Discovering A Shocking Truth About Your Skincare Routine!
Upon reaching a milestone of five years in a skincare focused industry under one of the “leading beauty companies”, I am still in shock at how often toners are skipped and overlooked in skincare regimens. Generally when I ask, “Are you using a toner?” the most common answer that I get is “I don’t use a toner…. should I be using one?”
It would be safe to say that the Western and Eastern beauty culture views toner differently.
The same can be said about the old school definition of toners versus the more progressive interpretation and the evolution of it in the Western beauty world.
The most common old school approach to toners are those that are marketed for acne reducing with high concentration of alcohol without any sort of supplemental hydrating ingredients, similar to a traditional witch hazel which often times dehydrates the skin and creates a sensation of tightness to the most top layer of skin.
To ensure the most pH balanced of skin, you need to find a toner that both satisfies your skin issues as well as promotes higher levels of hydration within the barrier and reservoir. Just because a cleanser makes you feel extra clean does not necessarily mean that your toner should make you feel ‘even cleaner’. That feeling generally means that you’ve already over-stripped the skin of its natural moisture and unbalanced your oil glands a.k.a. you may be doing too much.
So, let’s begin — what exactly is a toner?
Well, if that isn’t a loaded question, I don’t know what is — just kidding. Toner is the “teacher for the skin”, it allows for your skin to understand balance, adaptation, oil production, as well as addressing multiple skincare issues. Toners are often chock full of antioxidants and acids to reduce oil, get rid of sebum, hydrate from the inside out, and even provide protection against free radicals.
There are toners made for everyone, for those who are dry, oily, combo, dehydrated, and such. They can provide a boost of essential antioxidants and vitamins that an existing routine or diet may be lacking. It can help provide an additional cleanse, remove excess dry skin, deposit ingredients to help with congested skin, so on and so forth.
Toner Types:
Instant Absorption/Lightweight Toners: Most toners that fit in this category are spray on toners that may feature Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Glycerin, Rose Water and Hyaluronic Acid.
Excess Oil/Sebum Reducing: The toners that fit in this category often feature some of these ingredients such as Salicylic Acid, Tea Tree Exact, Witch Hazel Extract, Malic Acid and even Alcohol Denat.
Exfoliation Toners/Pads: These toners double as an exfoliator and as a toning agent. Many of these feature common ingredients such as Alpha Hydroxy blends of Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, and Mandelic Acids.
Hydration Based Toners: This category of toner tends to be on the heavier side of the spectrum and take longer to settle into the skin. Oftentimes, they’ll share ingredients with the spray-on application ones such as Glycerin and Hyaluronic Acid, but may also include richer ingredients such as Squalene, Essential Oils. They generally steer clear of Alcohol/Alcohol Denat.
Granted due to constant changes in the industry and high demands of products, some products may overlap certain ingredients from other categories and may not fall into a specific category.
Toner Formats:
Spray-on & Go: This type of application is one of the easiest forms of toning. On fresh skin just spray and apply your next skincare product!
Exfoliation Pads: These generally require a little bit more work; it usually starts with pulling a pre-moistened pad out of a container and then by using circular motions to gently buff the skin. Once the buffing is finished, it’s better to fully let this formula settle into the skin before applying other products such as retinol serums.
Exfoliation Liquids: These generally provide the highest level of efficacy since the user can decide on how saturated a cotton pad should be before buffing the skin with the exfoliating fluid. The only downside to this option is that it requires using cotton to lift dead skin and debris.
Hydrating Liquids: Compared to the other toning methods, since this requires more of a patting motion, if the user is more dehydrated and dry, it may take a little longer for full absorption to take place. In this scenario I generally would recommend the usage of a spray-on prior to this application, but that ultimately depends on budget and time.
Going Forward…
So now that we’ve spent plenty of time going over the definition the toning step and the types and formats of toners — keep your eyes peeled on this page and make sure you’re following me on Instagram: @BeautywithLi to be among the first to see more in-depth reviews on some of my favorite toners and toner recommendations for those that may have a different skin type.