Washing your face is a necessary step in your skincare routine.

It removes all the excess oil from your face, it also clears your face of any external pollutants that have been sitting on your face all day.

I looked up how many times you should wash your face a day and this is what I’ve found.

We’ve been told time and time again to wash our face. This advice comes from a variety of people, dermatologists, beauty magazines and even our moms.

Yet I’ve heard about people not washing their face and other people washing their face 4-7 times a day. What’s the actual number?

How many times should you wash your face a day?

The gold standard:

It’s generally recommended that you wash your face two times a day. Once during your morning routine and once dring your evening routine to get good skin.

That isn’t true for everyone, it depends on your skin type:

Dry skin:

You don’t need to wash your face twice a day.

The skin does not produce excess sebum so the only thing you need to wash off is the impurities from the pollution in the air. It is recommended that you wash your face at night and splash water on your face in the morning or wipe your face with a cotton pad and rosewater, this is a favourite.

If you over wash your face this will strip your skin of the little sebum it has.

Oily skin:

It is recommended that you wash your face twice a day.

This is because you need to remove the excess oil on your face. If not you could wind up getting clogged pores because of the excess oil mixing with the dead skin cells on the face.

There are ways to steam out the sebum if your pores are clogged.

Combination skin:

Because you have more than one type of skin on your face you need to wash your face twice a day. That being said, you still need to pay close attention to what your face is telling you.

Wash according to how your face is acting that day. When washing focus the product on the oily areas

You can choose to not wash your face at all on some days. The skin has the ability to regulate itself.

Note: this doesn’t work on all skin types, read more about not washing your face for clear skin here.

Other factors to consider:

Skin type

I’ve written an article on people who don’t wash their face every day and still achieve great looking skin.

I’ve also written a more in-depth article on the effects of not washing your face.

How often you need to wash your face is mainly dependent on your skin type and the genes you were born with.

The same way that some people will not take care of their skin but it looks amazing and other people will use a whole range of products to deal with their blemishes but still get acne.

It all depends on your skin’s makeup.

Simplifying your skincare

Dermatologists actually recommend doing this. Simplifying our skincare routine is actually a good idea.

We’re not going back to the days of washing, moisturising and calling that a skincare routine but your skin most probably needs a break.

When you add more products to your skincare routine you run the risk of damaging the skins moisture barrier.

If this happens the skin will get irritated or worse. Washing your face less, with fewer products, can actually do you good.

What feels best?

Two people can use the exact same products, do the exact same skincare routine, to a T, but not get the same results.

There are so many other factors that come into play. You need to listen to your skin, it comes down to what feels best for your skin.

Just like how some people use coconut oil on their skin and it works while others can’t because it breaks them out. It all depends on your skin.

If you stop washing your face and you feel that your skin gets better then that’s your routine if you wash it twice a day and it’s happy then great.

Product dependent:

The products that you’re using will affect how often you need to wash your face. Some products only need to be used once a day, others twice a day.

In addition, if you use moisturizing products then you can wash your face twice a day.

The products won’t dry out your face and they will allow you to feel clean and to add moisture to your face as well.

If you’re using drying products then you should wash your face less often as these products will trigger your skin to overproduce oils.

In fact, you shouldn’t be using drying products in the first place.

You should use moisturizing products to avoid your skin trying to overcompensate for being dry by producing more oil.

Lifestyle

If you live an active lifestyle and you work out then you need to clean your face right after you finished exercising.

Cleaning your face will prevent you from getting breakouts on your skin.

Is it okay to wash your face 3 times a day?

No, it is definitely not ok to wash your face three times a day.

You may be tempted to wash your face three times a day if your skin starts to feel too oily, if you work out often, if you feel a pimple coming on or because of reasons relating to the environment but washing your face any more than twice a day will result in over-washing your face.

Even washing your face twice a day could be pushing it for some skin types.

Over-washing can lead to dryness on the skin, a damaged moisture barrier (read more here) and even excess oil production.

When we wash our face many of us use harsh products that strip the skin of its natural sebum. This causes excess dryness and excess dryness triggers the skin to produce more sebum in an effort to moisturise itself.

This excess sebum production results in even oiler skin.

If you feel the need to wash your face 3 times a day you should replace some washes and rather wipe your face down with some makeup wipes, rosewater or remove excess oil with blotting paper.

Blotting paper can be used in the middle of the day when you feel your skin is becoming too oily. These are good blotting papers. Makeup wipes can be used if you get a little bit of dirt on your face, here are some favourites.

Rosewater can be used the mornings to wipe your face down, this is a well-loved rosewater.

Should you wash your face in the morning?

You don’t have to wash your face in the morning if you’ve already washed your face at night. As we go about our days our skin gets exposed to dirt, dust and bacteria in the air.

We need to remove all this grime at night. This will allow the skin to rejuvenate itself in an optimum environment.

That environment is clean, preferably exfoliated and treated skin.

If you’ve washed your skin well at night then you won’t need to wash your face in the morning. As you sleep the only thing you need to worry about is sweat.

You can use rosewater to remove the sweat from your face in the mornings. Rosewater is great to use compared to just water because in addition to removing sweat it delivers nutrients to your skin.

It is anti-inflammatory and also reduces any redness or irritation on the skin.

What should I wash my face with?

