The cleanse, tone and moisturise routine is fundamental to great skincare.

This three-step beauty routine is what the beauty industry has built its businesses on.

They maintain that everybody needs three basic products: a good cleanser that strips the skin of impurities, a toner that tightens pores and, of course, a moisturiser that hydrates.

This is what the industry has led people to believe, and no one even questions it any more.

South African skincare expert Trevor Steyn, however, believes that this routine does more harm than good to the skin. Especially for those living in modern cities.

This Durban scientist says that almost everyone is suffering or has suffered from some form of sensitive skin condition.

“We’re living in a world where more than 85% of teenagers in the Western world suffer from acne, with eczema more prevalent than ever before.”

Steyn looks at hunter-gatherer communities that are still in existence today and points out that without the cleanse, tone and moisturise routine, the people in those communities have practically no sensitive skin conditions.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it until it hits home – the modern skincare routine sucks. It’s not about skincare at all, it’s about selling products that cause more harm than good,” explained Steyn, who’s the founder of Sapienic.

“We don’t believe in cleansers that strip the skin’s natural oils. We don’t believe in moisturisers as they disrupt the skin’s microbiome, impacting barrier function.

“Ideally, we would all go back to splashing our face with water and getting on with our day, but our modern lifestyles keep us away from nature while exposing us to pollution, cosmetics and sunscreen. This means that we actually have to clean our face – but with the right ingredients. Sapienic was created to undo years of damage and get the skin to rebuild its natural barrier and microbiome, to eliminate the modern problem of sensitive skin.”

They believe in live probiotics that restore contact with nature.

“We replace sebum with eclectic oils that benefit the skin’s good microbes and counteract the emergence of pathogens,” said the founder.

So if we can’t wash our faces using regular cleansing products, how are we meant to remove products such as make-up, is what we want to know.

AE News