Toner Is a Vital Part of Your Skin Care Routine and Here's Why

Just about every time we have someone make their way over to the skin care section of our shop, they ask,"What does toner do?"

Understanding Your Skin

To understand what toner does, you need to understand how your skin works. Our skin is naturally designed to fight infection and environmental stresses, and has a thick, protective acid mantle that is a 5.5 on the pH scale. With 7 being considered neutral, 5.5 turns out to be slightly acidic. Keeping your skin's pH level balanced is quite the feat, especially with all the products and environmental factors that come into contact with your skin throughout the day. Disrupting its pH level can cause skin conditions such as dermatitis, rosacea, and eczema.

What Is Toner?

Toner is the step that goes between cleansing and moisturizing. The purpose of toner is to help restore your skin's pH balance. After you wash your face, your skin is then stripped of all the nasty bacteria and dirt that may gather on your skin, but in turn, the good oils are also taken away as well. This could result in your skin feeling dry and itchy, which is inevitable even with the most natural and gentle cleansers. Essentially, toner is a fast-penetrating liquid that gives your skin hydration, brings it back to it's natural acidic state, sweeps away impurities, and preps your skin to absorb more product. We have two toners, one for acne-prone skin and the other for more normal/combination skin. They contain essential oils and extracts that have incredible properties that help improve the overall appearance of skin, and we will cover the two toner types in a little bit!

Photo by Amelia Eliza

When and How Should You Use Toner? 

As we stated earlier, your skin care regime should go as such:

1. Cleanse 
2. Cleanse Again (if you were wearing makeup before. This is called a Double Cleanse)
3. Tone
4. Moisturize 
5. Serum

Using toner immediately after you cleanse (less than a minute, if possible!) will ensure that the toner's active ingredients penetrate the skin better, since your skin will be a little wet from cleansing. 

If you decide to go makeup-free that day, using a toner in the middle of the day helps remove any grime that may collect on your skin, leaving your skin feeling refreshed.

There are several ways to use toner. 

• For a quick application, close your eyes and hold the toner 6-12 inches from your face and spray anywhere from 1-4 spritzes. Move your face around in the mist to ensure the toner is landing on your skin.
• For a more deliberate application, spray a cotton round or ball with toner and swipe it over your entire face, neck, and even chest. Work outwards, to avoid pulling down on your skin. This method is what we suggest if you are trying to remove more grime from your face, as you will notice the cotton ball turn gray or brown with dirt/old makeup. 

 

Photo by Amelia Eliza

Which Toner Should You Use? 

Just like when you choose a moisturizer, it would be in your best interest to select a toner based on your particular skin needs. We offer two types of toners:

If you have normal/combination or skin that needs brightening:

Cool & Refreshing Toner 

Our cool and refreshing toner is exactly that: cooling and refreshing! With Peppermint as the main extract used, it leaves your skin feeling energized and uplifted. If you're anything like us, you love looking up ingredients and seeing what their purpose is in the product. To make your life easier, here are the ingredients of the toner broken down for you:

• Aloe Leaf Juice: This is the main ingredient in both of our toners. Aloe Leaf juice is a gentle ingredient that moisturizes your skin without leaving a greasy film, it has anti-inflammatory properties, stimulates growth of new cells, and fights aging because of its high density of antioxidants.
• Glycerin: Glycerin attracts moisture onto your skin, smoothes your skin by filling in cracks and lines, nourishes and heals your skin... the list goes on! Seriously.
• Peppermint Leaf Extract: This extract is high in menthol and therefore has a soothing and cooling effect which helps with skin irritations and itching. 
• White Willow Bark Extract: Used because of its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. It is also a natural source of salicylic acid, which has exfoliating and blemish-reducing capabilities.
• Sugar Cane Extract: Major source of lactic acid which leaves your skin smooth because of exfoliation and moisturizing properties. Removes dry and dead skin cells by promoting growth of new cells.
• Bilberry Fruit Extract: Is a great defense against premature aging of skin.
• Sugar Maple Extract: Works as a natural alpha hydroxy acid, which essentially means is helps minimize and repair cell damage caused by free radicals.
• Orange Peel Extract: Has anti-inflammatory properties as well as gives your skin a beautiful glow by reducing blackheads, dead cells, acne, and blemishes.
• Lemon Peel Extract: Because it is high in citric acid, it has been found effective against acne and is able to kill acne-causing bacteria because of its alkaline nature. It also works similarly to Orange Peel Extract in the way that is gives your skin a healthy glow.
• Cranberry Fruit Extract: Cranberries are a huge source of antioxidants and flavonoids which have anti-inflammatory properties. Cranberry Extract has been known to help stimulate the synthesis of collagen fibers which strengthen your skin.

 

If you have acne prone/oily skin that you've tried it all on:

Acne Prone Toner 

Our Acne Prone toner contains essential oils that have been used for thousands of years to improve the overall appearance of skin. Just like we did with our Cool and Refreshing Toner, here are the ingredients of our Acne Prone toner broken down for you:

• Witch Hazel: A plant native to North America, the bark, twigs, and leaves are used to extract active constituents that are then added to alcohol to make this incredible astringent. It kills bacteria living in your pores and speeds up healing in your skin. If can be found in several beauty products because of how quickly effects can be seen. It is the main ingredients in our acne-prone toner because of how well it has treated acne over centuries, and it is ALL NATURAL.
• Aloe Vera: As we mentioned earlier, Aloe is a gentle ingredient that moisturizes your skin without leaving a greasy film, it has anti-inflammatory properties, stimulates growth of new cells, and fights aging because of its high density of antioxidants.
• Vitamin E: Not only is it an essential nutrient in our diet, but it has crazy antioxidant properties that help slow down skin aging and wrinkles, give moisture to skin, reduce hyper-pigmentation and brown spots, brighten skin, smooth and repair scars, cleanse skin... the list goes on. It's just really great.
• Lavender Essential Oil: Another oil that has been used for centuries, it has cleansing and healing properties, which makes it great for more acne prone skin. Its natural antibacterial and antiseptic properties (along with its soothing scent) make it a no-brainer for skin care.
• Frankincense Essential Oil: This oil is extremely expensive, and for good reason! It was given to baby Jesus as a gift from the Three Wise Men and it was valued as equal to, or even above, the value of gold in ancient times! In terms of its skin benefits and properties, it supports healthy cellular function, reduced inflammation, and reduces skin discoloration and imperfections.
• Lemongrass Essential Oil: Has antiseptic and astringent properties that help you achieve a beautiful, glowy complexion.

So now that you know all about toner, will you be adding it to your skin care routine? If you've already incorporated it into your daily routine, what are your thoughts? Leave your comments below!

PURCHASE ACNE PRONE TONER

PURCHASE COOL AND REFRESHING TONER