Welcome back to the blog! Today, we’re discussing your skincare routine.
This is an exciting time, with many new skincare products being discussed regularly as well as devices and tools. But it can also quickly become overwhelming, leaving you unsure which products to buy or how to use what you have.
Consistency and efficacy are the main considerations when building your routine. Read on to learn what important categories should make up any routine focused on skin health and anti aging - and how that works with your NEWA device.
An effective skincare routine will help you get the most out of your NEWA - and protect your results!
The Basic Steps
In putting together a skincare routine, you first want to gather your essentials. These are the products that everyone should be using as they’re key for the health of the skin. They’ll also make sure your skin is in good shape for targeted treatments and devices like NEWA.
Basic Steps:
- Gentle cleanser
- Moisturizer
- Sunscreen
Each morning you should cleanse (dry skin can rinse with water if you prefer) and apply sunscreen. At night, you should remove that sunscreen (and any makeup) with a gentle, low pH cleanser and follow up with moisturizer. These nonnegotiable products should also be selected according to your skin type.
Dry skin often has depleted or disordered skin barrier lipids with dehydration, resulting in tight or flaky skin. Look for a cream cleanser and more moisturizing sunscreen and moisturizer formulas with skin identical ingredients like ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids.
Oily skin is a result of over production of sebum from the sebaceous glands - often accompanied by enlarged pores and even congestion and acne. You’ll want a gel cleanser and light lotion or gel moisturizer. Look for ingredients like niacinamide, salicylic acid, and green tea.
Not sure of your skin type? The Baumann Skin Type Quiz is excellent and can be taken online.
The basic steps above are what you need at minimum and you can add on a few more basic steps depending on your skin needs:
- Dry or dehydrated skin can benefit from a hydrating toner
- If you wear makeup or mineral sunscreen, you may want to pre cleanse at night with an oil based cleanser
- If you’re prone to clogged pores, gentle exfoliation with salicylic acid or mandelic acid may be helpful
Targeted Steps
Once you’ve covered the basics, you can get a little more specific. This is where you go beyond the products needed for skin health and skin type and hone in on your skin concerns.
Before you get started, decide what your goals are. It’s easy to get ahead of yourself and add everything and the kitchen sink to your routine but it’s not about quantity. At the start of this post, we mentioned the importance of efficacy. That means selecting proven products based on your concerns and goals.
There are many skin concerns out there - from hyper pigmentation, acne, clogged pores, dull skin, fine lines, sagging, and more. This section will be focused on skin aging and the common changes to the skin. Be sure to read up on menopausal skin and facial aging, as discussed previously here on the blog.
What is proven topically to prevent skin aging?
- Sunscreen
- Antioxidants like Vitamin C
- Niacinamide
- Retinoids
- Alpha hydroxy acids
As a result, we suggest incorporating these steps into your routine if anti-aging is your primary concern. See below for what that would look like.
Morning:
- Gentle cleanse
- Vitamin C serum
- Hydrating toner or serum
- Moisturizer (if needed)
- Sunscreen
Evening:
- Double cleanse
- Hydrating toner or serum
- Retinoid
- Moisturizer
Weekly:
- Glycolic acid or lactic acid
Niacinamide can be found in many hydrating toners and moisturizers.
And of course, always adjust based on your skin needs. If you don’t need a hydrating step or moisturizer in the morning, skip it. If you don’t wear makeup or water resistant sunscreen, a single cleanse in the evening may be fine. If you’re using a prescription retinoid like tretinoin, applying after moisturizer may help with irritation.
Okay, but what about addressing skin aging once it’s present instead of prevention?
Unfortunately, skincare is largely preventative. Retinoids can help both in preventing and targeting skin aging but there’s not much else that can help with the latter.
That’s where skin treatments come in. Listed next are some of the most widely used anti-aging interventions used in office.
Skin Treatments:
- Microneedling
- Laser
- Chemical peels
- Radio frequency
- Injectables
NEWA offers an effective option at home, allowing you to maintain results between professional sessions or skip them entirely. As we’ve discussed previously on the blog, we lose collagen yearly and skincare alone simply can’t address that.
The other interventions mentioned are effective but not something you can do at home without a professional present. Injectables also aren’t of interest to everyone and some options like chemical peels aren’t safe for all skin tones.
Now, do you need multiple skincare devices and tools if you have NEWA? No. 3DEEP radio frequency is proven and effective. Paired with a good skincare routine, you can both prevent and target skin aging.
This leads us into the importance of consistency in addition to efficacy.
Putting Your Routine to Work
What isn’t discussed nearly enough is the importance of time and consistency - in addition to using products that work.
If you’re constantly changing your products, they won’t be able to do their job. It’s okay to try new things - just be intentional. Use up a product fully before swapping to the next and even if you change products, try to keep the ingredients consistent. Like the proven ones mentioned above.
What about skin treatments though?
Skincare devices and tools are more popular than ever right now and we often get questions from NEWA users on using our device with others on the market. See our posts on red light therapy and microcurrent for example.
This is perfectly fine - provided you’re able to remain consistent. Don’t take on more than you can use. An expensive product sitting on the shelf won’t help your skin at the end of the day, especially if you get so overwhelmed that you’re not using anything at all.
We recommend doing the 30 day intensive period with your NEWA at 5 days a week. Then, once you’re in the 2-3 treatments a week for maintenance, you can add in other treatments around it. Only if you want to, it’s optional. NEWA RF is one of the most proven and effective devices on the market and will improve skin thickness, firmness, and elasticity.
Make sure to check back for more posts if you found this helpful! You can also message us on the NEWA Instagram if you have a topic you want covered.
