Facial Toner - Is It a Time Machine in a Bottle?

A facial toner may, for the uninitiated, sound like something that you should be doing down at the gym - doing facial exercises is actually a good idea - but this is something that you're going to find far less stressful to do, and you're probably going to enjoy it a lot more, too.

Isn't it awful looking into a mirror and wondering who the old person is, looking back at you? You start off the day all bright and cheery, well, maybe not, but your mood sinks as soon as you get to the mirror, and realize that time has sneaked up on you during the night and run off with another year's worth of your youthful looks; it wouldn't be quite so bad, if you didn't seem to think the same thing each day, right?

The thing is a good facial toner is going to give you back the healthy skin that you once had, and it will look like the years are falling off at night, not piling on. So how does this little miracle of the beauty industry give you the facial skin care that's going to make you look, and feel so much younger?

When you cleanse your face, do you ever feel that the cleanser has left some residue behind, and putting moisturizer directly on top of this residue means that you aren't going to get the full benefit of the moisturizer? If you have, you're right, and that's one of the jobs that a facial toner does to make sure that your - often expensive - moisturizer can do the job that's required to give you the healthy skin that you want.

Of course, your facial toner will remove other things, too. Is there really any point in washing your face if you're going to leave behind dead skin cells, traces of dirt, make up, and an excess of oil? Not only does it clean these impurities from the surface of your skin, it will also remove them from your pores.

Anyone who has suffered from acne will know how important cleaning out your pores is; but there's more to it than just that. With your pores unblocked you'll have healthier looking skin. Fine lines and wrinkles will begin to fade, and your skins hydration will be better than it has been in years.

It makes it sound like you've hardly washed at all, doesn't it? Well those are the sorts of things that your moisturizer is going to have to combat before even trying to work its facial skin care magic. So, can you see how a facial toner is an important middle step between cleansing and moisturizing?

Naturally a good facial toner is going to do more than just remove the day's or night's debris from your face; it also helps to balance the pH, and that's essential for the products that you choose to use after the toner, and is a good way on its own to help towards facial skin care.

When you do choose your facial skin care products, it's best to go for natural ingredients in your facial toner. Some will contain alcohol, which may be a problem if you have sensitive skin, and others may have astringents that could strip away far too much of the natural oils on your face. It's a fine balancing act if you're going to pick a facial skin care system that's chemical based; but not so with a system that uses natural ingredients.