Cleansing ritual or what I do to prevent the face going south before forty, hopefully

You know what I miss most during weekends in the UK, a bit of pampering in my local beauty parlour.  My favourite was a teeny tiny parlour in Kailash Colony called Muskaan. Come to think of it, it was actually discovered by one of my roommates Meetu- she had her pre wedding skin prep done from there. Location wise, it was a dud. A run down room with hardly any place to stand but with a proprietor who was an expert facialist. That was good enough for me and boy was it cheap. For me it was the ultimate girls world on a budget. Cleanses and facials with cheap “herbal brands” or Shahnaz Hussain, the amma of skincare in our part of the world. How much any of the so-called creams did for my skin I don’t know, but those facial massages were heavenly.

In an ideal world I would be able to get tri-annual facials at the hands of expert therapists with non mineral oil based products. But if I can’t get the therapist then the least I could do was to get good products and use my own ten fingers. And to that effect I have been using these two products for my cleansing. 

The first one is Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm which is my favourite and the other is the Alpha-H Age Delay Cleansing Oil which I reserve for days when the weather looks like this. 

Both are oil based cleansers, plant not mineral oil.  Mineral oil is Vaseline, it has its uses but you won't like to wash your face with it would you? I am bad with instructions, which means I don’t follow the usage directions given on the pack. So I always apply the cleanser on a dry skin, I feel the oils stick better to a non-wet surface. Logic right. But I do heat up the product in the palm of my hands adding a bit of water for slip. And then I massage and clean off the gunk with a facecloth. And finally a good old splash of water to round off everything and I am done. I follow it up with a toner, under eye cream and night cream. And if there are any girls reading this, do develop your own cleansing ritual. Seriously it’s the most relaxing thing you will ever do at the end of a day. And if you want any incentive, look at this clip. And be prepared for some major girl crushing.