Want to ensure that your skincare routine is grounded in research and facts rather than based on trends and myths? Keep reading as Introstem shares some pro tips for a skincare reset science would be proud of!
Understand Your Skin’s Needs
If you want to do right by your skin, the first step is ensuring that you fully understand your skin’s needs. After all, this is what science is all about. There doesn’t need to be any guesswork involved when it comes to your skincare reset – science can help you to figure out exactly what your skin is asking for, and your routine can then respond to that.
Even if you think that you already know your skin type, regularly reassessing it is important. Skin types change for various reasons as you progress through life, which is why it’s important to periodically reset your skincare routine.
Skin Type
First things first – understand your skin type. This will significantly influence the ingredients and products that you use. Yes, everyone’s skin is unique, but placing it into a skin type category will tell you so much about its basic needs:
Oily Skin
Oily skin has overactive sebaceous glands, meaning excess oil is produced. This gives the skin a shiny appearance and a greasy feel. Pores on oily skin are more likely to end up clogged with excess oil, which is why this skin type is highly prone to acne breakouts. Lightweight skincare products containing non-comedogenic skincare ingredients are a must. You’ll also need a powerful yet skin-friendly cleanser to tackle the extra oil on your skin – the Introstem VitisCell Foaming Bliss Purifier is perfect for this.
Dry Skin
Dry skin is the opposite of oily skin – it doesn’t produce enough oil. This gives the skin a dry and rough texture, and often a dull finish. Tightness, peeling, and flaking are also common with dry skin. To counter this with your skincare reset, science recommends rich products infused with fatty acids, like the Introstem VitisCell Radiance Overnight Cream, to compensate for the lack of natural oil on the skin.
Combination Skin
Combination skin is a combination of the oily and dry skin types. Some parts of the skin will be oily (usually the T-zone) while others will be dry (often the cheeks). You can either treat these parts of your face separately with different skincare products, or you could make life simpler and opt for formulas that are designed for all skin types.
Sensitive Skin
Sensitive skin is skin that has a chronically damaged protective barrier. It’s not capable of keeping irritants at bay, enabling them to enter the skin and trigger sensitivities. Sensitive skin is easily reactive, making it important to ensure that your skincare routine only contains the gentlest of ingredients.
Normal Skin
Although its name may indicate otherwise, normal skin is the rarest skin type. It indicates skin that’s perfectly balanced, with none (or very few) of the issues that the other skin types have to deal with. This gives you much more flexibility with your skincare routine.
Age
Your skin’s needs change significantly with age. As you grow older, your skin becomes thinner and weaker. It creases easily, with fine lines slowly etching themselves into the skin as permanent wrinkles. Dark spots, which are usually a sign of accumulated sun damage, make themselves apparent too as you progress through life.
There’s nothing wrong with gracefully aging. However, most people end up experiencing premature aging, which is when the skin shows the visible signs of aging sooner than it should. If this is the case for you, it’s not too late to bring youth back into your complexion – you just need the right skincare products. For your skincare reset, science highlights the game-changing benefits of topical antioxidants, particularly vitamin C. While a vitamin C serum, such as the Introstem VitisCell Brightening Vita-C Serum, would be beneficial in just about every skincare routine, it’s particularly important if you’re hoping to combat the appearance of aging.
Season and Other Environmental Factors
If you want to create a tailored skincare routine that’s truly backed by science, you’ll need to take your environment into account. The time of the year, for instance, can really affect your skin’s needs. Sebum production is higher in the warmer months, meaning that lighter products are needed. However, when sebum production drops and the dryness of winter sets in, all skin types will require some extra moisture. You’ll also need to dial down the potency of your skincare routine if your winters are particularly harsh. Bad winter weather can leave the skin barrier struggling to cope.
Of course, other environmental factors affect your skin too. Pollution is a big one in today’s modern world. It’s pretty much everywhere – there’s no getting away from it. It accelerates free radical damage in the skin, leaving the skin looking discolored and creased earlier in life. Antioxidants are the best way forward. Make sure that your skincare routine contains plenty of antioxidant-rich products, like the Introstem ThermoStem Completion Cream, to neutralize the appearance of free radical damage.
