6 Skincare Products You Don’t Need, According To A Skin Doctor

Feeling the pinch? One skin expert shares the products he believes you can cull from your routine.

Sleep-in-a-jar. Acne cure-all. Anti-wrinkle wonder cream.

The beauty industry is riddled with lofty claims, not least when it comes to skincare — with its slick marketing campaigns and packaging emblazoned with clever taglines or buzzy language.

It seems that every other week there’s a new skincare “breakthrough” or ingredient touted to be “the next big thing” when it comes to smoothing/plumping/hydrating/firming skin.

But with growing concerns of overconsumption, along with the collective tightening of purse strings, it’s become increasingly clear that you don’t need 10 products in your routine to have great skin.

Some people fall prey to using myriad products as they believe they’re doing their skin a favour. Instead, the reverse can often be true.

Too many ingredients, used too often, can cause inflammation and irritation — exacerbating skin issues rather than solving them.

Instead, using a curated edit of skincare essentials will not only do wonders for your budget, but could also improve the overall health of your skin.

In pursuit of conscious beauty consumerism, we tapped skin cancer doctor, author and skincare formulator Dr Sharad Paul for insight on the skincare products you really need (and those you don’t).

Separate moisturisers for day and night

Most skin types won’t experience any added benefit of using a separate moisturiser for day and night, Dr Paul says, unless of course your day cream is a moisturiser with sunscreen added.

“In which case your night one has to be plain moisturiser,” he says.

However, we want to caveat this by saying that especially oily skin types may require a lighter daytime option, and a richer nighttime alternative — which can be ultra-nourishing on areas like the neck and décolletage — so you won’t run the risk of its thicker texture causing makeup to slide off during the day.

Toners

If you’re a millennial, the chances are you’ve had this three-step routine drilled into you since tweendom: cleanse, tone, moisturise.

But according to Dr Paul, you can skip that second step.

“In the past, [toners] were a great fad, with many containing alcohol. Toners were developed to remove soap residue on skin, and we know soap is not good for skin,” he says.

“Toners can irritate sensitive skin and worsen acne, so I would avoid these.”

It’s a vicious cycle for those with acne-prone skin, as drying skin can cause oil glands to switch into overdrive, which can trigger even more acne.

Thankfully, most of the new cleansers we use today are pH-balanced and rarely leave soap residue behind, rendering toner redundant.

Cleansing devices

We’ve got the likes of Foreo, Skin Gym, PMD Beauty and Clarisonic to thank for the onslaught of cleansing devices available today, most of which claim to exfoliate the skin’s surface and deeply cleanse pores.

However, not only are these a pricey addition to any skincare routine (most cleansing devices cost upwards of $100), but Dr Paul says cleaning blackheads out of pores is a never-ending battle as they will eventually refill.

“Mechanical cleansers exfoliate skin, but if you have broad pores they will refill over time,” he says.

The size of our pores is determined by a range of factors, including genetics, loss of skin elasticity as we age and sun damage — all things that over-washing skin with a cleansing device cannot change.

Rather, Dr Paul suggests using a gentle, pH-neutral cleanser, applied with fingertips, to keep skin clean.

Facial rollers

Facial rollers in their many forms, whether jade, rose quartz, metal or ice rollers, promise to aid lymphatic drainage or reduce inflammation. But according to Dr Paul, the same effect can be achieved by going the manual route.

“Rolling devices such as gua sha are also supposed to improve skin circulation but in reality you can get that effect by simply massaging your face,” he says.

In saying that, smoothing a facial roller onto skin is inherently calming (hence why many facialists include it in their treatments). So if you already have a roller in your skincare arsenal, by all means hang on to it if you love the moment of self-care using it affords you.

Collagen supplements

Now for a slightly controversial one.

Collagen is known as one of the building blocks of skin, the essential protein that keeps skin firm, plump and juicy. As we age, our collagen production starts to slow, showing up on skin in the form of fine lines, wrinkles and laxity.

