Why you should always cleanse your skin before bed

Good cleansing is key to great skin

Think of cleansing as the foundations of a building – if you don’t get it right, everything that comes after it will be weak and wobbly. It won’t be long before the whole thing falls apart, and your very expensive windows (or fancy serum) suddenly start to feel like a monumental waste of time and money.

Our skin goes through a lot in the day. There’s the exposure to UV and pollution, the sweat you worked up at the gym or from hot-footing it to the bus stop and even the buttery residue from your morning croissant. Not to mention the clingy SPF, longwear foundation and waterproof mascara many of us favour. If your skin was a simple white t-shirt, you can rest assured it’ll be looking less than pristine by 5pm – especially if you live in a busy, bustling city.

Even if you stay indoors, you can’t shut out the need for a cleanser. Dead skin cells naturally build up alongside sebum, whether you like it or not.

Why is cleansing so important?

First things first, what is cleanser? It's a product designed to keep your skin clean, and without it an unappealing cocktail of daily stressors, grime and dead skin cells can start to worsen skin conditions and accelerate ageing. With nowhere to go, dirt will clog your pores, leading to breakouts. The skin barrier can also become compromised, leading to dryness and irritation instead of coveted radiance and luminosity. In short, it’ll wreak havoc on your skin.

Makeup won’t sit nicely on top of a dull, bumpy base, in the same way a ring of candles won’t distract from a sad-looking birthday cake that got squashed on the way to the party.

The next steps in your skincare routine also won’t work as efficiently or effectively if your skin isn’t clean. Picture it like trying to run through a densely packed forest compared to a wide open field. Serums and moisturisers will just sit on the top of the skin with nowhere to go.

Ending and starting the day with a good, thorough cleanse will negate all of these unwanted scenarios. Single or double cleanse, once or twice a day, that’s ultimately up to you, as long as you’re taking the time to remove all that unwanted grime.