Tackling a night-time skincare routine

Creating a night-time routine can seem daunting. One GQ Editor tells you all about tackling the seemingly impossible task

'Your nose is congested. You need to get these charcoal strips. They'll clear that right up'

I can honestly say I only thought the word congested was used to describe Sheikh Zayed Road after 6pm.

After my 'nasal' flaws were so beautifully pointed out, I decided to do some research about how to reduce it. I started the tiresome googling of my 'symptoms' and I was swamped by a plethora of articles, almost shouting advice at me and selling products at the same time. It didn't show me anything (except which websites had the best SEO) so I turned to the next best thing - going to the shop and airing my worries to an employee who wasn't ready for the amount of questions I had.

Do you have dry skin or oily skin?

I guess Oily?

Do you want something to sooth your skin or remove blemishes?

Blemishes? Google never informed me of those. I guess... remove blemishes?

Do you have a night-time skin care routing?

The question had me stumped. I thought my current night time routine was kind of epic: Scrub my face with a homemade scrub made with sugar and coffee, wash it off, find bits of coffee in my beard, rinse again, find sugar in my eyebrows, a final rinse, towel dry and done.

So, lets jump into why a night-time routine is important. How you treat your skin at night time determines how refreshed (or tired) you will look in the morning. The skin uses the your time asleep to recover and repair it’s self from any damage caused by external factors like pollution and UV rays. Yes, It's true that “Men have thicker skin than women”. Our skin is considerably thicker, resulting in smaller pores and oiler skin. For this reason a good skin care routine is vital to keep you looking fresh.

Here is my night-time routine. Enjoy:

Wash

Washing your face before bed is probably the most obvious yet easily avoidable task to do before bed. Many of us have showers after work or after the gym, therefore dismissing the need to cleanse the face before bed. Don’t make a habit out of this, cleansing every night washes away the pollution build up from the day.

I use Aesop Gentle Facial Cleansing Milk. Soft on the skin and rich in texture.

Exfoliate

Exfoliating the face before bed removes dead skin cells that have built up through out the day. When the skin begins to repair over night, time is not wasted on cells that are already dead as you have been smart enough to get rid before going to sleep.

I use Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Brightening & Exfoliating Cleaner to cleanse my oily skin and remove blemishes.

Hydrate

Night creams generally contain more hydrating ingredients and tend to be richer in texture than day moisturisers. Allowing for ultimate hydration to the skin whilst you sleep.

I use Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel-Cream for ultimate hydration.

Eyes

The eyes take the biggest toll than the rest of your face, therefore need the most looking after. Once the skin has been moisturised an eye cream should be generously patted around and under the eyes. This allows you to wake up with bright, well rested eyes.

I used Kiehls Midnight Recovery Eyes to rest my eyes and help me feel rejuvenated in the morning

Beard

A simple but effective beard oil is a bathroom and night-time routine must-have. Enriched with essential oils and herbs, it'll make even the thickest of beards soft. Dont forget to brush it as well. Get rid of those tangles.

I use an Argan Oil based beard oil to nourish and thicken my facial hair.

Written by Bilal Muhammad.

This article originally appeared on GQ Middle East.