Facial skin care has enjoyed a huge boom over the last couple of years, with new products hitting the shelves seemingly everyday. Anti-aging, anti-wrinkle, rejuvinating, peeling, soothing, you name it there is something that does it. But is it all really necessary? While it is a good idea to take good care of your skin, is it worth spending so much money on so many facial skin care products such a face wash, toner, cleanser, serum anti-wrinkle something and moisturiser.

Back in the "good old days" before a million and one products were launched to help us clean and preen ourselves, most people managed to get by with a basin of water, a bar of soap and a good rough towel, of course women tended to follow this up with a healthy dollop of skin care cream such as cold cream to keep their skin soft. So do we really need to use the latest nano-busting face washes to get our skin clean, or should we take a step back and go back to more simple methods.

There isn't really a simple answer to this unfortunately as everybodies skin is different. While the average skin PH is about 5.5 people with dry skin have a lower pH and oily skin have higher so their needs will differ greatly. However, the one thing I can say is you definitely should NOT use the same soap you use to wash your hands with on your face. It will be much too harsh, no matter what your skin PH and you will end up drying your skin out, leaving it looking dull, old and possibly even wrinkly due to dehydration. There are plenty of soaps specially designed for use on the face with ranges for sensitive skin, oily skin, even older skin so you can find the right one for you. Some people really like washing their face with soaps like these, while others much prefer using a liquid face wash product instead.

Face washes come in a huge range as well, with the ususal dry skin, combination, oily skin options, along with a few added extras if you want. There are face washes that contain low levels of AHA's to help refine the appearance of your skin to make it seem brighter, some have added moisturiser in them to help keep your skin soft. The one thing to be careful of when choosing a daily face wash is exfoliaters. It is not a good idea to use an exfoliating face wash daily, they should really only be used once, maybe twice a week as they can be quite harsh on the skin if use too often. Exfoliating face washes generally have tiny beads visible in them, and it is these that slough away the dead skin cells when you wash your face, which understandably you don't want to be doing every day.

So, basically, if you want to use soap make sure it is one that is designed for washing your face, and if you want to go with a face wash, just be sure that it is designed for daily use. If you want to exfoliate your skin then grab one that is designed for this and just use it once a week instead of your regular face wash for lovely healthy glowing skin.