Toners or fresheners or astringents are agents that prepare the skin for the further treatments or for moisturizers. There is always a great debate about the efficacy of the toners. A lot of people who oppose the toners say that toners are nothing but water being sold by the cosmetic industry and people who support toners say that toners are definitely the in thing and they help making the skin more balance and also remove the dirt that your cleaners was not able to.
Now adding to that debate are the treatment toners like those with glycolic acid and the salicylic acid. These are definitely helpful as the glycolic acid can easily penetrate the skin and unclog the pores. This is definitely a plus from the plain vanilla toners as the they at least have the glycolic acid which helps in removing the dead skin cells.
Toner is definitely needed before you apply the glycolic acid creams so that the pH level is balanced.
This again leads to question as to how you will choose your toner.
Normal skin has a ph level between 4.5 and 6
If you have oily skin then you pH level will be more than 6 and if you have dry skin the pH level will be less than 4.5. So always buy a toner which will either increase or decrease the pH level based on your skin type.
In addition the glycolic acid will make sure that it penetrates the skin will unclog the pores.
The most common glycolic acid toners that are available are
Mario Badescu Glycolic Acid Toner
Reviva Labs Glycolic Acid Facial Toner
Remember that the glycolic acid toner will definitely have some tingling sensation than the regular toners and most of these contain the 10% concentration of the glycolic acid.