Did you use it wrong? It turns out that toner is not a necessity
Many people are accustomed to using toner 💧 after washing their face, thinking that it can replenish moisture to the skin and help the absorption of skin care products. But in fact, looking at most toners on the market, more than 90% of the ingredients are water, with only trace amounts of moisturizing ingredients. Even if you really use a lot of toner, only a small amount of moisturizing ingredients will remain on your skin, giving you the illusion that your skin has become moisturized for a short time. After a while, you will find that it starts to dry out again.
"That's not right! Any toner I use is absorbed quickly."
The moisturizing feeling after using toner may make you mistakenly think that your skin has become fully hydrated, but in fact this is only a temporary effect. Toner provides external moisture to the skin, but excess moisture cannot stay in the stratum corneum and will only evaporate. (If external moisture can really moisturize the skin, wouldn’t we be able to replenish it by swimming?) Without the protection of preventing water evaporation, toner will accelerate the evaporation of water in the bottom layer of the skin. Long-term use of large amounts will cause keratinization. The layer becomes thinner, dryer and rougher.
"That's not right! You need to use toner to help skin care products be absorbed!"
Moisturizing the surface of the skin can indeed increase the ductility of skin care products, making them easier to absorb. In fact, after cleansing the face with water, the cuticles are still in a moist state, which can bring about the same effect, that is, skin care products (such as essences and creams) can be used directly . In this way, toner doesn't mean much in terms of skin care routine.
To moisturize, it is more important to maintain the natural barrier function of the stratum corneum.
We think that "constant hydration" can moisturize the skin, but in fact , what we call "old dead stratum corneum" itself has its own barrier function, helping the skin maintain appropriate moisture and oil content, and has the ability to store water, lock in water, and defend itself. Excessive use of toner, wiping with cotton pads, patting the skin with hands, and allowing external moisture to evaporate on the skin surface will interfere with the original barrier function of the stratum corneum and make the skin's natural barrier fragile. Therefore , as long as there is less interference with the stratum corneum, the skin can naturally remain supple and shiny.
Supplement ingredients close to sebum for more effective moisturizing
Washing your face or removing makeup will not only remove dirt, but also remove natural sebum, causing temporary dryness and the commonly-known tight feeling. What needs to be added at this time is not toner, but ingredients close to sebum. The intercellular spaces of the stratum corneum inherently contain fat-soluble substances such as molecular tincture, cholesterol and fatty acids. Therefore, compared to water-soluble toners, fat-soluble skin care products can properly moisturize the stratum corneum, are more easily absorbed by the skin, and slow down the evaporation of water on the skin surface.
Moderate skin care is king
Our skin is born with a strong ability to regulate itself and maintain the body in a normal state. If it is constantly disturbed by external forces, it will affect the skin's ability to regulate, such as over-moisturizing and over-cleansing (face cleansing is another topic! Check out this article: Do you know whether you are cleaning moderately or excessively? ). The cause of skin problems. Therefore, it is not necessary to use toner. If your daily skin care routine is too complicated, you might as well try simple and moderate skin care to protect and repair the stratum corneum, so that the skin can maintain a good dynamic equilibrium (Dynamic equilibrium) and return to its original healthy state.
