Confession time here… I didn’t start consistently washing my face at night until I went to beauty school. Even after I started washing my face every night, I never felt like my face was really getting clean. Then I learned about double cleansing. No, a double cleanse does not mean washing your face twice with the same cleanser. Double cleansing is starting with an oil-based cleanser and following that cleanse up with your skin-type appropriate cleanser. I get a lot of clients commenting on how it seems counter-intuitive to wash your face with an oil-based cleanser, especially if you have oily skin to start. Here’s why an oil-based cleanser works. It’s chemistry… like attracts like. Don’t just take my work for it. Look it up. When using an oil-based cleanser, the oil, the dirt, the make-up, and all the other shit that gathers on your skin throughout the day, are attracted to the oil-based cleanser and begin breaking it down in a way our regular cleanser just can’t.

I will experience periods of laziness, when I can’t be bothered to do a double cleanse, and inevitably, I find that my skin starts to feel like there is a build up of grime that my cleanser isn’t tackling. Eventually, I’ll get tired of that feeling and go back to the art of the double cleanse using my favorite oil-based cleanser, Precleanse from Dermalogica. Those of you who have oily skin or skin that’s prone to congestion will especially benefit from this technique and product. Pick up yourself a bottle of Precleanse from Dermalogica. You can thank me later or better yet, let me know what you noticed when you did.