I'm not one of them.
I guess it's a similar compulsion to my need to wash my hair every single day. If I don't wash my face it the morning, it simply doesn't feel clean to me. I can tell myself all sorts of things about the delicate acid mantle and my skin's need to stay moisturized by its own healing oils, but it makes little difference. If I don't wash my face, it feels greasy and unclean to me. My oiliness is the major problem, but then there's also the fact that I'm a delicate princess and I drool and sweat and flounder around all night long.
I've also found that if I don't wash my face in the mornings, my skin looks greasier throughout the day. It can affect the wear of my makeup. There are a lot of perks to having oily skin: reduced fine lines, less need to moisturize, much fewer signs of aging, and a general glow that many folks have to get from a spritz of hydrosol or some kind of dewy luminizer. I am grateful for all of these things. What I don't like is the feeling and look of greasiness, especially at work or when I'm out somewhere trying to look pretty. So I wash my face every morning.
All that being said, I've become much more cognizant of the need to be careful with my face, especially as I get (gasp) older. I don't want to strip my skin of nutrients and moisture, I just want to remove any sweat, dirt, or grease that's accumulated overnight. I want something gentle and refreshing that will provide the proper base for makeup. I used to use raw, local honey -- which works fantastically, don't get me wrong! -- but I think I've found something even better.
Skin by Ann Webb is a local brand here in Austin that is something of a cult secret. I suspect that it will become less so now that it's being carried in several area Whole Foods. This is a brand that I want to talk more about in a later post, so I won't ruin that for you and I'll just focus on the product that got me started with Ann Webb: Peppermint Cleansing Milk.
