Why I Swear By My Lengthy Skincare Routine
And it's not just because my skin looks great
For my 12th birthday, my mom got me a one-hour facial with her aesthetician. I wasn’t excited about the gift (I know, I was a terrible, ungrateful tween) until I arrived and realized facials were heaven. I spent a blissful hour getting my face massaged by a woman whose hands were the perfect temperature,—cool and calming, but not cold—who told me I had beautiful skin, and who listened to my middle school drama. She sent me home with a cleanser, a moisturizer, and sunscreen. I was hooked.
I completed my skincare routine morning and night. I asked my mom all about her stash of products. She described them to me, showed me them one by one, twisting open the small glass bottles lined up on her counter so I could see what was in them. The ritual of it became essential to my day. I’d look at my teenage self after finishing my routine in the mornings and even if everything else was a mess, at least I’d done something for me. It was 1999, and I was all-in on “self care.”
Twenty-five years later, I remain a skincare fiend. I do my best to purchase only those products worth my time and money, but over the years my collection has grown. These days my stash of products looks more like my mom’s and less like that of my minimalist teenage years. I have it all: Eye creams! Retinols! Vitamin C! Masks for every occasion!
Pretty much everyone I think is worth listening to agrees that there are three key components to an effective skincare routine for anyone in their 30s: sunscreen, some kind of retinoid, and vitamin C. Sunscreen prevents sun damage and skin cancer, vitamin C fights free radicals that come into contact with your skin and may protect the skin from UV rays, thus brightening the skin and preventing and perhaps even reversing sun damage. Retinoids speed cell turnover, softening wrinkles and increasing collagen production. These same experts will tell you that every other skincare product out there–and there are thousands–only gives your skin a bit of a boost, or even that an excessive, complex routine will hurt, not help, your skin.
So if a 3-4 step routine is as good as an 8-step routine, why am I spending so much time every day putting products on my skin? And why has investing time, and, frankly, money, in my skin the last year made me feel and look the best I’ve ever looked? If four products and a $20 moisturizer does the same thing as a ten step routine and a $100 moisturizer, why do I, and millions of others, choose the 10-step routines as we watch the line item for “skincare” in our budgets grow?
For me it’s because my 8-10 step skincare routine and a weekly rotation of sheet masks has been a major boon to my mental health.
Early during the pandemic, self care was all the rage. When the world shut down, many of us had a sudden abundance of time to twiddle our thumbs and go on anxious spirals about the future of, well, everything. Could we go outside? Was grocery shopping safe? Did we need to wipe down our groceries with bleach? What about hanging out on our front stoop and chatting with a neighbor who was six feet away, was that ok? Would we ever be able to eat at restaurants again? Were cities a thing of the past? Would I ever be able to invite family and friends into my home again? Was I going to get sick and die? Was my husband? Were my friends? On and on it went.
Being able to sink into a warm, fragrant bubble bath was heaven. Masking my hair and feeling how soft and smooth it felt afterward calmed my nerves. Wandering around the house in a sheet mask soothed my skin and my soul. For the first several months, it looked like I was going to leave the pandemic with flawless, glowing skin and hair.
Then the pandemic dragged. A spring and summer of uncertainty rolled into the worst fire season San Francisco has experienced. A freak lightning storm in August kicked things off and for the next month the air quality was so bad that most days going out for a walk wasn’t safe.
Then, on September 8, 2020, the sun failed to rise and the sky turned orange. Ok, the sun didn’t literally fail to rise. That would’ve been a bigger problem. But on that day, smoke and ash from nearby fires and San Francisco’s famous fog came together to blot out the sun and turn the sky Bladerunner Orange.
The photos are famous, but being there was like stepping into a nightmare. I woke to my beautiful, beloved city covered in an eerie orange gloom. It was 7:00 a.m, but it felt like the middle of the night. I shut the curtains, turned on all the interior lights, and baked Japanese Milk Bread. I didn’t mask my hair, I didn’t shower, I didn’t work out, I didn’t cook us a dinner filled with vegetables and protein. I didn’t even eat the bread I’d made. Instead, I sat on the couch, tried to distract myself with a Netflix binge, and wondered if this was life now. Was this what I could expect for the rest of my time on earth? It was a chilling thought. I wondered why I should bother to make myself look good when we were living in a hellscape? At that point, it seemed like I was never going to see anyone but my husband and cats ever again, so what was the point?
