Skincare Decoded. Victoria Fu
sagging, texture changes, and a whole host of other issues that are
part of premature aging. Do we need to give you any more reasons to use it?
Treatments
If you want to go above and beyond the basics, active ingredients, or actives, are the
cherry on top—the glam squad of products. They usually cost the most, come in
pretty packaging, and basically promise the Fountain of Youth. Treatments feature
ingredients that target and correct skin concerns you may be worried about, such
as fine lines and wrinkles, tone, texture, and pigmentation.
If you’re covering the three basic pillars of cleansing, moisturizing, and protecting
your skin from the sun you already have a solid routine. That said, actives are a
very useful enhancement to a skincare routine. They’re quite a technical and vast
category, so half of this book will be dedicated to treatments, and for good reason.
This category helps fight wrinkles, pigmentation, and uneven texture. Everything that
you’ve heard about in those touted “holy grail” serums, you’ll see in the department
stores. But active ingredients are also confusing, because they can have multiple
benefits, come in all sorts of product formats, and often require some experimenting
so that you can figure out your own regimen and optimal concentration.
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The Chemists’
Commandments
The ten rules below are our skincare manifesto, the building blocks
of any effective skincare routine. If you read nothing else before
you try your first actives or buy into a multistep program, read this.
Beautiful skin starts here.
Routine hacking starts with ingredients. Everyone has their unique skin quirks.
Getting comfortable with ingredient lists is your first step in figuring out what works
for you—and what doesnʼt. This is why we started the #decodethatIL hashtag on
Instagram (IL = ”ingredient list”).
Consistency, consistency, consistency! The reality is, skincare is a marathon, not
a sprint. Consistent good habits will make the difference in the long run.
Overlayering is unnecessary. Your friend’s twelve-step ritual is not inherently
more effective than your minimal routine. It all depends on the products, how
much you need, consistency, and your own skin quirks.
All good things take time. We get it—promises of overnight dramatic
improvements are alluring. However, any real, visible results take patience
and time. Most clinical studies allow at least four weeks for visible signs
of skin improvement to occur. For skin concerns such as deep wrinkles or
hyperpigmentation, it can take as long as twelve weeks to see significant results.
Concentration is key. When evaluating a product, look for one that discloses
active-ingredient percentage. If the concentration is too low, the product simply
won’t do anything. If the concentration is too high, you run the risk of irritation.
Remember, the dose makes the poison—and the elixir.
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You can have too much of a good thing. It’s tempting to have a nightly routine
that stacks ten active ingredients to try to get the benefits of all of them.
Sadly, adding too many actives just invites more potential for irritation.
Simplicity is key for sensitive skin. Speaking of less is more—the key to
managing sensitive skin is ”Easy does it.” That ten-step program just contains
ten potential sources of irritation, and they all add up! If you have sensitive skin,
remember that the simpler your routine is, the more control you have.
Pain isn’t gain. Some painful treatments can be beneficial, but they’re rare
exceptions and should only be administered by a trustworthy, licensed dermatologist
or esthetician. Your at-home skincare routine should never cause anything more
than light stinging. Redness, itchiness, and burning are not signs of your products
working—that’s just plain old irritation.
Patch-test, patch-test, patch-test! Even if you don’t have particularly
sensitive skin, you never know what might cause a reaction. So, test any new
product somewhere inconspicuous, like your forearm, before slathering it
onto your face!
Skincare is personal. (This is the one that trumps all!) Last but not least, what
works for your friend might not work for you, and vice versa. This is one of the
main reasons why skincare is so confusing. Some products that work great for
most people can still trigger sensitivity and irritation for some. Don’t be too quick
to toss something out just because a friend hated it. On the flip side, don’t keep
trying something irritating because you heard it’s an internet cult favorite. Listen
to your skin!
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CLEANSERS
W
ashing your face is perhaps the most seriously
underrated part of your skincare regimen. Even
if you’re among the cleanest of humans, your face
accumulates grime daily. Consider the number of
times you touch your face or apply a product in a single
day, let alone walk past a running car, a person smoking,
a construction site, and so on. Every one of those
moments can add microbes, pollutants, dirt, and even
stressors day after day. Long-term accumulation doesn’t
just make you grubby; it will inevitably add to aging. The
good news is that all you have to do to counter it is to
simply wash your face. Easy-peasy!
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Why Cleanse
Y
our face gets dirty. It can’t be helped. And not just from the dirt and grime
of