For beautiful healthy and radiant skin try a skin care routine like the one I’m sharing with you in this series of blogs and as featured in my newest award-winning book, The Essential Oils Compete Reference Guide.

You can customize your skin care routine to suit your individual needs.

Wash your skin daily with a gentle facial wash. 

I recommend you avoid plain, water based soaps, or soaps that contain harsh chemicals which clean, but do not protect your skin. Your facial skin is delicate and can begin to look damaged. Instead, consider investing in a high-quality facial wash.

Your skin is acidic, while soap is alkaline-based. Your skin’s natural barrier for protection is made up of an acid mantle. When you use soap, which is extremely alkaline, to wash your face it shifts the normal acid ph balance to alkaline and throwing skin’s natural ph out-of balance, which weaken its acid mantle of protection and makes skin conditions worse. Rather use a cleanser that is formulated for your skin type (normal, oily, dry, sensitive or combination skin) and made with pure, natural ingredients.

Harsh facial cleansers like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide while temporarily ameliorating problems like acne outbreaks can strip away the natural oils of your skin, causing irritation, and disturbing the natural balance of hydration for your skin. Natural antibacterials like honey or oats help keep your skin fresh and radiant, as well as help delay or reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles.

For facial cleansing I like to use raw unscented goat milk soap fresh-made from the farm. If you haven’t tried goat milk soap then you’re missing out on a truly great facial cleanser. It’s certainly the best facial soap I’ve ever used to date. It is gentle, soothing and nourishing for your facial skin, as well as inexpensive, and one bar lasts an incredibly long time.

Raw goats milk soap is beneficial for dry, sensitive, oily, combination or problem skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis or for keeping your skin healthy. I wash with either a hypoallergenic facial mitt, made from flax is my personal preference, or a cotton wash cloth to gently wash and exfoliate my skin daily.

Be sure to wet your skin first before beginning to cleanse with your natural facial cleanser.

If you have dry or sensitive skin or areas of combination skin you may wish use your fingertips to wash your face, or an especially soft, cotton wash cloth. Apply more gentle, even pressure at the areas of your chin, nose, forehead and cheeks where oil and dirt can tend to accumulate.

Be very gentle with your skin when cleansing to avoid exacerbating any problems, or damaging the skin.

Rinse your face with cool water, removing all the soap completely and pat dry.

Some people like washing their skin morning and night. When I wear make-up I wash my face twice daily, but otherwise it seems to make my face more oily. Experiment and find out what works best for your skin type. As I said, my skin care routine tends to evolve and change overtime, so be open to switching things up on occasion.

The next step after your facial wash is skin toning with essential oils. First though, before introducing you to skin toning and how to make your own skin nourishing Facial (or Body) Toner, let's talk about Skin Types and Essential Oils to Use for Each Type and Condition.

READ my next article in this series: Best Essential Oils for Your Skin Type.

READ my first article in this series: Essential Oil After Shower Body Therapy.