What is the minimum skincare routine that actually works?

Step one: a cleanser that does not undo everything

Most routines fail at the sink. A high-pH or harsh cleanser strips lipids and starts the apology cycle where the rest of the routine exists to repair the damage the first step did. The cleanser to look for sits near skin's own pH on a mild surfactant. Sodium cocoyl isethionate is the one with a mechanism: its micelles measured larger than the skin's aqueous pores in a 2007 study, so they are hindered from getting in and taking lipids out. One cleanser, morning and night, and the rest of the routine gets easier.

Step two: one active, chosen by the problem

Not three. One, with human data for the thing you want changed. If the problem is dryness or irritation, the active is the barrier cream itself and you are already at step three. If the problem is lines and texture, the active is retinal at night: in the 1998 trial of 125 patients, 0.05% retinaldehyde reduced wrinkles and roughness comparably to prescription retinoic acid over 44 weeks, with less irritation. If the problem is dullness and uneven tone, the active is vitamin C in the morning, or niacinamide, which improved fine lines, spots and blotchiness in a 12-week split-face trial of 50 women.

• Dry, tight, irritated: no extra active. Go to step three.
• Lines and texture: retinal, at night.
• Dull or uneven tone: vitamin C in the morning, or niacinamide.

Step three: a barrier cream, and sunscreen

The barrier is built from ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids, and it repairs fastest when all three are applied together in ratio. In the 1996 study that set the rule, one or two lipids alone delayed recovery while complete mixtures allowed it and skewed ratios accelerated it. That is the moisturizer. Check the label for all three. Then sunscreen in the morning, which we do not sell and which nothing here replaces: the vitamin C system reduces oxidative damage but absorbs no ultraviolet light, and the 2008 human study calls it complementary to sunscreen.

The minimum routine with our products

Three of five. The other two are for when you want more, not because you need them.

• Clean Slate, morning and night.
• Coming of Age at night for lines, or Bright Side in the morning for tone. Pick one to start.
• Baby's Bottom, morning and night. Sunscreen over it in the morning.

When should you add a fourth?

When the first three have had their full run and you want a second job done. Give a serum 12 weeks and retinal 18 to 24, the lengths of their trials. Then add one product, a week apart from anything else new, so that if your skin objects you know exactly who to blame. Mixed Signals is the usual fourth: niacinamide has the data, the peptides are interesting, and it layers under the barrier cream in the morning without moving anything else.

What we made with it

Five products, one job each, built so that any three of them make a complete routine and all five make a thorough one. Clean Slate cleanses. Bright Side, Mixed Signals and Coming of Age do the visible work. Baby's Bottom protects. The hair one comes later.

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