Toning is part of both the classic 5-step skincare routine and the Korean 7-step beauty regimen, so choosing the right toner is a challenge that most women face at some point. Today, let’s figure out together how to choose the right face toner that will suit your skin type and meet your needs.
Any modern face toner is a multi-purpose skincare product, but its main task is to restore the skin’s natural pH level after you wash your face. The thing is, all facial cleansers, even the most gentle once, always upset the skin’s pH level. If you don’t restore it, your skin becomes more vulnerable to various pathogenic microbes, which can result in inflammation and breakouts.
Toners were once invented to prevent this from happening. Their formulations are specifically designed to neutralise and remove face wash residue from the surface of the skin, as well as to prepare the skin for the application of a moisturiser or serum. There wasn’t a great variety of toners at first, and most of them contained alcohol, but today cosmetic brands offer an impressive selection of various skin toners, so it may be hard to choose the one that’s just right for you.
There are many types of face toners depending on their composition, intended effect, and the skin types they are designed for. In addition, toners come in different forms, such as liquids, gels, and sprays (mists).
To choose the perfect toner, you need to figure out what result you want to achieve using it. There are cleansing, moisturising, refreshing, mattifying, anti-age toners… Which one of them to choose will depend on what your skin needs the most. In addition, you need to take into account your skin type and the time of the year.
How to Choose the Right Toner for Dry Skin?
If you have dry skin, opt for a product with a high concentration of moisturising ingredients, such as aloe vera leaf juice, glycerine, hyaluronic acid and its derivatives, cucumber extract, algae extract, rose extract, and neroli extract. Toners for dry skin should not contain any ethanol or other ingredients that can strip your skin of moisture, such as salicylic acid.
How to Choose the Right Toner for Oily and Problem Skin?
Toners designed for skin prone to increased sebum secretion and breakouts usually contain mattifying, refreshing, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory ingredients. Common ingredients in such toners include, for example, salicylic acid, citrus essential oils and hydrolates, tea tree, eucalyptus, and peppermint essential oils, calendula and chamomile extracts.
How to Choose the Right Toner for Sensitive Skin?
The most important property of toners for sensitive skin is their ability to soothe irritation. To choose the right toner for sensitive skin, peruse the ingredient list, looking for soothing ingredients, such as allantoin, panthenol, bisabolol, aloe vera extract, bamboo extract, chamomile extract, and calendula extract.
How to Choose the Right Toner for Mature/Ageing Skin?
The main tasks of a toner for mature skin are to boost the skin’s firmness and elasticity, as well as to make it smoother. So if you need to choose a toner for ageing skin, you should opt for products that contain hyaluronic acid, various antioxidants (for example, vitamins C and E), squalene or squalane, ceramides, and natural oils.
How to Choose the Right Toner for Normal Skin?
The type of skin referred to as “normal” is very rare, but those who have it are really lucky because it does not require any sort of special care. If you have normal skin, most toners will work for you. You can make the choice based on the season and weather: opt for a refreshing toner with cucumber or green tea during the warm months and switch it for a toner with lavender, chamomile or rose water for the cold season.
In our online shop Organic Store, you can find a great selection of face toners, including hydrolate toners (herbal distillates) produced by trustworthy brands specialising in natural and organic skincare products. We accompany each product description with a detailed ingredient list so that you can make sure that the active ingredients are right for you, as well as tell about the main properties of each toner to make the choice easier for you.