Dani Dyer: ‘I just never really cared about my face’

For years, Dani Dyer, the daughter of renowned actor Danny Dyer, didn’t think much about skincare, frequently wiping off her make-up with “any old face wipe”.

“I think for me, when you’re younger, you don’t really know anything about skincare routines,” she says. “I mean, I loved a face wipe – I was guilty of that.

“I just never really cared about my face.”

But things changed when she developed melasma – a skin condition that causes patches of pigmentation – after a summer abroad and becoming pregnant. “It literally went from like nothing to just a massive flare-up,” she recalls. “Honestly, I hadn’t really heard about pigmentation.”

It was only after a dermatologist confirmed what a friend had already suggested that Dyer, 28, started to take skincare more seriously. She found implementing a routine, balancing her hormones and sticking to simple skincare has helped manage it.

Now, in the lead-up to her wedding to West Ham and England footballer Jarrod Bowen, Dyer isn’t taking any risks. “I’ve been having facials. I’ve had dermaplaning – I’ve tried the polynucleotides injectable treatment but oh, it’s done nothing,” she laughs. “But I’m not changing anything when it comes to my skin […] I’m just using what I like to use.”

As a mum of three, Dyer doesn’t have time for lengthy routines in the morning. “It’s go, go, go. I literally just put a day cream on and have a coffee,” she says. Evenings, though, are her time.

“My night time consists of a half-hour routine, sometimes a bit longer. I love the end of the day, I cleanse then serum, eye cream, night cream – then I just oil everything and lay in bed. That’s my favourite time of day.”

Since finding fame on reality show Love Island in 2018, Dyer has come to appreciate the benefits of wearing less make-up and letting her skin breathe. “Everyone went through that phase of piling it all on and thinking more was better. But actually, now I know that less is more,” she says. “Your skin just feels so much better.”

However, one thing she wishes she’d known sooner was the importance of SPF. “I never thought you had to SPF – ever!

“I used to just lay in the sun and just turn my face and my body without anything on,” she says. “But it’s just about adding one more product into your routine and it’s so important.”

Dyer champions knowledge when it comes to skincare following her melasma diagnosis, noting, “If you’re going through a breakout or suffering with hyperpigmentation go and see a skincare professional, because sometimes the things on the shelves, you think they’re good and they’re not.”

These days, she’s keen to share what she’s learned, even if her younger sister doesn’t always take the advice. “You know what they’re like,” she laughs, “when you’re a teenager and someone’s like, do this, do that – it makes you want to do the opposite. But she’s got a lot better now.”

Now, Dyer isn’t aiming for perfection but consistency. “No one’s skin is ever perfect, is it? You have your good days and your bad days,” she says. “And the more you stress about it, the worse it gets.”

Social media, she adds, is slowly catching up with reality. “We all went through a phase where we were editing our photos and trying to show how perfect we all were, but we’re not,” she says. “It’s good to show the two sides of you: Here I am day-to-day, and here I am when I’ve got the glam on.”

As for her wedding prep, Dyer isn’t overhauling her routine for fancy creams, but rather maintaining what’s working. “Now I don’t really have to worry about my skin as much,” she says. “It’s nice not having to think about it too much.”