How to Create Your Best Minimalist Skincare Routine

In a world inundated with skincare products promising miracles, the minimalist skincare routine offers a refreshing approach. Embracing simplicity and efficiency, this post will guide you through the steps to curate your best minimalist skincare routine. Whether you’re a skincare novice or a seasoned enthusiast looking to streamline your regimen, these tips will help you achieve glowing skin without the overwhelm.

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A Minimalist Skincare Routine

Minimalist skincare routines offer a streamlined approach to maintaining healthy beautiful skin. By paring down your skincare products to the essentials, you reduce the risk of overloading your skin with unnecessary ingredients that could potentially cause irritation or sensitivity.

With fewer products in your routine, you’re also less likely to experience product buildup, which can clog pores and lead to breakouts. 

Simplifying your skincare regimen can save you both time and money, as you no longer need to invest in numerous products or spend excessive time applying them. Instead, you can focus on high-quality products that address your specific skincare concerns without unnecessary additives.

Taking Care of Your Skin

My interest in skincare started at a young age. At only 14 I started to experience severe acne.

I went to the dermatologist for the first time, and learned that simply washing my face was not going to be enough in my case. I had to start using medication. The medication I needed made my skin sun sensitive, so I had to start using sunscreen on my face daily. 

A lot of people say I look younger than I am, and I believe my skin is one of the main reasons. Learning to take my skincare seriously at such a young age has helped me make good habits and choices years ago, that benefit my skin now.

Now I am going to spill my secrets to my minimalist skincare routine, and show you that you don’t need tons of products, just the right products. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to take care of your skin.

In fact, some of the products I use are made with natural ingredients, and I will show you how to make them yourself. Others are affordable, and most you can find on Amazon, or at your local drugstore.

​The Basics of a Minimalist Skincare Routine

​There are multiple articles being published lately about how Generation Z is aging much faster than Millennials and Gen X. This is being attributed to the overuse of an abundance of unnecessary skin care products, and cosmetic procedures (like using fillers and Botox on young skin).

Young skin calls for pared-down routines. It really doesn’t need to be overloaded with chemicals and products galore.

Skin that isn’t showing signs of aging, or that isn’t acne-prone, really only needs the bare essentials.

1. A Gentle Cleanser
2. Moisturizer
3. Sunscreen

Cleanser

My favorite cleanser is a foaming cleanser I make myself. It is super easy, and inexpensive. Here are the easy steps.

• Buy a foaming soap dispenser.
• Fill 4/5 of the dispenser with distilled water.
• Then fill the other 1/5 of the dispenser with castile liquid soap.
• Shake before use.

I have used this cleanser for years. I love that it is so easy to make and use. And I appreciate that it is gentle on my skin, but still effective without drying ingredients like isopropyl alcohol.

Moisturizer

For a moisturizer you can use a cream or face oil. I personally prefer using a face oil instead of creme, since oils work well with Gua Sha (which I do).  I make my own face oil by using high quality, natural oils. Here are the steps to make it.

• Buy brown glass bottles with droppers (I use colored glass to help keep out light so the product lasts longer).
• Fill the bottle about 40% up with Organic Caster Oil
• Then fill another 40% of the bottle with Jojoba Oil
• Next add 5 drops of Frankincense oil for every 1 oz of oil (so if you use the popular 2 oz size bottle, that’s 10 drops).
• Shake before each use.

If you don’t want to make your own products, you can buy an inexpensive product that will still work well. I would recommend Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Face Oil. This is an oil I used before I started making my own, and it works really well.

Sunscreen

This is such an important step for your skin health at any age. It not only helps prevent skin cancer, but also sun damage that causes premature aging.

I also highly recommend always wearing sunglasses that have UV protection. My blue eyes are very sensitive to the sun, so I have always worn sunglasses since I was very young.

I swear that is a big reason why I have so few deep lines around my eyes compared to a lot of others my age. If you want to avoid harsh chemicals in your products, my favorite sunscreen for the face right now is the Coppertone Pure and Simple Face 50 SPF.

Using Your Basic Skincare Routine

For your basic skincare routine, you would wash and then moisturize your skin morning and night. Then use the sunscreen (and your sunglasses) on days where you will be going outside.

If you do have acne-prone skin, you can add a product to suit your specific needs, like Differin or a Benzoyl Peroxide cream. You would use this after your wash, but before your moisturizer.

Also, when going back to basics remember to drink lots of water, eat a healthy diet, and get plenty of sleep. Taking care of your insides is just as important as taking care of the outside when it comes to healthy skin.

