How to Detox Your Skin for a Healthy, Glowing Complexion
See you later, holiday stress! The start of a new year signals a renewed opportunity to focus on wellness, including the health of your skin. After weeks of increased stress, (delicious) sugary desserts, and increased alcohol consumption, your body’s largest organ may be showing signs that it needs a reset, aka a skin detox.
But unlike a juice cleanse, you don’t need to special order detox-specific products to detoxify your skin. The antidote to your skin’s post-holiday irritation, dehydration, and reactivity lies in a deeply cleansing, restorative skincare routine using clinically-proven ingredients.
What is a Skin Detox?
Your skin is your body’s first line of defense against a daily barrage of free radicals and toxins including pollution, UV rays, cigarette smoke, and other environmental stressors. These can negatively impact your skin’s health by compromising your skin’s protective moisture barrier and causing inflammation and – in the case of UV rays – cell changes.
When you detoxify your skin, you’re attempting to rid your pores of these harmful impurities while strengthening your moisture barrier, soothing irritation, and drenching your skin in hydration to boost radiance, banish redness, and increase your skin’s overall health.
Signs Your Skin Needs a Detox
Signs your skin may benefit from a detox include:
- Breakouts
- Redness and irritation
- Dry, dull, or flaky skin
- Dehydration
- Fine lines and wrinkles, especially around the eyes
How to Detox Your Skin: 3 Tips
- Drink a lot of water. Drinking water helps flush out toxins, hydrate parched skin, and promote healthier clearer skin. It also helps to avoid the dehydrating effects of alcohol and caffeine.
Use the right ingredients. Antioxidants like vitamin C neutralize free radicals, while protective, hydrating ingredients like ectoin bond with water to protect vulnerable skin cells and strengthen your skin’s moisture barrier. Chemical exfoliants such as beta hydroxy acids also dissolving pore-clogging debris, helping to keep pores clear while improving the look of uneven texture Double down on moisture. While active ingredients are crucial, moisturizing ingredients such as Omega fatty acids, ceramides, and squalane nourish the skin while locking in much-needed moisture, further boosting the skin’s moisture barrier.
A Detoxifying Skincare Routine
Follow this routine for a post-holiday skin detox:
Step One: Antioxidant Cleansing Oil
Fight free radicals while effortlessly dissolving impurities and makeup, Our squalane-fueled formula adds a burst of refreshing hydration while nourishing antioxidants target stress and signs of aging, leaving the skin healthy and radiant.
Step Two: BHA Pore-Minimizing Toner
Our alcohol-free toner uses white willowbark extract—a natural, oil-soluble beta hydroxy acid - to gently but powerfully exfoliate and decongest pores. Meanwhile, caviar lime extract works its alpha hydroxy magic to gently exfoliate dead cells from the surface of your skin. All this happens without any drying or over-stripping thanks to our sugarcane-derived squalane, which balances the skin and leaves it smooth and hydrated.
Step Three: Marine Algae Eye Cream
Quench and smooth the undereye area with our multi-award-winning eye cream. Our bestselling undereye treatment uses pink marine algae, a natural source of peptides to plump fine lines and wrinkles while our superhero hydrator, squalane, provides deep and lasting moisture.
Step Four: Vitamin C Dark Spot Serum
Visibly fade dark spots left behind by previous breakouts while fighting free radicals with this 10% vitamin C serum. Our non-irritating vitamin C boosts collagen production for increased elasticity while white shitake mushroom visibly improves uneven skin tone.
Step Five (AM):Vitamin C Rose Moisturizer
Instatly brighten and deeply nourish with our award-winning moisturizer. Vitamin C and fermented lemon peel work together to fight free radicals and visibly improve uneven skin tone as well while sugarcane-based squalane deeply moisturizes and plumps fine lines and wrinkles.
Step Five (PM): Ectoin Overnight Rescue
Our deeply restorative night cream pairs ectoin with squalane to help repair daytime damage and strengthen skin’s barrier while you sleep, leaving skin feeling stronger and more supple after just one overnight treatment. Sleep-promoting magnesium and peptides help calm stress-inducing neurotransmitters to optimize skin’s capacity for repair.
Step Six: Vitamin C Rose Oil
Our science-backed formula features an innovative form of oil-soluble Vitamin C that’s uniquely stable and incredibly gentle. Use it as the final step in your skincare to brighten and moisturize while sealing in active ingredients, or add a few drops to makeup for a fresh, dewy look.
As a lifestyle writer and journalist, I love sharing my passion for ocean conservation and obsession with clean beauty. I’ve tried almost every trend and ingredient, and Biossance’s science-backed formulas are the only ones that consistently calm my reactive skin and make it smoother, clearer, and healthier. I’m so excited to be on this journey of skincare innovation with Biossance, and to share it with you!