To cleanse or not to cleanse: Should you wash your face in the morning?

I’ve recently been looking into switching up my skincare routine. Many sites will recommend the types of products you should be using in the morning versus the evening and in what order: Cleanser, toner, serum, eye cream, moisturizer, sunscreen, primer, and the list goes on. It can get a bit lengthy, so I started looking into what each of them truly does for your skin. And when I saw cleanser kept popping up as the first product you use on your face each morning, I couldn’t help but wonder, “why?” How dirty could my skin really get overnight?

Here’s what I learned: The recommendation to use a cleanser first thing in the morning varies by the person. First things first, everything assumes you cleansed the night before which totally makes sense to me after being out and about, exposed to all of the elements outside. So if you cleansed the night before and you put all of these lovely moisturizing products on your face overnight, why would you want to wash all of those off the next morning?

Well, you might want to cleanse your face in the morning if you have oily skin. Cleansing your face will help remove oil and dirt that can build up on your skin overnight. Again, I can’t imagine it would be much but it may be more than the person who has normal to dry skin. The one thing you can do, no matter your skin type, to reduce the need to cleanse in the morning is wash your pillowcase regularly! If you’re keeping up with a solid wash routine (I recommend weekly), then you’re more likely to remove any dead skin cells or dirt that could be trapped in your pillowcase and transferred onto your skin at night.

So, I ask again: To cleanse or not to cleanse? What will it be for you?