Last night we had a really bizarre but stressful event at our house. My husband was changing clothes and washing his face to go to a meeting and comes out of the bathroom blinking like crazy. He had been using face scrub, gotten one of the little beads too close to his eye and scratched the cornea. After a really painful night and a very red and runny eye, he’s getting better.

This incident, along with an article about Beauty Basics in Real Simple magazine, prompted me to start a post series on Back to the Basics. For the next few weeks, I’ll be throwing in a weekly post on beauty basics, from face scrub, to eyelash curlers, to shampoo and conditioner.

Let’s start today with the proper way to use a facial scrub.

First, choose the right scrub! I like something creamy with very round beads for polishing. It also has to wash away completely clean without any residue. Too many scrubs are for acne, in my opinion, which just leads you to scrub pimples until they are so dry and irritated they’ll never heal. A scrub should just get down another layer or two from your normal cleanser to remove dirt, and makeup and clear away any dead skin cells, it shouldn’t be used for resurfacing your acne.

My favorite scrub right now is another REN product. It’s gentle enough to use multiple times per week but tough enough to get the job done. REN Jojoba Micro Bead Facial Polish comes in a GIANT bottle that lasts forever for $35.

Once you have the right face scrub, you need the right technique. Never put dry scrub on a dry face and never even put dry scrub on a wet face. In other words: add water. Make sure your face is wet, squeeze about a nickle-sized amount onto your fingers and add a little more water. Rub it between your fingers to spread out the scrub and disperse the water. Always scrub gently in a circular motion all over your face, being sure you get the sides of your face and your jaw line.

But guess which area of your face you should avoid? YOUR EYES! Face scrub should never tough the entire area around your eye, including under your eyes and your eyelids. The skin is too sensitive to handle a scrub.

What face scrubs do you like? Is it part of your normal routine? Let me know in the comments!