Skin Cycling with Korean Skin Care
If you were on Tik Tok, skin care blogs, Instagram or basically…. anywhere last year you probably came across the skin cycling trend.
What Is Skin Cycling?
Skin Cycling is essentially a night-time routine that incorporates specific products on “active” days and others on “rest” days.
How Does Skin Cycling Work?
While there are plenty of variations, a typical cycle lasts for four days; two days “on” and two days “off”.
The theory behind this particular trend is to give the skin a break from ‘harsh’ or ‘stripping’ ingredients on some nights. These include things like exfoliants and retinols.
Why? Because over-exfoliationhas some pretty damaging effects on the skin.
In addition, properly hydrating the skin is also crucial. It is particularly important for mature age skin which is prone to dryness and thinning skin.
A Typical Skin Cycle Routine
Skin Cycling Night One: Exfoliation
The focus of night one of a typical skin cycling routine is exfoliation, either with a physical or chemical exfoliant.
While some people find physical scrubs too harsh on the skin K-Beauty has a lot of great options, including scrubs made up of sugar crystals. These dissolve in water, allowing you to manually control your exfoliant.
For those wanting chemical scrubs ingredients to search for are BHAs, PHAs, and AHAs.
Night Two: Retinol
The second night of your skin cycling routine is when you will apply your Vitamin A.
This can either be a prescription from from the doctor, or a gentler variation.
Korean skincare has a lot of great creams containing smaller amounts of Vitamin A. If this is your first introduction to retinol then less is more. Start out with a small thin layer over the face and avoid areas such as under eyes and nose creases. That's because these are prone to dryness and sensitivity.
Night Three and Four: Hydrate
These are the nights to focus on ensuring your skin is super hydrated so that you end up with that flawless, bouncy, dewy skin.
After your double cleansing routine, apply serums and essences that contain hyaluronic acid and go for moisturises and eye creams that are incredibly hydrating. Steam creams and sleeping masks are both great options for these nights.
Skin Cycling with Korean Skin Care
What K-Beauty Products Can I Use For Skin Cycling? Great question. Here's some of our tried and tested favorites:
Exfoliants:
This chemical exfoliant helps to visibly reduce pores while tightening the skin and removing dead skin cells. It is formulated with hydrating ingredients like Soybean, Sesame, and Rice Extract which help to boosts the skins barrier and reduce irritation and dryness.
This versatile manual sugar scrub is made with the thinnest granules of Black Sugar available which allows you to customise your scrub for your skins needs. It is also formulated with hydrating ingredients such as Vitamin E and Ceramides so the skin doesn’t feel dehydrated after use.
Retinol
For retinol infused products rather than a medical prescription thesee are some great creams to start off your retinol journey:
Obviously this cream includes all of the benefits of retinol but it is also infused with peptides which work to deeply hydrate the skin.
Again this cream contains retinol but is a gentler introduction as it is also infused with Hyaluronic Acid, Glycerin, Ceramides and Propolis Extract.
HYDRATING TONERS / SERUMS / ESSENCES
Making in to the Top 5 best-selling products last year, this essence style toner is closer in consistency to a serum than a typical toner. That's because it is formulated on a base of Birch Sap instead of water. In addition, it is packed full of incredibly hydrating ingredients such as Vitamin B5. It also has three types of Hyaluronic Acid.
The reviews for this product speak for themselves.
This ampoule serum is not only hydrating it’s also packed with 43% Bee Pollen Extract. This is known to protect, soothe and strengthen the skin's barrier.
It has the added bonus of Vitamin C which boosts collagen and helps fight the signs of ageing.
Not only is this essence hydrating it also targets pigmentation and sun spots – a common concern for those with mature skin.
HYDRATING MOISTURISERS
Our best-selling product on STYLE STORY is this ultra-hydrating steam cream. Your skin will feel an intense hydration hit from this cream.
The ingenious formula contains a bevy of powerhouse ingredients, including Niacinamide, Vitamin E, Beta Glucan and Squalane.
SLEEPING MASKS
If your skin is needing a bit more TLC on rest and hydrate nights then introducing a sleeping mask is a great idea.
Our best-selling sleeping is mask is this Cherry Blossom infused jelly-texture mask.
Formulated with Niacinamide, Panthenol, Allantoin and more, you'll only need a tiny amount 30 minutes before bed to see real results. Tap lightly to aid absorption and let it works it magic while you sleep. Your skin will be instantly hydrated, softer and bouncier the next morning.
TL;DR: Skin Cycling With Korean Skin Care
Skin cycling is a popular trend doing the rounds on TikTok and skincare Instagram.
If you've previously tried introducing retinol but found your skin experiences extreme dryness, flakiness, and sensitivity then skin cycling might be an option for you. The idea is to try and reap the benefits of Vitamin A without over-exfoliating your skin. When it comes to the products used on your hydrating nights, Korean skincare products are a natural fit for because they focus on hydration and create naturally glowing skin.
Questions About Korean Beauty?
As always, if you have any questions about your skincare routine or if you are just looking for tips on how to achieve your skincare goals please reach out to a member of our STYLE STORY staff.
Alternatively, you can tune into our top rated Korean Beauty Show podcast to learn more.
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