What Does Toner Do, Exactly, and Do You Really Need It?
No skin care category has experienced more of a glow-up recently than toners, and their resurgence may have you wondering: What does toner do, exactly? Perhaps you remember the bottle of blue stuff you used in middle school that smelled like alcohol and left your face dry and stinging. Today’s toners are nothing like that.Those old-school versions—astringents that strip your skin—have been replaced by gentler, more sophisticated formulas that offer a bunch of potential benefits. “Toners went through a bad era,” Mona Gohara, MD, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine, tells SELF. “Now that people understand that they’re no longer harsh and can actually be very effective, they’ve regained popularity.”So back to your question: What’s the point of adding a t...