Short answer: Yes, but the number of products is rarely the whole story. Adding several new products at once makes it hard to identify which one may be causing a problem, and layering several exfoliating or retinoid products can add up to more irritation than any one would cause alone. Just as often, the problem is using too much of a single product, or using it too often. More product, or more frequent use, does not produce faster or better results. A longer routine is not wrong when each product has a clear purpose and is used in the right amount.
There is no correct number of products. There is whether each one is doing a job you can name, and whether you are using the right amount of it.
What actually goes wrong
More surfaces to react to. Every product is a set of ingredients your skin has not met before. Add enough of them and the odds that one causes trouble go up. That is arithmetic, not a judgement about anyone’s taste in skincare.
It gets harder to tell what is causing a problem. If you start several new products at once and your cheeks start burning, you have several suspects and no way to identify which product may be causing it. Introducing one new product at a time keeps that question answerable, however long the routine is.
Exfoliating and retinoid products can add up. Exfoliating acids and retinoids both ask something of the skin. Used together, they can increase irritation for some people, and the same goes for layering several separate exfoliating products in the same routine. That is not a universal ban, and it is not the same as a formulation that contains more than one acid by design. Check the directions for the individual products, and if you are not sure, ask a licensed skincare professional or your dermatologist.
A routine you cannot keep up is the first thing to go. People rarely abandon a routine because it stopped working. More often they abandon it because it takes too long on a night when they are tired. Consistency is most of what makes skincare do anything, so a routine you actually complete beats one you perform twice a week.
Less is best means amount and frequency
Victoria’s “less is best” philosophy is often misread as “use fewer products.” It is mainly about the appropriate amount and frequency of each individual product.
Retinol is the clearest example. Using more than the directions call for, or applying it more often than directed, will not speed anything up. It can lead to excessive dryness, flaking, redness or sensitivity instead. The same logic applies to exfoliating products: more often, or more of it, is not better. Each product has an amount and a frequency that suit it, and those are set out in its directions.
The fair counter-argument
A longer routine is not inherently worse, and the scorn aimed at ten-step routines is mostly fashion.
If you have several concerns at once, several products is a reasonable answer. Dryness, uneven tone and breakouts are different problems, and one cream is not obliged to solve all three. Someone using a cleanser, a toner, a targeted serum, an eye product, a moisturizer and sunscreen is not doing anything excessive. They have six jobs and six products.
The real question is never the count. It is whether you can say what each product is for, and whether you would notice if it disappeared. A routine of four products where two are doing nothing is worse designed than a routine of eight where all eight have a purpose. Building a Daily Regimen Around Your Skin works through that properly.
How to cut back without losing what works
Do not strip everything out at once. If you remove six products on a Sunday and your skin improves, you have learned nothing about which five you could have kept.
Take one out at a time and give the change a fair run before you judge it, which takes longer than most people expect. How Long Should Skincare Take to Work? explains why the answer varies with the product and the person.
The first candidates are easy to spot once you look. Duplicates, where two products are doing the same job under different names. Anything bought for a concern you no longer have. Anything you keep out of guilt because it was expensive. Anything you cannot explain.
Keep whatever is carrying your barrier: your cleanser, whatever keeps your skin comfortable, and your sunscreen. Those are the load-bearing walls. What Is the Skin Barrier? covers why irritation is usually the thing that undoes a routine.
What a routine is built on
Cleansing, something that supports hydration and comfort, and daily broad-spectrum sunscreen in the morning. That is the frame most routines hang on, and almost everything else is an addition to it rather than a replacement for it.
Esenté’s professional approach adds one step there that often gets dropped: a toner or an appropriate antioxidant mist after cleansing, as a distinct step rather than part of the cleanse. Victoria considers that step an important one because it helps support the skin’s normal mildly acidic surface. It is her recommended routine rather than a universal rule.
Where you put things also matters more than how many you own. Skincare Order and Product Storage covers sequence, and it will tell you more than another purchase would.
Victoria’s approach
Victoria Nash, founder of Esenté Skincare and Younger You Clinique, has been a licensed aesthetician since 2004 and is an experienced skincare educator. She draws on her professional experience at Younger You Clinique when evaluating skincare products and their performance. Her “less is best” philosophy concerns the appropriate amount and frequency of each product, not how many products a well-designed regimen should contain. Esenté’s approach is organized around steps rather than a shelf: cleanse, tone, then hydrate, with targeted products added where there is a reason for them, and each used as directed.
For those steps, Esenté makes the Orchid Reviving Cleanser, a non-foaming cleanser, the Octet Herbal Toner, which contains no alcohol, and the Hyaluronic Hydration Crème. Each is developed collaboratively by Victoria Nash with Esenté’s professional formulation and manufacturing partners, with Victoria providing product direction, ingredient research, professional-use feedback and performance requirements. If you want a second opinion on what to keep and what to retire, the Ask Victoria page is the place to ask.
Frequently asked questions
How many skincare products is too many?
There is no number. A routine has a problem when you can no longer say what each product is for, when you cannot identify which product may be causing a problem, or when you stop finishing it. Six products with six jobs is fine. Four products where two do nothing is not.
Can using too many products damage your skin?
It can irritate it, which is the thing that undoes most routines. Layering several separate exfoliating or retinoid products can increase irritation for some people, and so can using more of one product, or using it more often, than its directions say. Follow the directions for each product and stop if your skin is red, stinging or sore.
Is a ten-step routine bad?
Not by itself. If each step has a purpose and your skin is comfortable, the length is not the problem. If you added steps because you saw them online and could not say what any of them does, the length is a symptom.
What should I cut first?
Duplicates doing the same job, products bought for a concern you no longer have, and anything you cannot explain. Keep the cleanser, whatever keeps your skin comfortable, and your sunscreen. Remove one thing at a time so you can tell what the change did.
Can I use an exfoliating product and a retinoid together?
Sometimes, and it depends on the products and on your skin. Combining exfoliating acids with retinoids can increase irritation for some people. Read the directions for each product, introduce one at a time, and ask a dermatologist or licensed skincare professional if you are unsure.
About the author. Victoria Nash, founder of Esenté Skincare and Younger You Clinique, has been a licensed aesthetician since 2004 and is an experienced skincare educator.
Reviewed by Victoria Nash, licensed aesthetician and founder of Esenté Skincare & Younger You Clinique. This article is educational and is not medical advice. Ask your dermatologist or licensed skincare professional about products appropriate for your own skin and medical history.
