- So, Vicki Enna says
"makeup, wipes, are okay
"if you used with another
cleansing method."
Unless it's Friday
night and you are tipsy.
(upbeat percussive music)
- My name is Dr. Shereene Idriss,
and I am a cosmetic,
board-certified dermatologist
here in New York City.
I am here today to take
a deep dive into the
go to bed with me comments section.
I'm getting ready to roll up my sleeves
and start World War, I guess, three
because people are really opinionated.
So there is no typical
nighttime skincare routine
because everybody's
different, but to simplify it,
at night you really wanna take the time
to take care of your
skin, to let it regenerate
and to let it heal from
basically the whole day.
So let's start with just
a much debated issue
and I never thought this would be
a much-debated issue but cleansers.
(percussive music)
So, Vicki Enna says "makeup wipes are okay
"if used with another cleansing method."
And then Alex Tostado says,
"no, still very harsh,
"causes wrinkles and irritation."
And then Jade Ava says
"makeup wipes do nothing."
Unless it's Friday
night and you are tipsy,
because I only keep makeup
wipes next to my bed
for Friday nights when maybe
I'm a little bit too tired
to actually go and wash my face.
Otherwise, I do agree
that it's not something
I usually push or recommend.
A, it's not environmentally
friendly unless you use
biodegradable makeup
wipes, which are great,
but it's not enough.
It helps get rid of the
makeup, but you still have
to cleanse your skin and get rid of
all the impurities that have built up
throughout the day.
So I am actually a fan
of a double cleanse.
Not to sound cliche, but
it doesn't necessarily have
to start with an oil cleanser followed by
a water-based cleanser.
For me, double cleansing
means getting your makeup off
and I use a micellar
water in order to do that,
followed by a water-based cleanser
in order to get rid of any
extra residue left on your skin.
All right.
Ooh, Elon Musk, okay.
So, why are you commenting
on Bazaar's videos?
Shouldn't you be making cars, number one.
But Elon, "an oil cleanser is used
"before a normal cleanser
and does not actually
"cleanse your face in the same
way a normal cleanser does."
Edit, oh, he edited his own comment.
Oh, interesting.
"If oil cleansers were meant
to be your only cleanser,
"then dermatologists,
estheticians, and other experts
"probably wouldn't be telling
everyone to double cleanse
"and use a water-based
cleanser after an oil one."
I mean, I guess Elon is
a man of many talents
because he's right, I mean oil cleansers
kind of help melt the
makeup off your skin,
so Elon, I mean Elon is
truly a man of many talents.
So Miriam Felt, right.
Oh, I said that weird.
"You're not supposed to leave
micellar water on your face.
"It's literally a cleanser
so you have to wash it off.
"Otherwise it can irritate your skin
"and it definitely does not restore
"your pH level in your skin."
I love the authority, but
she's kind of right too
in the sense that I use micellar
water as a makeup remover.
Micellar water is basically
made up of micels,
which are small little oil droplets
in a hydrating water base,
so that kind of helps
break up the crud off your face.
That being said, it doesn't get rid of
all the impurities that have built up
throughout the day, so I
do, I use micellar water
in that double cleansing
method and I followed it
with a gentle water-based cleanser.
Now does it actually irritate your skin?
It has never irritated mine
from personal experience
so I don't know if I
necessarily agree with that.
Sue Harrison is asking "what's
with all the scrubbing?
"Any dermatologist will
tell you physical scrubs
"are bad for your skin, plus that oil made
"by always calm skin
break out in little spots.
"It smells nice though and
I use it as a scent now."
So I agree, save it as a scent
and it's a good thing I agree
with all the other dermatologists.
I am not a huge fan of
scrubbing because people
can just go overboard
with this, especially if
they already have active acne.
You can cause micro-tears in your skin
and you can cause
worsening of your scarring.
So when it comes to
scrubbing, less is more.
If you're somebody who has
already an even skin tone
and an even skin texture, then scrubbing
every once in awhile is
not necessarily a bad thing
but I would not recommend it
as part of my daily routine.
There are chemical scrubs
and you have physical scrubs.
Physical scrubs tend to be physical,
so you will have little
tiny beads in them,
they can be made out of sand for example,
you can even have for example
some made out of walnuts,
which you may or may not have heard of,
whereas chemical scrubs are
exactly that, they're chemical
and so they're either alpha hydroxy acids
or beta hydroxy acids and
they tend to be gentler.
They basically break up the
glue between your skin cells
that they kind of flake
off, the dead skin cells,
not all your skin cells.
As a general rule of thumb,
the cheaper the scrub,
the bigger the bead, when
it comes to a physical scrub
and it's probably worse
for the environment
so if you can just avoid
it then that's great.
So let's move on to
everyone's favorite steps
and probably one of my
favorite steps, serums.
(percussive music)
So what's the difference
between serums and essences,
and that's such a hard word to say.
So those were recently
reintroduced from let's say
the Korean skincare trend back into
the western skincare
regimen, and it's just
complicated everybody's
life because they're like
what's an essence, what's a serum,
do we need both, do we not need both?
They are basically more
or less the same thing
in that they both deliver
a highly concentrated dose
of an active ingredient
before you moisturize.
