Tips for Staying Consistent with Your Skincare Routine

“Consistency is key.” If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times. As overused as the saying might be, it’s true in so many aspects of our lives and that includes skincare.

No skincare products can produce instant, ongoing results overnight. They focus on improving the health of your skin, and that requires consistent use over time. Between countless other responsibilities, though, that’s the tough part: consistently completing a skincare routine every morning and every night. I’ll be the first one to admit that I’ve gone through serious periods of slacking on my skincare.

Sometimes you have to acknowledge that you’re having a hard time sticking to your goal and then come up with some hacks and tricks to make it easier on yourself. If you want to make this year the year of stunning skin, try these tricks to stick to your routine.

Keep the Math to a Minimum

Sometimes the hardest part of maintaining your routine is knowing what it should include. You probably have some basics you use every morning and night, like cleanser and moisturizer. What about those you need to use every few nights instead, though, like exfoliators and retinols?

To make it easy on yourself, create a skincare calendar. List the steps of your routine, including those non-daily products on whatever rotation you need, like every three days. This way, the list is right in front of you and all you have to do is follow it.

Move Up Your Nightly Skincare Time

I don’t know about you but when I head to bed, I’m dead tired and all I want to do is plop down under the covers. Unfortunately, if I wait until just before bed to do my skincare routine, that means I sometimes let exhaustion win and I skip my skincare altogether. Not a great idea.

Instead, move your skincare routine earlier in the evening. For example, if you usually go to bed around 11pm, set an alarm on your phone for 10pm every night to do your skincare. You won’t be so tired so you’ll be less likely to skip it. Plus, it can serve as a signal to your brain to start winding down for the night so that when bedtime rolls around, you’ll be ready to sleep rather than hitting “play” on “one more episode” of The Queen’s Gambit.

Develop a Reward System

Bribes get a bad rap but truthfully, they have a time and a place for being productive. That time and place could be your bedtime routine.

Keep track of your skincare success and set up a rewards system. For example, for every ten days straight of crossing off all your skincare tasks, put some money toward your shopping fund or give yourself an extra half-hour of your favorite hobby.

Track Your Results

Creating a reward system is a way to create artificial rewards for hitting your goals. While that works for many, others are more motivated by the natural rewards of hitting their goals. In the case of your skincare routine, the natural reward is better-looking, healthier skin.

If that’s what motivates you, help yourself to see those results. Take pictures once every month, for example. After several months have passed, pull up those pictures and look at the results your efforts have had.

Sometimes the changes are so gradual that you get used to them and don’t think about them on a daily basis until you see the before-and-after photos side-by-side. Once you see how that acne kit has been working or how much your wrinkles have reduced, you’ll be more likely to keep it up.

Make Your Skincare Products a Work of Art

“Out of sight and out of mind,” they always say. Most people hear that saying in relation to temptations, like keeping chocolate bars out of the house if you’re trying to eat fewer sweets. It works in the opposite way for your skincare products, though: if the products are in open view, you’re more likely to remember to use them.

To keep your bathroom looking nice, turn your products into part of your décor. Set them up on an attractive shelf, store them in a stylish box so they match the rest of the décor, or whatever you need to do to make them part of the aesthetic.

Partner with a Buddy

Accountability buddies are common for people with weight loss goals, people trying to be more productive in their careers, and more, but why not use them for skincare too?

Find a friend who has daily goals they’re trying to work toward as well. It’s great if their goal is also to be more consistent with their skincare, but it doesn’t need to be. Have a pact that you’ll each text each other when you’ve completed your goal task for the day. If one of you doesn’t get a text from the other on a particular day, ask them why and support them in getting back on track the next day.

Making the Most of Your Skincare Products

Skincare products can be a true investment in your look and in the health of your skin. To truly get great value from them, though, you need to use them on a continuous, ongoing basis. The tips above can help you cement your routine into your schedule and stick with it so that, in no time, you’ll be enjoying healthier, more beautiful skin.