A friend of mine just called me to tell me about her fab new layered haircut (she sent me a photo – and it DOES look cute: kind of like Keith Richards’ choppy, neo-mullet shag, circa 1975). She’s so excited because it is, and I quote, “Super low-maintenance.”

Each morning before work, this is her new hair-styling regimen:

1. Wash and condition
2. Untangle with wide-tooth comb
3. Blow-dry to semi-damp state using diffuser-attachment (head turned upside-down)
4. With fine-tooth comb, separate hair into one-inch sections
5. Mist with thermal protection spray
6. Working section-by-section, roll each section onto a round brush
7. Apply hair-dryer diffuser to each rolled section for 5 to 7 minutes
8. Unroll section, grasp ends, and twist strand until it coils down onto itself
9. With hair clip, clip “coil” to scalp
10. Continue until entire head has been rolled, unrolled, coiled and clipped
11. Gently unclip and finger-comb out each coil
12. Dab with finishing serum for shine and control
13. Shake head – do not brush
14. Hair spray optional
15. VOILA! Approximate styling time: 35 minutes

And here’s what she does to her face:

“Well, I just got out of the shower. So my face has to be pretty clean. Right?”
In other words, she doesn’t exactly wash her face in the shower. Let alone microfoliate it. She goes with the idea that washing her hair sort of magically cleanses her face along with it. She added a bit defensively, “Well, Jane, I DO wear sunblock under my make-up.” Well, tally-bloomin’-ho for that.

I know other alarmingly chic women who do even less, because they don’t necessarily wash their hair each morning. One Nolita fashionista chum simply dabs at her eyes with a baby-wipe (in her defense, she’s a new mum) and generously spritzes on Dermalogica Antioxidant HydraMist from scalp to navel before slipping into her oversized Mary-Kate Olsen sunglasses and hurrying off for the day’s first latte. “It makes me feel dewy-fresh,” she reports, “Plus it flattens down my frizzies.”

Okay. To my friend who showers each morning: yes, the rushing warm water from your shower does most likely whisk away wakey-wakey eye-crusts (ew!), as well as some of the sebum and dead cells which have accumulated on the surface of the skin as we sleep.
But not enough.

And as for the early-morning denizen of Nolita, I realize you’re sleep-deprived with the little one. Even more reason to take care of your skin, which is no doubt experiencing all sorts of stress and hormonal weather-systems as your body adjusts to motherhood.

First things first: whenever you shampoo and condition your hair, be sure to remove all hair product from your hairline. Stand under the showerhead, crank up the pressure, and let the water run directly over your face. In the morning, we all tend to rush. And this often means that we don’t thoroughly rinse out shampoo and conditioner – or even residue from the previous day’s styling products – from the roots. Often, skin therapists observe patterns of comedones and other issues around the hairline which are triggered by malingering hair-product left in prolonged contact with skin.

When you get up in the morning, especially if you had a bath or shower in the evening before retiring, your face probably seems “clean” to you. It’s all relative. Remember that the skin, among other functions, serves as a waste-removal system. It’s almost as if the skin is breathing, and the waste-products of these “exhalations” are dead cells which quickly pile up on the surface of the skin. As we sleep, the skin also excretes sebum, even if you don’t have a noticeable shine upon rising.

So when you apply moisturizer and make-up directly over this 6, 8 or 10-hour accumulation, there is no way that these products can perform at maximum throttle! Just think about it: your foundation, etc. are trapping vintage impurities, which can cause trouble when you least want it.

I recommend the double cleanse. Wet skin with warm water, either in the shower or standing at the sink. Apply the acid-balanced cleanser of your choice – do NOT use your boyfriend’s deodorant bar on your face! Massage the product lovingly into skin. Rinse well with warm water. Repeat the process. Yes, wash your face a second time. Rinse very well with warm (not hot) water. Blot – don’t rub – with a clean towel. The clean, bacteria-free towel is essential, since hand-towels which hang in the bathroom aren’t clean enough. Keep a separate small towel exclusively for your face. Then apply spray toner, moisturizer, daily defense against UV, treatment boosters of your choice, make-up if you like. Do this again at night, and people will think you’re in love, just got back from a fabulous vacation, or just had some “work” done…

Total time for this miracle: 7 minutes, morning and night.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 9:23 am and is filed under under my skin with jane wurwand, founder of dermalogica.