Essences are however more
lightweight than serums
and the dose of active
ingredient, the concentration
is a little bit less than in a serum.
So if you're somebody for example who has
very sensitive skin and
can't really tolerate much,
I would tell you pick
an essence over a serum
if you're worried that the serum
is going to make you irritated.
Do people actually really
need to use a serum
in their nighttime
routine, like absolutely?
No, it depends on you
and it depends on what
your skin problems are, and whether or not
you wanna use a serum to
address those areas of concern.
So Anisia Magdaong, I don't
know if I said that right,
says "so many different
serums she's putting
"on her face, is that even okay?"
And the Cubicle say "yes,
three is the limit."
Well I don't know who made
Cubicle the serum police
because I've never heard
that three was the limit.
I mean you can knock yourself out.
Whether or not you wanna
just stick to one serum
or two serums or three
or maybe four or five.
Can somebody put too many
things on their face?
Absolutely, if your
skin cannot tolerate it.
If somebody's a complete
virgin and just starting out
with the nighttime routine
and they've never, ever
entered this territory, I would tell them
at least for sure start
with a makeup remover,
if you do wear makeup, a gentle cleanser,
probably a simple moisturizer,
and start with that.
See if you can adhere to that,
because you'd be surprised,
it's like going to the
gym, people just kind of
fall off the bandwagon
after a couple of days
and they don't wanna
stick to it so I don't
want to intimidate you.
Once you know that you can stick to those
three simple steps, then we add a serum
in between washing your
face with a cleanser
and the moisturizer, and
I would honestly generally
advise you to do it slowly.
See if your skin is tolerating each thing
and see if you're able
to put them all together
every night on your skin
without breaking out
or going crazy.
When you layer certain
products with each other,
you're actually increasing
their efficacy overall
and especially if you know
what your skin concern is,
you can really tailor it to
have a stronger skincare regimen
with very affordable product.
So let's move on now
into active ingredients.
(percussive music)
First off, what are actives?
And actives are usually
FDA-approved to deliver
something specific for your skin.
So for example, vitamin
C is an antioxidant
that helps you protect
your skin against you know,
free radicals and pollution
throughout the day
and that has been FDA
approved for that purpose.
Another active for example
is benzoyl peroxide,
which has antibacterial properties
that help fight acne.
A third active is hydroquinone
which is a brightening agent
which can be found over the
counter within the U.S.,
or prescription strength at
your dermatologist's office.
So actives vary across the
board and you just have
to be a well-educated consumer to know
what you're using on your skin.
So Random Irish Girl says
"don't use vitamin C serum
"in the morning, it makes your skin
"more sensitive to the sun.
"It's best used at
night and wear sunscreen
"the next day of course."
I mean she's not completely
wrong in the sense
that I like vitamin C
at night to help restore
the damage that was
done throughout the day,
but I also like using
vitamin C in the morning
before I apply sunscreen to
help protect me for my day.
But if you are somebody who
has very sensitive skin,
and let's say you're using a retinol,
then I would break it up
and use the retinol at night
and the vitamin C in the
morning followed by sunscreen,
of course, always and that's
always a non-negotiable.
- [Producer] Is there such
thing as too much vitamin C?
- No, not in my book.
I mean is there something
as too much vitamin C?
I guess it depends on your
skin type, if you're somebody
who's extremely sensitive
and just cannot tolerate it
but for most people, I
mean vitamin C is like
just, it's like a blessing in a bottle.
Colleen says "putting retinol
and vitamin C products
"at the same time is a big no."
She's wrong.
This is a misconception.
People thought, and this is where you can
probably have like a
little math thing going on,
that retinol changes the pH of your skin
and vitamin C has extremely
acidic pH and therefore
if you have one over another,
you're gonna deactivate
the retinol, but that's not the case,
because your skin is actually very acidic
when it comes to pH, and so
it's actually been proven
that when you use both
of them in conjunction,
they actually increase their efficacy
and so if your skin can tolerate it,
if you are somebody who does not
have extremely sensitive
skin, if you're not prone
to irritations and if you've
already been using a retinol
and your skin is used to
it, then by all means,
try layering on the vitamin C,
'cause you will have a
better effect overall.
Retinols are a vitamin A derivative
and there's a lot of confusion around them
as to whether or not you
can use them during the day
or use them at night.
Most of them are formulated
to be used at night
but they can definitely also
be used throughout the day,
just make sure that
that's what's formulated,
that's what's packaged,
that's what's marketed
for that retinol
specifically, because retinols
bypass the step where they
convert the vitamin A,
so it's already active when you apply it
whereas retinoids, which
are prescription strength
actually need to be converted in your skin
in order to become active and that needs
to take place at night because the sun
can deactivate it.
So let's talk moisturizers.
(percussive music)
Basically, moisturizers
are really important
for your skin because they
help restore the balance
of your skin, they help
protect the skin barrier,
your skin barrier basically.
There are lightweight moisturizers,
there are mid-weight moisturizers and then
there are really heavy moisturizers
and they're not all created equal,
so just to give you just a background,
there are humectants.
