Skin is such an important organ, so it makes sense that we would expect products to be exceptionally high in quality. With skin, we want products that are advertised as whatever they claim to actually deliver for us. The truth is that when it comes to many skincare products, it’s next to impossible to know what you are buying. There are way too many marketing tricks and a lot less information out there about each product, and some companies will feed you half truths of the industry to make sure their sales increase and they land repeat customers.
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#texturetuesday is a scam
Cosmetic formulators face a constant battle between efficacy & fulfilling the sensory needs for consumer likeability. A product's texture has little to no indication of whether it is actually good for skin. Please don’t choose products because they have a nice texture, choose products based on their efficacy & delivery of functional doses of actives and nutrients.
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Stop using products for your skin condition and start using products for the deficiency or over activity you are experiencing
Every skin concern is the result of cellular processes not working optimally. Firstly there is no medical definition for skin conditions, I first learnt this from one of Dr Andrew Christie’s Masterclasses when he discussed that there is no such medical condition for Sensitive skin, what is most likely actually happening in the skin is a lack of hydration & barrier impairment causing the skin to feel sensitive & be more reactive. By focusing on hydration & strengthening your skin you will see improvement in those sensitivity levels and achieve better results as you gradually increase actives.
Another example could be if someone is experiencing congestion on the forehead but also dryness. What could be going on is the epidermal lipids are lacking, causing trans epidermal water loss (TEWL), creating dehydration that is slowing down desquamation (skins natural exfoliation process) causing the skin cells to get a little stuck in the follicles leading to the congestion. If you only treat the congestion with typical products like AHAs & BHAS you are not treating the cause and the congestion will come back just as fast. In this situation you would want to look at ingredients that will hydrate like Hyaluronic Acid, and provide support to the epidermal lipids like Ceramides while also looking at actives like Vitamin A to speed up cellular turnover & return cellular function to optimal levels.
If you cannot figure out what is going on or haven’t found anything that works for you I would recommend a consultation with a Skin professional to get to the root cause.
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Stop exfoliating, it’s a quick fix that you don’t need
If you are using the correct products in the correct dosage, you will never feel like you need to exfoliate. The most common reason you feel like you need to exfoliate is because your skin’s natural process of exfoliation (desquamation) is not efficient. This process is optimal when hydration levels are optimal. When your skin is dehydrated (lacking water), this has nothing to do with oil flow, the natural process of exfoliation slows down and you begin to feel a buildup of redundant skin cells.
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There is no such thing as DEAD skin cells
It is a common view that you have dead skin cells piling up that you need to scrub off with an abrasive granular exfoliant or Microdermabrasion, this is not true. Albert Kligman, M.D., conducted a series of experiments showing that your outer most layer the stratum corneum is biologically active cellular tissue and communicates until it eventually falls off.
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It is biologically impossible for Collagen supplements to build collagen in your skin
The Collagen supplement for the skin theory was recently debunked by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki who states “You’re much better off eating foods rich in protein that can be broken down into the individual amino acids, that your body needs to make collagen.”
As a Facialist I would also add to what Dr Karl says and say that in order for your fibroblasts to make collagen, they requires systemic Vitamin C. If you are concerned about collagen production, topical & oral supplementation of Vitamin C should be apart of your strategy, while also minimising interactions with events that deplete your vitamin C stores like smoking.