in previous chapters, you learned about the functioning of your skin, the dangers of synthetic skin

care, and the principles of green beauty. Now it’s time to address green beauty in detail and develop
natural, pure beauty routines for your face, hair, and body.

A green skin care routine includes five steps: cleansing (face, hair, and body), exfoliating (face and
body), toning (face and hair), moisturizing (face and body), and protection from the elements (face,
body, optionally hair). Each step plays its own important role. Skip one, and the results will be far
less impressive. If time is running low, you can use multitasking products that will take you through
two steps in one simple move.

So what is green cleansing? As we wash our face, we get rid of daily grime, makeup, dead skin
cells, and oxidized sebum using a gentle cleansing agent formulated without sulfate detergents,
penetration enhancers, harsh acids, synthetic preservatives, or synthetic fragrances. Such agents can
be liquid and foaming or milky and nonfoaming, depending on your skin’s needs.

I think that most people, especially women, tend to overdo it when it comes to facial cleansing. For
some reason, we believe that if we rub our skin really hard, it will be cleaner and automatically
healthier. However, if you revisit Chapter 1, you will recall that human skin, thanks to sebum, is
perfectly able to cleanse itself. If it wasn’t for makeup, environmental toxins, and city dust and grime,
you could keep your skin clean with a cotton ball and some warm water.

Unfortunately, not all of us are blessed with the opportunity to spend lazy days in a seaside cottage
on a remote beach. City life is ruthless to our skin, and a good cleanser is essential for a clear,
healthy complexion. Do we really need a heavy-duty cleanser to make sure that our skin is truly,
deeply clean? Not at all! All we need is to get rid of the dirt that accumulates on our face during the
day. Remember, our faces are the most exposed yet fragile part of our bodies. If the weather is harsh,
you can wear gloves or mittens to cover your hands, and you can wrap a scarf around your neck, but
you cannot hide your face under a knitted mask— unless you plan on robbing a bank.

Every beauty book and skin care–related magazine article declares that neither dirt nor chocolate
can contribute to skin problems. Well, it depends on what we call dirt. Dirt does not necessarily
mean smudges of mud or streaks of dust on a sweaty face. Most often, dirt on our faces consists of
airborne particles of soot, smoke, dust, dried sweat, and residue from makeup, sunscreens, and skin
care. These fine particles pile on the surface of your skin, clogging up the pores and forming a sticky
nonbreathable film on top of your skin. As a result, congestion forms deep under the skin’s surface,
resulting in visible blackheads, an uneven, dull complexion, allergies, and acne. The solution: you
must eliminate the dirt without over cleansing, which may cause skin irritation. In this chapter, I will
describe the correct way to double-cleanse your skin using products and techniques designed
specifically for each skin’s needs.

There’s no such thing as one “perfect” skin type.

Forget About Skin Typing

Combination oily, dehydrated sensitive with oily T-zone, mature yet acne-prone—the cosmetic
industry comes up with endless variations on skin typing. Some cosmetic brands have developed
complex facial “mapping” techniques that put a label on each square inch of our face and assign a
separate product to tackle every zone, no matter how small it is. Other companies would use