Darlings- here it is. There are so many opinions and so much product being marketed (most of it in such a marketing-savvy way) that we are drowning in skin care advice and skin care product options that are pitched to us to sound as if they are the SOLUTONS TO EVERYTHING at every click.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I wish this overwhelming sink hole of opinions and advice was helping us, but what I actually see is alarming: lovely, hopeful skin care seekers following influencers or bloggers or popular Esty enthusiasts or pretty Instagram posts, or amazing TikTok or YouTube videos or super liked Facebook posts, or unbelievably astonishing before and after pictures, or, possibly shakiest of all, the reviews, comments and testimonials of anonymous-some-ones-out-there, proclaiming miraculous, instantaneous results from some product/technique…and we end up following a skin care regimen that does not work for us.

So much of the skin care information online is flat out wrong. I cringe when I read it. (There is also very little out there that is truly new- so much of it is old news re-packaged in a disingenuously appealing way.) There is no getting around the basic physiology of our skin, nor the chemistry of how skin care products work.

There is such an enormous wasteland of bad advice and dubious “miracle” products out there that one blog can’t possibly cover it all. However, I tried to cover some of the most asked about stuff, as well as provide info on where you can look for reliable, useful skin care info that can be trusted. So here we go…

The Old~

Slugging

The “new” TikTok slugging trend? Where you slather petroleum jelly (or other similar product) all over your face at night? So your face is as shiny as a slug? Er…petroleum jelly was invented in the 1870s and your great grandma probably put it on her face at night. This is most definitely not something new.

Your mom or grandma may have put moisturizer on their hands and feet, then put petroleum jelly all over their hands and feet, then put on socks and mittens before bed to help keep their hands and feet softer (at least temporarily). In todays’ trendy parlance…this is body slugging!

The good news…Petroleum jelly (like Aquafor and Vaseline) and its non-petroleum equivalents (like Waxelene and Un-petroleum) works as an occlusive- meaning it can hold moisture in and protect our skin from environmental drying. For dry skin types, especially in dry climates, this can be helpful. (In order to really work though, this occlusive layer needs to be applied over the top of your regular nighttime skin care…like your hydrating mist, serum, moisturizer and facial oil.)

The less good news…If you are oily, or prone to clogging or breakouts, this will probably not be a helpful practice for you. Even though petroleum jelly is technically non-comedogenic -meaning its not supposed to clog your pores- oilier and prone-to-clogging skin types typically don’t benefit from an occlusive type of product. Certain acne-like skin conditions (like perioral dermatitis) can worsen when occlusive products are used.

Even for dry skin folks though, petroleum jelly-like products are thick and goopy. Loose hairs and lint can get stuck to your face when you are “slugging” at night. This goopy-ness can get smeared all over your pillowcase. (Who wants to wake up with goop in their bangs? Or dog hairs and blanket fuzzies stuck to their cheeks?) I can see why people have sought better alternatives over the many, many, many years since its invention. But now, thanks to TikTok, petroleum jelly all over your face (renamed as “slugging” ooh la la ) is brand new again.

Interested in slugging? More tips for you here and here.

Also Old~

Face Tape

The first facelift tape on record was created in 1889. (So…also very not new on the face tape.)

First, there are lots of types of tape for our faces…so lets break it all down:

1) Tape we put on our faces at night to reduce lines and wrinkles (like frownies):

The good news…For those of us that habitually furrow our brows, purse our lips, crinkle up our foreheads or squint our eyes, even when we sleep (and this is really common!) taping those areas at night can help to keep our skin smoother by inhibiting us from unintentionally wrinkling our skin. Face tape can also help to keep our skin smooth if we smash our faces into a pillow or mattress and press wrinkles into our skin each night (side and face down sleepers, hello…).

*Pro tip: Pillows designed to keep our facial skin from wrinkling through the night can also help with this- Flawless Face Pillow, Sleep and Glow Beauty Pillow, JuvaRest Pillow and Save My Face Pillow are a few examples of pillows that can help keep our facial skin from getting pressed into wrinkles during the night.

The less good news…If you don’t smash your face into a mattress or pillow every night (maybe you sleep on your back all night, very peaceful and still) and don’t unconsciously wrinkle your skin by holding expression lines (maybe you have a very zen, relaxed face), the face tape and pillow probably won’t be able to do a lot for your skin. Also, there is a limit to how much help face tape can provide for keeping skin smoother.

