A Wren Says

seconds before rinsing. Seeing that one piece of advice led me to go to the drug store and buy the Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser they advertised on a different page and start my first skincare routine. And that was it. I just washed my face. No moisturizer afterwards. I was a kid. They didn’t say anything about that, so I didn’t bother. But that little bit of advice stuck with me, even as I would eventually switch products and add more steps in my routine as I got older.

There was a resurgence in this advice recently, with some suggesting going up to 1 minute. The way that people seem shocked by this reminds me of their consternation that you should be lathering your hands with soap for 17 seconds before rinsing it off. In both cases you want to give the cleanser time to doing its job. Give it time to break down the oils and carry the dirt, grime, and makeup away.

Following the directions on your cleanser, pre-wet your face or don’t. Then gently massage the product on your skin. (Gently, my dear. You want to show your face love, not tear it apart.) You’ll find that 30 seconds is longer than it seems. You will finally have the time to work into all the different crevices and zones you frequently miss: Your forehead, the sides of your nose, your chin. Then, you rinse thoroughly, perhaps using a soft, damp cloth to ensure you’ve removed all of the residue.

Now, if you were already luxuriating on your face wash time, this may do nothing to elevate your skincare. But if you were a splash-and-dasher, this could be a habit that elevates your skincare by increasing your ability to cleanse your pores and remove all the barriers to your skincare products getting in there to do their work.

Did you already know about the 30-second cleanse? If so when did you learn it?