Demystifying Skincare

Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

So, What’s the Deal With SPF Again?

Ah, the age-old question – something that’s circled my mind every time younger-me fell victim to my mom’s sunscreen-covered hands. Now that I’m older, I’ve come to realize that sun damage isn’t just sunburns (which younger-me didn’t really care about), but rough and dry texture, hyperpigmentation (uneven skin tone + dark spots), and of course, an increased risk of skin cancer (Mayo Clinic, 2023). Now, that doesn’t mean we should live a vampire lifestyle and avoid the sun – that’s what sunscreen is for! And to get the absolute most out of it, it should be applied every day as the last part of your skin routine. Ideally, this would include cloudy days or even when indoors (UV goes through clouds!) (Santhakumar, 2022), but it can depend on your skin’s needs (eg. sunscreen makes my friend break out). Additionally, sunscreen isn’t a complete shield – it can scatter or absorb UV rays (Skin Cancer Foundation, 2022), but even strong sunscreens need to be reapplied every few hours.

Double-cleanse Your Worries (and Gunk) Away!

“Why would I need to wash my face twice in one sitting?” is what I asked myself when I first heard about double-cleansing. It seemed unnecessary, especially as someone with dry skin. But the more I learned about it, the more it actually made sense.

To put it simply, double-cleansing is done by first using an oil-based cleanser to remove any makeup, sunscreen, and other oily gunk. Then, it’s followed up by a water-based cleanser for leftover sweat and dirt. Because I don’t wear makeup very often, I save the double-cleanse for the days I do so that my skin doesn’t dry out and hate me in return. Otherwise, it’s a great way to efficiently clean your face, especially for those with oily skin!

Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash

Photo by Angélica Echeverry on Unsplash

Fit to Your Needs

Now that we’ve gone through a couple staples of skincare routines, it’s important to match them based on your skin and its needs. With the rapid pace of internet trends, it can be easy to be convinced to try out every single product that pops up on our feeds. I remember considering nearly everything from hyaluronic acid to snail serum (which were both surprisingly great for me!), but sometimes we can lose sight of what we actually need. For example, retinol can help with various things like acne and enlarged pores, but so does niacinamide and salicylic acid (Nunez, 2020). So really, how do I decide which to use, if any?

A couple important things to figure out before taking a dive are the condition of your skin, and what aspects of it you’re most interested in managing. For example, I have dry skin with some acne and dullness, while my sister has oily skin with little to no acne, and some redness. My sister doesn’t really mind the redness, but I’d prefer to target a bit of everything. In this case, I might reach for something like niacinamide (an “all-rounder” ingredient in skincare) (Cherney, 2018) or retinol (similar to + stronger effects than niacinamide but should be used carefully!) (Nunez, 2020) while my sister might choose salicylic acid, which is often used to target acne, but tends to be drying (Frothingham, 2022).