You probably know more about skin care today than you ever thought possible – ingredients like retinol and vitamin C have surged in popularity in recent years. But the more you know, the more questions you have! These are your most googled skin care questions from 2021, answered by our senior skin care scientist Adam Muggleton.
1. What is the correct order to do your skincare routine?
Cleanser, toner, eye cream, serum, day cream or night cream.
2. What skincare is safe for pregnancy?
How your skin behaves may change during pregnancy due to the changes in your hormones. Most skin care products should be okay to use but care needs to be taken with products containing retinol/vitamin A, high level of vitamin C, Salicylic Acid or AHAs i.e Glycolic acid.
Your skin may also become drier during pregnancy so you may need to a more moisturising and nourishing routine compared to what you normally use, like Optimals Hydra Radiance.
3. Should you wash your face before or after a shower?
You should wash your face after a shower as the temperature of the water in a shower is generally too hot and can dehydrate the skin and cause irritability. Make sure to use tepid water and a mild/gentle cleanser like NovAge Supreme Cleansing Gel.
4. Can you use AHA and retinol together?
When using AHA or a retinol product, the application must be in the evening. If you want to use AHA and retinol together, apply on alternate evenings - not the same evening. Try our NovAge Proceuticals 6% AHA Peel Solution and NovAge ProCeuticals Retinol Power Drops.
5. Can you mix retinol with vitamin C?
Our vitamin C product is recommended to be used only once daily in the evening. However, if you want to use it together with a retinol product, then apply it in the morning and then the retinol product can then be used in the evening.
As these are both highly performing actives, people also need to be careful, as their skin may not be able to tolerate the use of both actives at once. We recommend phasing in their combined usage gradually in order to avoid any potential irritation.
6. How to get rid of acne?
Several things can cause acne: Hormones, lifestyle, stress, poor diet. smoking and genetics can promote the occurrence of oily skin and, ultimately, breakouts. To prevent breakouts use products that regulate sebum production, and exfoliate your skin to unblock pores and help shed dead skin cells. Our Pure Skin range or the NovAge Clarifying System are recommended.
Avoid over-cleansing and using too harsh a cleanser as this can make acne worse and dry out the skin which triggers an overproduction of sebum.
