Ask the experts: can you overdo a skincare routine?

Serums, oils, moisturisers, two-three-four-steps cleansing routines, creams for before, during and after sun exposure – there are so many skincare products these days that our bathroom shelves literally can’t fit them all! Have we become over-obsessed with skincare? We asked Hayley James, a Hamilton-based beautician and our favourite beauty blogger, to explain what and how we really should be using.

Can you overdo a skincare routine? Well… yes and no.

This is a difficult question to answer as there are so many different skin types – some will cope with loads of products applied and others will not. It’s all about getting to know your skin type!

What is most important – rather than focusing on how many products you are applying, focus on the kind of products you are using. An ideal skincare routine for anyone looking to start taking care of their skin is – a cleanser, one or two serums targeted to your concerns, a moisturiser, and a sunscreen! I can’t stress enough how important sunscreen is in a skincare routine.

Cleanser

This is the first step in any skincare routine. If you aren’t cleansing then there isn’t much point in you doing the other steps. Quick tip: it’s only on your face for a minute or two at the most and gets washed down the sink, so this is not where I would recommend spending a lot of money!

The most important thing you should look for in a cleanser is that it doesn’t make your face feel “squeaky” clean – you know that dry and tight feeling that makes you want to slather your face in moisturiser as soon as you’ve rinsed your cleanser away? Yeah, that’s not what you want. Your face should feel clean and soothed, but not dry or tight. I know, I know, a lot of people love this feeling but it is truly a sign of you stripping your skin.

A lot of factors will decide what kind of cleanser you should be looking out for – whether you wear a lot of makeup, you have oily skin, etc. For example, I have oily skin and wear a full face of makeup every day, so I need something soothing and deeply cleansing without stripping it, so my face doesn’t retaliate and create even more oil. I love an oil cleanser to start and then a cleanser suited to my skin type – double cleansing is ideal.

Precleanse balm, Dermalogica ($79)
Special Cleansing Gel, Dermalogica ($105)
Midnight Recovery Botanical Cleansing Oil, Kiehl’s ($25)
Cleanse Cleanser, Osmosis ($55)

Serums

Serums are the “heavy lifters” of your skincare routine. Depending on what your biggest concerns are with your skin, you should be using a serum that targets these. Serums are made at a low molecular weight and are water-based so they get to the deepest layers of your skin rather than just hydrating those dead, redundant skin cells on the surface.

Serums are used after your cleanser and before your moisturiser in the AM and PM.

These guys are the most expensive part of your skincare routine but are the most important step if you want to create actual change in the skin.

Here are a few of my favourite serums that I recommend to everyone – I’ll talk you through how they work and what they are used for:

Vitamin B Serum is hydrating, provides antioxidant protection (this makes it a great serum to wear underneath your sunscreen, as it’s going to prevent those nasty free radicals from wreaking havoc on your skin), brightening, mattifying, calming and firming. A great serum for everyone, especially acne-prone skin! One of the main ingredients in a ‘B’ serum is Niacinamide, vital for regulating sebum production, helping to strengthen and soothe the skin and improving your skin’s barrier function (stopping the nasty bacteria from getting in).

Vitamin A Serum is an absolute must for any skincare routine. Vitamin A helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, pores and blemishes (who doesn’t want that?) encourages cell renewal, stimulates the production of collagen and elastin, regulates oil flow and brightens and reduces hyperpigmentation and acne scarring. It is important to see how your skin reacts as Vitamin A can be very sensitising when used incorrectly. Check up on your skin and see how it’s feeling: if it is peeling, red, itchy or has little bumps -then slow down on your application!

Warning: There are many different types of retinol (Vitamin A) and some are more irritating than others. I always recommend gradually building up the use of retinol: use it every third night for two weeks, every second night for another 1-2 weeks, then you can move to every night.

Vitamin C Serum is another absolute must. A brightening serum that is great for anti-ageing. Vitamin C helps stimulate collagen and elastin synthesis, lightens pigmentation while preventing future pigmentation by using tyrosinase inhibitors to block the enzyme that creates pigment from doing its job. It’s also used as a free radical scavenger i.e. it helps to protect your skin from environmental damage (so important in the harsh New Zealand environment!)

Hyaluronic Acid Serum. Everyone needs a hydrating serum in their lives, yes – even those oily skins out there. Hyaluronic Acid is a molecule that holds up to 1000x its weight in water, drawing moisture to your skin from the environment, so it’s going to instantly plump and hydrate your skin. I love using this one during the day, underneath my makeup, as it gives my skin an amazing glow and helps to keep it hydrated throughout the day. A word of warning though – if the environment you are in, for example, an office with aircon blasting away, and you use hyaluronic acid, it’s going to dehydrate your skin – as there is no moisture for it to suck out of the air, it takes the moisture from the deeper layers of your skin to hydrate the top layers. In this case, slather it on at night time to avoid unnecessary dehydration.

Moisturisers

Finding a moisturiser that works for you is hard. Whether you need intense hydration, oil control or a bit of both, you might just have to go on a wee journey to find the one you like.

I mostly use a moisturiser to lock in my serums, give my skin a nice glow and instantly plump it up.

As with cleansers, moisturisers work on the top layers of your skin. So while it’s great to have amazing active ingredients in them, just be aware that the molecular weight of a moisturizer means that it won’t penetrate as deeply as you need to make the magic happen. So don’t get too sucked into the active ingredients list for your moisturiser — that’s what your serum is for. Think of your moisturiser as a top coat when you’re painting – locking the paint in and creating a barrier.

Resveratrol, Aspect
Face Hero, Go-To ($49)

Last, but definitely not least – sunscreen

We all know the benefits of wearing sunscreen every day but how many of us actually use it? I don’t care whether you work in an office, don’t go outside, “tan but don’t burn” or don’t like the feeling of it on your skin, it is so important and you need to be wearing it.

It will help protect you from sun damage and prevent the number one cause of premature ageing, protect you from skin cancer and will allow your skin to work to its full potential rather than always being in defence mode.

I know, I know, a little bit of sun is good and we need Vitamin D. But you only need 20 mins of unprotected sun exposure a day to get this and that should be on a large area like your arms, back, legs or stomach, so you have no excuse not to use sunscreen on your face.