Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Bonnie Canelakes's avatar

As always Jessica, you’ve hit the proverbial zit on the head (ha). My mother (who would’ve been 101 this year) instructed me as a pubescent to use just plain water to wash my face, as she always had. She had great skin (she also used cold cream at night-gasp!). As I was already well brainwashed by 12 by Teen, McCall’s and similar rags I found that preposterous! But over the next few years I found that the less I ‘did’ to my face the better it was. I was fortunate to have not ever experienced breakouts in my teens, so there was less reason to mess about much (I was kind of fascinated by Noxema for a time, however). Not until I was 17 and had a job, could afford to buy my own products and was lured to do so at every turn, did my face start to revolt a bit-thus initiating a viscous, expensive loop to buy more products to ‘fix’ the blackheads and uneven skin tone (sun damage-no sunscreens back then, remember) that were developing. Then, convinced my brows were ‘wrong’, my eyes too small, that I was missing the fabulous cheekbones all the models had, I went all in. Never left the house without first performing an hour long regimen from forehead to neck. For decades. I can’t even imagine how much money I’ve spent over the last 50 yrs on products that have not improved one thing about my skin overall. I even fell for the whole LeMer legend at $200 a pop, a moisturizer totally useless for my ever oily skin. These products will more often have detrimental effects vs anything useful or healthy for skin as your piece here so well illustrates. It’s all about the marketing. And dammit it works. It’s just another version of ‘you’re a women and you’re fantastic but just not quite enough as you are, let me fix you’. Something we have always heard/felt in every aspect of our lives from every corner of the hierarchy from birth. And it still echoes in hour heads every single day.

Expand full comment
Tabitha's avatar

Amazing writeup. I think I'll send this to my mum. She seems to go deeper and deeper into this "science of skincare".

On the other hand, you touched on something I sadly discovered late into my 20s. My acne didn't react to any skincare if it did, it got worse not better. What helped was eleminating everything and chosing a shampoo and facewash that are based on sugar peptides instead of soap, it leaves the fat barrier of the skin intact and cleans but doesn't rid the skin of the natural oils it produces.

It was developed in a German clinic for patients with severe detmatitis so they could bathe without breaking out. So it is actually science based because it helps the skin do it's thing. My painful, painful acne is gone and I save so much money now only using those 2 products and sunscreen.

Expand full comment
47 more comments...

No posts