.

.

Monday, July 6, 2020

“Cleaning” your face with water (only)—really?!

I read in a magazine that in order to save time in the morning, I can just splash my face with warm water. Is this true?

According to a skin care expert I saw quoted in a popular magazine, “...as long as you’ve cleansed thoroughly the night before, you can skip this [cleansing] step in the a.m. and simply splash your face with warm water for just 30 seconds.” I want to ask this person if she just uses water on a toothbrush in the morning, skipping the toothpaste altogether. Why not skip washing your body in the shower while you’re at it?

If you are going to spend 30 seconds splash-rinsing, why not put some cleanser on your face, massage it in for maybe 10 seconds, and then splash-rinse with tepid water, which would take another 10 seconds. Without doing the math, I think you can see my point.

Why not cleanse? What is the purpose in skipping this important step? It doesn’t really save you time according to this skin care expert’s advise. I suppose if you just skipped doing anything to your face, that would save the 30 seconds it would actually take you to clean your skin. But is saving less than a minute in the morning that important? So much so that you may cause problems for your skin down the road?

Plain water, by the way, will not break down the oil that has accumulated on the surface of your skin during the night. Only by using a proper cleanser will you be assured of getting a good, clean start for your skin each day.

And finally, are you going to put makeup on unclean skin? Wash your face—both morning and evening.

For more information, see: