Best Water to Wash Your Face With: A Comprehensive Guide

Best Water to Wash Your Face With

Which type of water to wash my face with?

You have many different types of water to wash your face with. This may depend on where you live and what type of water is in your tap water. Do you want to wash water with tap water or bottled water? Should you plunge it in an ice bath or use hot water? This blog discusses everything you need to know about washing your face with water.

Which water to use to wash your face depends upon your Baumann Skin Type and what other skin care products you are using.

Choices of water to wash your face with

You can also choose from distilled water, bottled water, filtered water, micellar water, thermal spring water, or thermal spa water?

You can learn about these different types of water at this link.

Best water to wash the face

Best Water Temperature To Wash Your Face With

Lukewarm water is the best temperature to use to wash your face. Too cold or too hot can cause inflammation.

Never use very hot water on your face. Hot water has these bad effects:

Inflammation

Injures your skin barrier

Can cause a burn if extremely hot

Here is a link to some tips about cleansing your face.

Is ice safe for your skin?

Ice Water Facials

Is Ice Good For Your Face?

Are you thinking about dunking your face in cold water? It’s only good for the reasons discussed below. It won’t get rid of acne and may interfere with how well your skin care products work by decreasing blood flow to your cold skin.

Read more to see the disadvantages of dipping your face in cold water.

Ice bath for Face

Dipping face in very cold ice water has become a trend in skin care. What are the benefits and disadvantages of dipping face in ice water?

If you should use an ice bath for your face depends upon your Baumann Skin Type and skin concerns.

When an ice bath for the face is good?

1- 24 hours after dermal fillers to prevent bruising

Immediately after a heat burn

When face is flushed and feels hot

When sunburned

Disadvantages of ice facials and ice baths for the face:

Can irritate rosacea

can dry skin by hurting the barrier

Keeps products applied after from absorbing and penetrating into the skin

Ice Face Roller

Ice face rollers are interesting, fun, and fell good on the skin, but they are not good for most skin types.

The best reason to use an ice roller on the face is to prevent swelling and bruising after a cosmetic procedure such as Botox or dermal fillers. They may help soothe an allergic reaction on the skin.

These ice rollers do not help acne or rosacea and may make sensitive skin worse.

Is Cold water good for acne?

Tap water, thermal spa water, micellular water, filtered water or distilled water to wash face?

Whether or not you should splurge and take the extra step to rinse your cleanser off with special water depends upon two things:

Do you have rosacea, eczema or hypersensitive skin?

What is the water like where you live? Try to Google “minerals in the water in X city” to see if you can find out what kind of water your town or city has before you spend extra money on water.

Minerals In Water Chart

Bottled Water or Carbonated Water to Wash Face?

The minerals that are best for your skin depend upon your Baumann Skin type. If you have sensitive skin, look for strontium and selenium in bottled water and avoid high levels of calcium and magnesium. Here are the amount of minerals in various bottled water that can be used to cleanse the face.

Tap Water: Hard Water vs Soft Water in To Cleanse Face?

Hard water has a lot of calcium and magnesium and other minerals that can cause a few problems for your skin.

Soft water has much fewer minerals in it. Soft water sometimes makes you feel like your skin is not clean, but it is more gentle on your skin.

When given a choice, soft water is better for your skin. Other water options are thermal spa water, bottled water and filters water. Buying a water filter is the cheapest and most practical option. This can be placed on the sink faucet or in the shower. Water filters are a great option if you have eczema and other types of sensitive skin.

Hard water on the skin

Effects of Hard Water on Skin

Calcium and magnesium react with the detergents in your cleansers making the detergents more irritating to your skin

Hard water damages your skin barrier

The minerals in water can react with the potent ingredients in your skin care products causing chemical reactions and undesired results

Rinsing your cleanser off of your skin with a micellular water, thermal water, or filtered water will prevent these problems and help prevent inflammation in rosacea, eczema and other types of hypersensitive skin.

What Water Should I Use to Wash my Face If I have Sensitive Skin?

Women Splashing Face With Water

Very sensitive skin types should use room temperature thermal spa water to wash the face.

Mildly sensitive types can use bottled water if skin is irritated. If your tap water is not very hard (not many minerals) then you can use tap water.

