Here’s how:

Fill a 6 oz glass with warm water and add 1 tablespoon of gentle sulfate-free shampoo or a sulfate-free gel cleanser. (Be sure to avoid the ingredients Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate as these harsh detergents may dry out the natural hair bristles.) See the collection of Renée Rouleau sulfate-free gel cleansers.

Swirl brushes in the glass for 60 seconds. You should see the water lather up and turn dark in color from the makeup on the brushes…

Pour out water and fill glass back up with warm water only and swirl brushes in glass again for 60 seconds.

Remove brushes and squeeze out excess water from brush. Wipe brushes back and forth on a clean, dry towel to absorb moisture.

Next, use a comb to de-tangle the brush to get them back in their original shape.

Lay brushes on a clean a paper towel and let dry out in the sun. (The sunlight destroys bacteria and helps do dry your brushes faster.)

Read: Could Your Mascara be Causing You Wrinkles?

Read: How to Wash Your Face

For expert skin advice, check out Skin Source–the A-Z guide on all things skin. Also sign up here for our skin tip e-newsletter, follow Renée Rouleau on Twitter and like our Facebook page. You’ll be your own skin care expert in no time!

If you were to take a piece of wood and hit it with a hammer, you would make an indentation in the wood. To smooth out the dent, a little sandpaper would make the dent less noticeable. The same rules apply with the skin. Wrinkles and lines are considered indentations in the skin, so by “sanding” down the skin with super exfoliators, the lines and wrinkles will appear less deep, and therefore, less noticeable. It’s truly that simple! Once the skin is exfoliated, you should then focus on giving the skin intensive hydration to fill the cells with moisture and collagen-protecting ingredients so the lines appear plumped up.

How do you safely exfoliate around the eyes?

For those of you who follow my skin care routine, you more than likely are using one of our glycolic acid serums on the face before moisturizing at night. People often avoid around the eye area thinking that it will cause irritation. While of course you want to be careful around the eye area, you want to make sure that you’re only applying the serum in the outer eye area where lines and wrinkles (crow’s feet) are visible. Eye cream (Firming Eye Therapy or Synergy) should always be applied over the glycolic serum to seal it into the skin and provide extra moisture…

Generally, because the skin is thin around the eyes, facial scrubs may be too aggressive for the eye area, but an acid serum can really do the trick at managing the signs of aging around the eyes.

Read: What Are These Bumps on My Skin?

Read: Six Skin Habits You Should Unlearn

Which products are right for you? See our nine skin types and get products recommended.

For expert skin advice, check out Skin Source–the A-Z guide on all things skin. Also sign up here for our skin tip e-newsletter, follow Renée Rouleau on Twitter and like our Facebook page. You’ll be your own skin care expert in no time!

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you’ll never walk alone…

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years—only grows.

If you send this to other women, something good will happen—you will boost another woman’s self esteem.

Read: Exfoliation Will Give You Beautiful Skin

When it comes to in-spa exfoliation, you have many different options. Two of the more popular professional treatments (and the two that I will be highlighting here) are microdermabrasion and ultrasonic exfoliation. I’ve had a lot of experience with both and will briefly compare the two…

Microdermabrasion removes dead skin cells to even out the skin tone while stimulating circulation and giving the skin a smooth, youthful appearance. First introduced in the 1990s, this treatment is best for thicker skin, and is not ideal for sensitive skin (certainly not for anyone with rosacea). The problem with the treatment itself is that the suction/vacuum method used can pull and tug on the skin, causing redness, dilating and sometimes even breaking capillaries. I have seen many people with thin, sensitive skin who had been getting regular microdermabrasion treatments and now have significant damage with capillaries and have to undergo laser treatments to repair the skin. We offered microdermabrasion for many years in our skin care spas and for the right skin type (particularly darker, thicker skin types) it did give great results.

For a treatment suitable for all skin types, even sensitive skin, I believe ultrasonic exfoliation is a fabulous treatment. How it works is a water solution is applied to the skin to loosen surface dead skin cells and a guided spatula activated by ultrasonic soundwaves (28,000 vibrations per second) lifts the dry skin cells off the skin. While doing this, the water solution is also being infused deep into the skin allow the “new” skin cells to get hydrated. The end results are better, safer for the skin and longer lasting.

Personally, I like to do a light acid and enzyme peel beforehand to start the exfoliation process  so when I use the ultrasonic tool it exfoliates deeper into the skin to give better results. It also can be used for clearing out clogged pores. When the blade is angled and used in crevices such as in the chin or sides of the nose, you can remove dirt, old oil, and even blackheads. Your skin is left soft, fresh, clean and glowing.

So of the two, I prefer using ultrasonic exfoliation not only because it can be used for all skin types, but also because it won’t potentially damage your skin (and is pain-free!). For a quick way to plump up your skin and revive that youthful glow without causing irritation, ultrasonic exfoliation is truly the way to go.

Read: Does Your Skin Need to Be Exfoliated? Try this Simple Test

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Is there anything else about Renée that you’d like to know?

To develop a good skin care strategy for my clients, I like to start by asking their top three concerns in order of priority. As an esthetician, this really helps me understand what is bothering them the most so I can develop an appropriate home care and professional strategy.

