We spoke to two skin-care pros: Georgia Louise, celebrity esthetician and founder of New York’s Georgia Louise Atelier, and Dr. Craig Kraffert, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist and president of luxe Korean skincare line Amarte, to find out if, in fact, adding this additional step to your skin-care routine is worth it.
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Louise is a longtime advocate of double-cleansing, and has always recommended it for her clients. That’s because a lot of people aren’t really cleaning their skin effectively, she says. She recommends cleansing first with an oil cleanser, followed by a cream cleanse or foaming wash. “Everyone should be using an oil cleanser,” she says. Why? With the addition of the oil cleanse step, “like removes like. If you are oily and have an oily T-zone and you wear a lot of makeup, you can guarantee that the oil cleanse is going to remove everything,” Louise says. Once all of the grit and grime is off, then your cleanser is able to truly work on the skin itself, and not just on the stuff stuck on top of it.
Louise says double-cleansing in this way is beneficial for all skin types, not just oily ones. “If you have really dry skin, you’re helping to really nourish the skin. If you have sensitive skin, an oil cleanser is very soothing and calming.”
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Like Louise, Kraffert also agrees that double-cleansing is an important part of the skincare regimen and is suitable for all skin types. However, Kraffert’s specific method differs slightly from Louise’s. Kraffert suggests first using a gentle foaming cleanser followed by a cleanser that contains gentle exfoliants to exfoliate and polish the skin. Kraffert suggests the combination of these two types of cleansers because foaming cleansers cleanse the skin without drying and exfoliants remove dry, dull skin to reveal the smooth, radiant skin that is underneath.
“Cleansing and then exfoliating are the first two steps of the Korean skincare regimen,” he says. “Double-cleansing of the skin can provide improved removal of oil, keratin, and assorted microscopic skin debris.” Kraffert believes that the double-cleansing method is an integral part of an effective skin-care routine because “the cleaner and more optimally-exfoliated the skin is, the better the initial and long term results of virtually every other step in your regimen will be.” That’s because, per Kraffert, getting your skin as clean as possible allows whatever products you use next (moisturizer, toner, serum, etc) to penetrate deeper into the skin—getting you the maximum benefit from the products.
(We also love this natural cleanser with apple cider vinegar and lavender).
No matter the route you take, the key to effectively washing your face is making sure to remove all impurities before REALLY getting to the cleaning part. We’re looking at you, ladies who fall asleep with their foundation on!