavender is known as a soothing and calming essential oil. It has a pleasant aroma, one almost everyone is familiar with. If you are having trouble sleeping, one helpful remedy would be to put a few drops of essential oil of lavender on your pillow (or on a handkerchief ), and let the relaxing melody of this essence soothe you to sleep. It makes a nice addition to your travel bag since traveling often means a poor night’s sleep.

Lavender is also very soothing to burns. For instance, if you have burned yourself on a hot stove or an iron, lavender will quickly take out the burning sensation. My number one recommendation for sunburns is aloe vera gel, but for any other kind of burn lavender works wonders.

For more information, see:

• SUNBURN RELIEF COCKTAIL: Important TIPS & help for healing a sunburn—updated
• Lavender: A Medicine Cabinet Must!—updated
• Lavender Quick Tip

Determining a good product: Natural vs. synthetic

There is no magical way to know if a particular product or product line is good. The determining factor will always be: how does it make your skin look and feel? I used to say ingredients were everything. Now I look at the product’s effectiveness as a whole as well as what it’s made of. But the ingredient list is always the first thing I look at when analyzing a product.

You want an ingredient list you can read and comprehend. Is it all synthetic—using long, chemical names? Or are the ingredients identifiable? An ingredient list should have some recognizable, everyday words like sunflower seed oil or chamomile extract, etc. Not all complex words mean an ingredient is synthetic (for instance, vitamin E may be listed as tocopheryl acetate), but if the entire list is unrecognizable, it’s probably a synthetic product.

What’s wrong with synthetic? When you get right down to it, everything on earth consists of chemicals. Synthetics are made up of molecules of chemicals, just like organic or natural substances. But synthetic products are usually inert, meaning they are not active. Synthetic products are basically composed of inorganic, laboratory made ingredients, which are synthetic—fake. Organic, natural, or active products are made from natural sources like plants, fruits, and vegetal oils. The difference between synthetic and organic is best depicted by using essential oils. For more information see Essential Oils: a primer, but for now I will use them to illustrate my point. (See link below.)

Pure essential oils are very powerful. These essences contain many chemical constituents that render them active even after they are extracted from their plant sources. Natural essential oils are acidic on the pH scale and have an inherent medicinal benefit on the skin’s surface.


Inorganic or synthetic essential oils are made in a chemist’s lab of similar molecules. Their chemical makeup may be alike, but chemists cannot put the “life force” into their laboratory creations. It is this life force that will constitute the effectiveness of the product. These synthetic copies may smell reminiscent of their organic siblings, but they are not exact. Synthetics can only mimic the real thing. And when it comes to ingredients used on the skin, I recommend the real thing. Your skin is a living entity, and I believe it will respond to real, organic products over synthetics.

When looking for products, I recommend looking for ingredients that connote real substances with organic matter employed. Although synthetic ingredients aren’t necessarily bad for your skin (they usually won’t cause flare-ups or irritations), they can’t help to soothe or otherwise stimulate the skin. Organic ingredients, on the other hand, can be both soothing and stimulating. One last point—synthetic products tend to be void of smell. Natural or organic products usually have wonderful aromatics based on the botanical ingredients used.

I look for organic ingredients, or at least predominantly organic, in the professional products I use (Yonka-Paris products). Absolutely pure products are hard to find, but I have come across a few all-natural, professional products over the years. Although the ingredient list is impressive, these products may have some built-in problems.

• If they are entirely organic, common chemical preservatives are not used, and the products can become unstable.
• They will have a much shorter shelf life, and bacteria from the air will affect and many times contaminate them.
• There may be a problem with consistency as well.
• The organic matter will change with different weather conditions and crop harvests, and therefore, so will the manufactured product.
• It’s hard to continually crank out an all-natural product consistent with the former batch. All-natural products tend to be quite expensive as well.

Finding a product that is predominately natural is a good idea, but if completely natural is what you prefer, you may run into some of the problems mentioned above.

Whether you choose to purchase truly organic products or products with less natural ingredients, I believe the proof of their effectiveness will always show up in how your skin responds to them—how your skin looks and feels.

For more information, see:

• Hypoallergenic? Non-comedogenic? What do these means?
• Allergic Reactions to Products & The 72-Hour Test
• Finding the Right Products—for You
• Essential Oils: a primer

Forehead breakouts Q & As

PLEASE do not go at your skin this way. CLICK HERE to find out what to do (and not do) when self-extracting aka picking!

I’ve recently been experiencing small bumps on my forehead and the occasional painful zit on my cheek or chin. What is causing this, and what can I use? Also, is it a good idea to use two different brands of skin care products?

To answer your last question first, as long as all the products individually don’t cause problems with your skin, I doubt combining them is a bad idea. It is a myth that mixing different product lines together is bad. It’s just not true.

Regarding your breakouts, do you eat much sugar? Milk? Cheese? Anything you are eating in excess (or even on a daily basis) can cause bumps and blemishes. Whenever your skin is breaking out, you can usually look at what you are putting in your mouth to find at least one reason it has become problematic. Stress and environment are also contributing factors for some people, but in my experience foods and drinks are the major contributors if you are experiencing regular breakouts. 

I am 26 years old and just this summer I started to break out really badly on my forehead and temples. They are fairly big places and are in clusters way underneath the skin. What should I use?

My first question for this young lady would be: what changed in your life over the summer or just before that time? Because her troubles began in the summer, it might be something as simple as sweating. Perhaps during the summer she was outside more than in the past and wasn’t as diligent about keeping her skin sweat-free. There may have been other contributing factors that led to her breakout, such as dietary factors that I have already spoken about.

In the meantime, she needs to be sure her Basics 1-2-3 Program is in place, as well as using pH-proper products. Doing The Extras (exfoliating and clay mask) is important, and also making sure to rinse the sweat off her skin if she is exercising or sweating on a hot summer’s day. Breakout doesn’t just happen, it happens as a result of some cause, no matter what that might be. So her job is to find out what could be the cause and then she can help to stop the breakout in its tracks.

For more information, see:

• NO SWEAT: What happens when sweat dries on your skin?
• Help for Breakouts
• Basics 1-2-3 Program for proper skin care