The Best Skincare Routine for Dark Skin

Besides haircare, one of the most important things to us is our skin. I’ve had my fair share of skincare woes and troubles. From teenage acne to bad hormonal adult acne, within the past few years, I’ve been able to maintain healthy melanated skin. To start, limiting dairy, excessive sugar, and drinking a ton of water helped fixed my insides for my skin. Dairy doesn’t always effect everyone’s skin but once I stopped drinking cow’s milk I noticed almost an instant improvement on my skin. So aside from the techniques and products I’ll feature below, this is just another reminder to also watch what you put into your body.

Now let’s get started.

Makeup Removal

For my nighttime skincare routine, removal of all of my makeup before I began with any cleanser is super important. This will give you the best base to start with. Now when it comes to a makeup remover, you’ll want to use something that is gentle yet effective. Here are three of my favorite makeup removers:

Cleansing

My favorite part of skincare is the cleansing! It allows me to calm my brain. A pro-tip that has helped the texture of my skin is cleansing for longer. I now cleanse my skin for one minute which allows the cleansers to throughly work through my skin and get into my pores. The key is also to your heaviest skincare at night because your skin has at least six plus hours for recovery. I like to use a heavy cleanser for this reason during my nighttime skincare routine.

The best nighttime cleanser:

Daytime cleansers:

Exfoliate

Regular exfoliation aids in promoting collagen synthesis, which enhances the skin's texture, integrity, and youthful appearance. Additionally, dead skin cells can hinder the entry and absorption of skincare products including sunscreen, serums, and moisturizers.The Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid Salicylic Acid Exfoliant really is worth all of the hype! Not only did it improve the texture of my skin but it aids in evening out my skin tone which was necessary when I was dealing with hyperpigmentation and dark spots.

Toner

Selecting the right toner for you typically comes with a lot of trial and error. If you’re dealing with hyperpigmentation or wanting to improve the glow of your skin you need select one that can brighten your complexion.

Serum

Serums serve as nutrient-rich treatments that address specific skin concerns. Often for dark skin, we have oily or combination oily skin but will need to put moisture back into our skin. Vitamin c serums help reduce sun damage, wrinkles, dark spots, and early aging.

Eye Cream

According to most dermatologist, it’s super important to apply an eye cream at night. Improving the skin quality in this area early on ensures that the eyelid skin does not easily lose laxity and its smooth appearance later on.

Hyperpigmentation

Treating hyperpigmentation or dark spots can feel overwhelming at times. It’s best to get a consultation to start off to make sure you give yourself the best start. For instance, after my acne break outs were under control, I went and received a few chemical peels to improve my discoloration. From there it was dependent on the work I did at home and constantly using sunscreen.

Moisturize

Even if you have oily skin, you still absolutely need to moisturize at morning and at night. Since I have combination oily/dry skin I tend to keep my moisturizer light during the day and very heavy at night. Here are some of my favorites.

Skin Protection

All those steps of skincare mean nothing if you do not protect your skin against the sun and UV rays. Even if the sun doesn’t appear to be out the UV rays definitely still will be and protection against them is vital!