Body skincare: how to extend your facial skincare routine to the rest of your skin

We spend minutes pampering our face with serums, creams, and masks, then dismiss the body with any old body wash and a cream applied in a rush. Yet the skin is the same, and the areas that first reveal the passage of time - the neck, décolleté, and hands - are not on the face.

Extending the logic of facial skincare to the body is not a luxury but a practical choice: the same sequence you follow every morning - cleanse, treat, moisturize, protect - also works on the legs, arms, and décolleté, provided you use the right formulas.

Article written by Elisa Avalle, founder of LeLang Skin Care and dermocosmetics specialist. Cover image generated with the support of artificial intelligence.

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Why the body deserves more attention

The skin on the body differs from facial skin: it is thicker, with a more robust stratum corneum and fewer sebaceous glands. For this very reason, it tends to dry out more easily, and for this very reason it is neglected - because it reacts less immediately and signs accumulate slowly.

The décolleté, however, is a case apart: it shows signs of aging before the face because it is thin, often exposed to the sun, and subject to friction from clothing. Horizontal wrinkles and dark spots appear there before anywhere else. The legs and hips, on the other hand, accumulate dryness, uneven texture, and loss of firmness.

Beware of a common misconception: using facial serum on your legs is not enough. Facial formulas are lightweight and concentrated, designed to penetrate quickly through a thin stratum corneum. On the body, they disperse. Richer textures with gradual absorption are needed.

The exception is the décolleté and inner thighs: hybrid, almost as sensitive as the face, where facial products really do work.

The routine, step by step

1. Cleansing

The body accumulates sweat, dead skin cells, and traces of creams that clog pores and make the skin texture uneven. The same rule as for the face applies: cleanse without being harsh.

Relax Shower Gel uses gentle surfactants together with betaine, calendula and chamomile extracts, aloe vera, hazelnut oil and grapeseed oil. Your skin does not feel tight after showering.

2. Exfoliation, twice a week

As with the face, removing dead skin cells improves texture and the absorption of subsequent products. Relax Body Scrub combines fine salt crystals with shea butter, hazelnut oil, and essential oils of mint, geranium, sage, rosemary and chamomile.

Apply it to damp skin in circular motions, concentrating on the elbows, knees and legs. Leave it on for one minute before rinsing. The complete method is explained in the article on how to exfoliate the skin.

3. An intermediate soothing step

After showering - and especially after hair removal or sun exposure - the skin benefits from a refreshing step. Multi Vit thermal water, rich in magnesium and vitamins, soothes redness and prepares the skin for subsequent products.

4. Hydration

It is the heart of your body care routine. Relax Body Cream combines shea butter, hazelnut, sweet almond and grapeseed oils with hyaluronic acid in different molecular weights, plus oat, calendula and aloe extracts.

Timing matters as much as the product: apply the cream to still-damp skin, within three minutes of showering. Humectants find water to retain, while emollients seal it in. On already-dry skin, the same product is far less effective.

For a more intensive evening treatment, Relax Body Massage Oil, made with hazelnut oil, deeply nourishes and, through massage, promotes circulation.

5. The décolleté deserves a facial serum

This is exactly when using a facial product makes sense. The décolleté ages sooner, and a concentrated serum works better than a generic body cream.

Elyx Performance Serum, based on snail slime and rosehip oil, works on skin firmness and an even complexion. Apply it with upward strokes, extending it to the neck.

6. The hands, the most exposed area

They are exposed to frequent washing, cleansers, and sunlight all year round, and are among the first areas to show dark spots and loss of firmness. Body cream is fine, but they should be treated as consistently as the face - and protected from the sun.

7. Sun protection

This applies to the body as much as to the face, particularly the décolleté, shoulders, and backs of the hands. These are the areas where solar lentigines appear first, and they are also most noticeable there.

The thread that ties the body-care line together

The Relax products mentioned above are not unrelated items: they belong to the Essentia Spa line, built around a specific idea - that the daily act of caring for the skin of the body, given its duration and the surface involved, can have an effect that goes beyond hydration.

The common thread is Tephrosia purpurea extract, a neurocosmetic active present throughout the line. Regarding its mechanism, the active ingredient manufacturer reports a reduction in cortisol produced locally by the skin and an increase in cutaneous beta-endorphins.

The clarification we always make is worth repeating: those are test data from the ingredient manufacturer, not independent clinical studies published in peer-reviewed journals. They indicate potential efficacy in a formulation, not definitive proof. The role of cutaneous cortisol in the brain-skin axis, on the other hand, is well documented in the literature.

In practice, this is why massage oil works better in the evening than a cream applied in ten seconds: it's not just about the formula, but about contact time. It's also the simplest gesture to maintain over time, because it doesn't feel like a chore.

The right rhythm

You don't need to repeat the entire sequence every day. A sustainable structure could look like this:

• Every day: gentle cleansing and moisturiser on still-damp skin;
• Twice a week: exfoliation, followed by richer moisturisation;
• In the evening, whenever you can: massage oil on the driest areas;
• All year round: serum on the décolleté and sun protection on exposed areas.

In conclusion

Body skincare doesn't require more time, but a little more intention. The difference between quickly applying a cream and performing the gesture at the right moment, with the right product, becomes visible within a few weeks — especially on areas we usually neglect.

You can also find the LeLang body care line at partner pharmacies throughout Italy.