Minimalist skincare routine: how many products your skin really needs

ROUTINE

How many skincare products do you really need?

For most adults, three to four products are enough for the face: a mild cleanser, a serum with active ingredients, a cream and a sunscreen for the daytime. These four cover the jobs that skincare can actually do: removing residue, delivering active ingredients and moisture, supplying the skin barrier with lipids and protecting against UV radiation. Anything beyond that usually repeats one of these jobs in different packaging. Everyday reality often looks different. A survey of 1,196 people in German-speaking Switzerland, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, found that adult women used an average of six of the eight categories of leave-on products studied, and men four. That covers the whole body, not just the face, but it shows how quickly products pile up.

The idea that a good routine has to consist of as many steps as possible is, above all, a sales argument. Why we consider it the biggest lie in skincare is explained in a separate piece. If you are already noticing that your skin reacts to your current collection with irritation, you will find the typical signs in the article on skincare overload.

What does a minimalist routine look like morning and evening?

In the morning, a minimalist routine consists of water, serum, cream and sunscreen; in the evening, of a mild cleanser, serum and cream. In the morning, your skin usually only carries what the night has left behind, so lukewarm water is often enough. In the evening, you need to remove the day’s sunscreen, make-up and sebum, and that calls for a mild cleanser. In both cases, the same two skincare steps follow: first the lighter serum, then the richer cream. A separate night cream is not a mandatory step; whether you need one is covered in the article on night cream versus one cream for day and night. If you do use more products, the guide to skincare order in the morning and evening explains how the individual steps follow one another. The minimum kit below shows how little actually changes from one skin condition to the next.

The two skincare steps in the middle stay the same in every row. One example is The Duo of serum and cream: together, the two deliver 5% niacinamide, 2% vitamin C as 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid and 1% zinc PCA, and the cream also contains ceramide NP, squalane and jojoba oil for the barrier. That covers moisture, active ingredients and lipids in two steps.

Which skincare steps can you skip without missing out?

In most cases, you can skip toner, essence, a second or third serum with similar active ingredients, cleansing with a product again in the morning and daily exfoliation without missing out on anything. If your cleanser is mild and rinses off without residue, a toner no longer has a job of its own; the details are in the article on whether you need a toner. In the morning, lukewarm water is enough for most skin types, so a second cleanse with a product adds little. Which cleanser makes sense in the evening is covered in the article on what kind of cleanser your skin really needs. Layering several serums is rarely necessary either: if two products deliver the same active ingredient, you do not double the effect, only the risk of irritation. Many of these extra steps come from Korean skincare. If you want to know what the 10-step routine does and doesn’t do and how much of it is ritual, the comparison is worth a look. Face masks and special products for individual areas are not a mistake, but they are optional extras. They do not belong in your basic daily kit.

A good test is to ask yourself what would happen if the product ran out tomorrow. If your answer is ‘nothing, really’, it is a candidate for leaving out. In her review on Judge.me, Jacqueline writes about the two products: ‘And there is no longer a jungle of products in my bathroom cabinet’ (review translated from German).

Which step should never be missing from a pared-back routine?

The step that should never be missing from a pared-back routine is sunscreen during the day, followed closely by a cream that looks after the skin barrier. For sunscreen, the evidence is unusually clear. In a randomised trial in Australia with 903 adults under 55, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the group using sunscreen daily showed no detectable increase in skin ageing after 4.5 years. Compared with the group that used sunscreen at their own discretion, skin ageing was 24 per cent lower. For hardly any other skincare product has the effect on skin ageing been studied so directly. How much SPF your face needs day to day and how to combine it with serum and cream is explained in the article on sunscreen for your face.

Next comes the cream. A review in Clinical Medicine & Research describes moisturiser as a major component of basic daily skincare, particularly when the barrier is impaired and the skin lacks water. A serum can deliver active ingredients, but it is the cream, with its lipids, that holds on to the moisture your skin receives. How exactly the two steps differ is explained in the article on whether you really need both serum and cream.

Are two products enough for mature or sensitive skin?

Yes, two skincare products are enough for mature or sensitive skin too, as long as together they provide moisture, active ingredients and lipids, and you add cleansing and sun protection. Sensitive skin in particular often benefits when less ends up on it. A review in Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia names cosmetics as the main triggers of sensitive skin, especially in women, due to overuse and sometimes inappropriate use. The same review recommends moisturisers with few components and no fragrance. Every additional product brings its own fragrances, preservatives and active ingredients, and if your skin reacts, it becomes almost impossible to say which product caused it.

Above all, mature skin needs more lipids and moisture, not more steps. If your skin feels tight in winter, a more generous amount of cream or a few drops of oil in the evening is usually a better answer than an extra specialist product. The line is drawn where sensitive skin turns into a medical condition: rosacea, atopic dermatitis or persistent inflammation should be assessed by a dermatologist. Skincare then plays a supporting role; it does not replace treatment.

In what order should you cut back your routine?

The most sensible way to cut back is to remove duplicates first, then pure in-between steps and finally irritating products, while cleanser, cream and sunscreen stay until the very end. This order ensures that your skin is never left without its basic care. It also shows which product has genuinely contributed something. Cutting at random sometimes means dropping the cream, of all things, and keeping the third serum. This is about which products go first. The order in which you apply the remaining steps is a separate question and hardly changes when you cut back: cleanser, serum, cream and, in the morning, sunscreen last.

1. Cut duplicates: two serums with the same active ingredient, day and night creams with almost identical formulas, several moisturising products layered on top of each other.
2. Drop in-between steps: toners, essences, boosters and mists that do no job the serum or cream does not already do.
3. Cut back on irritating products: acid toners, frequent exfoliation and products with a lot of alcohol or fragrance, especially if your skin stings or feels tight.
4. Check your basic kit: cleanser, serum, cream and sunscreen stay. If one of them does not suit your skin, replace it rather than adding another product.

Frequently asked questions