Do You Really Need Different Skin Care for Day vs. Night?

If you’ve been hopping around on skin care blogs looking for skin care routine recommendations, you’ve probably noticed that many of them have recommendations for daytime or morning skin care and separate recommendations for nighttime skin care. But is there actually a reason to change your skin care in the morning and the night, or are they just making it more complicated than it needs to be?

Should Your Morning Skin Care and Nighttime Skin Care Be Different?

The answer here is a bit yes, a bit no. There are reasons that some products are better for daytime use and others are better for nighttime use (more on that in a moment). The goals of your two routines are a bit different too: morning skin care should be about protecting your skin for the day ahead, while nighttime skin care should focus on restoration and repair.

However, you don’t have to have an entirely different routine in the morning and at night. Most people can just swap out one or two products and be golden.

How Should You Adjust Your Skin Care for the Morning?

When that alarm goes off and you roll out of bed to start getting glamorous for the day, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind for your daytime skin care.

Sun Protection

This is the biggest essential for your morning skin care that you won’t use at night: sunscreen. Whether you prefer mineral sunscreen or chemical sunscreen, whether you want something that’s tinted to blend into your skin tone or a traditional white sunscreen, whether you want a sunscreen that’s combined with a moisturizer or you prefer a standalone sunscreen, this piece is a must.

Lightweight Moisturizer

The last steps in your morning skin care should include moisturizer and sunscreen. But for a lot of us, the hydration we want in the morning is different from what we want at night. When you’re getting ready to go out for the day, whether or not you’ll be layering makeup on top of your moisturizer, you probably want a moisturizer that’s lightweight and that absorbs quickly into your skin. A heavier cream can be fine when you’re just heading to bed, but no one wants their skin to feel greasy or heavy when they’re trying to take on a new day.

Avoiding Light-Sensitive Products

Just as important as using sun protection in the morning, you also need to know which products to avoid in the morning so you don’t make your skin more susceptible to sun damage. Some skin care products do make your skin temporarily more vulnerable, so morning is not the time to use them.

Most notably, this includes any exfoliating products as well as any retinol products. It also includes any chemical exfoliants like AHAs or BHAs, as well as ingredients that brighten your skin like hydroquinone. So save your retinol serum and your exfoliating cleanser for the nighttime.

How Should You Adjust Your Skin Care for the Nighttime?

Once you have another successful day in the books, how do you prep your skin for a night of restoration? There are a few adjustments you should make to your morning routine.

Do Everything You Couldn’t Do in the Morning

Remember those products you couldn’t use in the morning because they cause sun sensitivity – your retinols, exfoliants, and brightening products? Now is the time when you can reap the benefits from these excellent products without risking sun damage.

Double Up on Your Cleanser

Double cleansing is using two cleansers: first an oil-based cleanser and then a water-based cleanser. That combo gives you a more thorough cleansing, which is exactly what you need to get rid of any remaining makeup, sweat, pollution, and other particles your skin has picked up throughout the day.

Go for Richer Moisturizers and Eye Creams

While none of us want to walk about with overly thick moisturizers during the day, those products can be perfect to give your skin deeper hydration while you sleep. Not only can you use these products without worrying about shininess or residue, but you also tend to lose some hydration overnight normally, so these creams help restore that balance so you can wake up with a glow.

Tailoring Your Skin Care for Morning and Night

Ultimately, there are slight changes you should make to your skin care routine to adjust it for the daytime vs. nighttime, but the tips above can all be done by just swapping out a product or two in your usual routine, or by using some of your products at night but not in the morning. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just embellish it a bit for day or night.