Skin CARE: To Tone or Not To tone??? :-O

Until a few months back, I was a 'Not To Tone' activist.

Considering my oily, acne prone skin, I had developed a hatred to toners and moisturizers.

While the 'I hate Moisturizers' story germinates in my childhood, the "I hate Toner' story is from my college days...
To cut long matters short, let's just say-I came, I saw and I went ;)



Back in the day, with all the clean, tone, moisturize adds doing the rounds on all TV commercials, I hopped skipped and jumped and bought myself the first toner I could get my hands on (Yes, without reading the contents); I might have bought an astringent. You see an astringent has higher alcoholic content, but people use the terms interchangeably! Sigh

Anyways, what ensued was a new found playing field for my overtly aggravated acne and skin trouble. Thus began my resolution 'Not to Tone'!

Fast forward, 7 years hence...

I'm in Bombay, acne is having a love-hate relationship with my skin, I have enlarged pores, humidity is playing havoc with my skin, I'm in my mid twenties and don't have a proper skin care routine, my skin looks like an oil field and feels like a frying pan.... :(

In the middle of all the chaos I walk into the first Toner of my life (after college of course)

I use it sparingly and cautiously, dont over indulge, read a few articles and voila! Improvement!!!

So, I'm a 'TO TONE' lady now and here is what I've learnt from my saga:

1. If you have dry skin, look for toners with low alcoholic content, If you have oily skin-the alcohol wont hurt you too much;
2. If you have no fuss skin and do not deal with acne, skin problems etc, just spray toner on your face rather than using it with a cotton ball, You may also use rose water. If you have sensitive/fussy/acne prone skin, make sure you use cotton balls/pads which have been stored away from dust in a clean container. Dust on cotton balls can be the real reason why your toner is causing you to break out. Additionally, just soak the cotton ball in warm water before you put on some toner on it-this will kill any harmful bacteria;
3. Toners DO NOT permanently reduce the size of your pores, but they will shrink your pores and decrease the open spaces in your skin cells, hence protecting your skin;
4. Till the time that you do not use excessive quantity of the toner on a cotton pad, your skin will not feel stretchy, if it does, RUN AWAY from that Toner right away ;)
5. The toner helps remove excess from your face, excess dirt, excess residue from facewash and even excess oil;
6. Toners balance pH,so even if you have dry skin, you should use a toner before moisturizing;
7. Lastly, always finish with a moisturizer ideal for your skin type.

Verdict: TO TONE albeit in a sensible manner :)

Stay healthy <3

If you want me to review any of the two products in the pictures, just leave a comment below!