"There's really no reason to wash your face in the morning, especially if you thoroughly cleansed the night before," says Hirsch. (Ah ha! I win!) "But, at the same time, there's nothing wrong with cleansing the face every morning, as long as you're not overstripping the skin with harsh, drying cleansers.
By washing your skin well at night and removing all impurities and makeup, you eliminate the need to wash your face in the morning. Your skin repairs itself at night, producing an acid mantle that can serve as a protective barrier during the day.
As the skin undergoes some changes during the night time, a morning cleansing is necessary to remove dead skin otherwise throughout the day the skin can become very oily.
"Some people may just not be genetically predisposed to breakouts or may produce less [oil],” says Batra. If that sounds like you, you may actually find your skin looks better when you ditch your cleanser.
“Realistically, you only need to wash your face once a day — twice at the most," says Dr.
Skipping your morning skincare routine has the potential to cause a variety of issues, such as clogged pores, acne, and leaving the skin more susceptible to damage caused by pollution and the sun's harsh rays. Over time, all of these factors can lead to premature aging and a dull complexion.
The Cons to Nighttime-Only Washing
Not removing active nighttime skincare ingredients like retinoids, which may cause photosensitivity. The possibility for bacteria and dirt living on towels and pillowcases to stick to the skin. Your daytime skincare ingredients may not penetrate as well on non-cleansed skin.
Do you ever feel your skin looks better in the morning? The reason is often attributed to the fact that your skin gets thicker in the morning, as it prepares to protect against stressors throughout the day. And yet, even at its thickest point, our skin is less than a tenth of an inch thick.
Peer-reviewed studies have found that your skin is actually thicker in the morning than at night, and wrinkles are less pronounced in the morning as well. While there's no doubt that adequate sleep will make you feel and look less tired, wrinkles can't heal overnight.
“Our skin faces external stressors every single day, a fact that is then exacerbated by our own emotional stresses.” So, even if we are sleeping well, the constant hum of stress that many of us are experiencing right now is causing us to feel tired and making our skin look fatigued in the process.
Zeichner typically recommends washing your face twice per day, in the morning and before bedtime. But going to bed with clean skin is a must.
Those with very dry skin or eczema will find that water-cleansing helps to retain the skin's natural moisture. However, persons with oily, acne-prone, or combination skin might need soap or liquid cleanser to dissolve excess oil which often clogs pores and causes breakouts.
In general, you should be cleansing your face at least twice a day. “You should wash your face both morning and night because the skin creates sebum and oil throughout the day,” says Saya Obayah, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist located in Austin, Texas.
Generally, dermatologists and estheticians recommend washing your face both morning and night, but it's also important to take your skin type into consideration as well as lifestyle factors.
Skincare is absolutely most effective at night. This is because the skin absorbs and replenishes while you sleep. To get the best benefits, this is when you should use your heavy-lifting skincare.
You don't need to use conventional soaps in your daily hygiene routine. All you absolutely need, bare bones, to stay clean is water. Just water. Water does a fine job of rinsing away dirt without stripping vital oils from your skin.
“A toner or toning lotion can be even better than washing in the morning,” says Carlen. “This is because your day cream penetrates better when your skin is damp but you don't want to strip your skin just to put nutrients back in.”
Editor's tip: If your skin gets oily quickly, you may be tempted to wash your face multiple times a day. However, this will do more harm than good. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, you should only wash your face twice a day (and after sweating heavily).
"Most dermatologists recommend face-washing twice daily, once in the morning and once before bed," says Zeichner. "In reality, this doesn't always happen. If you're going to skip [a wash], then it's better to skip the morning one than the evening one.
Have no fear – we've done our share of research, and the answer is clear: post-shower is definitely the way to go. Sure, washing your face in the shower saves time but it can also do more harm than good – like, clogging pores with other products (gross) or drying out skin with hot water (ouch).
Healthy skin looks smooth and feels smooth. If you look closely in the mirror, you will notice a uniform layout of your pores and tiny peaks around your hair follicles (yes, our face does have a fine layer of hair, almost invisible to the naked eye). The pores are small, tight, and feel smooth to touch.