LYMA Skincare finally landed to return youth, vigor and some much-missed bounce to our skin. But as Yvonne Martin explains, double cleansing with the right face wash is where it all begins.

If you think its sole job is to wipe away the day’s dirt, you can think again. How well you cleanse your face impacts skin’s aging mechanisms as well as where and when wrinkles form. Which is why expert facialist Yvonne Martin has been trying to get us to cleanse right for decades. “Cleansing is my biggest thing. Just like the hygienist teaches you to floss properly, I’m about cleansing technique. Cleansing doesn't just happen on the surface of the skin. You’re not just applying a product and wiping it off again. You've got to actively massage the face, neck and chest because you need to increase blood flow throughout, every single day.”

So what happens if you don’t wash your face? “If you didn't cleanse at all, you would very soon see the skin looking dehydrated and very dull. Probably lots of comedones (bumps that form a rough texture) and a scattering of milia, (little white hard lumps under the skin) would appear. Over time, if you continued to neglect to cleanse properly, the skin would look quite loose.”

‘Double cleansing’ gets a lot of air time in the social sphere and every beauty editor seems to be advocating it, yet it’s easy to be a skin skeptic and wonder if it’s truly necessary. “I’ve been a facialist for many years and I know that you need to double cleanse purely because people don’t cleanse their skin properly the first time,” explains Martin. She estimates around 90% of her clients have had to be educated in the art of the ‘full face wash’. “They’re traveling all over the world, working 16-hour days whilst raising children, getting to bed at 2am and just using a wet wipe. These are the realities of life, but I have to remind them that double cleansing is exactly the kind of small habit that will improve your life.”

Results show thoroughly cleansed skin aids with the delivery of potent actives. Which is precisely why the LYMA Skincare two-step protocol has been designed following the double cleansing technique. Manually manipulating skin also fires up the internal systems, increasing blood flow, stimulating lymphatic drainage and getting vital oxygen to the cells. “These processes kick-start skin into making more collagen and looking younger,” explains Martin. “All my clients I've treated for over a decade in the clinic look ten years younger, all of them from the cleansing techniques I teach them. These are women who are fifty years old with amazing, smooth, radiant skin. I’ve even been known to accuse them of having Botox, but they don't, they work on their skin, cleansing right every day.”

Although a maven of skincare products, Martin insists that even the most hi-tech skincare formulations require a dedicated protocol. “You have to exercise the skin, focus on drainage, stimulation and getting freshly oxygenated blood flowing to the skin. When you're increasing the blood flow and the lymphatic flow, you're opening up the skin and encouraging the production of collagen. Then you start pushing the fascia, the film of connective tissue that covers all the muscles in the face and in the neck. The neck has one big muscle called the platysma that’s like a big scarf which really needs a lot of work, massaging up and down. Then you need to move onto the chest as well to work where the thymus gland is, right in the middle of your chest. I promise you that if you do this at home and create that daily face massage habit, your skin will change.”

“Cleansing with active massage is the secret to great skin.”

Heavy metals, carbon particles and positively charged pollution ions can age skin by decades, accelerating the loss of elasticity, weakening the immune system and compromising skin’s essential protective barrier. LYMA Laser advocate, Joanna Czech is famed for bossing her New York Elite clients to, “never bring the streets to your sheets!”, and rightly so, because we are increasingly being made aware of the major role pollution plays in premature aging. But as Yvonne Martin warns, these are sticky, stubborn micro particles that cannot simply be wiped away. “Walking around the city you're taking on general pollution and the day’s dirt on your skin. Some of that pollution will be deeper in the lower dermal layers, under the epidermis, and you need to both increase the blood flow and stimulate the lymph nodes to flush out those toxins.”

She says we also need to remember that skin picks up impurities even on days we don't leave the house. “Even in our homes, debris builds up on our skin throughout the day. Skin produces protective sebum, there’s residue from skincare products applied that morning, perspiration and house dust.”

Late nights and laziness aside, there are genuine reasons some of us don’t like to over cleanse. Acne, rosacea and hypersensitivity can all make prolonged facial massage an unattractive prospect through fear of further irritating skin. “If you have problematic skin, you don't always have to address the entire face,” Martin explains. “Just work in the specific areas that need it. It might be the neck, jawline, the upper cheeks for instance. Exfoliating is great for skin renewal but there’s no need to scrub all over if you've got sensitive patches. Alternatively, you can also use different cleansers for different areas of your face if you need to.”

• Double cleanse using a pre-cleansing oil first. This is fine for even the oiliest of skins because if required, you can just wash it off again afterwards. Massage it in for twenty seconds, before taking off with a warm face cloth.

• Follow with the second cleansing milk for a full two minutes. Walk about the house if you need to but don’t stop short of those two minutes. Then wash the milk off with a warm, wet cloth as well.

• Twice a week, include an exfoliator of your choice. Be that a face scrub, fruit enzyme peel or AHA formula.

• Morning and evening, apply three pumps of LYMA Serum to double cleansed skin, using gentle circular motions. Ensure equal coverage across the face and neck. Leave for 30 seconds to ensure full absorption before applying LYMA Cream.

• Apply three pumps of LYMA Cream using gentle circular motions until you see a visible white film. Leave for 60 seconds to allow the actives to penetrate. Massage into the skin using circular motions until fully absorbed.