Self care stopped. Taking care of myself at all stopped. Forget an eight step skincare routine, I wasn’t even washing my face. Most days, just getting into the shower was a struggle. For the next two years, as I struggled to pull myself out of the depths of the worst depression I’ve experienced, the level of care I took in myself was a barometer for my mental health. When I’d start to feel better, I’d gesture at myself and tell my husband, “Look, I’m feeling good today. I washed my face and did my hair.”
As I dragged myself up and out of the lowest mental state I’ve experienced (which took 2+ years, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, prescription drugs, and a career change), self care became both a sign of my improvement and a crutch. It was a small thing I looked forward to. Much like when I was 12, I could look at myself in the mirror after finishing my routine and, even if everything else was a mess, my skin felt good. It even started to look good again. I found joy in my rituals. I wanted to wash my face; I wanted to start wearing my hair down and curly again instead of perpetually tied back because I couldn’t begin to fathom a full Curly Girl wash day. My collection of skincare products grew from mere basics that went unused, to a slew of serums and potions that I enjoyed using. From the way the bottles looked lined up on my shelf, to the feel of the product in my hands, all of it has become a ritual I look forward to indulging in morning and night.
I’m not saying that new skincare products will cure all mental health woes, but for me investing time and energy into myself helped drag me out of the darkest hole I’ve experienced. A few weeks ago, I told my therapist I feel the most like “me” I’ve felt since before the pandemic, and after almost 2 years of hearing me lament about how I missed my 2019 and early 2020 self, he grinned and said “that’s fantastic, Maissa.” Did creating a skin routine help pull me out of my depression, or has continuing to invest time into myself helped keep me steadier? That’s a “chicken or the egg” question, and I don’t really have the answer. But I do know that for me, my 8-10 step routine is well worth the time it represents. The way my products feel when I use them is worth the money I spend on them. It is all a daily reminder that I’m here and that there is joy to the rituals that make you feel like you.
My Favorite Products
(Note: none of these links are sponsored or affiliate)
Prequel’s Gleanser. This is a glycerin-heavy cleanser that leaves my skin feeling clean but hydrated. I’ve used it for over a year at this point and I prefer the feel of it to every other cleanser I’ve ever tried, many of which were far more expensive. At $18 for 12.5 oz, it’s a hard product to beat.
Prequel’s Lucent-C. Most dermatologists and aestheticians will tell you that if you’re going to spend your money on one product, it should be your vitamin C serum. From what I understand, it’s notoriously hard to manufacture and stabilize, and the price of the product tends to reflect that. Most of the popular Vitamin C products will cost you at least $100-$150, Prequel’s is $23 for a 1 oz bottle and many sources I trust say it’s fantastic. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t my favorite, the texture felt sticky on my skin, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, and at that price, it’s worth a try!
Skinbetter Alto-Advanced. This is the only vitamin C serum I’ve ever used that doesn’t break me out. And yes, I’ve tried the cult favorite by Skinceuticals. Skinbetter’s product is pricey, but the formula feels good on my skin, and more importantly: it works. I’ve used it for almost a year and my skin is smoother, brighter, and glowier than it was before.
Dieux Instant Angel. At $45 for 1.69 oz, this is a product I’d call mid-range. But it’s a really, really good moisturizer that I used for years until I replaced it with Skinbetter Trio, which I find my skin loves a little bit more but is 3x the price, so I may switch back to Instant Angel.
Sunscreen is a hot topic that might deserve its own post, but the tl;dr is that most U.S. sunscreens are not great and it’s worth getting your hands on the European and/or Asian ones. The good news is they aren’t very expensive (far less expensive than some of the popular US sunscreens). The bad news is shipping can sometimes take a month as they’re shipping from across an ocean. My favorite for everyday wear is this one, the Abib Heartleaf Sun Essence. It’s a Korean sunscreen that absorbs quickly into my skin, leaving just a touch of glow without feeling greasy. For days when I’m spending a lot of time outside, you can’t beat this one, the La Roche Posay UVmune 400. It has slightly better broad-spectrum protection than Abib, but I find it just a touch heavier on my skin. I also find that it pills with some of my products, so I save it for the days where I know I need to maximize my sun protection.