You can also add doing face yoga or Gua Sha with a Gua Sha stone to your routine if you want even better results than you get from just using topical skin-care products. There are tons of YouTube videos on these subjects if you want to give them a try.

Anti-Aging Products In A Minimalist Skincare Routine

​​As we get a little older, our skin’s needs can change. You may start to notice some changes like fine lines, or age spots showing up on your face. This is when you might want to add some anti-aging products to your basic skincare routine.

But how do you know what you actually need? Let’s explore what happens to the skin as we age. Then how can we treat those signs of aging directly without just randomly adding a ton of products to our routine because we are getting influenced instead of treating the actual issues.

Collagen Loss

What keeps our skin tight, plump, and taut? Collagen. And while the loss of collagen happens naturally over time, there are also some things we do that can make us lose collagen that have nothing to do with time.

Sun exposure, smoking, sugar intake, lack of sleep, dehydration, and exposure to free radicals can all cause collagen loss. 

To help with collagen loss, use a Retinoid. Vitamin A derivatives like Retinol and Retinoids are essential for improving cell turnover, reducing wrinkles and promoting collagen production. Retinoids can penetrate deeper into the skin barrier than most products so it can actually effect cellular change. 

If you have sensitive skin using a Retinol is probably the way to go. You can find Retinol in a number of different products at the drug store or on Amazon. In fact, it is in the Palmer’s Face Oil I recommended earlier.

If you don’t have sensitive skin, or just want a stronger formula, you can get a prescription for the retinoid Trentinoin by talking to your dermatologist. And if you have acne-prone skin like I do you can use Differin, which is a prescription strength Retinoid that is available over the counter. 

*If you did want to add a product that doesn’t help build collagen, but that does help your skin look more plump, you could add hyaluronic acid serums. They are effective at helping your skin hold in moisture.

​Dull Skin

Why does our skin seem to lose that youthful glow as we age? Old cells don’t naturally slough away as easily and they accumulate. This makes the top layer of our skin, the epidermis, get thicker.

Meanwhile as we age the middle layer, the dermis, gets thinner. This is the exact opposite of what our younger years when we have a thicker dermis, and thinner epidermis. 

So how do we help our skin speed up the cell cycle? With Hydroxy Acids, like glycolic acid, salicylic acid, and lactic acid.

If you have sensitive skin and don’t want to add glycolic acid toners, leave-on creams or new serums, you can substitute the castile liquid soap cleanser I recommended earlier for a wash with a glycolic, salicylic, or lactic acid in it.

Want something a little stronger? Then you can add a leave on product to your routine like the Revitalift 5% Pure Glycolic Acid Peeling toner, or the Revitalift 10% Pure Glycolic Acid Face Serum all from L’Oreal.

And if you want something even stronger, you can do what I do and use 20% Glycolic Acid Peel Pads. These are very strong, so I only recommend using them about twice a week, but they have really brightened up my skin.

Uneven Skin Tone

Uneven skin tone can mean having blotchyness, redness, sunspots, or a combination of all three. This usually comes from sun exposure.

While we of course want to prevent as much sun damage as possible by using our sunscreen, we also can’t avoid the sun all together, so what do we add to our routine to help with uneven skin tone? Vitamin C!

Using Vitamin C in your routine can help skin look more youthful and well rested by reducing redness, lightening dark spots, evening out your completion, and also helping to rebuild collagen.

Vitamin C can be very unstable and break down easily, so I recommend if you get your Vitamin C serum in a bottle that you keep it out of the light, like in a dark cupboard. For bottled serum, I like the daily Vitamin C serum from Vichy.

Or you can get it in daily capsules like the ones from Neutrogena so you know you are getting a fresh dose each time. (The capsules from Neutrogena are the stronger of the two, so they may not be the best for sensitive skin.)

Now because we are trying to keep our routines minimal, and both a Retinoid and Vitamin C help with collagen loss, I would recommend only using them each once a day.

I would add Vitamin C to my morning routine (between washing my face and adding my moisturizer). Then I would add my retinoid to my p.m. skincare routine while my skin is rebuilding collagen while I sleep.

Using a Minimalist Routine For Your Best Skin

That is really all you need to have your best skin ever. There is no need for any 10-step skincare routines or tons of specific products like you see on social media.

All you really need is to go back to basics using the simple steps we recommended above and you can have a routine that takes little time, and without the need for really expensive products.

Would you ever try a minimalist skincare routine? Have you ever tried making any of your own skincare? What products from this post are you most excited to try? Let us know in the comments, we love to hear from you!

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