Why your skin is dry and irritated

You may be wondering “why is my skin so dry and irritated all the time?”

You’re probably over-cleansing. Yes it can literally be that simple. I literally only wash/cleanse my face at night and have been for years. 

This is because as you sleep, your skin produces natural moisturizing factors (NMFs). If you cleanse your skin in the morning, you rinse them away. Trust me you want your natural moisture vs anything else you could possibly buy. 

So all I do is rinse out my eyes, dampen my skin with a mist of filtered water, and top with a bit of 100% squalene oil. That's it. SPF comes later if I'm going to be out and about (usually after my morning workout and shower). 

If I shower after I work out, I will just rinse my skin. I save the deeper (yet still very gentle) cleanse for the evening. 

Cleansing is actually pretty stressful for your skin because it has to do a fair amount of regulation afterward. 

And did it ever occur to you that washing your skin and then putting on moisturizer because you feel tight and dry is kind of weird? And how much dirt and grime are you really accumulating as you sleep? 

Having a light touch with your skin means letting it be and do its thing. It knows better than we do and definitely knows better than the multi billion-dollar skincare industry. 

Of course, there are always exceptions and if it doesn't feel right for you - do YOUR thing.