Face masks comes in all shapes and sizes these days. The more the merrier if you ask us. It’s one of our favorite girls night activities to de-stress and bond! For those of you who aren’t familiar with face masks and find the options overwhelming, we’re here to simplify things and explain what to look for according to your skin type, concern, or preferred routine.

Choosing a Face Mask

The way we see it, face masks be broken down into the 5 main types below. Each has unique benefits and together they address a wide array of skin concerns. To make things slightly more complex, there are also different formulas/application methods to choose between and this might also impact your final purchase decision (based on convenience, formula texture, or ease of use!). Your mask can come in any of these formats (note: it’s possible there are other types we aren’t aware of):

-Sheet Mask (10-20 minutes)

-Face Mask (5 mins to an hour)

-Night Masks (leave on treatments)

You can use this as a guide to help you find the best mask for your skin!

Benefits / Skincare Concern

Every face mask targets a different skin care concern and promises a different set of benefits. You’ll choose a mask according to the concern you have. Many of them can address multiple concerns as well so don’t worry too much. Most fall into the 1 of the following categories.

1.Hydrating Mask

• Most popular type of face mask that can never hurt to add to your routine. This one will often involve hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, glycerin, and a combination of anti-oxidants to benefit all skin types and concerns.

• Skincare Concern: Dehydrated, imbalanced skin (overly active oil production), pH balancing, environmental stresses like pollution, sun damage.

2. Anti-Aging

• These usually combine ingredients found in hydrating masks with an active ingredient that’s concentrated and low density for deeper penetration into the skin. Look for masks that use collagen, Vitamin C, Retinol, AHA, anti-oxidants and hyaluronic acid as ingredients.

• Skincare Concern: Loss of elasticity, dehydration and lack of ‘glow’, fine lines, uneven skin tone (dark spots).

3. Soothing/Calming

• If reduce redness and use ingredients like birch, aloe, honey, avocado, oatmeal, green tea.

• Skincare Concern: Rosacea, redness, sensitivity.

4. Clarifying / Purifying

• Decongest the skin, unclog pores, minimize pores, remove sebum, and bring blemishes to the surface. This will usually involve a drying ingredient like clay or charcoal to pull our impurities.

• Skincare Concern: Oily and acne prone skin

5. Exfoliating/Resurfacing

• Chemical exfoliation usually involves a stronger active ingredient that can cause skin to peel and shed away the top layer of skin. This can be irritating to sensitive skin, so just be careful. Ask your aesthetician if you want to experiment with acids / treatment masks like this. Ingredients can include very strong vitamin C, retinols, and AHAs.

• Skincare Concern: Scars, dark spots, uneven skin texture, acne are all concerns that this can help with. A peel/chemical exfoliant can be helpful for acne and mature skin.