Essay on beauty and skin health

The core value of beauty behavior should be to serve skin health. All aesthetic pursuits at the expense of skin homeostasis are short-term overdrafts. There is no universal beauty solution. Individual skin quality, health status, and living environment are the only criteria to judge whether beauty behavior is reasonable. This is the core conclusion I came to after 7 years of engaging in skin care popularization and skin management practice, and having been exposed to nearly 2,000 cases.

When I was working as a voluntary assistant in the dermatology department of a tertiary hospital two years ago, I met a 22-year-old girl. In order to follow the popular "cold fair-skinned" persona on the Internet, she used 30% concentration of fruit acid at home every week for three months. When she came to the doctor, her face was red and rash, and even washing her face with warm water hurt. Her transepidermal water loss was three times the normal value, which is already a severe barrier damage. She cried at the time and said, "I thought skin peeling was a normal tolerance reaction, and just turning it white would be fine." I felt distressed and helpless at the time - too many people put "beauty" and "health" on opposite sides, and always felt that in order to get beauty benefits, they had to pay some health price. In fact, this is not the case at all.

Now regarding the relationship between beauty and health, there have always been two quarrelsome schools in the industry. There is no absolute right or wrong, and each is supported by clinical and practical cases. One group is the "efficacy-first group". The core logic is that as long as the clinical effectiveness of the ingredients is clear, short-term redness and peeling are normal reactions during the tolerance period. After all, whether it is retinol to promote collagen or fruit acid to exfoliate dead skin cells, it is a controllable stimulation of the skin. As long as the dosage and frequency are controlled within a safe range, the dual benefits of health and anti-aging can ultimately be achieved. I have a 34-year-old sister with city wall skin. She has been using 0.3% retinol for 2 years, combined with low-concentration salicylic acid peels once a month. Now she has 40% fewer fine lines than people of the same age who don’t do any effective skin care. The barrier has always been healthy, and even redness rarely occurs during seasonal changes.

The other school is the "minimalist skin care school", which advocates that in addition to the three basic steps of gentle cleansing, moisturizing, and sun protection, all functional beauty treatments are redundant and may even destroy the microecological homeostasis of the skin itself, thereby damaging healthy skin. There are a lot of cases to support this view. I have a friend who is born with thin cuticles. A few years ago, he followed the trend of anti-aging and whitening serums and piled them on the table. His face was always swollen like a peach. Later, he made up his mind and stopped all the effective products. He used children's moisturizing cream and hard sunscreen. After half a year, most of the red blood streaks disappeared, and even the backlight rash that had appeared repeatedly before was gone. The condition of his skin was much better than when he tried it.

The 2023 survey data of the Dermatologist Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association is actually very illustrative of the problem: 72% of women in our country have varying degrees of barrier damage, and 46% of the damage comes from improper beauty behaviors-the "improper" here includes both over-intervention with too strong drugs and ineffective beauty treatments that do not consider skin type and follow trendy formulas. For example, in summer, if you have oily skin and pursue a matte look, you use soap-based cleansers and oil-controlling powder every day. Instead, the stratum corneum is washed too thin, and the sebaceous glands secrete more oil compensatoryly, making breakouts worse than before. ； People with dry skin follow the trend of doing deep cleansing programs in winter. They feel slippery to the touch immediately after the process, and then start to feel dry and itchy and peeling after three days. These are typical "mismatches between beauty behaviors and skin quality."

It’s an interesting observation. I’ve met many clients who spend tens of thousands of dollars a month on facial moisturizers and five-figure anti-aging essences, but they stay up until two or three o’clock every day, making milk tea and barbecue. In this case, no matter how good the beauty treatment is, it’s useless. I once had a customer who worked in an e-commerce business. She had been suffering from chloasma on her face for more than a year. She had tried all kinds of whitening programs, but it just couldn't go away. Later, I persuaded her to change her daily routine and go for a half-hour walk three days a week. She replaced the milk tea with warm water. She tried half-heartedly for three months without changing skin care products or doing any new projects. The spots were half lightened and her skin tone was two shades brighter. After all, the skin is the mirror of the body. If there is an internal health problem, no matter how much you apply it externally, it will be useless.

Many people will ask, “Does cosmetic surgery count as hurting the skin? ”In fact, it depends on the situation. For example, photorejuvenation with appropriate parameters can have a clear improvement effect on inflammation, acne, and redness. It is a treatment project in itself. ； If, in pursuit of immediate results, you apply it once every half a month, or if you apply it with high energy that far exceeds the tolerance of your skin type, it will definitely damage the barrier. In essence, whether you are applying skin care products or doing medical beauty treatments, it is like watering and fertilizing green plants. You cannot water as much as others water. It depends on whether the flower in your hand is a drought-tolerant cactus or a moisture-loving pothos. If you water it too much, the roots will rot.

Oh, by the way, don’t think that “health first” means giving up the pursuit of beauty completely. I will also take phototherapy regularly and occasionally apply a whitening mask. The premise is that I know where my skin’s tolerance is and I will repair it after the treatment. I will not increase the frequency just to see the effect faster. After all, isn’t the original intention of us toting our faces to make ourselves look better and more comfortable? If, for the sake of temporary whiteness, tenderness, and tightness, you strain your face to the point where it becomes allergic and hot at every turn, and even hurts when the wind blows, then you are putting the cart before the horse.

In the final analysis, beauty is never a competition that requires the concentration and frequency of curling. You should spend more time observing your skin. If you are oily today, apply less cream. If the season changes and it is dry and itchy, stop using effective products. If you are red, apply cold compresses in time to soothe. Keep your health foundation stable, and beauty will come naturally. After all, there is only one face. If you have more patience with it, it will give you the feedback you want.