How often should you wash your face is one of the few beauty questions that applies to just about everyone. Young or old, man or woman, skincare obsessive or beauty skeptic, we all clean our faces on a regular basis. Or at least, we should all do so.
In fact, cleansing your skin is up there with shampooing your hair and brushing your teeth in terms of day-to-day maintenance. It's a nailed-on essential, however basic the rest of your regimen may be. "Cleansing is the cornerstone of all good skincare routines," explains Fiona Brackenbury, aesthetician and skin expert with 30 years of industry experience, "get it wrong and it can play havoc with your skin."
Luckily, it's actually very simple to get it right. Picking the best cleanser for your skin type and clarifying how often should you wash your face is pretty much all there is to it. Let this expert-approved cheat sheet be your guide.
As a general rule, most skin experts agree that twice daily is best. "You should cleanse twice a day, both morning and evening," says Nurse Dawn Attewell, skin specialist and founder of Dawn Attewell Aesthetics. The reason for doubling up is that your AM and PM cleanses play different roles. "In the morning, it's important to wash your face to remove excess oil," says Dr Elif Benar, dermatologist and founder of Dr Elif Clinic. "In the evening, I'd recommend a double cleanse to rid the skin's surface of makeup, SPF, debris, and toxins that may have built up throughout the day."
Just as it sounds, double cleansing means using one product to dissolve makeup and surface grime, then another to wash the skin more deeply. Brackenbury agrees a double cleanse is a good idea for your evening cleanse. "This is based on the skin being exposed and bombarded with environmental aggressions such as pollution, dirt, and grime during the day, which adhere to the skin as well as SPF and makeup."
You may question if a morning face wash is strictly necessary after going to bed with double-cleansed skin. But actually, sleeping is dirtier work than you might think. "Washing your face in the morning can help prevent a buildup of bacteria that you may have picked up from your pillow or hair during the night," explains Attewell. "A morning wash will also remove excess oil from the skin, preventing blemishes and breaking out and helping our skin to absorb ingredients."
The rare exception to this rule is those with very sensitive skin that gets irritated and inflamed by over-cleansing. So how often should you wash your face if that's the case? "Over washing the skin can cause irritations, dryness and that 'tight' feeling that occurs when the skin is stripped of its natural oils," says Dr Benar. "If twice a day is too much for your skin type, take it down to once in the evening."
However, this shouldn't be the case for most people. If your skin is feeling tight after washing, switching to a gentler cleanser may be a better first call than ditching your morning wash altogether.
Learning how often you should cleanse is the basis of a great skincare routine, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. "There's no need to wash your face more than twice a day - any more and it may dry out your skin," says Aparna Salaskar, senior beauty and laser therapist at Aesthetics International.
According to Brackenbury, this is because, "Over cleansing will damage the protective skin barrier, leaving the skin vulnerable and for bad bacteria to flourish causing breakouts. Natural oils will also be stripped from the skin leaving it feeling dry and dehydrated which can cause sensitivity and redness."
If you are an ultra-diligent cleanser, follow a skincare routine for acne or just love the feeling of a fresh and foamy face wash, it can be tempting to over-cleanse. But twice a day really is the limit for everyone.
Washing with water alone offers the sensation of having cleansed, but not the benefits, explains Dr Victoria Manning, of River Aesthetics. "This will not remove debris, dirt and makeup. Water alone won't cleanse your skin or break down these oils which have built up throughout the day." Our experts agreed there's no harm in a refreshing splash of H20, but it's not a substitute for the real thing. "It's a bit like rinsing the dirty dishes with just water and putting them away in the cupboard ready to be used again," explains Brackenbury. That's us convinced!
We've questioned how often should you wash your face, and learned the purpose of each individual cleanse, the final piece of the puzzle is what to wash with. Much of this comes down to skin type, as the best cleanser for acne will not be the same as the formula you need for dehydrated skin, or rosacea.
For an all-rounder that you can use morning and night, gentle yet effective is the name of the game, Salakser recommends the best cleansing oils, as they "are great for removing traces of makeup and dirt as they bond with impurities on the skin." While Brackenbury advises using balms that transform into a milky texture as well as "cleansers that contain enzymes to aid the removal of dead skin cells, which can trap dirt and impurities causing breakouts and the skin to look dull."
If you want to take a more targeted approach, some cleansers are better suited to particular times of the day. "I highly recommend using a gentle cleanser in the morning and then the evening, an exfoliant," says Dr Manning. Dr Benar agrees that gentle skincare acids make excellent PM washes. "An AHA [alpha hydroxy acid] cleanser is excellent for daily use, once in the evening," she says. "AHAs weaken the bonds that hold dead skin cells together to brighten skin, make tone more even, reduce fine lines and improve hydration."
For more guidance on cleansing effectively, our guide to how to wash your face properly has all the expert tips and beauty editor-approved products you need for a sparkly-clean, happy and healthy complexion.