Do not use ice water or plunge in an ice bath. It is not necessary to do a second rinse with cold water.

Here are some thermal spa waters that rosacea-prone and very sensitive skin types can use:

What Water Is Best To Wash Face Before Using a Serum?

Minerals in water can react with ingredients in face serums. If you choose to use expensive face serums, you should consider using a water that will not interfere with the serum’s ingredients such as bottled water. In some cases, thermal spa water is a good option. (It depends on what type of serum you are using.)

Should I use thermal spa water or micelle water when using a serum?

Thermal water is the most expensive water to rinse your skin with, but it may have soothing ingredients like selenium that soothe your skin. Which minerals are in thermal spa water depends upon the brand. I only recommend splurging on thermal spa water when you have inflamed skin.

Should I use filtered water to rinse my skin before using a serum?

Yes!! If you live in a city with hard water, you can buy a water filter that removes the minerals from your water. These are usually inexpensive and easy to find. This will help our expensive serums work better because minerals in hard water can reduce the effectiveness of serums.

What temperature of water do I use to wash my face ? Hot or Cold Water?

Using water that is too hot will increase penetration of skin care ingredients but can lead to irritation from detergents in cleansers. Cold water may decrease absorption of the ingredients in skin care products, so you lose benefits. Our dermatologists recommend using water warm but not hot water to wash your face.

Is water alone enough to wash your face?

Water only face washing

There are benefits of not washing your face with a cleanser in the morning.

If you have very dry skin or active rosacea, it may be good for you to only wash your face with water in the morning and skip using a cleanser. This will help protect your skin barrier and decrease inflammation.

What to do instead of washing your face i the morning is to splash lukewarm water on your face and pat dry gently with a soft towel.

Whether or not your skin care routine should include your face with only water depend upon your Baumann Skin Type.

Skin Tip About Splashing Face with Water

The water you splash on your face to wash off your cleanser is more important that the water you are using to apply your cleanser. This has been shown in studies. I discuss this in Ch 40 of my bestselling textbook Baumann’s Cosmetic Dermatology (McGraw Hill 2022).

Want to learn more interesting skin care facts and tips? Visit us on social media or come ask Dr. Baumann questions on Reddit.

