The Best Skin Care Routine Is Just Four Steps

In 1938 a young Swiss chemist named Franz Greiter climbed Piz Buin in the Alps and came down badly sunburned. He spent the next years fixing the problem, launched a Glacier Cream in 1946, named the brand after the mountain, and in 1962 gave the world the sun protection factor. The first cream rated an SPF of 2. One bad afternoon, and every bathroom shelf in the world now has a number on it.

I think about Greiter whenever someone shows me a twelve-step layout, because the best skin care routine is a lot closer to his answer than to a video. The American Academy of Dermatology keeps it short: cleanse with a mild, alcohol-free cleanser, apply any treatment, moisturize while skin is still slightly damp, and wear sunscreen every morning. Dr. Garshick tells the AAD that a gentle cleanser, a fragrance-free moisturizer and daily SPF 30 or higher is enough for most people. That is four steps. It is a lot less than the internet suggests.

The trick is to build it in order and start at the top. Dr. Katta says to match the cleanser to your skin type, and to wash morning and night and after heavy sweating. The first grid gives you eight ways to do that. Glow Recipe's Avocado Ceramide cleanser and Tatcha's Rice Wash lean soft and comfortable, and Youth To The People's Superfood cleanser is the hydrating, antioxidant one. Augustinus Bader's Foaming Cleanser and the Daily Detox Foaming Cleanser are the foaming pair. Farmacy's Green Clean is a balm for makeup, Dr. Barbara Sturm's Cleanser is the pared-back one, and Beauty of Joseon's Green Plum cleanser is the light daily wash.

Start with the question, not the bottle: what bothers you most when you look in the mirror at eight in the morning. Dullness, dark spots, dryness or texture. A serum only earns its place if it answers that one thing.

If the answer is dullness, Dr. Baxt tells the AAD that vitamin C belongs in the morning, right after cleansing and before sunscreen. The grid has plenty to try in that slot: the 20% Vitamin C+ Advanced Brightening Serum, Paula's Choice C15 Vitamin C Super Booster, Tatcha's Brightening & Firming Vitamin-C Serum with Ferulic Acid, and Beauty of Joseon's Glow Deep Serum. For dark spots, Topicals' Faded Serum is built for exactly that job. Counter's Counterglow Tri-luronic Hydrating Serum is for skin that mostly wants water, and Sunday Riley's Good Genes lactic acid serum goes after texture. The Youth-Boost Peptide Serum is the firmness pick.

A pairing I like: a vitamin C serum in the morning and a hydrating one on the nights you skip actives, so the routine has a rhythm instead of a to-do list.

What I would skip: a second new serum in the same week. Dr. Garshick's advice to the AAD is one new product at a time, and I have never regretted following it.

Here is how I would choose a moisturizer: hold the jar in one hand and think about your skin at four in the afternoon. Tight, shiny, or somewhere in between. The answer picks the texture for you.

The AAD says to apply it while skin is still slightly damp, which is the easiest habit in this whole routine. Sofie Pavitt Face's Omega Rich Moisturizer and Summer Fridays' Cloud Dew Gel Cream are the lighter options, a good fit for combination or oilier skin. rhode's Barrier Restore Cream and belif's The True Cream Moisturizing Bomb lean on ceramides and peptides for the barrier job, so they are the ones for skin that has been through a lot. Clinique's Moisture Surge 100H and LANEIGE's Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Cream go for a plump, watery feel, and Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Cream and the 72-Hour Supercharged Hydrating Water-Cream are the richer options for drier days.

A gel cream in summer and a cushier cream in winter is a perfectly respectable arrangement. Nobody says you get one.

What I would skip: piling a rich cream over a heavy serum on skin that already feels congested. Let the lighter one go first and the heavier one go last.

Let me be direct about this one: sunscreen is the only step I would defend to the death. The AAD recommends broad spectrum, water resistant SPF 30 or higher every day, applied after the rest of your routine and about fifteen minutes before you head outside.

The best sunscreen is the one you actually put on, so look at finish first. Supergoop's Unseen Sunscreen and Tatcha's The Milky Sunscreen both sit invisibly under makeup. Beauty of Joseon's Day Dew and Glow Recipe's Dew Shield go on lighter and dewier. If you prefer mineral filters, Summer Fridays' ShadeDrops and ILIA's Sun Serum Mineral Sunscreen are the ones to look at, and Dr. Dennis Gross's All-Physical Ultimate Defense is the all-physical pick. Kiehl's Better Screen UV Serum has a serum feel with collagen peptide in the name.

A habit worth borrowing: keep one by the coffee machine and one in the bag. The step you can reach is the step you will do.

What I would skip: a sunscreen you dislike wearing, no matter how good the reviews are. It will live in a drawer, and drawers do not stop sunburn.

I think the boring version of this routine is the one that works. Add one new product at a time, patch test it on your inner forearm twice a day for seven to ten days first, and layer from lightest to heaviest. Save eye cream and retinoids for the night version you build later.

Four steps done every day beat ten steps done twice a week. Greiter got one bad sunburn and one good idea. You have a cleanser, a serum, a moisturizer and a sunscreen, and that is plenty. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together A Morning Skincare Routine In Four Steps and The Best Skincare Products for Dry Skin, in Three Easy Steps.