There is a lot of talk on social media and in magazines about beauty rituals and how every person has a different one. If you’ve never really been into skincare and beauty culture, you might never have heard the term or may have heard it but not fully understand what it means. There’s no need to feel out of the loop! We’re here to clue you in.
The word “ritual” usually has religious overtones, but religion isn’t the only place where a ritual is essential. A ritual is a set or sequence of activities involving words, physical objects, or gestures depending on the context and is always performed in a particular order. That order is essential; a ritual’s order cannot be mixed up. A beauty ritual is a set of activities that you perform every morning and every night with your favourite beauty products. The order of a beauty ritual is extremely important because the best selling beauty products that you love need to be applied to your skin in a specific order, or they won’t sink in properly and work as well as they could. Beauty and skincare products only work well if used constantly and consistently. Not only is a beauty ritual good for your skin, but it’s good for your soul! Taking a few minutes in the morning and evening to look after yourself can have a meditative and calming effect.
If this sounds like a great way to look after your skin and do a little self-care daily, then we are here to help. We will share the basic formula for a beauty routine and let you know which products you should be using and in which order.
A basic beauty ritual
Before you plan your ritual or shop for any beauty products, you must understand what kind of skin you have. Oily, normal, dry, and combination skins all require products that include different ingredients. We suggest visiting a skin care professional for analysis before you purchase new products. Once you know your skin type, you can buy your products and get started.
A basic morning beauty ritual will include the following:
● First and foremost, a cleanser
● Next, a serum for your particular skin concerns
● Next, face and eye moisturisers
● Lastly, a good quality SPF
A basic evening beauty ritual will include the following:
● A cleanser
● A serum
● Face and eye moisturisers
● If your skin needs an extra treatment, do a cleansing face mask before all these steps or an overnight face mask for extra moisturising and skin soothing.
The key to getting the most out of your skincare rituals is consistency. You need to take every step, slowly and deliberately, every morning and evening. Cleansers come in to clean with day’s or night’s dirt off the skin and get out anything clogging up the pores. Serums follow cleansers because they are the thinnest product you will use and penetrate the deepest into the skin. Whatever your specific skin concerns (signs of ageing, dry skin, oily skin, etc.) can be addressed with all of your products, specifically with your serum. Once the serum has settled, apply your eye moisturizer first and then your face moisturizer. In the mornings, you must follow your moisturizer with an SPF. Even if you plan on staying indoors all day or if the weather is cool or cloudy, you need to wear your SPF. Harsh rays bounce in through windows and doors and penetrate cloud cover, so remember to stay protected.
What should I look for in products?
There are some ingredients and compounds that you should look for to help with certain skin types and concerns.
Dry Skin
Look for products designed to hydrate and moisturize and gently exfoliate and soothe red, itchy, and irritated skin. These ingredients have therapeutic and softening properties:
● Aloe vera
● Soy proteins
● Cucumber extract
● Niacinamide
● Ceramides
● Hyaluronic acid
Combination Skin
Combination skin is probably the trickiest to handle because it may lean more one way or the other on any given day. Look for these ingredients to help balance it:
● Rosewater
● Meadowfoam seed oil
● Vitamin C and E
● Squalene
Normal Skin
If you’re blessed with “normal” skin, your skin is well-balanced naturally, so all you have to do is maintain it. Look for the following:
● Angelica leaf extract
● Rose oil
● Peptides
● Squalene
Oily Skin
You’ll need to minimise excess oil without stripping the necessary oils from your skin, which can be a tough balance to find! Try these ingredients:
● Acacia gum
● Damask rose extract
● Lotus
● Vitamin E
These are the basics of what makes up a good beauty ritual. You can add more and more to your ritual as you see fit: for example, you could use gua sha to get your serum deeper into your skin or do a weekly peel or exfoliate to keep the skin looking young and fresh. These basic steps will give you all the care your skin could need.
