Skincare journal
How to Look After Your Skin Between Facials
The four things that make a genuine difference at home, and the expensive habits that quietly undo a good treatment.
A facial every four to six weeks is roughly twelve hours of care a year. The other eight thousand seven hundred and forty eight hours are yours. That is not an argument for buying more products, it is an argument for getting four simple things right.
The first three days after a treatment
Your skin has just been cleansed twice, exfoliated and had active products applied. It does not need anything else doing to it.
- No exfoliating, physical or chemical, for three days
- No retinol, no vitamin C at high strength, no acids
- No new products, so that if something does react you know what caused it
- SPF in the daytime, without exception, because freshly exfoliated skin burns more easily
Skin usually looks its best on day two or three, once everything has settled. Worth knowing if you are timing an appointment around an event.
The four things that actually matter
1. Cleanse properly at night
Not in the morning particularly, though it does no harm. At night, when your face has a day of sunscreen, make up, sweat and city or country air on it.
The test for a cleanser is simple. If your face feels tight or squeaky immediately after rinsing, it has stripped your skin. That squeaky feeling has been sold as cleanliness for decades and it is actually the sound of a damaged barrier. A cream, balm or oil cleanser leaves skin feeling soft rather than scrubbed.
If you wear make up or a high factor sunscreen, cleanse twice. First pass takes off the products, second pass cleans the skin.
2. Use SPF every day
This one does more for how your skin looks in ten years than everything else on this list combined. Ultraviolet light is responsible for the large majority of visible skin ageing, and UVA passes through cloud and glass. That means Dorset in February and a desk beside a window both count. There is a fuller explanation in the SPF piece.
The practical version: find one you do not mind wearing, keep it beside your moisturiser, and use it as the last step of your morning routine.
3. Stop over exfoliating
Once or twice a week. Not daily, not with a scrub and an acid toner and a retinol in the same routine.
Over exfoliating produces a temporary glow that people mistake for progress, followed a few weeks later by redness, stinging and skin that suddenly reacts to things it was fine with. If that describes your skin, the fix is to stop for a month. This is covered in more detail in the sensitive skin guide.
4. Apply onto damp skin
Serums and moisturisers work better on skin that is still slightly damp, because the humectant ingredients need water to draw on. Pat your face rather than rubbing it dry, then apply. It costs nothing and makes a noticeable difference, particularly if your skin is dehydrated rather than dry.
Cleanse without stripping. Wear SPF. Exfoliate less than you think. Apply onto damp skin. That is a genuinely good routine and it costs less than most people spend on a single serum.
The habits that quietly undo it
Changing everything at once. Four new products in a week means that when something reacts you have no idea which one did it. One change at a time, four weeks each.
Buying by ingredient rather than by need. Niacinamide is excellent and it is not for everyone. Retinol is excellent and it is not for everyone. Buying whatever is being talked about is how bathroom cabinets fill up with things used twice.
Giving up too early. Two weeks is not a trial. Skin renews on a four to six week cycle, which means four weeks is the minimum before you know anything.
Treating the face and ignoring the neck. The neck and décolletage age faster than the face and get a fraction of the attention. Whatever you put on your face, take it downwards.
What to buy, and what to leave
Worth spending on: a cleanser you actually enjoy using, and an SPF you will wear daily. Both get used every single day, so both earn their place.
Worth having eventually: one serum aimed at your main concern. Hydration, brightness, texture, pick one.
Worth skipping: anything bought because of a claim you cannot check, and any routine with more than five steps unless you genuinely enjoy the ritual.
The Tropic products used during treatments are available if you want to carry the same routine on at home, and there is never any expectation to buy them. A sensible routine using what you already own beats an expensive one you abandon.
Not sure what your skin actually needs? That conversation is part of every appointment. Ask about a treatment and bring your questions with you.
Common questions
Leave it three days. Your skin has already been exfoliated during the treatment, and doing it again too soon is one of the most common ways people end up with a damaged barrier.
No. A cleanser that does not strip, a moisturiser, and something with SPF for the daytime will do more than a shelf of serums used inconsistently. Add a targeted serum once those three are habit.
Give anything new four weeks before judging it, and change one thing at a time. Skin renews on a four to six week cycle, so a fortnight tells you very little.
