26 Mar Cleansing Your Face Right Starts With One Crucial Skincare Tool

There is absolutely nothing wrong with cleansing your face with your hands. If you’ve been given an education on basic skincare by the women in your family or through YouTube, you’ll know that there is no better feeling than to rinse off foam suds from your skin after a long day. Gone are streaks of caking makeup, sunscreen, grime and sebum, leaving you fresh-faced and refreshed.

Source: Kylie Skin

And yet, you still suffer from acne breakouts. What aren’t you doing right? Are you missing something? Have the skincare goddesses forsaken you?

Well, the answer may just lie with your complexion.

If you’re prone to greasiness, washing your face with your hands is only going to do so much for your skin. While your cleanser of choice will no doubt do what it’s formulated to do (ie; dissolve makeup residue, dirt, and sebum), its efficacy can be impacted by the nature of your complexion.

Source: Little Miss Melanie

Enter, the facial cleansing brush. By no means a remarkably new addition to the beauty space, these motorised brushes have proliferated Instagram feeds for a steady number of years now. But what makes them an especially coveted addition in so many bathrooms and boudoirs?

Often powered by a motor that either rotates or vibrates the brush head for a deeper clean, facial cleansing brushes have been developed with one key objective in mind: cleaning as far down into the roots of your pores as possible.

Source: Blank Itinerary

This works through a combination of either fine bristles or silicone nubs in unison with the constant rotation or vibration motor, effectively sloughing a day’s worth of detritus down the drain. Which as you can imagine, also includes the dreaded build-up of sebum, making these brushes a potential lifesaver for those with oily complexions.

When picking up a facial cleansing brush, here are a few cardinal rules to take into account:

1. Pick one with soft, fine bristles. Cheaper brushes may be equipped with firmer brush bristles that could potentially irritate your skin.
2. Some brushes contain different attachments, such as massage tips. Use them with your toner or serum of choice to further enhance your skin.
3. Be sure to change out your brush attachments once every two months. Bristles can degrade over time, reducing their effectiveness.

Source: Pretty Little Thing

And when using your facial cleansing brush, here are some pointers to keep in mind:

1.  If your facial cleansing brush doesn’t come with a timer, simply remember that you shouldn’t use your brush for longer than 4 minutes at any given time.
2. Use a gentle foaming cleanser with your facial cleansing brush for best results, as the brush is designed to work well with soap suds.
3. If you have an oily complexion, you may use your cleansing brush daily to keep sebum levels under control.
4. However, for those with sensitive or dry skin, you are only advised to use the cleansing brush twice a week at most.
5. Always rinse out your cleansing brushes properly before storing them away, as the bristles can collect dirt which may lead to the growth of mould and bacteria.

But shhh… Here’s another skincare superweapon you’ll want to keep in your arsenal.

Also read: Facials vs Skincare; Which Is Better?