How to Build a Basic Skincare Routine

Most people start skincare by buying a serum. It is the wrong end to begin at.

A routine that works is short, repeatable and boring. If you can do it on a bad night without thinking, it is the right routine.

The four steps that matter

1. Cleanser

Morning and night. A gentle gel or cream wash is enough. If you wear sunscreen — and you should — the evening cleanse works better as two steps: an oil or balm first to dissolve the sunscreen, then your usual wash.

2. Moisturiser

Every skin type needs one, including oily skin. Oily skin needs a light one, not none. Skipping moisturiser does not make skin produce less oil.

3. Sunscreen

Every morning, indoors and out, cloudy or not. If you are only willing to buy one product, buy this one. Nothing else in a routine aimed at dark spots or fine lines works without it.

4. One treatment — eventually

A single active, introduced once the first three are habitual. Not three at once.

The order

Thinnest to thickest, roughly:

• Cleanser
• Toner or essence, if you use one
• Serum or treatment
• Moisturiser
• Sunscreen, mornings only

What to skip at the start

• More than one exfoliant
• Retinol and an acid on the same night
• Anything promising a result in three days

Give it twelve weeks

Skin cell turnover, pigmentation, texture — these move on a scale of months. Judge a product at twelve weeks, not twelve days. Change one thing at a time, so you know what did the work.