Collagen supplements are everywhere these days, but Dr Paul says the body doesn’t prioritise sending collagen to skin when we consume it in either powder or liquid form, instead it supports joints and organs in the first instance.

“When you consume collagen orally, it gets broken down by the gut,” he says.

“Truth be told, our genes or internal organs don’t care about beauty so when collagen from the supplement is broken down into amino acids and peptides, these are sent to where the body needs them and may help your joints or your liver, but there is no evidence that is helps your skin’s appearance.”

Pure hyaluronic acid serums

Skincare wunderkind hyaluronic acid continues to crop up in formulas spanning cleansers to serums, but Dr Paul says it’s important to seek out formulas where HA is twinned with other ingredients to boost its efficacy.

“Hyaluronic acid is a great moisturiser as it draws in several times its molecular weight of water, but being a large molecule it does not penetrate skin well,” he says.

“Hyaluronic acid may be useful as part of a formulation where there are other ingredients as it can add moisture to the top layer of skin, but pure HA serums aren’t useful. Pure HA serums may even have the opposite effect as the HA may pull moisture from the deeper layers of skin into your epidermis, effectively dehydrating your skin.”

Instead, seek out supercharged formulas where HA is combined with known skin boosters or hydrators like vitamin C, glycerin, ceramides or panthenol to get more bang for your buck.

What you do need

At a basic level, Dr Paul says all you really need to use are three products to maintain the health of your skin.

This less-is-more approach expands to three essentials: a gentle, pH-neutral cleanser, moisturiser geared towards your specific skin type and broad-spectrum sunscreen.

Together, these products will ensure skin remains clean, hydrated and protected all year round.

Soap-free or pH-neutral cleanser

If you’re a regular makeup wearer, Dr Paul recommends reaching for a soap-free or pH-neutral cleanser to gently wash the day away.

“Soaps are alkaline and skin is acidic, so pH-neutral means closer to the skin’s pH of 5.5,” he says.

Viva loves CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser, $18, or Avene Gentle Milk Cleanser, $37.

Moisturiser

Above all else, Dr Paul stresses the importance of keeping skin moisturised.

“The most important thing you can do for skin — irrespective of whether the goal is to reduce wrinkles or minimise skin irritation — is to moisturise your skin, so having a good moisturiser that is suited for your skin type is good,” he says.

At his Auckland-based skin clinic, Dr Paul tends to recommend tinted moisturisers to his patients due to their ability to cross a few products off the list, moonlighting as both a moisturiser and lightweight makeup.

Otherwise, he suggests moisturisers which contain ingredients suited towards your individual nights — like those blended with vitamin C to target pigmentation, or combined with retinol to increase skin cell turnover and reduce sun damage.

Viva loves Antipodes Diem Vitamin C Pigment-Correcting Water Cream, $62, or Kiehl’s Clearly Corrective Brightening & Smoothing Moisture Treatment, $113.

Broad-spectrum sunscreen (minimum SPF30)

In Aotearoa, daily use of broad-spectrum sunscreen is an absolute essential - especially given our high rate of skin cancer.

Dr Paul prefers mineral sunscreens over chemical sunscreens for their ability to create a barrier-like film on skin.

Mineral sunscreens (also known as physical sunscreens) tend to use UV filters like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide instead of chemical ingredients like oxybenzone or octinoxate, which are banned in some countries for their rumoured impact on coral reefs and marine environments.

Viva loves La Roche-Posay Anthelios Invisible Fluid SPF50+, $28, or Ultra Violette Supreme Screen Hydrating Facial Skinscreen SPF50+, $64.

Ashleigh Cometti is an Auckland-based beauty journalist with more than 12 years’ experience in the industry. After joining the Viva team in 2018 and being appointed as beauty editor in 2020, Ash has fine-tuned her skills at sniffing out new fragrance launches, discovering the next generation of talented makeup artists, and writing about all things that feed her obsession as a skincare fanatic.

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