Cleanse, tone, moisturise. Three steps. Drummed into a generation of women by beauty counters, magazine columns and well-meaning mothers. It sounds like solid, sensible advice.
It isn’t. Two of those three steps are either unnecessary or actively working against your skin. And the steps that genuinely matter, an antioxidant serum and proper sun protection, don’t feature in the mantra at all.
Cleansing: the One Step Worth Keeping
Cleansing is non-negotiable. Twice a day, every day.
It removes dirt and cell debris. It prepares the skin for whatever you apply next. Most importantly, it enhances the penetration of active ingredients. Skip it, and nothing else in your routine works properly.
‘Cleansing removes dirt and cell debris from the skin. It also prepares the skin for application of subsequent skincare products and enhances the penetration of active ingredients.’
— Dr Stefanie Williams
Toners: a Solution to a Problem That No Longer Exists
This is where the mantra falls apart.
Toners made perfect sense when everyone was using alkaline, lye-based soaps. Those old formulations left residue on the skin and disrupted its natural acid mantle. A toner corrected the pH. Practical, necessary, clever.
But nobody uses those soaps any more. Modern soap-free, pH-balanced cleansers rinse clean. There is nothing left for a toner to do. What was once a sensible step is now, frankly, marketing.
The one exception: very oily skin may benefit from a sebum-reducing toner. For the vast majority of skin types, including dry skin, toners are not needed. They can actually compromise the skin barrier.
The Moisturiser Problem
This is the part nobody expects. Moisturising is not always necessary.
Think about a typical morning. Cleanse, apply moisturiser, then SPF on top. But most sun protection products already moisturise. Adding a separate cream underneath is just overloading the skin.
And overloaded skin pays a price. Heavy creams, lipid-rich balms, silicone-heavy formulations — they all prevent dead skin cells from coming off naturally. The stratum corneum gets thicker and thicker. Skin goes dull. Pores get congested. Breakouts follow.
‘In my clinical experience, over-using moisturisers can also make your skin lazy in a way. And that gets you into a vicious circle that we really want to avoid.’
— Dr Stefanie Williams
One genuine exception: people with truly dry skin, for example those with a tendency for atopic eczema, do need regular moisturisation with lipid-rich products. But dry skin is hugely over-diagnosed, both by patients themselves and by doctors and therapists. The vast majority of people can skip the extra moisturiser underneath their sun protection.
The Updated Routine
Forget the three steps. Here is what actually works.
Morning: Cleanse. Apply a high-grade antioxidant serum straight onto clean skin. Follow with SPF. Done.
The antioxidant serum is the step most people are missing. Vitamin C and other antioxidants protect the skin from oxidative stress — UV light, urban pollution, even the free radicals generated by our own cells. That damage reaches as deep as cell membranes and DNA. A daily antioxidant serum is the single most useful addition most women can make to their skincare.
‘The order I would apply is: cleanse your skin, then apply the antioxidant serum, and then your SPF.’
— Dr Stefanie Williams
The Bottom Line
Toning is redundant. Moisturising is situational at best. And the two things that actually protect and improve skin — antioxidant serums and sun protection — were never part of the original mantra.
Three steps served their time. Two better ones have replaced them.
For a personalised assessment of your skincare routine, book a complimentary Skin Health Audit at Eudelo.
Whether you have a medical skin condition which needs treatment or simply want to look your very best, our specialised dermatology team will help you achieve the very best result.
