Earlier this week I visited the Dermalogica offices in South Melbourne for a little class the lovely ladies there put together for some Melbourne bloggers. Claire, Julie and Rebecca are skin specialists and the session was designed to make the tech savvy a little more skin savvy.

With a slide show entitled ‘Have no fear, Dermalogica is here!’, Claire launched into the presentation and taught us the 5 basic skincare steps to healthy, great skin.

1. Cleansing
Apparently we should cleanse not once, but twice – morning AND night. (Here I am cleansing once at night and wondering why my skin isn’t all dewy and divine.) The first cleanse is to remove ‘Melbourne’ from your skin – basically environmental factors, while the second actually cleans your skin.

2. Exfoliation
Exfoliation is one of those fun beauty things that gives an instant lift – which is why everyone loves it – however most of us have a tendency to be a little rough with our exfoliations and overdo it. Generally, grainy exfoliation only needs to be done once a week while a milder product can be used every day.

3. Toning
Historically, toning was something that dried out your skin with an alcohol base, used to get rid of the remaining cleanser. Today, we use water based toners to refresh and rehydrate. You can’t use too much toner and the Dermalogica toner in a spray pack is perfect for over your make up and for use in the office (where the air can be particularly dry).

4. Treatments
Only for those who want to focus on a particular area, treatments can target pigmentation, acne or very dry spots. Remember the three P’s – Prepare, Protect and Prevent!

5. Moisturise
The most important step to get right, moisturisers will differ from person to person, day to night. For day, it is essential to have an SPF component and by night, added moisture. Lip and eye moisturisers are useful here too.

Dermalogica offers face mapping, which involves a skin specialist analysing you skin with a microscope (scary!) and I was looked after by Julie, who told me, yes, my forehead was dry! But I did learn that not only was my forehead (and face in general) dry, but was actually dehydrated – externally rather than internally. All the water and Evening Primrose Oil in the world might not help this – I need something to penetrate from the outside! Julie recommended a number of products that we then tested in our class and I went home with a giftbag including the PreCleanse (loved by the make up artists on the Twilight set, they ordered 25 boxes!) and Daily Microfoliant (loved by Oprah. Am I swayed by advertising much?!) with a view to getting the moisturiser once Dry July finishes.

Dermalogica is about skin health, not beauty, and literally translates to skin logic. With over 25 years in the industry, I figure they must know at least a little what they are talking about so I definately think it’s worth visiting your local salon and letting someone who knows what they are talking about look at your skin. Visit the Dermalogica Australia Facebook page, follow them on Twitter, read the blog or download the free iphone app that will show you where stockists are and a bit of DIY speed mapping.

Image One: Claire and Julie demonstrate good skin care techniques
Image Two: Daniel (token guy who was more into testing than the girls!) and Chloe from Michi Girl try out products