Active ingredients work best when they have good contact time with skin. So immediately washing off an active cleanser isn’t going to benefit your skin. In fact, it could be a real waste of money. I didn’t realize just how wasteful I had been until I stuck with this TikTok hack as part of my nighttime skin-care ritual. A few weeks in, my skin is gleaming in all the right places (you can see the light glinting off my cheeks in the picture above), and I no longer wake up in the morning with a family of new whiteheads. Don’t get me wrong, this won’t rid you of breakouts entirely. I still get them (thanks, hormones) but I’m noticing my skin become clearer and more even in tone. I combine the hack with my new favorite skin-smoothing serum, and while the change is a subtle one, it’s noticeable to me.