How Long Should I Leave a Mask On?
I've worked in the Marketing Team at Adore Beauty for almost a year now and love love love skincare! I'm all about vegan products and 5 plus step skincare routines. Recently I've been growing out my coloured hair and focusing on strength/length with hair masks and treatments.
Clay Masks
Purifying clay masks are usually the easiest masks to time. Due to the powerful absorption of impurities, you don’t want to leave a clay mask on for very long. Active clay can start to suck out all the goodness from your skin as well as the bad.
So how long should you keep a clay mask on your face? The general rule of thumb for a clay mask is to let it dry at least 3 minutes, but no longer than 20. While you may feel that leaving clay on for hours will deeply decongest the skin, in reality, it will wind up upsetting your pH balance, causing more problems than you started with.Below are some great examples of clay masks that fall within the range of 3 to 20 minutes.
Sand&Sky Australian Pink Clay Porefining Face Mask
The Sand&Sky Australian Pink Clay Porefining Face Mask will not only draw the ‘bad stuff’ out of your skin, including impurities, toxins, pollutants and pigmentation clusters, this phenomenal mask will work to unleash your natural glow, helping to regenerate skin cells, stimulate collagen, create a defence shield and prevent free radical damage. Glowing, healthy skin is just one mask away!
philosophy purity made simple - exfoliating clay mask
Say goodbye to blackheads with the philosophy purity made simple - exfoliating clay mask. Infused with powerful ingredients including purifying white clay, salicylic acid and natural exfoliants, this pore extracting mask help to draw out congestion and impurities, while scrubbing away dead skin cells and blackheads. This creamy-rich clay facial mask renews the complexion, encouraging a refreshed, glowing complexion free from those pesky blackheads.
Cream/gel masks with no chemical exfoliants (acids or enzymes)
The drying time for this category of facial mask is pretty much up to you. Due to the lack of seriously potent ingredients, hydrating masks can be left on as long as you’d like without harming your skin.
Some cream and gel masks can even be left on overnight to achieve a serious benefit to the skin. With no intense resurfacing ingredients or high concentrations of brightening agents, the longer the better is generally the case. Some beautiful soothing masks in this category include Dr Hauschka Soothing Mask and Aspect Gold Probiotic Sleep Mask.
Masks that contain any level of exfoliating acids, enzymes, or retinoids
Face masks containing actives other than clay are all absolutely different, and the instructions need to be followed down to the letter. If you’re unsure, 10 minutes is the limit, and with some products, even that may be too long.
For example, Cosmedix Define Age-Defying Treatment is an overnight mask that contains retinol and fruit acids and is obviously meant for extended wear. However, the same brand’s Cosmedix Pure Enzymes Cranberry Exfoliating Mask is meant to be left on for just 3 to 15 minutes, and only 1 minute for sensitive skin. Same brand, similar names, similar ingredients—but totally different treatment times due to the potency of ingredients.
As you can see, each type of mask has a different effect on the skin and requires a different amount of time to work correctly. Ideally, you should attempt to find the application time somewhere online for your particular product. But if you absolutely can’t, these are great rules of thumb to follow!
