Toner in Skincare: Outdated Step or Underrated Hero?
Remember that old toner that was scary and often stingy, the liquid product your mom applied post-cleansing? It was a cleansing essential for decades until we collectively began to inquire: do we need this, or is it another unnecessary and potentially harmful product in our arsenal? For the better part of the past decade, most beauty circles have efficiently decided toner needs to be locked up as an obsolete step in a skincare routine.
The word 'toning' has largely lost its original meaning and is now primarily associated with being "squeaky clean." This shift has been reinforced through messaging at home and in popular media, often leading to harmful practices that involve stripping the skin.
What if we told you that the toner has undergone a profound transformation, aka serious glow up, where toners are now designed to help gently hydrate and/or are multi-taskers? With that, it becomes entirely reasonable to question the dynamic of a toner in a skincare routine today. So, in this blog, let's settle the debate once and for all: is the toner irrelevant and unnecessarily skipped, or is it an underpopulated skincare buddy you have always needed?
Toner 101: What It Really Does
In basic terms, a toner is an efficient liquid applied to the skin after cleansing and before moisturizing. In the past, its primary job was to balance the skin's natural pH disruption caused by soap-based cleansers. Many old-style toners contained alcohol and large astringent percentages, which caused the skin to feel dry and tight or irritated.
The face toner has come a long way since those days. You'll find face toners formulated with excellent soothing and skin-nourishing ingredients, like aloe vera, rose water, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide. They're designed to add hydration and comfort to the skin and help prep it for maximum effect from serums and moisturizers. In short, toner has come a long way from a necessary bad-guy product to a helpful and soft skincare ingredient.
Are Toners Making a Skincare Comeback?
Historically, toner had a bad reputation; in fairness, it deserved it. Many first-generation products were touted to be made with alcohol and harsh astringents, resulting in skin that stung, burned, or was stripped of its natural oils. Consumers were not only disappointed and lied to, but often it felt the opposite of the clean, refreshed feeling brands suggested, to skin that felt tight, irritated, and usually flaky. Over time, these negative experiences caused many people to eliminate the use of toner. The general principle is that it did more harm than good.
However, skincare has come a long way from this misguided bell-bottoms-esque viewpoint. Today's toners are the antithesis of using a previous toner; they are designed to be gentle to the skin (or nourishing) and versatile. Today's toners are formulated with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, soothing botanicals like chamomile and aloe, and even active ingredients (e.g., niacinamide or glycolic acid) to achieve results.
This implies that toners aren’t simply “extras.” Toners can help to rebalance your skin after cleansing, prepare it to absorb serums and moisturizers better, and even provide skincare benefits, regardless of dry, sensitive, combination, or oily skin. Today's toners are less about stripping and more about fortifying and supporting your skin barrier.
The Modern Toner: An Underrated Hero
Toners today are not the same as the drying formulas of the past. They are multifaceted and meant to supplement your skincare routine. Let us take a look at a few ways they are different:
- Hydration: Hyaluronic acid and glycerine are hydration-rich.
- Soothing: Aloe vera and chamomile help reduce redness and set sensitive skin at ease.
- Brightening: Niacinamide and botanicals help provide an even skin tone.
- Prepping: Toners prepare the skin for serums and moisturisers to help absorption and efficacy.
A good face toner does not just keep your skin balanced; it refreshes and protects the barrier, while the rest of the skincare steps work harder for you.
Who Should Use Toner and How to Add It to a Skincare Routine
One of the biggest misconceptions about toners is that they're only appropriate for oily or acne-prone skin types. However, there is a toner for every skin type:
- Oily/Acne-Prone skin: Use toner formulas that contain witch hazel, tea tree, or salicylic acid.
- Dry Skin: Consider hydrating toners that contain hyaluronic acid, rosewater, or honey extract.
- Sensitive Skin: Choose a calming blend that contains aloe vera and chamomile.
The optimal time to use toner is right after you cleanse your skin and before your serums or moisturizers. You can use a cotton pad for a refreshing swipe or simply pat it onto your skin with clean hands. Think of your toner as the bridge between cleansing and nourishing your skin.
Private Label Opportunities in Toner Formulations
The renewed interest in toners is not merely a trend but a great business prospect. Today's beauty consumers are more informed than ever. They read the labels, look for multifunctional benefits, and seek products that fit their skin goals and values. This changing consumer behavior also allows brands to shine by offering toners that serve people's needs.
At Indigo Private Label, we facilitate the journey of turning these possibilities into reality. Our expertise is in custom private label cosmetics that allow entrepreneurs to launch or expand their beauty brand confidently. Each of our formulations is created with both efficacy and integrity in mind, and our eco-friendly manufacturing facility produces your products in a manner that aligns with the growing desire for sustainable beauty solutions.
For brands eager to expand their selection in the skincare category, toner is a forward-thinking and multifunctional option.
Outdated or Hero?
Not only is toner back in style, but it has re-emerged as a key step in modern skincare. It is not the alcohol, harsh formula that it once was. Today, toners are advanced, multi-functional, and results-oriented. They hydrate, soothe, and prep the skin, making each subsequent serum and moisturizer perform even better and give you the results you are looking for. Toners no longer are only intended to "balance pH," they are now assertive accompaniments that allow all the benefits of a skincare routine to take effect.
We want to help you take advantage of this revived category at Indigo Private Label. Our team specializes in creating innovative and custom-formulated toner products that suit today's ingredient-conscious consumer. From hydrating blends enhanced with hyaluronic acid to clarifying formulations based on botanicals, we will formulate your product to suit your needs and ethically produce it in our sustainable facility.
Ready to create your own custom toner? Contact Indigo Private Label today and let’s start formulating your next bestseller.