Why do we need both? I understand what a moisteriser does, but why the toner?
I’m also confused about toners, some you put on after the moisteriser and they seem a tiny bit oily (eg Shiseido), others are astringent and you put the moisteriser on afterwards? (eg Clinique)
I’ve taken to using only Ponds face cream, seems to do the trick.
Sigh. Forget everything you ever learned from skin care ads. Generally, the more money you spend for a skin care product, the less money you have left. You cannot “revitalize” or “nourish” or “tone” your skin from the outside. The outside is dead skin cells. The best you can do is rewet the skin. Moisture from the inside is much more important. Drink enough water, and force it through your skin by sweating daily.
Exfoliating means vigorously washing, by the way, and you don’t need a special product for that.
Toners tend to cut the oils on the surface and help remove dead skin cells. Some claim to “tighten” your skin, but AFAIK, this is just a sensation and not a physical effect. Exfoliating goes a step further in removing dead skin cells - in effect, sanding them off of your face (via bits of cornmeal, sugar, walnut shells, what have you). Moisturizing replaces moisture to the surface, generally moisture that is removed using the first two products.
And while I agree that internal approaches (drinking plenty of fluids, a good diet) are the key to good skin, a good external routine does a lot too, especially for weather related skin woes.
I use Neutrogena’s pore-refining toner for the AHA; it controls my acne pretty effectively. I do have to be careful with it around my nose, or it will dry out and irritate the skin. Other than these two effects, I see no point in it.
Go to www.cosmseticscop.com! If they burn, tingle, or make your skin feel tight and dry, it means they contain irritants that you should not be putting on your skin. If they are oily or greasy, you probably do not need them if you’re using a moisturizer. After doing some research on skin care at the above mentioned site, I’d be wary of Shiseido’s prices. I’m sure you can find something there that works better and costs way less.
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Not everyone needs a tonor (although everyone should use a moisturizer of some sort)
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Not all toners are the same
Tonors can do a few things:
You can get tonors that contain things like white clay that will absorb extra oil on your face, if you tend to be oily.
You can get tonors that contain things that will actually add an extra layer of moisture to your skin which means you can apply less moisturizer, if you have dry skin (as toners tend to be less expensive than moisturziers, this can be a good $$ saving tip)
You can get tonors that will prime your skin for products that contain AHAs, BHAs or retinol type acids. This just insures that your expensive product does it’s job the best it can (if the pH of your face is off, it can neutralize the acid in the product, negating it’s effect)
You can get tonors that contain things like benzoil peroxide to help with acne.
Really, it depends on the needs of your own skin. I like to use a detoxifying tonor because my skin is sensitive to polution.
You may have different needs in a tonor, or not need a tonor at all.
Finally, as an FYI, moisturizers can actually rehydrate the skin, which is why dermatologists recommend them. Additionaly, they can protect the skin from things like sun damage if they contain sun screen. The can also help rebalance the skin’s hydrolipidic film, and increase skin comfort.
BTW - if Dove soap and Ponds cream work for you, you go girl.
I wish I was so lucky. 
I use the mildest toner The Body Shop sells. I apply it with a cotton pad after cleansing but prior to moisturizing. I use it to remove any traces of cleanser I may have missed when rinsing.
Am I using it for the wrong purpose?
Nope - that was one of the uses I forgot to mention. As long as it’s not stripping the sebum off your face as well, you’re in good shape. (And if it’s the most mild, and you’re not getting tightness or discomfort after use then you’re ok.)
Toners do nothing in particular. Some contain detergents (or alcohols, which are irritating for your skin) that remove the last traces of oils from your face; some are mild moisturizers; some contain hydroxy acids - but none are essential. Toners are basically yet another product to spend money on when taking care of your skin, and they don’t necessarily have any particular function.
Moisturizers are not necessary, contrary to popular opinion, for those whose skin is moist already. I have oily skin, and adding moisturizers (which are, essentially, oils to help keep water in) is quite counterproductive for me; after reading some of Paula Begoun’s books (check out the aforementioned http://www.cosmeticscop.com/ , her website) I stopped using them and it did my complexion a world of good.
Moisturizers are only useful if you have dry skin, and only in the areas that are dry. They basically contain heavy oils or polymers that hold water to the skin, but your own skin produces its own moisturizing oils, and if you have oily skin, you don’t need to augment it. It won’t reduce your skin’s own oil production, since this is controlled by internal (largely hormonal) processes - despite what the makeup counter employees will claim - and they all can potentially cause or exacerbate acne if you’re prone to it.
Thanks guys - I now feel ‘toner’ educated. It’s good to know I wasn’t going crazy and that there is more than one type of toner out there.
BTW When I was rich and living in Japan, I used to use Shiseido. Japanese women place beautiful skin above anything else, which is why, I was told, eye makeup doesn’t do as well in Japan as it does in Western countries. Looking around, they do tend to have nicer skin than us, but the melanin stops the wrinkles anyway.
Just to elaborate on this a little - a standard moisturizer isn’t really appropriate for an oily skin. However, there are products that contain oil-absorbing compounds that can really help people with oily skin cut down on shine throughout the day. Typically they’re called “mattifying fluids” and generally will NOT exacerbate acne.
Specifically, there are products with things like fine clays and so forth that absorb oil (I haven’t run into any other types of mattifiers, but they may be out there) and they do help with shine, if it’s a major problem, but I haven’t noticed them to have any particular effect on improving acne or making my skin appear more even.
No, but they won’t make the acne worse either.
Other anti-bacterial and exfoliating type products are necessary to really help acne clear up - my post was just for those with a shiny face by 10:00am.
There are those moisterisers that claim to have vitamin E in them - can vitamin E really be absorbed through the skin?
I use a gentle toner from Burt’s Bees when I don’t want to wash my face but I do want to de-grease my nose. It’s a great middle-of-the-day pickup in the summer, especially since I’ve given up on wearing makeup. I don’t use it in my morning skin routine, however, because it’s really not useful there.
I’d like to see an answer for this question, too, if someone in the know is reading the thread. I’ve always considered “vitamin-enriched” shampoos, conditioners and moisturizers to be scams, since vitamins need to be metabolized to have any effect, right? Or am I being too harsh on the poor cosmetic companies?