If you know your way around the skin care aisle of your local supermarket or cosmetics store, then you know that once you pass by the legions of soaps, body washes, and moisturizers, you will eventually end up in the little section devoted to skin toners. Little is said about skin toners since they do not appear to perform any of the mainly talked about functions, such as emolliating or moisturizing the skin, yet in spite of this silence they are beginning to emerge as a new potential ally in the fight against stretch marks. Yet is it true? Will skin toners shrink pores as well as stretch marks?
Generally speaking, toners are lotions which have the distinct ability to shrink enlarged pores. Enlarged pores are almost always a concern with facial skin and therefore skin toner is almost always applied to the face directly. In some cases, toning lotions and cleansing foam are combined into one product. Application to the skin varies:
To affect the deepest effect of the toning agent, the substance may be contained within a facial mask that might be applied once a day for 30 seconds or one minute, or once a week as deep cleansing and toning mask when it may be kept on for up to 20 minutes.
In some cases a toner may be more highly concentrated and thus will need to be applied with the help of a cotton ball, especially around the area of the nose and forehead where enlarged pores are commonly observed.
Other modes of applications are rinses, sprays, and even treated wipes.
Since skin toners are associated with shrinking pores, forward thinking entrepreneurs have taken to marketing the substances as being useful for also shrinking stretch marks. While at face value this may appear to be a logical conclusion, the facts do not bear out the claims. Consider for a moment that many toners work as actual astringents and thus the very fact that they have the power to heal small surface blemishes aids them in the fight against enlarged pores. Furthermore, the drying properties associated with many a skin toner will decrease the natural production of the skin’s oily substances which in turn lead to the black heads, pimples and enlarged pores that accompany them both.
When you remember that stretch marks originate in the dermis, which is located well beneath the surface area of the skin, you will quickly understand why skin toners cannot possibly have any effect on these scars that denote the tearing and healing of the dermis. Instead, because they might have drying effects on skin tissues that are not necessarily prone to overproducing oils and other natural skin secretions, you may find that the applications of skin toner to thighs, buttocks and upper arms may actually lead – over time – to a lack of moisture in the skin and therefore may lead to premature wrinkling. The latter, of course, will showcase even fading stretch marks more clearly than if they had remained untreated!