Why do we need “Toners” – Tonic water, floral water, facial mists or spritzers are fine – but what is a “Toner”.
Traditional “Toners” are alcohol based and were introduced in the 1920’s when women began to remove their makeup with cold cream and lard…This was of course too “oily” and “rich” for their skin and would lead to clogging – so a “Toner” (alcohol) was introduced to “strip” the skin back to a normal pH balance of pH4.5-pH6.0.
Cleansers on the market today are pH balanced so an alcohol based “Toner” isn’t necessary unless you were one of the 1 in 200 people with excess, dripping, oozing oil that needs to be removed. For the other 199 of you I think you are just stripping your skin of its delicate acid mantle leaving it prone to bacteria, irritation, flakiness, redness and “sensitivity”.
How many people have done the old “cotton wool with Toner” test on a clean skin to show that there is still dirt present and how this “Toner” removes excess dirt and closes open pores? Anatomically, pores cannot be opened or closed. The tightness you feel, and assume is “closing the pores”, is actually the last bit of oil being stripped out of the follicle and leaving the skin with an imbalanced acid mantle which in turn leads to more oil being produced to compensate which leads to more clogging and pustules. Such a vicious circle… So in fact, “Toner” actually encourages more oil production which leads to more imbalance.
Another mistruth is the black substance found on cotton wool soaked in “Toner” which is often described as “dirt” – removed from an already clean face! Did you know that when sebum (oil) oxidises (hits oxygen) it turns black -(hence blackheads)…so, in fact, the black on the cotton ball is actually not “dirt” but “oil” – and we all know how much you need that oil to keep the skin soft, hydrated, healthy and balanced…
So please reconsider the use of alcohol based Toners and decide if they are really necessary for your skin type or better still pop into The Ivy Clinic and let me take a look …hope to see you soon … Kelly
Why do we need Toners?
Nov 04 2014
Why do we need Toners?
Kelly Dermody
Skin Health
Why do we need “Toners” – Tonic water, floral water, facial mists or spritzers are fine – but what is a “Toner”.
Traditional “Toners” are alcohol based and were introduced in the 1920’s when women began to remove their makeup with cold cream and lard…This was of course too “oily” and “rich” for their skin and would lead to clogging – so a “Toner” (alcohol) was introduced to “strip” the skin back to a normal pH balance of pH4.5-pH6.0.
Cleansers on the market today are pH balanced so an alcohol based “Toner” isn’t necessary unless you were one of the 1 in 200 people with excess, dripping, oozing oil that needs to be removed. For the other 199 of you I think you are just stripping your skin of its delicate acid mantle leaving it prone to bacteria, irritation, flakiness, redness and “sensitivity”.
How many people have done the old “cotton wool with Toner” test on a clean skin to show that there is still dirt present and how this “Toner” removes excess dirt and closes open pores? Anatomically, pores cannot be opened or closed. The tightness you feel, and assume is “closing the pores”, is actually the last bit of oil being stripped out of the follicle and leaving the skin with an imbalanced acid mantle which in turn leads to more oil being produced to compensate which leads to more clogging and pustules. Such a vicious circle… So in fact, “Toner” actually encourages more oil production which leads to more imbalance.
Another mistruth is the black substance found on cotton wool soaked in “Toner” which is often described as “dirt” – removed from an already clean face! Did you know that when sebum (oil) oxidises (hits oxygen) it turns black -(hence blackheads)…so, in fact, the black on the cotton ball is actually not “dirt” but “oil” – and we all know how much you need that oil to keep the skin soft, hydrated, healthy and balanced…
So please reconsider the use of alcohol based Toners and decide if they are really necessary for your skin type or better still pop into The Ivy Clinic and let me take a look …hope to see you soon … Kelly
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Kelly Dermody
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