How to find Balance in Skincare 

 

This is such an important subject, and one I truly hope I 

can explain in a way that it is down to earth and makes 

sense! :)  

 

One of the keys to having healthy skin is to have a balance 

in your routine, in the products that you put in your skin. 

 

This is a balance between 

Cleansing/Toning/Exfoliation/Hydration/Emollience 

 

Alot of times when our skin is upset (breakouts, excessive 

oiliness, dryness, dehydration, etc) it is because one of 

the areas of the skincare is out of balance.  

 

A tip about dryness vs dehydration - Dry is when your skin 

is lacking oil, and Dehydation is when your skin is lacking 

water. When your skin is super oily, this is usually either 

because the skin is being stripped of its natural oils 

(cleansers/soaps that are drying, chemical skincare, 

chlorine in your water, etc) Or if its not that, it is 

usually hormonal.  

 

To have this balance in skincare you need .. 

 

v Non stripping cleanser (liquid or bar) – Overstripping 

Dry skin will of course only make it more dry. But 

overstripping oily skin can actually make it more oily. 

This is because the natural oils in the skin will start 

pumping out more to keep it protected. Stripping the skin 

in dry and oily skin though can cause it to be irritated.  

 

v Tone with a good toner but one that does not strip skin. 

Try to avoid toners with bad alcohol in them. I say bad 

alcohol because there is good alcohols like grape, or 

grain. Corn (sd40, isopropyl) is NOT good. You can even 

make your own toner, if you really wished! It is easy (but 

I will save that for another newsletter :P 

 

v Hydration [Hydra = Water] (hydrosols and water based 

serums) For skin to be healthy it needs water. Our bodies 

are made up of 80% water (which ironically is about how 

much water is on the earth too!)  

 

v Emollience [Emoil = Oil] (Biological carrier oils or oil 

serums) For our skin to be healthy it also needs oil. Oil 

helps keep the lipid barrier in balance which helps to keep 

the skin protected from outside invaders (bacteria, molds, 

infections, etc) Using biological oils can actually help 

re-balance the oil in your skin by tricking it into not 

over producing oils) The key here though is to find the 

oils that your skin really likes (you end up using only 1-4 

drops at the most) Every oil has a different makeup, some 

are light, some are heavy, and each has a different makeup 

of various fatty acids. Often times if one oil does not 

work, you just need to find one that does. Alot of gals 

also mix it with their hydrating serum to help everything 

sink in better.  

 

v Exfoliation – Under normal circumstances our skin 

naturally exfoliates every 28 – 36 days but as we get 

older, because of the build up of toxins, chemicals, etc in 

our skin, that turnover rate slows down. When our skin does 

not turnover, we get a build up of skin which can either 

cause fine lines and wrinkles or in acne prone skin can 

cause cystic acne. Surface exfoliation is key here for both 

types of skin. In aging skin, it helps to make the lines 

become less noticeable and in acneic skin it helps to 

uncover the surface of the pore which is blocked. If the 

pore "head" is blocked, NOTHING is going to come out (gunk, 

toxins, extra oils etc) 

But you also don't want to over exfoliate either [I rec 

only exfoliating 2-3 x per week] Over exfoliating causes 

our skin to stop exfoliating naturally and can also 

irritate your skin. Irritation can cause acne and dryness 

and also in oily skin can cause it to get more oily. I 

truly believe you can re-teach your skin to naturally 

exfoliate again by giving it antioxidants (to detox the 

skin) and vitamins and minerals to help give it the 

building blocks to repair it. (will talk more about 

antioxidants, vitamins and minerals in another newsletter) 

 

v Masking (do this about 2-3 x per week, on the day after 

you exfoliate. You don’t really want to do this on the same 

day as you exfoliate as this is too much irritation for the 

skin. This will help pull the gunk out of the skin) Usually 

you will mask with clays, as these have drawing power to 

help pull toxins, gunk etc out of the skin.  

v Moisturizer (Creams and Moisturizers have both water base 

and oil base in them (emulsified in some way to bind them 

together) Dry/Dehydrated skin usually needs 

hydration/emollience AND a moisturizer because the 

moisturizer helps to seal in the hydration and emollience. 

But oily skin does not always need both. Some ladies like 

to use hydration/oils and others like to just use a simple 

moisturizer. Some do use both, you just have to figure out 

what works best for you. Combination skin usually likes to 

use both to help combat the dryness.  

 

If one of these areas is out of balance, your skin will 

continue to not be happy. If you're unsure if your routine 

is out of balance feel free to email and I’ll see if we can 

figure out where your skin is at and what may be missing or 

if you are overdoing it in some area.

Jen Flanagan