Day light savings

Just a friendly reminder to turn your clocks back one hour tonight (October 31), where applicable.

Toodles!

Supernova

Q/A: Is toner important?

“Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize… is it important that I use toner on my skin?”

There is some debate as to whether the toning step is a necessary part of maintaining the skin’s health. Some people see this as an unnecessary step in a skin-care regime.

The purpose of a toner is to balance the skin’s pH after cleansing.  So purely from this stand-point, yes it is important to add a toner to your skin-care regime.

This is why:

The skin produces both oils (sebum) and sweat, which create a barrier on the skin’s surface. This layer forms a protective barrier against certain forms of bacteria and microorganisms and it may be a factor in the natural skin shedding and renewal process.

The degree to which a substance is acidic or alkaline is measured on a pH scale that goes from 1 (most acidic)  to 14 (most alkaline).

A substance is considered an acid if it has a pH value lower than 7, like lemon which has a pH value of just above 2
A substance is considered alkaline if it has a pH of higher than 7, like soap which has a pH value of 10. Most substances that feel sudsy or are difficult to wash off your fingers, because you wash and wash and wash and wash and your skin still feels sudsy even though it looks clean, are considered to be alkaline.

Pure water is neither acidic nor alkaline and has a pH value of 7 

So with this in mind, the skin’s pH varies between 4.5 and 6.2, so washing your face with even the purest water will change the pH balance of your skin as pure water (at pH 7) is considered to be more alkaline than the skin (average pH 5.5).

Imagine then washing your face with soap (pH 10)… the barrier of your skin is totally stripped, making it defenseless against those bacteria and migro-organisms that are ready and waiting to have a feast. It is for this reason it is not recommended that you wash your skin with very harsh cleansers in an effort to rid your skin of oil, as it will just make matters worse.

A cleanser needs to be more alkaline than the skin so that it can remove the dirt, but not so alkaline that it removes this protective barrier.This is why it is recommended that you use pH balanced skin cleansers rather than soap to cleanse your skin. *ooooohhhhhh*. Yes, it is more than just marketing, it’s actually scientific.

Toners then, are formulated bring the pH of your skin down after cleansing, closer to the skin’s natural pH (they are acidic in nature to balance the alkaline nature of most cleansers). This assists the skin in rebalancing itself after you cleanse, which makes your skin more prepared to deal with absorbing the moisture/ oils it needs from your moisturizer.

So from that point of view, yes toners are necessary. 

Toodles.

Supernova