DQH Knowledge drop: In your 20s, your skin cell turnover decreases. (Cell turnover is a key component in keeping your skin youthful.) You know what else slows down? Your collagen production. Starting in your 20s, collagen decreases by about 1 percent per year. Should you want to prevent fine lines and wrinkles, start by eliminating behaviors that contribute to premature aging. “If it’s bad for you, it’s bad for your skin,” says dermatologist Michel Somenek. “Cigarette smoking reduces blood flow to the skin and causes premature wrinkling and a dull skin texture. Making the repeated pursed motion to inhale can also cause smoker’s lines. Alcohol and recreational drugs are toxins for the skin that damage its cellular structure and DNA,” Somenek tells us. “The faster you eliminate vices while you are young, the better chance your skin and body have to recuperate.” Also, adopting an anti-aging routine in your 20s is key. After all, the best offense is a good defense. We spoke to Somenek and experts Joshua Ross and Audrey Kunin to find out more. Keep reading for the best anti-aging products for your 20s, according to skincare professionals. Sunscreen “We all know that the sun is the number one cause of skin aging and starting the prevention in your 20s is very important,” Ross says. “The majority of your sun damage won’t start to appear until you’re in your 30s, so don’t wait until you see it surface or you’ll be behind the curve. Stay ahead of it with a good-quality zinc-based sunscreen worn daily.” Farmacy Green Defense Daily Mineral Sunscreen An invisible sunscreen with SPF 30, plus botanical extracts meant to protect skin with tons of antioxidants. Bonus: It’s clean and fine to use under makeup. Bareminerals Complexion Rescue™ Tinted Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Although we recommend you use your SPF and moisturizer separately, we also understand moments when you don’t have time or energy for that extra step. For those times, this bareMinerals moisturizer is a great thing to have on hand. Vitamin C Serum “A great introduction to anti-aging is to start with a vitamin C serum in your morning skincare routine,” Ross says. “It’s a powerful antioxidant that will neutralize free radicals and brighten the skin.” He adds that it’s a great way to counteract the effects of the sun’s harmful rays, which, as previously mentioned, are among the biggest causes of premature aging. Drunk Elephant C-Firma™ Vitamin C Day Serum The Drunk Elephant C-Firma is a lightweight serum that promises to give skin a glow by combining the brightening powers of vitamin C with ferulic acid, l-ascorbic acid, and vitamin E. The included sodium hyaluronate is meant to replace hydration loss, so you shouldn’t have to deal with any irritation. Sunday Riley C.E.O. Rapid Flash Brightening Serum This potent serum is jam-packed with vitamin C (15 percent, to be exact), which means it’s a potential superstar at both brightening skin and dousing it in antioxidants. Peptides Using peptides on your skin has many benefits, says Somenek. “The skin barrier is what defends the body against pollution, UV rays, bacteria, and toxins. It can be damaged by several everyday factors. Using topical peptides aids in building a stronger barrier,” he says. “Peptides comprise elastic fibers, which are a type of protein. These fibers help to make skin appear taut and firm. Peptides can also help repair damaged skin, relieve inflammation, and even out skin tone. Some peptides can kill acne-causing bacteria that is common in 20-somethings.” Kunin agrees, saying, “Peptides are an excellent entry point for supporting collagen.” She recommends looking for face and eye treatments that contain these collagen-boosting powerhouses. Charlotte Tilbury Magic Eye Rescue Cream This Charlotte Tilbury super-emollient eye cream has a base of coconut oil and shea butter (read: it’s incredibly hydrating). Botanicals plus peptides are meant to help reduce dark circles and boost collagen, respectively. This creamy moisturizer serves up potent collagen-boosting peptides and pycnogenol, and antioxidant-rich vitamin C. “Instead of sitting on top of the skin, peptides penetrate the outer layer so they go deep. The ‘signals’ they send tell the cells to produce elastin and collagen, which are needed for youthful-looking skin,” explains Somenek. At-Home Peel Pads Remember that skin cell turnover fiasco we talked about earlier? One way to help support it is by exfoliating. “Exfoliation is important to help keep skin fresh and luminous,” Kunin says. She recommends using at-home peel pads as an easy and effective way to exfoliate. “The goal in your 20s is to fight the slowing pace of cell turnover. It is wise to use products that gently exfoliate, yet still remove oil and other impurities. Products that have Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) or Beta Hydroxy Acids (BHA) are a good choice.” According to Somenek, you should only exfoliate two to three times a week. “People of all ages are guilty of over-exfoliating and that can be too much of a good thing,” he says. Dermadoctor Kakadu C Intensive Vitamin C Peel Pad A few swipes of this Derma Doctor powerful peel pad promise to leave your skin glowing and smooth, thanks to the seven (yes, seven) types of chemical exfoliants, including AHA and BHA. It also contains vitamin C via Kakadu plum extract for added brightening and antioxidant protection. KEY INGREDIENTS Kakadu plum extract is sourced from the Kakadu plum, a fruit grown in northern Australia. It contains vitamin C, which restores the skin’s natural barrier, increases collagen production, and soothes irritation. Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta® Universal Daily Peel Pads These are the gold standard of peel pads, with a cult following and over 900 five-star reviews on Sephora. They’re easy to use and contain a blend of anti-aging exfoliating acids. Emollient Night Cream “In your 20s, you need to start upping the hydration in your skincare routine. You may have been cautious of over-moisturizing because of acne in your teens, but as you enter your 20s, your skin transitions and becomes drier,” Ross says. “I recommend an emollient night cream added into your evening skincare regimen.” “Twenty-somethings need to make sure that they are not using creams that will clog their pores and cause excess oil production,” says Somenek. Opt for non-comedogenic products. Cerave Skin Renewing Night Cream One great choice is the CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream, which is a non-comedogenic night cream that leaves skin soft and glowy. It combines the moisturizing powers of ceramides and hyaluronic acid. RoC Retinol Correxion Max Hydration Creme “The best night cream ingredients contain retinol, benzoyl peroxide, and/or salicylic acid or hyaluronic acid. The goal is to moisturize, yet remove excess oil,” says Somenek. This Roc Retinol Correxion cream fits the bill as it contains both hyaluronic acid and retinol so it promises to moisturize while also being non-comedogenic.

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