How and Why to Use a Facial Toner

As any skin care professional will tell you, the three main steps to an optimal skin care regiment are 1) cleanse, 2) tone and 3) moisturize. There are, of course many other skin care products you can add to this basic routine if your skin has specific problems such as acne blemishes, redness or signs of aging like fine lines or wrinkles, but these are in addition to, not instead of, the basic three steps.

Skin Routine Step 2: Toner
Toners are used after cleansing and before moisturizing. Using a toning product further removes dead skin cells and debris that cleansers leave behind. They come in different formulas for different skin types: sensitive, problematic, dry and normal. It is important to use one specifically formulated for your specific skin type, so read the labels and do your research. Every major brand will have one that matches your exact skin care needs.

Toning products are typically applied with a cotton ball or cotton pad. If you have highly congested pores or active breakouts, you must not ever skip this step of your routine. They remove blackheads and further exfoliate to remove flaking dead skin cells (debris). It also acts as a Ph balancer which calms the skin and reduces redness and inflammation due to acne and rosacea. Toning can also reduce the skin’s production of oil if you have acne prone or problematic skin. For people with dry skin, toning balances the Ph and also makes the skin more receptive for Step 3 which is moisturizing. The moisturizer will be more deeply absorbed by skin that has been properly toned. An added bonus is that you will end up using less product with your moisturizer when your skin is toned first. The moisturizer goes on more easily onto toned skin.

Different toning products use different active ingredients, depending on the type of skin it is meant to treat. For example, the ones for sensitive skin often contain witch hazel, rose water and green tea extract, all of which effectively tone the skin without being too harsh. Products for acne prone or problematic skin often contain stronger ingredients such as hydroxyl or salicylic acids which are necessary to remove deeply imbedded impurities, particularly on the forehead, nose and chin. Toning products for dry skin are much like the formulas for sensitive skin, with aloe and chamomile extracts that aid the skin in sloughing off dry skin flakes and absorbing moisturizers.