What you wash your face with depends on your specific skin type.

The skin types are oily skin, dry skin, normal skin, combination skin and sensitive skin. All these skin types have their own needs.

Here is a little guide of what you should wash your face with depending on your skin type:

Oily skin:

If your skin overproduces oil and you usually have to deal with a shiny face then you need to use a face wash that can control and balance your oil.

Using one that cleans out your pores will be a good choice, charcoal cleansers usually do the trick. This is a favourite charcoal cleanser

Dry skin:

This is the opposite of oily skin. Your skin doesn’t produce much sebum and this can leave you with skin that is dry, rough, flaky and tight.

You’ll need a cleanser that cleans your skin but does not make it drier. A gentle hydrating and moisturising cleanser will work for you. If you can, use a sulphate free cleanser. This one works well.

Normal skin:

This is a very coveted skin type. If you have this type of skin your skin will most probably be naturally even and matte. It will also be moisturised, a good balance between the two skin types mentioned above.

Your skin will work well with any product. For extra hydration and moisture, it will be good to use a hydrating cleanser as well. This is a favourite

Combination skin:

This is a middle ground between the first two skin types but not a desired middle ground.

You will have oily skin in some areas and dry skin in other areas. This skin type can be difficult to work with.

When you wash your face you should use a product that cleans your face but also adds hydration to your skin as you clean. This one works well.

Is Dove bar soap good for your face?

Dove bar soap is not good for the face.

You shouldn’t be using bar soap on your face at all.

You should be using a soap that has been specially formulated to be used on the face, something like a beauty soap.

Bar soaps are very harsh on the skin, they contain surfactants. These surfactants are great at cleaning, they break down oil and dirt very well, a little too well.

When used on the face they break down dirt and oil but they also break down sebum thus stripping your moisture barrier and resulting in dry, cracked, irritated, itchy skin.

If you want to use soap you need to find a soap that is free from surfactants

What is the best soap to wash your face with?

A good beauty soap can be great to use on the face.

They are long-lasting, generally more environmentally friendly and are generally more adorable than facial cleansers and face washes.

If you’re looking for the best soap to wash your face with look no further than the Dead Sea Mud Soap Bar

This soap is a well-loved and wildly used soap that is gentle and moisturising so it can be used on your face.

The soap contains nourishing and moisturising ingredients such as shea butter, extra virgin olive oil, sustainable palm oil and organic castor oil among other ingredients.

It cleanses the face without being harsh on it and adds moisture too. The soap is chemical and preservative-free and as a bonus, it is vegan, cruelty-free and free from animal setting.

Can you remove makeup with soap and water?

It depends on what type of makeup you’re wearing.

Yes, some makeup can be removed by using soap and water but others can’t.

For the latter, if you use soap to try to remove your make up you’ll wind up rubbing your skin too aggressively when trying to clean your face. You could rather use an oil or balm cleanser to gently remove your make up

Oil cleansers have become a more popular choice when looking for something to remove your make up these days.

They work off the principle that “like removes like”. This means that the oil will break up your make up with minimal effort and minimal rubbing. This method is called oil cleaning method.

Read more about the oil cleansing method here. Oil cleansers and balm cleansers work equally well.

This is a well-loved oil cleanser and this is a well-loved balm cleanser.

Does not washing your face cause ageing?

Yes not washing your face does cause ageing.

If you sleep with a face full of makeup and you let the dirt, dust, grime, debris and other irritants and pollutants from the environment to collect on your face for days on end you will wind up developing wrinkles faster.

All of this gunk collects on your face, seeps into your pores and eventually results in the breakdown of collagen and elastin in your skin.

Collagen and elastin are what keeps our faces pulp and firm. When this breaks down we start to develop fine lines wrinkles thus ageing your skin.

Cleanse your face to avoid this from happening. Also, use a good retinol to rebuild collagen, this is a favourite.

What happens if you never wash your face?

In addition to your face showing signs of ageing faster here are some other things that will happen when you don’t wash your face:

Breakouts: When you don’t wash your face sebum from your skin mixes in with your dead skin cells and with any dirt and bacteria that may have landed on your face. All this gunk collects and clogs your pores causing pimples.

Enlarged pores: If you don’t develop pimples you’ll develop enlarged pores as the gunk from the many days collects in your pores and stretches them.

Dirty pillows: Anything that your skin collects throughout the day will mix in with your make up and will transfer onto your pillows. Every time you sleep on these pillows you will add more dirt and bacteria.

Oily skin: When you “remove your make up with makeup wipes” (I use inverted commas because makeup wipes don’t clean all the makeup) and you don’t wash your face afterwards there will still be oil and leftover makeup which will give you greasy looking skin.

Does hot water age your skin?

Hot water does age your skin.

Using hot water on your face may help you relax but it isn’t the best for your skin.

Hot water strips sebum off of your skin, sebum is the skins way of naturally moisturising and hydrating itself.

When the sebum is stripped your skin becomes very dry. Repeated use of hot water will make your skin excessively dry and this will lead to wrinkling and ageing.

In addition, the hot water will also make your skin more susceptible to cracking and infections.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the hot water will weaken the blood vessels in your skin, this causes added redness on the skin.

That’s it for my article looking at how many times you should wash your face in a day. I hope you enjoyed this article if you did then please share it.