The benefits of using facial toner are pretty undeniable. This simple product can be the savior for your skin type, whatever your chief complaint or concern. Dull complexion? The hydrating ingredients in a toner can make it skin radiant. Clogged pores? A toner can help keep them clean. Uneven texture? A toner can smooth it right up by gently removing excess dead skin cells from the surface. We could go on (and we will) but for now, you get the picture. Whether your skincare routine is three, seven, or eleven steps, a facial toner should be one of them. Here’s why:

What Are the Benefits of Using Toner?

What is Toner?

A toner is a water-based solution that helps balance the skin’s pH after using a facial cleanser. Because of its water-like nature, it can deliver beneficial ingredients into the skin and serve as a primer for the rest of your skincare routine.
If you’re hesitant about toners because of past experience with irritating varieties, we promise you can revisit this skincare staple with confidence. What once were rather harsh, blemish-fighting solutions have developed into gentler, yet just as powerful, formulations that are essential for anyone serious about maintaining healthy-looking skin. Today’s toners benefit all skin types and concerns. While they vary, the good ones have exfoliating, anti-aging, and hydrating ingredients that achieve radical results. Some toners may even contain hyaluronic acid for blemish-prone skin.

What are these results, you ask? Here are the benefits you need to know of for incorporating a skin toner to your regimen:

A Brighter Complexion

The key to a glowing complexion isn’t just highlighter on your cheekbones. No, the real glow comes from properly exfoliated skin. When you exfoliate, you slough off the dead skin cells that can give skin a dull appearance. The key to proper exfoliation is ingredients that are both powerful and gentle. Our Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic finds just the right balance. It features Lactic Acid, which effectively breaks up dead cells on the surface of the skin without causing irritation, while adding hydration. The result of using the skin tonic is a proven brighter complexion. Plus, gentle daily exfoliation such as the kind you get with a toner can help keep pores clean underneath layers of dead skin.
Cleaner Pores
Cleaner pores equals fewer breakouts, and who doesn't want fewer breakouts? While washing your face is #1 in the skincare rulebook, a simple cleanse doesn’t always catch everything. Facial pores can trap dirt and require a bit of extra love to ensure they are cleaned thoroughly. Insert a toner. A skin toner can help remove traces of debris after using a facial cleanser and will cleanse your pores with the ingredients it needs instead.

A More Even Skin Tone

There are numerous reasons you may experience an uneven skin tone or hyperpigmentation from sun exposure to aging and genetics. But whatever the reason for your skin concern, you don’t have to put up with it. A hydrating toner can help you achieve a more even skin tone when it features the right ingredients such as the Azelaic Acid precursor found in Ready Steady Glow. With consistent use, the skincare product will help diminish dark spot appearance and reveal the even complexion you’re looking for.

More Effective Skincare

When you spend a lot of time and money to achieve healthy-looking skin, you want it to work, right? Right. Well, one of the not-so-commonly known benefits of using toner is that it increases the efficacy of the rest of your skincare product regimen. Because a toner helps remove dead skin and clear pores, it makes skin a ready canvas for products to be painted on. Steps three through five (or ten) will seep in deeper and work better when a natural toner precedes them.

How To Use Toner

So where does this saving grace fit into your routine? To optimize the skin benefits, a toner should be used right after cleansing, before any additional serums, moisturizers, or masks. If you’re still not sure how to mix and match all of your skincare products, a good rule of thumb is to work from the lightest formula to the heaviest. Toner, being nice and liquid like water, should be at the start.

A toner featuring AHAs that exfoliate the skin, such as Ready Steady Glow, should be used at night because exfoliation can make your skin more susceptible to sun reaction immediately after use. If you do decide to use a toner in the morning, be sure to apply sunscreen directly afterward to protect your skin from potential sun damage.

Apply toner using a reusable cotton pad and swipe it all over your face to balance the skin’s pH, avoiding the area around your eyes. Keep in mind the skin around your eyes is very delicate, so when applying products to this area, it should be a specifically formulated eye cream or dark circle product. If your skin feels sensitive to the toner at first, you can dilute it by dampening the cotton swab with water before saturating it with toner. Then, sit back and watch as your bright, beautiful complexion begins to glow even more.

About the Author

Camille Poggi is a doctor in Pharmacy (PharmD.) and is passionate about skincare and how the skin works in general. She specializes in the cosmetic industry and worked for renowned companies in France like L’Oréal and Chanel before moving to London. After being a training manager for 4 years, Camille is at ease with explaining how products work in the skin and how to adapt her speech according to the audience.

She joined REN in January 2020 as International Training Manager and moved to the Research & Development team earlier this year to be the new Scientific Education Manager. A tailored-made role where she assesses and leads all technical communication and ensures scientific compliance is always met. She’s also involved in new product development from the earliest stages. Finding a way to create sustainable skincare products and making sure the message is properly delivered and understood is definitely a big challenge but also her favourite part working for REN.