I’ve been pretty big into skincare for a couple of years now, but COVID has definitely been an up-and-down time for skincare for me. I haven’t been going out, which means I haven’t been wearing makeup as often, which means that I haven’t been washing my face as often as I should. I’m pretty good about it in the morning, but by evening I’ve been getting lazy and just ignoring my face. Needless to say, my skin wasn’t doing very well.
Add wearing a mask on top of that, and I knew that I needed to do something to make my skin happier. That’s when a friend sent me an article about double cleansing, and like the self-respecting nerd I am, I knew it was time for an experiment. I’d been feeling down for a while and I needed to do something to make myself feel like a superhero again.
What is double cleansing?
Double cleansing is something that I had heard a lot about but had never tried. Usually, to remove my makeup I’d use a bit of micellar water and hope for the best and then follow up with face wash, but that didn’t seem to be enough anymore.
When you double cleanse you clean your face twice. First, with an oil-based cleanser and then a water-based one. It’s not much different than what I normally did, but different enough that I thought I would give it a try.
To begin, I knew I needed to get myself an oil-based cleanser. I have heard nothing but good things about Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm, so I decided to give the cult favourite a try.
I’m not wildly knowledgable with oil-based cleansers so I decided to just go with the one I had heard of before. I already used a water-based cleanser (Sébium from Bioderma, if you’re curious) so I didn’t need to buy one of those.
The cleansing balm I’m using is solid in the container and turns into an oil as your fingers warm it up. I was at a loss what to do with it that first night. I wasn’t sure how much to use, and it didn’t seem to be dissolving my makeup as well as I would have liked.
Luckily, that was something I figured out on the second night I tried it. I put a tad more on and let it sit for a minute before rubbing my makeup off, and it came off so much cleaner. It also amuses both myself and my girlfriend that it makes me look like a raccoon as I’m removing my makeup. Raccoon chic anyone?
My face felt cleaner, but kind of oily, after using the balm, which is why you need to finish with a water-based cleanser. I couldn’t believe how clean my face felt afterward.
I was used to water-based cleansers, but using them alone had never made my face feel this clean before. The longer I used both of them, the happier I was with the results. After a few days, my skin was back to looking clear and happy.
I didn’t wear makeup every day which meant I had nothing to remove, so I skipped double cleansing on those days. I didn’t think it would make a huge difference, but my face really didn’t feel as clean on those days.
I was worried that cleaning my face twice would dry out my skin, but the oil cleanser prevents that. I was also afraid that the opposite could happen and that my face would become too oily, but that didn’t happen either. Most importantly, it felt nice to be doing a little something for myself.
Cleaning my face starting becoming a little piece of self-care in my day, and I think that’s what I really needed. Double cleansing might not work for everyone like it worked for me, but I encourage you to try to find a little routine in your day that does work. It doesn’t even have to be skin related.
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