Antioxidants will help to counter the visibility of blue light damage too – something else that science has recently brought to mainstream attention. These ingredients help with just about every visible skin concern, making it worth having them sprinkled throughout your entire routine.
Keep It Simple
Once you’ve considered all of the above, how do you go about actually crafting your new and improved skincare routine?
Start by outlining the basics. The three essentials are a cleanser, a moisturizer, and a sunscreen. Find formulas that you enjoy using and that cater to all of your skin’s needs, as above.
Once you have the basics organized, you can then add in any extra products that your skin needs. However, don’t go overboard. The current skinimalism trend isn’t just a hyped-up fad – it’s actually backed by science. Research shows that overloading the skin with an excessive number of products can dramatically interfere with skin barrier function, resulting in redness, sensitivities, and more.
Know Which Ingredients Are Backed By Science
Even once you’ve narrowed down your skincare options by taking into account your skin’s needs and the specific types of products you need, it can be difficult to identify which products you should actually be buying. There are so many out there! This is when understanding skincare ingredients becomes crucial…
While it would be nice to be able to blindly believe a product’s marketing claims, the only way to really decipher whether or not a product will do what your skin needs it to do is by taking a look at its ingredient list. Make sure that the main ingredients on there have been proven by science to produce the results that you’re hoping to see.
Hydration, for example, is a goal shared by many. Scientific studies show that some skincare ingredients are truly superior when it comes to their hydrating capabilities. Hyaluronic acid is one – this humectant has so much research backing it up. Saturating your skin with multiple forms of hyaluronic acid, like the String Lift Sculpting System has been designed to do, will boost your skin’s hydration levels in a big way.
Learning about skincare ingredients can take a while. However, start by researching the science-backed ingredients that your skin would benefit from. Then, look for products that contain them in a high enough concentration.
Know Which Skincare Tools Have Been Proven to Work
Many of the skincare studies that have been surfacing lately have been focused on the use of skincare tools and devices. They’re a great way to boost the efficacy of a skincare routine without having to incorporate even more topical products.
As beneficial as skincare tools may be, pay attention to the science – some work far better than others. LED light therapy is considered to be the gold standard. Devices like the Introstem IntroLite Jade Eye Device are capable of reducing the appearance of wrinkles, puffiness, dark circles, and more. Numerous studies have confirmed the benefits of LED light therapy, making this an avenue well worth exploring.
Other skincare tools, however, like pore vacuums and face tapes, should be avoided at all costs. Use the wrong tool, and you could end up causing severe damage to your skin. However, go with the science, and your skin will be just fine!
Don’t Fall For Hyped-Up Trends
It’s not just pore vacuums and face tapes that shouldn’t come anywhere near your face. There are so many skincare trends floating around that may sound intriguing because of how hyped up they are. However, most will only cause more harm than good to your skin.
Again, this is where it really pays to stick with the science. If you hear about a trend that appeals to you, always do some research to ensure that there are plenty of studies backing that technique/ingredient/concept out before you give it a try for yourself.
Focus on Consistency Instead of Intensity
There’s no getting away from how satisfying it can be to use a skincare product and immediately see a big difference in your complexion. That’s exactly why we designed the EmberCell Anti-Wrinkle Treatment and the VitisCell Ageless Renewal Syringe. Both are specialized solutions that produce instant visible results, from masking the visibility of wrinkles to plumping the look of hollow skin.
However, if permanent improvements in your complexion are what you’re hoping for, you’ll need to be consistent with your skincare. There’s no point putting together a skincare reset science supports unless you’re also going to properly commit to your skincare efforts. Your skin needs attention at least twice a day – once in the morning and again at night. If you aren’t going to give it this, you’ll struggle to see much of a change.
Skincare Reset: Science is What Your Routine Should Be All About
It’s always a good idea to have science at the heart of your skincare routine. If you’ve been straying from this, the skincare reset that we’ve shared above will help to get your skincare efforts back on the right track!
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