All your cleansing questions answered.

O.K. let’s answer all your questions!

Do I need to cleanse 2 x day?
Yes! You cleanse at night to take the day off-makeup, spf, sweat, pollution from the air.

You cleanse in the morning because at night our skin will detox toxins from your body (hello morning pimples) you also need to take off all the creams you put on the night before otherwise your serums won’t penetrate. You also need to thoroughly remove any vit a or acids you may have used.

Milk or foam?
Milk for dry, irritated, aged skin
Foam for congested, breakouts, oily skin.

What if I am dry and have acne?
This is where dermaviduals is great. We can customise a moisturiser of milk and gel so we can hydrate but give you a deeper cleanse. Otherwise look for products with no acids or sls.

Oil or balm?
Not balms! 98% of balms out there include Ethylhexyl palmitate ad the 1st ingredient. A 5/5 on the comedogenic scale-so will cause breakouts. – go check yours out now!

Stick with oils they are generally better ingredients.

Do I need to double cleanse?
In the morning no.

At night- sometimes. If you have a lot of makeup on, wore a lot of spf or have quite bad acne or very oily skin then yes. If not then once is normally enough.

If you use an oil/balm then yes, you need to wash off the oil residue otherwise your serums will struggle to work well.

Can I use a cleanser with acid?
NO. If you use a cleanser with acid in it, you are essential exfoliating 14 x a week! Eck! Your poor skin.

Can’t I just use a cheap one? It washes off anyway?
Cleansing is the 1st step of your routine. Get this right and everything after works better. If you use a cleanser that is too strong then you will start drying out your skin then have to do extra hydration to make up for it.

Some cleansers have harsh surfactants in them (such as SLS or SLES (Sodium laureth sulfate). Harsh surfactants can strip your skin of its natural moisture. They are designed to remove oil from the skin. But your skin needs some oil to nourish and balance the hydration of your skin. We never, ever want to remove all the oil in any circumstance.

There are good and bad ones, but it is a lot of research that goes into knowing this.

Does cleansing remove blackheads?
No. they are there to remove excess oil, whether it is excess oil your skin has produced or the oils and ingredients in makeup, spf and skincare. It is not designed to remove blackheads. It helps with blackheads as it keeps your skin clean, functioning better and healthy, but doesn’t remove them. Only extractions actually remove blackheads. (Not exfoliating either)

Do I need a different cleansing for removing makeup?
Not necessarily. I use just a milk to remove all my makeup every day, but if you wear waterproof mascara or quite heavy makeup an oil cleanser can work better at helping breakdown those ingredients.
Why can’t I just use soap or body wash?
See above in regards to surfactants. They will dry out your skin, causing irritation, sensitivity, pigmentation.