Everyone has several routines they tend to stick to throughout our day, whether it’s a regular list of chores or the steps they take to get ready for work. However, a skin care regimen should stand out above the rest. A morning and night skin care routine work together to maintain a clear complexion while ensuring that your skin cells stay healthy and durable. This can go a long way in keeping you looking and feeling your best throughout your life.

These routines will look different for everyone, but there’s a base template we must follow in order to achieve success. Your morning and nighttime practices should even serve two very different needs. These are the differences between a morning and evening skin care routine and what your goals should be with each of them.

Morning Routine

When you think of how to care for your skin, your morning routine is probably what comes to mind. It sets the stage for how you begin your day, and a solid process is the key to protecting your skin as well as making it glow. However, if you’re going to make the most of this time each day, you first need to know the objective behind it.

Your Skin’s Needs

To start off, your morning routine is meant to prepare your skin to withstand the hazards it’ll encounter during the day. These include dirt, grime, sweat, sunlight, makeup, and pollution in the air. Bacteria can also be a problem during the day due to the number of items you generally place close to your face. From your cellphone to your hands, these things deposit germs on your skin, potentially worsening existing blemishes or causing new ones to form. The more stressors your skin comes into contact with during the day, the more damage that occurs to the deeper layers of collagen. Therefore, the primary roles of a morning skin care regimen are to protect and strengthen the skin while repelling the things that can harm your skin cells.

Crucial Steps

It’s important to understand how that translates into the routine itself. Begin by cleansing your face to remove any harmful bacteria and dry skin cells from the night prior. This will ensure your skin is thoroughly cleaned and ready for the steps to follow. Make sure you’re using a cleanser that works well with your skin type. Otherwise, you risk severely drying out your complexion and fostering irritation.

Next, apply any treatment products or serums you have. These could be formulas designed to fight acne breakouts or to lighten any dark spots—or hyperpigmentation—you may have. Treatment products will work to combat harmful bacteria and prevent blemishes, while serums will infuse your skin with additional nutrients. With more vitamins and minerals at its disposal, your skin can strengthen itself against additional stressors outside.

After this, apply a light eye gel around your upper and lower eyelids. Since the skin around your eyes is more fragile than that on other areas of the body, it’s more susceptible to showing fine lines, wrinkles, and puffiness. As such, these products help this part of your face specifically by smoothing out any inflammation and making the region easier to apply other products over.

Finally, finish up with a moisturizer and sunscreen. Hydration is vital to keeping skin strong because it provides cells with extra durability and responsiveness to damage. However, over-moisturizing can make your skin appear oily and increase your risk of acne. So, find something on the lightweight side that still provides adequate moisture for your skin type. Apply an SPF 30 sunscreen afterward to reduce sun damage, and you’re all set for the day.

Nighttime Routine

Your nighttime regimen, on the other hand, should have a different purpose entirely. Essentially, this routine should prepare your skin for the day to follow rather than focus on preventing damage. Here’s what you need to know to create a solid nighttime process.

Your Skin’s Needs

Your skin doesn’t need as much protection at night. This is the core difference between a morning and evening skin care routine. Since you’ll be asleep in your bed, there are fewer stressors to concern yourself with. As a matter of fact, your skin does most of its repair work during the nighttime hours, fixing as much damage as possible from the day that has just passed. So, if you’re going to make the most of this time, make sure your goal is to promote quality recuperation for your complexion.

Crucial Steps

In many ways, your nighttime routine will look similar to your morning one. You’ll remove any makeup you still have on, cleanse your face, apply your different treatments, and moisturize. However, the difference lies in the products you’ll be using. Instead of using lighter-weight formulas to prevent oiliness, you’ll want your nighttime products to be a bit thicker to provide extra hydration. After all, your skin will need the extra moisture to rebuild your damaged skin cells and promote the proper amount of cell turnover throughout the night.

The serum you choose may differentiate from your morning one as well. Certain ingredients are better for rebuilding cells than others, and the more cell turnover you can promote, the clearer your skin will be come morning. So, find a product that uses ingredients such as retinol and vitamin C for the most impact.

You won’t need to use sunscreen, either, since you won’t be going outside. This eliminates a step overall but provides you with the opportunity to add an extra task to your regimen: many people choose to use this time for exfoliation, as it’s one of the best ways to remove dead skin cells and help your skin absorb products more effectively. Another potential option is applying a hydrating skin mask if you suffer from dry skin.

At Flawless Beauty and Skin, we’ve done extensive research into the best skin care practices and what makes the most effective skin care products. Our whitening beauty creams, for instance, contain powerful ingredients such as glutathione; they’re the perfect ways to treat dark spots and correct uneven skin tones. We even formulate products that fit into both your morning and nighttime routines so that your skin is always receiving the best possible care. Visit our website or give us a call to learn more about how our products can help you achieve the complexion you want.