Know your skin.
Before you do anything, you need to know what your skin is about. There are countless quizzes and tests online, but most are on product sites and the various pop ups asking you to subscribe to their site or buy this or that, or a live chat box will suddenly flash… you know what I mean. Drives me mad.
This one seems fairly innocuous.
Where should I look for information?
One of the things I’ve noticed whilst researching information for this website, is how internet based science is leading and informing the way we look after our skins, much more than in my youth. Back then, my information was from beauticians, working on beauty counters in department stores, and whilst they were well trained, in the main, they were promoting their own company’s products. It was down to me to move from counter to counter, weighing up the pros and cons – not least the cost – and settling for something that seemed right.
I am a working class girl, and people like me didn’t go to a dermatologist, and I’m not convinced aestheticians existed. If you were in the jet set, you went and had your botox and your fillers and your face lift at a Swiss clinic.
Now, especially with Covid lockdowns meaning I haven’t been on a walkabout in a department store for a very long time, there is a plethora of online dermatologists and skincare enthusiasts (skinfluencers) and I find myself turning to them for information and advice, though I might check out several different sources of information and reviews for the best things to use.
In the main, these sources are relatively objective and neutral, suggesting products that have worked well for them, and commenting on other products that have had more negative results, so I know to avoid them. There are paid adverts and these are well flagged, although the information about the product is kept as objective as possible by anyone who wants to retain their reputation. Some have developed their own lines of skincare, and obviously they will recommend that in preference to anything else (just like the old beauty counters), but it is surprising how many will add in comparisons to other brands. In some ways, this can be confusing, as there are as many opinions as products, but I keep to a few sources whose knowledge I trust, and balance new information with my own experience of my skin.
YouTube videos are a mine of information. Search for your skin concern and you will find a goldmine of expertise to wander through. A warning though: this rabbit hole can absorb far too much of your precious time, so I suggest setting an alarm before you start and resolutely turning off YouTube when the bell rings…
In the meantime (assuming you can trust yourself to obey your alarm), start with some of these sources I am subscribed to and enjoy (this is a very short list. I currently subscribe to over 200 channels on YouTube… I can’t imagine you want to look at all of those, but ask me for more if you feel you need it.)
I’d love to hear if you have any favourite channels or websites you use for information or reviews, please leave me a comment so I can add them to my own lists.
Dermatologists: excellent for solid information.
https://www.youtube.com/c/DrSamBuntingTV Dr Sam Bunting is a UK based, medically qualified dermatologist, and whilst she has her own line of skincare, she is careful to compare other brands as well in her channel. Her skincare 101 is expressed clearly and calmly, and has a lot of really useful basic information.
https://drsambunting.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/ShereeneIdrissPillowtalkderm Shereen Idriss is a Lebanese dermatologist based in New York, I love her style and could listen to her talk for ever. https://www.pillowtalkderm.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/LabMuffinBeautyScience Michelle Wong is Australian Chinese based in Sydney, wonderfully nerdy and informative, and I adore the real nitty-gritty science she uses to explain skincare so we, the badly-cleansed masses, can understand it better. And as an Australian, we have to believe she knows about SPFs.
https://labmuffin.com/
Skinfluencers and beauty gurus: excellent for tested products
I love a good product review. While the skinfluencers of today get gifted so many products to test you wonder how they make head or tail out of which to recommend, the best of them study their subject and test things over a good period of time before make a judgement. I follow and appreciate the information from these:
https://www.youtube.com/c/CassandraBankson Cassandra is a medical aesthetician based in San Francisco and is a total nutcase (in the nicest way). Excellent comparison videos and debunking of company claims. Also one of the best for acne sufferers.
https://www.cassandrabankson.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesWelsh James is a UK based skinfluencer and is the skincare side of the twin Welsh brothers (his brother Robert is a qualified MUA https://www.youtube.com/c/RobertWelshMUA who reviews makeup rather than skincare). Excellent reviews and comparison tests. (Also, if you like madcap humour, you should find time to catch the pair of them, along with the other Welsh brother, Marcus, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCreuwQRiPQpCbGIA-rv2lyA/)
https://www.youtube.com/c/PamperedWolf Yorkshire based UK skinfluencer splits her videos between both makeup and skincare, and interestingly, also tests products on her 65 year old mum, which makes her especially interesting for us.
I also like https://www.youtube.com/user/salihughesbeauty the great Sali Hughes, brilliant skincare and beauty journalist, although her youtube is sporadic these days, there are some good veins to mine, and her bathroom interviews are delightful.
Who to believe?
I think it is useless to go by qualifications alone when researching. I have learnt as much from skinfluencers and consumers, people who are well-versed enthusiasts, as I am, as I have from qualified dermatologists. It is a sad fact that many traditional experts have their beliefs and nothing will make them budge.
In particular the Western discovery of Far Eastern skincare – especially Korean and Japanese – has changed the face of skincare. Western formulations and textures are becoming lighter and less fragranced, to match the delicacy of these new textures, although the proliferation of jellies and slick ‘glass skin’ glow, which can often feel sticky or create a shiny film on the surface of the skin, is less attractive to my older skin. If you are under 25, perhaps you can get away with this appearance of cling-film pressed to your skin, but I’m afraid I need something more velvety. That said, the fact that we can easily access these Eastern skincare brands is nothing short of miraculous in many ways.
Trust your instincts. This site has been created for those of us in our later years, and heavens to Betsy, we have plenty of experience of what has worked and, sometimes just as important, what hasn’t.
Know your ingredients – especially in products you don’t like – but don’t put all your eggs in that one basket.
We’ve all got products we don’t like that we’ve chucked in a drawer in disgust. Well, Google is your friend. Now that just about every product has its ingredient list available online, it is really worth while spending a little time with the ones that you know don’t suit your skin and check out the ingredients. Not just the first five, look towards the end of the list for any fragrances and or essential oils as well, as it not unusual for normally calm skin to react badly to any of these.
BUT: sometimes it’s not the ingredient, it’s the formulation. If you listen to some of the reviewers and skinfluencers, (and even some dermatologists as well), it is all down to the active ingredients. Ignore all the other stuff, it’s just padding, fillers. Not in my experience. I can use products with exactly the same active ingredients (I’ve been mostly looking at Hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, AHAs, BHAs, Vitamin C and other antioxidants) and get totally different results. It’s a sad (and sometimes expensive) fact that trial and error is often the only way to work out what is going to work on your skin. Read the reviews, and then remind yourself that none of these people have got your skin.
Please note: This site reflects my personal opinions and should not be taken as professional advice. Please consult a skin professional if you have any major concerns.