New Year Skincare Spring Clean

The New Year is the perfect opportunity to do a mass clean of your home and wardrobe, but what about your skincare collection? As the years fly by and mixed with a busy schedule, it’s so easy to forget about decluttering your skincare, or perhaps you had no clue that you even should!

Before you even think about applying that 3-year-old face cream that you use once in a blue moon, keep on reading to find out why a skincare declutter is essential and the steps you need to take for it to be a success!

Why is a skincare declutter essential?

Whether you know it or not, skincare has an expiry date! It doesn’t always necessary mean that they have ‘gone off’, but instead it signals the start of when active ingredients lose their potency and effectiveness. However, if you can’t see the effects from your skincare then why would you use it? Other than losing effectiveness, expired skincare can cause irritation and infection especially if you have sensitive skin or are prone to breakouts. This is due to the chemicals and ingredients breaking down in the product and the change in their formula.

So now you know why a skincare declutter is a must, let’s move onto how to declutter your collection.

1. Take everything out

If you have a lot of skincare then this can be a daunting task, but it’ll be worth it…just think of that clean skincare cabinet at the end! If you’re a skincare fanatic like us, then you’ve probably experimented and tried out lots of products and let’s be honest, you’ve been disappointed with some and have left it to collect dust at the back of your cabinet. Now is the time to completely clear out your cabinet, bags, drawers, or vanity table!

2. Divide into categories

To make the task less overwhelming, divide all your skincare into 3 categories: keep, recycle/repurpose, and donate. We don’t want any ‘maybe’ piles so it’s time to get brutal with your decision! The aim is to have a skincare collection that you use, not one that contains an eye cream that you might use ‘just in case’. All products that you love and use frequently will of course go into the ‘keep’ pile. Any products that you haven’t used in months, are empty, or are expired will go in the ‘recycle/repurpose’ pile. Finally, all products that you used once but just didn’t like, or they just didn’t suit your skin type should be put into the ‘donate’ pile if they are unexpired.

3. Check expiry dates

As mentioned above, skincare does indeed expire. All skincare products have a small symbol that looks like an open jar with a number and an ‘M’ next to it. This lets you know how many months it is in date for. Now that you’ve divided your skincare into categories, double check your ‘keep’ pile and make sure all products are in date. If expired, move them over to the recycle pile.

4. Organise

After deciding what skincare you’ll be keeping, it’s time to put it all back into your cabinet, bag, or onto your vanity table. We won’t tell you how to organise your skincare collection since it’s all down to preference, but some options include dividing products by AM/PM skincare, by category, or by what you use most.

5. Recycle/Repurpose

For any unusable jars and bottles, clear them out and recycle. For any jars and bottles that are suitable for repurposing, there are so many easy ways to make use of these! Serum bottles can be used to pop in some dried pampas grass, and jars are super useful to store bobby pins, hairbands, and jewellery.

Happy decluttering!