Toners: The Difference Between Astringents and Modern Toners

Combining your current skincare routine with a toner is a great way to take your routine to the next level of effectiveness. In the past toners were known for sucking moisture out of the skin with alcohol or witch hazel. These are ingredients that are still occasionally used in toners, but scientists have gotten much better at combining ingredients to help the skin rather than dry it out. The truth is that a well-formulated toner is loaded with antioxidants plus skin-restoring and skin-replenishing ingredients that nourish the skin.

What is a toner?

Toners are liquid moisturizers and are able to enhance the skin’s surface characteristics and boost its natural protective barrier. They give skin what it needs to look fresher, smoother, and hydrated. For combination or oily skin, toners can reduce excess oil. For normal, dry or sensitive skin, toners can lessen redness and flaking.

What does a toner do?

When toners first hit the market for consumer use, their formulas were completely different from their modern-day counterparts. Traditionally, a toner, or tonic, was an alcohol-based fluid containing highly astringent ingredients in copious amounts. There is a major difference between an astringent and a modern toner.

A toner is water-based and generally alcohol-free. They are wiped over the skin with a cotton pad after cleansing. This removes impurities and delivers humectants to increase hydration levels in the skin.

Many of the humectants commonly used in skincare products pull water from the deeper levels of skin without replenishing it. This helps the surface of your skin to look more hydrated for a time until it evaporates, unless you’re in a very humid climate. Synthetic humectants are often incorporated into formulations because they cost less than natural ones. These will help prevent water loss to some extent, but they provide no real nutrients to the skin, and with time can actually cause damage. Be sure to verify the ingredients in your products.

An astringent is also a water-based solution that is wiped over the skin after cleansing, but they are usually formulated with solvent alcohols. These were marketed as a way to “shrink” the pores, even though that is something that cannot really be done. Pores are not like doors, they are not able to open and close, and have no muscles with which to expand or contract. Common solvents used in astringents are SD alcohol or denatured alcohol which leave the skin feeling tight and clean when used.

However, there was a big misconception surrounding these products. This misconception was that this feeling of the skin being tight meant that the skin was clean. In reality, this tight feeling was a sign of dehydration. “Old school” astringent toners did remove post-cleansing traces of makeup, but they did not minimize pores. The high alcohol content harshly dehydrated the skin by stripping it of its natural oils, thus causing the tight feeling.

Further research into skin and toners gave scientists a much better idea as to how to make this product help the skin, rather than hurt it. Modern toners are formulated much differently and are loaded with beneficial ingredients that can transform the way your skin looks and feels after cleansing.

What is the purpose of a toner?

The purpose of toners is to replenish and nourish skin after removing makeup and cleansing. This is a step that can significantly and visibly help your skin. Even if you use the most gentle cleanser, your skin still needs to be replenished. This is where a toner can really come in handy.

A toner can quickly and fundamentally provide skin with generous amounts of antioxidants, soothing agents, and vital hydrating ingredients. A modern toner enhances the skin’s surface, giving skin what it needs to look fresher, smoother, and hydrated. It also serves to remove those last traces of makeup you may have missed with your cleanser, which is important if you want your skin to be truly clean. Once you start using a well-formulated toner, the results are something you will notice.

Where to buy a toner?

MDSUN is a trusted skincare brand that offers a wide range of products that work in harmony with your skin’s natural systems. For example, Revitalising Toner restores your skin with natural moisturizing ingredients without any preservatives. It is a revolutionary formula, including highly concentrated pure sodium hyaluronate, grape seed extract, and aloe leaf juice, making it one of a kind. It uses water to bind to the skin and provides powerful anti-aging protection from hormonal and environmental damage.

MDSUN also offers Active Toner, an antioxidant formula that delivers deep hydration, brightening and anti-aging benefits. Including this toner in your daily routine will improve the overall results of your skincare treatment.


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