Is a Toner necessary in your skin care routine?
- By Prabhu Karthikeyan
Quick Answer : We love Multi Taskers and toners and what they can do, easily makes it THE multi-tasking legend. We can’t think of any other skin care product / format that packs so much functional benefits in one bottle - deep cleans, balances, shrink the appearance of pores and also stays as a ‘leave on’ delivering potent actives deeply.
Sure enough, there is a whole lot of debate and confusing view points around the need and importance of a toner in a skin care routine, with sceptics saying its eminently skippable, while some others swear by it.
Most of the bad rep for toners is around how they really don’t do anything much at all. Some critics say that cleansers are meant to clean and that many of them anyway leave your skin balanced, so why do you really need a toner? And of course, that toners contain alcohol that cause a stinging sensation, that just can’t be good for skin.
However, all that is really quite retro! The truth is that toners have come a long way and today, they are far from being a mere astringent or a skin balancer. New generation of skin toners have been formulated to address various skin concerns and are often loaded with a lot of do-good ingredients and can do a lot more including rehydrating skin, balancing pH, tightening skin pores, relieving irritation.
We definitely think that Toners are a great way to take your skin routine to the next level because of these reasons :
1) An Important Extension of Your Cleaning Routine
Not all cleansers are created equal, and many are not very good at deep cleaning, and removing sebum, the build-up of which could eventually create breakouts. You’d been surprised to see the amount of deep gunk that a good toner can pull out onto to a cotton pad, despite even a double cleanse. Imagine leaving all that deep into your skin. Oily, acne prone skin can especially benefit from decongesting of your pores by a good exfoliating toner.
2) Shrink the Appearance of Pores
Increased sebum production traps dead skin and impurities leading slower cell turnover and a build-up, giving an appearance of enlarged pores. While toners don’t really make the pores smaller, it makes it less congested and appear smaller, normal.
3) Preps skin for Improved Skin Care Absorption
A good toner helps clear away all debris and provides a clean, deeply hydrated fresh canvas for the rest of your skin care routine, helping better penetration and absorption of skin care actives.
4) And Most Importantly, Can be Functionally Potent Too.
We have always thought that toners, when formulated well, can even level up to be on par with a serum even, packing Functional Actives, Anti-oxidants and Skin Restoring Agents, that can stand alone be capable of delivering visibly improved skin.
That's the formulation philosophy that we have taken with TrueKind's Toner formulas. Consider the TrueKind's Clear Difference BHA & Tea Tree Acne Clearing Toner for instance.
Apart from powerful functional actives like 2% Salicylic Acid, Tea Tree, Azelaic acid, willow bark; upto 35% of the Formulation is an absolutely potent Adaptogenic Ayurvedic blend of Turmeric, Black Mustard, Sweet Flag, Coriander, etc, packing a big potent anti-oxidant punch. We'd think these would do far more than mere balancing!! :)
The Best Way to Use a Toner
Use a Toner right after cleansing the face. It’s best to use a cotton pad when using a toner - a surefire way of clearing out impurities your cleansers didn’t catch. This also helps make the product deposit well. You will definitely not see all its benefits when you’re merely spraying it or dabbing it on your face.
Net, surely we'd think that its definitely worth considering picking a good toner than has functionality beyond mere tone and balance! Especially, if your skin is oily and prone to acne and black-spots!