How does this help you, the client?  It also enables you to get a clear focus on a plan of attack.  Understanding your concerns by narrowing priorities down to the top three will give you a better guideline on treatments to pursue, habits to form or lose, and products to choose.  The end result is, well, better end results.  Get clear on what your concerns are and your skincare professional can be really clear on what to do with your skin!…

Questions about your skin? Be sure to email us with your top three skin concerns. We’re here to assist!

Read: What does Renée Rouleau think about OTHER skin care lines?

Read: Busy? Simple, Fast and Easy Skin Care Routines

Watch our skin care tip videos!

Depending on how deep your brown spots are, there are many solutions for treatment but first you need to identify the depth of the problem.

Try this simple test:

In a well-lit room, after you have cleansed your hands and face, gently stretch the area that is discolored.

-If skin appears lighter than when the skin is at rest, the pigmentation is close to the surface and is considered superficial

-If it appears darker than when the skin is at rest, the pigmentation lies in the deepest, dermal layers and will be more challenging to treat

For superficial pigmentation: You can accelerate the fading process with topical skin lighteners (like Vitamin C&E Complex), exfoliating acids (like Glycolic Serum) and calming antioxidants (like White Tea Soothing Complex). Because the problem is close to the surface, fading should occur over time with cellular turnover…

For deeper discoloration: In addition to the above recommendations, you should consult with a skin professional for peels or laser therapy. These treatments can accelerate the fading process more rapidly than home care products alone. Did you know that chemical peels are best performed from November-May? Read why.

Read: causes and treatments for brown spots

As always, prevention is the best medicine.  Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen like Renée Rouleau Daily Protection SPF 30 that blocks both UVA and UVB rays and is ideal for sensitive skin.

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Skin Fact:

To-do: After applying your foundation makeup, wait 10 minutes and take a good look at your skin afterward. Look closely – can you see visible flakes? For those prone to oil, you may not see flakes that are lifting off the skin, but the texture of the skin may look a bit like the Sahara desert with superficial cracks.

The good news is that it’s an easy fix. Remove the dryness with exfoliating products like Triple Berry Smoothing Peel, hydrate the new exposed cells with Skin Drink, and voila! You instantly have smoother skin where makeup will go on easier and look better.

Speaking of makeup, when you don’t wash your skin at night, you’re letting your skin marinate in makeup while you sleep, not to mention a day’s worth of oil and bacteria buildup. Washing your face every night definitely ranks high in the skin care must-do’s!…

Is foundation makeup making your blemishes worse? Try Daytime Blemish Gel to create an invisible, healing seal between the blemish and your makeup.

When I was 24 years old, I was in a relationship with someone who exhibited controlling behavior. I dated him for nine months without ever seeing this side of him, but once he told me he loved me, everything changed. He became obsessive, jealous and violent. While he never laid a hand on me, he did break his arm one time from punching his car.  Like many women of abusers, I covered up for him when my friends and family inquired about it.

My friends knew something was wrong, but I was somewhat in denial. Even though I owned my skin care business and considered myself a strong, smart young woman, I was blindsided and didn’t fully grasp the severity of the behavior. It was difficult to accept because it never truly got out of hand, but when I finally removed myself from the relationship, I was devastated with myself for allowing someone to treat me this way…

As part of my own healing process, I decided to use my skills to help other women who have been abused. I became actively involved with the YWCA and volunteered to go to ‘safe’ homes, a shelter where battered women could get respite, to give facial treatments. Many times the women were new arrivals, as evident by their swollen, black eyes and cut up faces. It’s hard to imagine that this could happen, but it happens every day, all over the world.

I remember one woman vividly. She was scheduled for a facial, and when I first put my hands on her face to wash it, she literally jumped. She was so used to being beaten with hands of anger that my gentle and loving hands frightened her.

For these women, learning to trust touch again was an obstacle—and that’s where I could be of value. My hands were helping to heal these women, improve their skin and repair their self-esteem in the process.

What I know for sure is that beauty is more than skin deep. Skin care isn’t simply about vanity and looking better. Something as simple as washing your face and applying cream is a way of saying to yourself that you’re important enough to look and feel your best. When you care for your skin, you’re caring for yourself. And when you look better and like what you see when you look in the mirror, you’ll feel better. As women, we’re so busy taking care of everyone else that we often forget about caring for ourselves.

For those of you who are mothers, aunts, sisters or friends, I encourage you to be an example to young girls and teach them the importance of self-care.  It will build their self-worth and will go farther than you’ll ever know.

To this day, I continue to remain active with domestic violence shelters. In Dallas, I am a supporter of The Family Place where they do amazing work in our community to get women out of their bad situations and on the path to a stronger self.

Do you have unused skin care products? Read why women’s shelters would love to accept your beauty products.

Read: Why I Love Being an Esthetician—by Skin Care Expert, Renée Rouleau

We’ve been told we have the most comfortable facial beds—ever! Read about our amazing facial beds from France and our famous seaweed mask used in all Renée Rouleau facials.

Don’t live in the Dallas area? Here’s suggestions on how to find the best place to get a facial in your area.

See the other magazines we’ve been featured in and the celebrities who are fans of our products and facials!

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