Tips & Tools to Degunk Your Face!

The words tools, degunk and face really sound just awful together, don’t they? I’m always pretty obsessive about washing my face and getting all the make-up off at night before hitting the pillow. After years – ok, DECADES – of merrily buying all kinds of cosmetics and skin care, I was definitely not happy with how my skin looked. Was I really getting my face clean enough? Was it degunked? Is yours?

No matter what kind of skin we have or how it changes from season to season – oily, dry, sensitive or any combination – the best cosmetics and skin care products in the world can’t really do their job if our skin isn’t clean. It took a new, high magnification mirror to reveal the awful truth to me. Where was the actual skin on my nose? There was like – a sea of blackheads! And don’t get me started on my pores! For the love of God, how did I miss the fact that you could practically park a Mini Cooper in one? Forget the new shade of foundation or that new eyeliner I was dying to try. Serious degunking action had to be taken – and pronto!

Some major league research, a conversation with a dermatologist and with my mom (still beautiful, and with my grandmother, were my original beauty gurus extraordinaire!), I landed on a low tech, high tech and old-school blend of “tools” that has been working!

 Old–School!

English: Vaseline Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t typically use eye shadow, but I do love my eyeliner and mascara. Black. Waterproof. Hard-core, long-wearing stuff. SO not fun to remove! I tried eye make-up remover and hated it! After practically using an entire bottle and half blind from getting it in my eyes, I vowed to stay with what has worked since I was a teenager! Good, old fashioned Vaseline. With some nice, soft Kleenex, Vaseline has been my go-to eye make-up remover since I snuck my first mascara out of Mom’s vanity. I have absolutely not a shred of evidence to back this up, but I swear the Vaseline has conditioned my lashes and kept them long, lush and full all of these years!

Low Tech

You know when you wash your face with a washcloth and it’s totally disgusting? Covered in make-up that even an entire bottle of Clorox doesn’t fix? Not with the Wonder Cloth – my beauty BFF! Seriously, this little piece of cloth is unbelievable! I love it for two things – first, its super soft and gentle on my sensitive skin. The main reason I NEED my Wonder Cloth – even when I travel – is that no matter how much make-up comes off on the cloth, even red lipstick, the cloth rinses totally clean in water. Seriously! No staining, no need to use a new cloth in the night and morning. After a few days, just toss it in the washer and it’s good to go. I cannot touch my face with any other cloth and have been using the Wonder Cloth now for over a year. I get mine at Bed Bath & Beyond.

High Tech!

The Clarisonic has been around for some time and I often thought about it…but kept finding reasons to spend that money on other things – like make-up, craft stuff, shoes! A visit to, and big time recommendation from, an amazing dermatologist changed my tune in a hurry! I’m not going to get into all of the techie stuff on the Clarisonic – you can visit their website here for the scoop. There are different cleaning heads for the Clarisonic – regular, gentle, and deep-pore. I use the deep-pore and it works perfectly on my sensitive skin. I was blown away by how much dirt came off my skin with the Clarisonic AFTER I had washed it with cleanser and a cloth. If a night passes that I skip using my Clarisonic, I can definitely tell the difference in my skin.

A few tips for using the Clarisonic:

1. First wash your face with a regular washcloth (like the Wonder cloth!) before using your Clarisonic. Getting some of that stuff off your face first helps to prolong the life of the Clarisonic cleansing brush!
2. Cleansing brushes should be changed about every 3-4 months; 3 is recommended, but I push it to 4 all the time and it’s fine!
3. Don’t be alarmed if you have breakouts after starting to use the Clarisonic! I totally freaked when my skin looked worse the first week – what was going on? That serious cleaning action is bringing tons of gunk to the surface that has probably been in hiding for a long time. Hang in there with the Clarisonic, things turn around fast.

So my old-school, low and high tech degunking “tool kit” has really made a huge difference for me! Vaseline, Wonder Cloth and Clarisonic. Let’s talk about what cleansers to use with these tools another day!

I’m thinking about using Wednesdays for a regular What’s in my Beauty Bag feature, so we can share and dish about beauty and skin care. I’m only going to share things that I use or love – and if I try something I DON’T love, I’ll tell you that too, and why. What better experts than all of us who buy, use or lose the dizzying array of products available? Of course, if there’s any beauty product, tip or tidbit you want to share, we totally expect to get the 411 from you! What do you think – should we make this a weekly thing?

Have a good Wednesday and it’s been fun degunking together!

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