Some Inconvenient Truths - Skincare Edition
...because I realised that there was a lot more to say
When I wrote Some Inconvenient Truths (OG), I intended to go right ahead and write You’re Almost Certainly Overpaying For Your Skincare, but realised pretty much immediately that I had more inconvenient stuff to lay at your door first. Honestly, this beauty malarkey is a fucking minefield. A minefield to which I am hopelessly wedded, seemingly FOR THE REST OF TIME.
So, please join me as I break our collective hearts just a little more
Consistency is key
Routine
Look… unless you establish a routine, there’s little point to skincare. Without a routine, you’re unlikely to see meaningful benefits and you also won’t know what is and isn’t working for you.
I’m aware that finding the time and motivation to adopt a consistent skincare regimen may be a challenge. I have ADHD and I really struggle with starting, and then keeping to, any kind of routine12.
Until my mid-30s I regularly3 slept in my make-up and, even now, I can go through periods when I don’t wash/moisturise my face at all at night for a week or so. It is always staggering how significant, and almost immediate, the difference is once I resume a twice-daily, consistent routine.
If you don’t wear make-up and have no specific skin concerns, this can be as straightforward as cleanser once a day (usually at night), moisturiser morning and night, and SPF in the morning.
‘Shelfies’ and ‘hauls’ have unhelpfully skewed ideas of what skincare can and should look like. You don’t need to start with 18 products in your arsenal to make a routine. If you’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of bottles, tubes, jars and sprays available on the shelves, start with the bare minimum and supplement with new products once you’ve established your routine and have a better idea of your particular skin type and any specific skincare concerns you may have.
Full disclosure: I own A FUCKTON of product. But I am relatively obsessive about this. If you are too, that’s absolutely fine - welcome, even - but if you’re not, you don’t have to own or use many products to get an effective, sustainable routine going.
Most skincare will struggle to reverse negative effects4. A consistent routine is good for prevention rather than cure. So, the earlier you start and maintain good habits, the better5.
This isn’t to say that all hope is lost if you’ve reached 45 without knowing the difference between squalane and Sculptra. As the cliche goes, the best time to start was 20 years ago, the next best time is now.
Products
General advice
You will get better results if you use cheap products every day than if you buy and use a £££ hero product once a month, after you realise that your skin has gone to shit.
Night cream
Unless you have specific skin concerns that you’re targeting overnight, you’re probably wasting your money if you’re using a night cream rather than using the same moisturiser twice a day.
Night creams can be richer, or contain ingredients that need to settle in overnight without interference/sunlight, but if you’re not sure what night cream is actually doing and you only use it because it says “night” on the packaging and you’d heard that night cream was a good idea, you can probably just use one moisturiser both day and night - or identify a day/night combination that can tackle any areas of concern that you have.
Eye cream
Similarly, if you use a separate eye cream/gel, but you don’t know why or you’re not addressing specific concerns about the skin around your eye area, it’s likely that you can just use your regular moisturiser swept across your eyes6.
If you do go down the eye cream route, be aware that the skin on your eyelids and under-eyes is thinner than the rest of your face, so there’s a greater risk of sensitivity if you introduce a new product7.
The jury is out on eye cream vs eye gels btw. Some suggest that creams can increase puffiness, so you should only use gels. Others will swear down that creams are more beneficial.
The advice I will choose to give is:
If your eyes are an area that you want to treat with specific products or ingredients: try a few, don’t spend a lot on any products when you’re researching ingredients/consistency and when you work out what has positive outcomes for you, stick with it until it stops working, you fancy a change (which may be never) or they stop making it/reformulate it and ruin your life8.
Whilst I have you, a good concealer will do more for purple under eye circles than a cream can. Usually, the purple colour is caused by blood vessels being visible under the skin. This tends to be a genetic pre-disposition and not something that skincare can treat9.
Timing is everything
Ok. Brace yourself. This one might be the hardest yet.
You need to allow at least 6 weeks of regular, consistent use to understand if/how a product/ingredient works for you.
People write a lot of breathless reviews after a single application of a new product “OMG! This is my new HG10!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️” etc, but the skin may react unfavourably to the product over time, it may not play nicely with the other ingredients in your routine or it may not have been as effective as you originally thought. It’s all about time and being really aware of what you’re putting on your face and for what intended outcome.
