Best Way to Cleanse Your Skin Organically

Most skins arc on product overload. Skin has simple needs: to be cleansed, moisturized, nourished, and protected. Despite what the beauty industry tells us, our shelves do not need to groan with creams, lotions, and potions. In fact, some experts believe that the current epidemic of sensitive skin – with 63 percent of women complaining that their skin is more sensitive than normal – can be linked to the unnecessarily complicated beauty regimes touted by cosmetics companies.

Your organic beauty mantra should be: Keep It Simple. Don’t apply layer upon layer ol products. At a push, you could survive on a single oil alone, such as olive oil or jojoba oil, used both as a cleanser and nourisher (although this is not recommended in the sun because, without protection, you could end up frying your skin.)

Natural beauty brands or homemade cosmetics offer solutions for every skin type and tor every age.

Your skin type – and what it needs

Oily skin

Do you shine easily? Are your pores large, or does your skin have a sallow cast? If the answer is yes, your skin is almost certainly oily. Console yourself, however, with the knowledge that oily skin tends to age more slowly.

Oily-skinned people, and those who break out in pimples frequently, are often advised to use skin-stripping toners and cleansers. Yet the only effect of these harsh products is to send oil production into turbo-drive. In reality, simplifying and using gentler products is the answer.

What you do need:

• A lightweight, liquid cleanser.
• A skin freshener without alcohol.
• A light moisturizer for drier areas such as your cheeks and neck.
• Sun protection over the whole face when you’re gardening, hiking, swimming, or spending large amounts of time outdoors.
• You can enjoy once- or twice-weekly face masks targeted at your skin type, if you like.

What you don’t need:

• Harsh, oil-stripping cleansers and facial toners.
• Mattifying or oil-blotting products. To blot your skin, take a facial tissue and separate the layers. Place one layer over the skin and press. It will blot oil without removing your makeup, and can be done as often as you like through the day.

Dry skin

Does your skin peel and flake? Do you have an occasional tendency to redness or sensitive skin? Does it feel tight, as if it’s been stretched? Answer “yes” to any of these questions, and your skin is probably dry.

What you do need:

• Facial oils, at night.
• Sun protection, when you’re spending time outdoors.
• Deep hydrating masks (if you choose).

What you do not need:

• Soap (ever, on your face, and probably only on hands and feet).
• Specific anti-aging creams. Although many may have visible short-term skin-brightening or smoothing effects, nobody yet knows whether, over 20 or 30 years, interfering with the skin’s natural mechanisms will produce side-effects, maybe even hastening aging. Organic beauty uses nature’s bounty, including time-honored ingredients that have been used to turn back the clock for thousands of years.

Sensitive skin

Is your skin tight, painful, red, itchy, or flaky? Does it come out in occasional bumps, itching, or rashes when you apply creams? It’s probably dry and occasionally reactive, or sensitive. This is more common than an allergy, in which a specific ingredient triggers a reaction every time. Treat as dry skin, carry out patch tests on new cosmetics and try to identify the ingredients that cause problems.

Problem skin

Does your skin have frequent spots, rather than the occasional pimple? Is it reddened and sore? Almost all problem skin is fundamentally oily, so follow the advice for that skin type, and above all, keep your regime simple. Avoid harsh spot creams in favor of natural options that work with the skin.

Combination skin

Many people have skin that is oily in the central T-zone, and dry on the cheeks. Use a cleanser for oily skin, following the advice for that skin type, and use a richer moisturizer for drier skin zones. Many women who complain of having combination skin end up with unnecessarily complicated rituals, when what they’re really worried about is the shine on the central panel of their face. In place of mattifying products to mop up shine, try the one-layer-of-tissue trick.