You don't have to spend a lot of money to find a good cleanser, and many you can buy at the drugstore. Depending on what your skin type is you'll want to buy one that agrees with you. Skin types can be blemished, dry, oily or some combination of that.

I've found that a very soft, gentle cleanser works best for most skin types. Harsh soaps just dry out the face too much. If you need to remove oil an astringent used after cleansing would take care of that. So always try to use a gentle facial cleanser regardless.

Be sure to cleanse your face morning and every evening too. Don't go to sleep with your make up on. I like a cleanser with a more oily element to it as it can effectively clean the make up off gently. I use a fresh wash cloth every time I wash my face and gently pat dry. Keeping your face clean will help to prevent breakouts.

A gentle purpose cleansing wash works best. You can buy high end cleansers like Philosophy, Boscia or Clinique, or look for the standard drugstore fare from Ponds to Cetaphil to Neutrogena. I personally love Neutrogena and I actually use the Sesame Oil body oil as my face wash! This is rather oily but it takes make up off and makes my skin soft. At night I don't mind the moisture it leaves on my skin and in the morning I follow it up with an acne astringent pad to remove any oils it leaves.

Regular hand soap is really not good for mature skin. If you are over forty, definitely switch over to a gentle face washing cleanser. The drugstore brands are cheap enough and your skin is definitely worth the few dollars more you'll pay.

Acne Astringent

Facial astringent is one of the most over looked beauty products for older women. While acne products are obviously aimed at fighting acne, astringent is also important, actually critical, to help aging skin. What the astringent does is remove all bacteria effectively from your skin. Any dead skin cells, oil and dirt will be removed.

I absolutely love the acne astringent pads with salicylic acid on them. If you wash your face and then use one of these pads you will see that dirt still comes off your face with the pad that cleansing will totally miss. The only problem with the astringent pads are that they are drying to the face. For that reason, I only recommend using the pads only once a day in the morning. You don't want to dry your skin out before bed time.

If astringent is too hard on your skin you can try a tamer version of astringent which is a toner. The toners have the same qualities but do not over dry sensitive skin types. I love the refreshing tingle to the face I feel after using an astringent. Because more mature skin tends to be dry, always follow the astringent or toner step with a gentle skin moisturizer.

I prefer the astringent pads as they are extremely clean and remove dirt wonderfully. They can also be used to clean up any make up mistakes. Astringent pads will not only remove botched makeup they will remove makeup spilled on counters and porous surfaces quickly and easily as well. If you don't like the astringent pads, try using a gentler toner which can be applied with a clean cotton ball.

Exfoliating skin is essential after forty as your top laver of skin has dead skin cells that are going to dull and clog your complexion. There are many choices for exfoliation. If you can afford to pay for these luxuries, try out the mild microdermabrasion and chemical peels at the beauty salon or from an aesthetician. If you are on a budget, you can use over the counter prescription or non prescription chemical peels or retinoid products to slough off dead skin.

There are many at home facial scrubs that will do an effective job of scrubbing dead skin cells away to leave skin fresh. One such scrub would be St Ives medicated apricot scrub, for example. The problem with the scrubs is that they can leave skin raw and can be rather harsh on a daily use basis. The grainy granules can feel good if you like a rough sloughing but they can clog your sink drain, leave scrub granules in your hair, and leave skin raw.

Some women prefer the medicated creams. Creams such as Retin-A, Renova and other over the counter variants will cause the skin to dry and slough off also. Again, women with sensitive skin may not be able to tolerate the retinoids.

Some women prefer to get a periodic lunch time peel every few months rather than irritate skin with the home peels and microdermabrasion products. This can be effective yet it does cost money for a lunch time peel and it only affects the superficial most layers of the skin.

Women with more serious sun damage or who want to remove fine wrinkles can look into getting a stronger cosmetic peel such as a TCA peel, every three to five years to remove older skin, superficial wrinkles and brown spots.

For an older woman, moisturizer is the single most important beauty step in facial care. You must use moisturizer on your face both day and night. Depending on your skin type, you will have to try a variety of formulations.

I personally like a thicker cream, sticky in consistency. However some women cannot clog their face with thick cream and need a lotion that breathes better. My suggestion is to try various creams. You don't necessarily need those ultra expensive eye creams or specialty creams. Sometimes a simple over the counter product works fine, it just depends on what agrees with your particular skin and skin type.

Moisturize every night after washing your face with out fail. Likewise, use moisturizer after you cleanse and tone your face in the morning and put it on prior to your makeup. I find that if I let the moisturizer sit for a moment on the skin it makes my makeup glide on much smoother. Moisturizer is the best makeup primer there is.

Don't forget to use sunscreen whenever you will be exposed to the sun. Sun damage is horrible for aging skin and you want to avoid it with a sun screen. Women who wear sunscreen daily are doing themselves a favor. If you wear sunscreen all the time you will also want to find a product with good moisturizers in it.

Creams, lotions and moisturizers don't have to cost you an arm and a leg. While you can look for creams with retinoids and vitamins and collagen in them, some creams with basic vitamins such as vitamin E and shea are less expensive and just as effective.