How to maintain a healthy skin even in your sleep

After a busy day at work, nothing beats lying down in bed and catching up on your favourite show before dozing off, right? Wait! Did you kiss your skin goodnight first? If you don't have a night-time skin care routine, it is time to set up one. At night, when you are resting, your body is busy fixing the day's wear and tear as best as it can. While resting, your skin cell regeneration doubles up; production of collagen is boosted, harmful free radicals are destroyed and damaged cells are repaired. Additionally, the skin absorbs more active ingredients at night as they are not broken down by sunlight. A proper night-time skin care routine helps the skin's nightly rejuvenation, ensuring that you put your best face forward every day. Here's a basic guide to get your night-time skin care routine up to par:

1. Remove your makeup

You should never ever go to bed without removing your makeup! Keeping makeup on through the night can irritate your skin and cause pimple and acne breakouts, rashes, dryness, and a dull complexion. Eye makeup such as mascara and eyeliner can also get into your eyes and lead to eye infections.

When your skin is caked with makeup while you sleep it's unable to breathe easily, which interferes with the natural rejuvenation process and ultimately makes the skin to age prematurely. Leaving makeup on can also clog your pores, and over time, make them larger- leading to loss in elasticity and a more infection-prone skin. Buy a good quality makeup remover and use a swab of cotton wool to thoroughly wipe off your makeup. For waterproof makeup, use an oil-based remover. Be gentle- rubbing your face or eyes to remove makeup can cause wrinkles.

2. Cleanse

After getting rid of makeup from your skin, it is time for a gentle cleanse. The goal is to remove dirt, dead skin cells, and harmful makeup residue, and excess oil that have build-up on your skin during the day. Apply a gentle cleanser on your face with your fingertips or a soft washcloth and wash off with lukewarm water. Use a cleanser which is suitable for your skin type. If you don't have a cleanser, use a gentle bar soap especially formulated for facial use. Don't use harsh soaps. When you cleanse your skin at night, you don't have to do it again in the morning. Over-cleansing can strip off natural oils, which makes the skin dry and irritated.

3. Protective products

With makeup and dirt removed, now it is time to spoil your skin with nourishing and protective products. If you're older than 30, this is the time to incorporate a night cream into your daily skin care routine. However, don't go for just any night cream; look for one which best suits your specific skin's needs. Mature women should go for night creams that have strong anti-aging properties to prevent wrinkles while repairing existing ones.

Tip:For dry skin, look out for products containing fatty acids such as linoleic acids and ceramides to repair the skin's natural moisture barrier.

For sensitive skin, avoid harsh ingredients and go for fragrance-free, natural products which sooth and heal. Coffeeberry, green tea, lavender, and Vitamin C are great for sensitive skin.

For oily skin, look for hydrators like hyaluronic acid, glycerine, dimethicone, and AHAs.

If you don't like night creams, this is also the perfect time to apply serums, essential oils, or other plant oils. Seal in your night cream with a light moisturiser.

4. Eye cream

The skin around your eyes is thin and prone to discolouration, puffiness, sagging and wrinkles. Additionally, there are minimal oil glands in the area to keep the skin adequately hydrated and ward off premature aging. Many people think that using a night cream and a moisturiser is enough to keep your eye area protected. However dermatologists say that night creams might be too harsh for the eye area, hence the need for gentler eye creams. Eye creams are specially formulated for the thin, sensitive skin around your eyes – which means they are gentler, have more antioxidants, and are more hydrating than your normal night cream or moisturiser. To get extra coolness from your eye cream to soothe puffy eyes, store it in the fridge.