Caroline Hirons: 10 things you need to do for great skin

Yahoo

29-01-2025

When it comes to skin care, few hold as much sway as Caroline Hirons. Whether advising her hundreds of thousands of followers on how to tackle dry skin or seeking out the best product for itchy skin or acne, Caroline's steer is revered. Here, she outlines ten rules for really, really good skin.
Less is more; people use too many products. My routine is simple: in the morning, I cleanse, use an acid on occasion, mist, put on eye cream, then apply serum — mine is called The Antioxidant (£70, skinrocks.com) — moisturiser, and, if I'm leaving the house, SPF. At night it's as little as two or three steps: I cleanse, apply my retinoid and follow with eye cream. I might throw on a moisturiser or oil afterwards if my skin feels dry, but not always. You really can get away with it being that simple. Remember the old 'grip don't slip' rule, too: if you're applying so much product that your skin is greasy, scale it back. Ditto if your make-up sits oddly or pills (where it bobbles as you apply your foundation), which are both signs of using too much product.
Washing your face isn't good enough — you really do need to exfoliate. Cleanser will remove dirt and surface grime, but exfoliation, ideally done with an acid such as the Skin Rocks Gentle Acid (£49, skinrocks.com), really helps the skin to look smooth and healthy. Think of it as priming a canvas; I always tell people Picasso didn't paint on concrete and skin needs to be prepared properly too if you want it to look good. How often you exfoliate and which acid you should use depends on your skin. If your skin is oily, you will likely need salicylic acid, which will help to dissolve clogs in pores. Most people should exfoliate once or twice a week but if you're worried about wrinkles, you might need to do it more often as skin turnover slows when oestrogen is depleting.
You don't need six serums or eye creams for different things. With my new eye cream (Skin Rocks The Eye Cream, £65, skinrocks.com) I purposefully made it to target lots of things at once. I wanted it to make an immediate difference to fine lines and wrinkles — without the benefits being washed away at the end of the day. By the way, that whole thing about applying your eye cream in three dots under your eyes is a mistake — for the best effect, you should apply it mostly to the side of your eye, where laughter lines gather.
This is a cardinal rule, especially if you have acne. It's important to avoid harsh foaming cleansers that contain surfactants, which throw the skin out of balance and strip away natural moisture. A gentle version is fine, because that way you won't be dealing with dehydration as well as acne. Retinoid is a good way to go if you want to reduce acne — that's what it was originally used for. You may notice a slight reaction at first if using a good one, but I'm talking about it being a little pink, nothing dramatic. If it's red and sore, you should back off.
We are a nation of boozers and it's just not good for you, full stop. If you're perimenopausal or menopausal, I'd suggest giving up alcohol entirely because when you have less oestrogen, the liver can't break down alcohol properly. Alcohol is especially bad for skin, causing dehydration and inflammation. I always tell people that they have every reason to stop, because the body starts to repair itself quite quickly, and you'll notice the difference in how your skin looks.
Vaping is in the same category as smoking for me. It's horrendous for skin and lungs — and, trust me, anything that goes into your lungs goes into your skin. Yes, it may not have as much nicotine but it has formaldehyde and other crap. It also still means smokers' blackheads emerge, along with that grimy skin hue. Just as with alcohol, when you stop vaping, skin quickly starts to look lively again.
Sugar causes glycation, which I describe as taking the joints out of the scaffolding holding up the building, meaning things start to collapse. If you're a sugar addict, at 50 you won't have the face you could have, and you absolutely won't look your best. Remember that sugar sneaks in everywhere — I'm not talking about the odd bit here and there, but rather the daily sugars hidden in foods such as bread, pasta and chips.
Glycerin is an emollient that helps barrier function by repairing and softening skin, acting like a shield against the elements. As a primary ingredient, it's a much better hydrator than hyaluronic acid for lots of reasons. The claims made around hyaluronic acid are too big and it can be very aggravating for skin, especially if barrier function is compromised, but glycerin rarely causes those sorts of reactions.
It seems mad to me that if people had a problem with a nail they'd go to see a podiatrist, or with their hair a hairdresser, but they would turn to the internet for advice before going to see a facialist. That's insulting and just completely wrong — we need to bridge the gap of trust between the professional world and the consumer. Remember too that a dermatologist is different from a facialist; you should go to a facialist when you want to take care of your skin's health and have overall maintenance, but visit a dermatologist for a specific issue.
I pathologically avoid trends because they are part of marketing. If you want to know who to trust outside your facialist, look for someone who doesn't only talk about their own product. Brands I trust, aside from my own Skin Rocks — for which every product is clinically tested by a third party— include BYOMA, Sam Farmer, the INKEY List, Jordan Samuel Skin, and Josh Rosebrook; I like to know who's behind the brand, that's important for me.