A note on purging
Some exfoliating actives (can) trigger a skin ‘purge’ when first incorporated into a routine.
Purging is a process by which the increased cell turnover caused by the active makes underlying sebum/oil, dirt or dead, flaky skin cells to rise to the surface. This can cause a few weeks of blackheads/whiteheads/redness/irritation/cysts until the cadence of your skin turnover regulates at the new, faster pace that the active has encouraged.
This is another reason that you really can’t tell what an ingredient or product is going to do for you until you’ve used it for around 6 weeks - time to get through, and then past, a cycle of skin cell turnover.
If you add multiple new products at a time, you won’t know which are actually working/not working. This includes if you buy a product that contains a variety of actives that you’ve not used before/used in that combination before.
Limit yourself to one new product at a time and leave at least 2 weeks before adding another one to the mix. If nothing else, this means you can leave the skincare counter or facialist/spa with a clear conscience that you really shouldn’t buy the 3 extra products that are being ‘helpfully’ suggested to you.
When you’re starting out - or even if you've been doing this a long time, but somewhat blindly and you’re not actually sure which actives work well for you/suit you, it’s important that you get to know your skin. There may be one ingredient that your skin really likes/dislikes. Try to isolate this before you stick a product containing a cocktail of ingredients into your virtual cart.
As with everything in the cosmetic space: ‘more’ does not equal ‘better’
Do not:
Start at the highest concentration of an active (especially retinoids)
Use something intended for a more severe version of a skin condition than you have
Apply twice as much product, in the hope that you’ll get double the effects.
Once you’ve successfully incorporated a new product into your routine, then you can experiment with the quantity, method or concentration. Only make one change at a time, so that you know what has produced a positive or negative effect. Yes, this is a bit boring and possibly frustrating. But please go ahead and re-read the title of this post. Sometimes I feel like Eeyore.
Those genes again
Your genes play a massive part in how your skin ages and heals. Your skin resilience and texture are largely determined by this.
You can make the best of the skin that you have - and there are many amazing products out there to help you along the way - but if you come from a long line of Scandinavians, skincare (or surgery) can’t turn you from a Nordic into a Mediterranean.
As before, some people are just blessed with good skin. It’s still possible to fuck up good skin (skincare is a long game) and it’s possible to manage skin conditions.
Ok, that’s more than enough inconvenience for another week. TTFN! x
For context: At least (and I mean REALLY at least) 3 nights a month, I sleep in my clothes because I do not have the energy to undress before getting into bed. I used to think I must be really depressed (but I didn’t feel depressed), but then I realized that my brain is a complex mystery that even I struggle to solve.
Unless it’s something like ‘Start Playing Royal Match For 4 Hours A Day’, in which case, I’M IN.
For context: often 7 nights out of 7. OFTEN. I’d cleanse in the morning, with a wipeoff lotion cleanser. Then I’d spend £££ on stuff that I thought would sort my skin out. SHOULD HAVE JUST WASHED YOUR FACE, DUCHET 🤦♀️.
With the exception of retinoids, aka vitamin A, which causes skin cell turnover and can resurface fine lines on the skin (when used - YOU GUESSED IT - regularly, consistently and in conjunction with a complementary regular and consistent skincare routine).
My friend Angharad will tell you (ruefully) that I told her 20 years ago that neck moisturisation is important. I’m basically the Cassandra of the modern age. Although Cassandra probably washed her face more often than I did at the time 😳.
Close them first, obviously.
I am alarmingly sensitive to eye-specific products, for no reason that I can fathom.
My mum has a genuinely uncanny ability to fall in love with a perfume approximately 18 months before it gets discontinued.
There are some laser treatments now available if laser-under-the-eyes is something you can stomach.
HG = Holy Grail. There are a lot of breathless HG proclamations in the skincare community. Many of these then get updated a few weeks later from 5* to 1* after the author breaks out or starts flaking or decides they hate the smell/dispenser/brand. Cosmetic and skincare reviews can be an emotional rollercoaster. Other people watch the Kardashians, I go to Sephora online, Reddit and Make Up Alley for my reality drama fix.
What about lasers?
And for teenagers?