Clean Beauty Experts Series: Alex Byer's Routine for Dry Skin

Alex works with bloggers at Wayfair and is a healthy skincare educator at Follain in the South End. In her spare time, she enjoys running stupid long distances, spinning and trying all the new restaurants in Boston. She also has the amazing talent of remembering almost all the lyrics from late '90s and early '00s pop songs. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Skin Type: Dry

How she incorporates moringa oil into her daily skincare routine:

Clean beauty has been a huge part of my life for many years, thanks to my work at Follain. I think being educated about the problems with the conventional beauty industry in the U.S. is essential to create informed decisions about your overall health. My curiosity lead me to Follain as a customer and then onto the team as an Educator, and I love sharing this knowledge with as many people as possible!

I try to keep my beauty routine as simple as possible. I'm pretty busy (I work two jobs and have a dog!), so the less time I spend in my bathroom, the better. In the morning, I wash my face with just water. Using a cleanser in the morning isn't really necessary (unless you're a sweaty sleeper – no judgment – or exercise in the morning), so I give myself about 10 splashes of water to wake up my skin for the day. 

I follow that up with an apple cider vinegar toner. My love of apple cider vinegar runs deep. I drink it, I use it as a hair conditioner and I use it on my skin. Apple cider vinegar works well to balance your skin's pH, providing much needed moisture to dry areas of skin while also regulating oil production in oilier areas. In short, it's a miracle worker. My favorite toners are from Damn Good Face Wash and S.W. Basics. 

I finish up my morning routine with Moringa oil. I love the True Moringa Lavender Facial Oil; lavender is my favorite scent, so it's an easy choice for me! Oils penetrate the skin to a deep molecular level, providing great moisture from the inside out. Once I started using facial oils, my skin became a lot more radiant (plus properly hydrating your skin is inherently anti-aging). Moringa oil is a great option for dry skin (like me) since it has intense hydration properties. It also has a nice dose of Vitamin C, which helps with hyperpigmentation. It's a light-weight oil, so I never worry about sitting around and waiting for it to settle into my skin.

At night, I follow a similar routine. I wash my face with either Damn Good Face Wash, which is based in coconut oil and raw honey, or One Love Organics' Vitamin B Cleansing Oil. The oils help take off all my makeup and leave my skin super hydrated. I use the same toner and more Moringa oil at night as well. Since my skin is pretty dry, I also like to use a cream at night to help lock in moisture. Lately I've been loving Ursa Major's Golden Hour Recovery Cream. It's hydrating but absorbs really quickly, and smells divine thanks to sandalwood and neroli. I top everything off with an eye serum. The skin around your eyes is extremely sensitive, so you want to treat it differently than the rest of your skin. I use Kahina's Eye Serum to combat my ever-present dark circles and firm up the skin thanks to the hyaluronic acid. If I'm battling a breakout, I'll use Osmia Organics' Spot Treatment. It uses evening primrose oil to treat breakouts, which is less drying than tea tree oil and smells like a dream.