15 Skincare Tips Dermatologists & Estheticians Know (That You Don't)

Whether you take a minimal approach when it comes to a beauty routine, or devour any kind of skincare and makeup advice you can get your hands on, one thing remains universal: We all want to know the very best practices for achieving healthy, radiant skin. For the most part, we've got the basics covered by making sure our daily routine consists of drinking enough water, washing our face before bed, and doing our best to avoid anything toxic that might frustrate our pores.

While innovation is a beautiful thing, it seems these days there's always a new ingredient, technique, or product on the scene with a bevy of skincare tips to go along with it. Seeing as taking care of our skin ranks fairly high on our to-do list, we reached out to several top dermatologists and estheticians to take a deeper look into all the advice and time-tested information they've learned throughout their careers.

Keep scrolling for all the tips you need to know from sun protection to the proper techniques in applying skincare products, and so much more!

Tip #1: Avoid the Sun and Wear Sunscreen
Avoid the sun, and when you can’t avoid it, wear sunscreen and a hat. 

Tip #2: Layer Products From Thinnest to Thickest
We consider treatment steps to be anything between toning and moisturizing. Layering your serums and essences from thinnest to thickest helps the skin to absorb each layer most efficiently! 

Tip #3: Stimulate Blood Flow
Ginseng applied topically is one of my favorite skincare tips—it works to stimulate blood flow in the capillaries, promoting a healthy, firmed, glowing-from-within visage. Bonus points if you layer a product containing plumping hyaluronic acid with your ginseng

Tip #4: Use Targeted Exfoliators
AHAs and BHAs are popular in dermatology clinics but are also formulated to be used in at-home exfoliating treatments to reveal brighter and more even-toned skin. Simply put, AHAs help to ‘unglue’ stubborn surface skin cells that cause dullness and clog pores, while BHAs enter pores to dissolve sebum and fight dormant acne.

Tip #5: Remove Your Makeup
It’s been said a million and one times, but effectively removing makeup is the gateway to clearer, healthier skin. When makeup is removed, the skin becomes a clean canvas ready to absorb the product. An easy tip is to clean your face as soon as you get in the door instead of waiting right before you go to bed. Just as you are dying to get out of your constricting work clothes, skin desperately wants to rid itself of pore-clogging debris and pollution! We like to use gentle cleansing oil as a first step.

Tip #6: Soothe Inflammation
Use a skincare product that optimizes the skin barrier and contains anti-inflammatory ingredients. This will also help reduce chronic inflammation induced by ultraviolet light and airborne pollution. Barrier-damaging skincare and cleansing should be avoided.

Tip #7: Invest in a Great Moisturizer
Moisturizers help our skin barrier by providing lipids, protecting from external chemicals, and providing water to our sometimes parched skin. 

Tip #8: Eat Well
Your skin acts as an excretory system to get rid of substances that don’t agree with your body. In the case of dairy, it is mucus-forming and can be difficult for the body digest—which is why many people are lactose intolerant. Eat right and consume more fruits an vegetable to make your skin glow

Tip #9: Aim for a Restful Night's Sleep And Sleep Right to Avoid Wrinkles
This concept is often explained to patients by giving the analogy of our minds being like a computer that needs to be rebooted every night so as to process everything we put into them. Seven to eight hours of sleep beauty allows this to happen. After sunlight/UV exposure, the second cause of wrinkles is sleeping. Squishing your face into a pillow for approximately 2,500 hours per year while you sleep is like ironing wrinkles into the skin. Strategically position your head so the lower half of your face never touches your pillow. What this helps to prevent is a squishing of the face, which would exacerbate the wrinkles that come with age. These are the deep creases also known as the ‘parentheses’ or ‘marionette’ lines that run from the nostril to the corner of the mouth on both sides of the face and are enhanced every time you smile or laugh.

Tip #10: Implement More Greens
My number one tip is absolutely my favorite skincare tip: Drink a green juice every day. It will be a great replacement for your afternoon coffee and will transform your skin in a matter of days. The ingredients in the juice help oxygenate the skin and stimulate lymphatic drainage, so it’s de-puffing too!

Tip #11: Gently Exfoliate
“Exfoliating twice weekly is what I call my secret weapon to perfect skin. We all tend to either skip it or overdo it. Twice a week with a physical scrub that has a chemical element like lactic acid is a perfect combo to great skin. It keeps the pores minimized, keeps the fine lines at bay, and resurfaces the skin perfectly.” — Joanna Vargas

Tip #12: Utilize Your Vitamin Serum
“Complete nutrition for the epidermis is critical. The epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin) is a key protective structure that uses 23 vitamins. These vitamins must be provided at therapeutic concentrations and delivered within the epidermis for optimum skin health. A vitamin serum is non-irritating and formulated with vitamins A, B, C, D, and E to give skin the nutrition it needs.

Tip #13: Wash Your Body With Care
Dry, overly washed skin highlights wrinkles and looks more aged than hydrated skin. Also, as we get older, the skin naturally loses the ability to maintain its own natural moisture retention. 

Tip #14: Find the Right Spot Treatments
The best solution initially is to leave your pimple alone (without the application of a drying spot treatment) to get rid of it faster. “This may come as a real surprise, but most spot treatments actually make the blemish stick around longer when used in this way. It will also lead to a prolonged recovery time with scarring. When there is an infection within the pore, the natural process is for the infection to come up and out through the skin’s surface. Applying a warm, damp washcloth to the blemish beforehand for two minutes can soften up the skin to make for easier extraction. Once the whitehead is removed, dab on a zit-zapping product. This works to dry out any remaining bacteria to help close up the skin.

Tip #15: Start Getting Facials
I always recommend clients have facials once a month. Nothing you do at home can replace professional exfoliation, extraction, and attention!

If you can't make it for a facial each month, try a deep cleansing face mask at least once per week to try to help draw out dirt and oil and clear up clogged pores.