6 Reasons Why Your Skin Care Routine Isn’t Working

Your skin care routine is an investment you make in yourself. You’re putting in time, effort, and money expecting to get healthier, better-looking skin in exchange. So when that payoff isn’t showing up, it’s naturally frustrating. Instead of throwing in the towel and throwing out your skin care products, there are ways to get to the root of the issue and make your skin care time worthwhile. Check out these top reasons your skin care routine isn’t working and what you can do about them.

Your Products Aren’t Suited for Your Skin

When you’re shopping for skin care products, choosing products for your skin type (normal/balanced, oily, dry, or combination) is one of the most important ways to narrow down your options. It’s easy to overlook this if you aren’t sure what your skin type is, if you buy products based on friends’ recommendations, or if you see products that don’t list what skin types they’re compatible with. Online listings tend to have more detail, so take a few minutes to look up each item in your skin care routine and see if there are any that aren’t recommended for your skin type.

You Aren’t Being Consistent

“Easier said than done” describes this one to a T. It sounds so easy to just follow the few steps of your skin care routine each morning and each night. In real life, though, sometimes we’re tired or we’re busy or for a million other reasons, we just don’t get around to it. Unfortunately, in the same way that it won’t benefit your health to take a vitamin once and instead you need to give your body that vitamin over and over, you need to give your skin those skin care ingredients over and over for them to make a difference.

The trick here is all about routine. Find a way to hold yourself accountable for doing your skin care each morning and each night. After you’ve done this consistently for a few weeks, it becomes a part of your daily routine that you don’t question.

Your Skin Care Products Aren’t High-Quality

Simply put, not all skin care products are effective. Beneficial active ingredients are often expensive, so if you’re picking up low-cost products, the unfortunate reality is that they’re probably inexpensive because they use no effective active ingredients at all or use such small amounts that they won’t help your skin. Truth be told, some expensive products do this too.

The best way to make sure you’re getting the good stuff is to find out which brands have the best reputation for quality for the type of product you’re looking for. When there’s a product you’re thinking of buying, like an anti-aging serum, it also helps to look at what active ingredients it lists on the label and look up those ingredients to see what they do and if they work well.

You’re Switching Products Too Often

We’ve already talked about how important it is to use your skin care products consistently, but a common mistake people make is not allowing enough time for that consistent use to do its job. In most cases, it takes time for your skin to show the benefits of skin care products, so if you’re only giving it a couple of weeks before jumping ship, you might miss out on great products by tossing them aside too quickly. The rule of thumb is to allow six weeks of consistent use before you judge how well a product is working.

There are Too Many Products in the Mix

Getting overly ambitious with your skin care could actually backfire because not all skin care products play well together. If you’re combining too many products, there’s a higher chance that your products have ingredients that, when combined, create a look or a reaction you don’t want. Or, your products could be working against each other – for example, your toner might be drying out your skin while your moisturizer is trying to hydrate it so you end up with dry skin thinking your moisturizer isn’t working.

When you’re curating your skin care routine, choose wisely. Most people only need three or four products at most in their morning or evening skin care routines.

Your Skin’s Needs Have Changed

This one’s a heartbreaker. Sometimes you do everything right and you find the perfect skin care routine that works for you, so you’re basking in the best skin of your life. Despite keeping it consistent, a few years later, it just…doesn’t work anymore. Why?

There are many factors that affect our skin, like hormones, lifestyle factors, the air in our local area and how it changes with the seasons, and more. These factors can shift throughout your life, and skin that once was oily is now dry or vice versa. There’s typically no way around this – you just have to adjust your skin care routine toward your skin’s changing needs.

Finding Your Ideal Skin Care Routine

Establishing the best skin care routine for you is a project that requires patience and consistency, but the result of youthful, healthy, glowing skin is absolutely worth it. If you’re not getting the results you want, see which of the reasons above might be the problem and make your product swaps and adjustments until you find that perfect combo.