Humectants are a type of
moisturizer that attracts water
from the deepest layers
of your skin and bring it
up to the surface.
There are then emollients
which act as a filler.
And emollients basically fill the space
between the skin cells in
order to kind of create
a protective barrier which is your skin.
And then there are occlusives,
which sit on top of the skin
and basically prevent your
skin from losing water,
prevents dehydration, but is it actually
really moisturizing is a
debate for another day.
Everyone is different.
If you are somebody for
example who has very oily skin,
you probably want to use a humectant
because you still wanna bring moisture
to the superficial layer of your skin.
If you're somebody who
is combination skin,
maybe dry skin, then you
wanna use an emollient
to repair your skin barrier,
and if you're somebody
then who's extremely dry or if it's winter
and you're living in a dry environment,
then you wanna use an
occlusive on top of everything
in order to seal it in.
I don't mind mixing ingredients
or products together
to save time, the only
thing I will tell you
is probably not to mix
your SPF with a moisturizer
'cause it might dilute
the SPF a little bit.
Moisturizers with SPF in
them have gone through
a very rigorous process
before they actually
hit the shelves, they
have to get FDA approval
and they have to have been tested, whereas
if you take a regular
SPF sunscreen and mix it
with a moisturizer, you
might be diluting it
and you might be losing
its protective value.
So I would at that point
definitely trust the manufacturer
of the product that you're buying,
if it's a moisturizer with SPF.
"I thought Dr. Dray said these types
"of hyaluronic acid
moisturizers should be followed
"by an emollient to seal everything in.
"Kind of interesting to
see another take on this."
Whereas Wendigo says "ideally, they should
"to lock in that hydration,
with an occlusive."
And Wendigo further comments
"unsure, especially as
"she says she has very
dry, sensitive skin.
"It would lock in that
hyaluronic acid quite nicely."
Do you mean hyaluronic
acid serums, because yes,
I do believe that hyaluronic acid serums,
if that's something that you wanna use,
should be followed by
a type of moisturizer,
whether that's an emollient or a humectant
or an occlusive, to seal it
in because hyaluronic acid
itself is basically drawing water out,
and trying to bring water
as well almost like,
almost like a humectant up
to the surface of your skin.
So hyaluronic acid serum
alone is not necessarily
moisturizing, it can be plumping,
but it's not moisturizing.
So Sara Salinas says
"oils and vitamin E, LOL,
"none of those are moisturizers."
Sarah gets a slow clap, because
they're not moisturizers.
Oils are not gonna moisturize your skin,
and with that, that brings us
into our next section, oils.
(percussive music)
Oils are an issue of a huge debate
and personally, I don't
really use facial oils
all that much.
Sometimes I'll use for example marula oil,
because it's definitely much
more moisturizing as an oil
itself and it's much more lightweight
but oils in general, I find break me out,
so they don't work for me.
But if you're asking what
the benefit of an oil does,
an oil boosts the efficacy
of your moisturizer.
It can enhance the moisturizer's
effects on your skin,
but it's not going to hydrate your skin,
it's just going to help
seal in that moisture
in your skin, preventing
your skin from having
the water evaporate out and keeping
that moisturizer, whatever
it is you're using sealed in.
"FYI, oils are not really
helpful to the skin.
"We all have natural oils on
our skin and our face anyway.
"Putting all that natural
Argan oil or other types
"apparently doesn't really
improve skin at all."
I mean again, it's so
dependent on you and your skin
and what your issues are, but I do think
when it comes to oils,
understanding what type
of oil you're using, whether
or not it's a lightweight oil,
whether or not it's a comedogenic oil
can make a huge difference
if you're somebody
who wants to go down the oil route.
Not all oils are created equal.
Coconut oil for example
is very comedogenic
and it does clog your
pores, whereas marula oil
is much more lightweight and actually can
be moisturizing to a certain degree,
so understanding where
your oils are derived from
can make a very big
difference in how you use them
in your skincare routine.
So Le Lo writes "serums first, oils,
"then moisturizer,
night cream is an actual
"game changer though."
good for you if it works for you.
In general, rule of thumb you wanna go
from lightest to heaviest
and starting off with serums
followed by moisturizers
and ending it with your oil.
Antony Ortiz said "any oils
made from any type of foods
"or vegetables is
something you should never,
"ever put on your face, ever."
I don't know what kind
of foods or vegetables
people are putting on their face.
I'm guilty, sometimes
I use an egg white mask
but that's not an oil, but I
think what Antony Ortiz here
is trying to say is
that do it yourself oils
are not to be used on your
face, and I don't necessarily
disagree with him.
I mean keep the kitchen in the kitchen
and you know, people have really studied
different formulations
and it's not something
that's whipped up overnight in a kitchen
that actually delivers results.
So I agree with Antony.
Thank you so much for joining me.
My name is Dr. Shereene Idriss
and this has been Derm
Reacts, a new ongoing series
by Harper's Bazaar straight
from the comment sections
of Go to Bed With Me.
If you have any other
questions or concerns
or if you just plain-out disagree with me,
drop your comment below
and we will address them
next time, either with me, probably not,
or another dermatologist.
(calm music)