2) Facelift Tape: tape that is attached to a band that fits around your head, hidden in your hair, in order to (discreetly we hope!) pull your facial skin up and back to make your face appear temporarily lifted (typically face lift tape is used for a special event). Here is an example.

The good news…When your facial skin is taped up properly, this actually can make your face look lifted (while the tape is in place only).

The less good news…Face lift tape can be a bit of a “to do” to work with. It has to fit tightly, be hidden in your hair properly, and typically your makeup goes on after the tape to ensure that the tape does not show. There is some concern that if you used face lift tape a lot, it could start to stretch out your skin a bit, as there is definitely some pulling that happens when its worn. Facelift tape can’t do anything to actually improve sagging, wrinkling skin though. Facelift tape is more like Spanx Shapewear that can make you look more svelte while you are wearing it, but does not actually make your body more taut and firm. In that same spirit, face lift tape makes your face look more lifted while its on- but can’t do anything to actually lift and firm your facial skin.

More info on facelift tape here and here.

3) Nighttime mouth taping: Taping your mouth shut at night to force yourself to breathe through your nose in order to improve your health (and your skin)…

My first experience with mouth taping was with a client years ago. She came into her appointment with her skin looking more healthy, glowing and youthful than usual. I asked her if anything had changed, and she mentioned doing breathing work with a healthcare practitioner which included using mouth tape at night. I started researching mouth taping and breath work in general. I couldn’t find any reliable info backing up mouth taping, but my research did reinforce the fact that breathing and sleeping well is essential for our best skin to come to life. I wrote a blog on breathing well for skin health, and left out the mouth taping part because I could not corroborate it.

Mouth taping is having a bit of a moment now on social media (Gwyneth Paltrow loves it!) so lets revisit what we do know about it.

The good news…Breathing through our noses is healthier for us for so many reasons (better oxygen intake, better air filtering, deeper sleep, less snoring, the list goes on and on). Better oxygen intake and better sleep is definitely in alignment with skin that looks better. Also, tape is a pretty inexpensive and a simple solution to bring about better breathing at night.

The less good news…There are really no reliable scientific studies to give us more in-depth info about nighttime mouth taping. There are probably some people who should never tape their mouths at night (like if you have sleep apnea or if its difficult to breathe through your nose). Finally, if you breathe well through your nose at night already, mouth taping probably will not do much to improve your skin.

More info on mouth taping here and here and here.

One final note on all face tape: any adhesive can potentially irritate your skin. Take notice if any face tape leaves irritation, blemishes, hyperpigmentation, or even an allergic reaction. (This is your sign that face tape is not for you.)

Old Again~

Wrinkle Patches and Silicone Patches: Wrinkle patches, also called silicone patches, are patches of silicone that are applied to bare skin like a mask to wrinkly areas to (hopefully!) make the wrinkles a bit more smooth. Depending on the type of patches being used, the patches can be left on for about 20 minutes or so like a mask, or can be left on all night for 8 hours or so as a treatment while you sleep. The patches are intended to be used regularly. (Silicone patches were introduced to the world through the medical field back in the early 1980s to help with scar healing.)

The good news…Silicone patches work as an occlusive- meaning they hold moisture in your skin, and skin that is plump with lushness will look smoother…at least for awhile. Some patches also include active ingredients that support smooth skin, which is a bonus. Silicone has been used in the medical world for decades and actually does have a positive track record with helping to reduce the appearance of scarring.

The less good news…The silicone patches used to reduce scarring are expected to work best while the skin is still healing, and are not as effective on old scars. How effective is silicone on old wrinkles, then? This is unclear. Also unclear if the patches are any better than a great skin care regimen that includes lots of anti-wrinkle, active ingredients and plentiful hydration. The benefits of the patches tend to be short lived, so need very regular upkeep.

More tips for use here and here.

The Impossible…

Products that can’t possibly perform as advertised~

I saw a YouTube video of a granny-looking lady wearing a loud outfit and louder lipstick, doing little dance moves, boogying around and merrily smoothing a tube of something the consistency of lip balm on her wrinkles. The words “Better than Botox!” flashed across the screen.

Er…not to dampen the granny boogie party, but deep wrinkles go down to the dermis, which is beneath our top layer of skin, and anything with a thick, waxy consistency (like lip balm) can’t penetrate much at all, let alone deeply- it just sits on top for the most part. In fact, without additional treatments, there is a limit to what any topical skin care product can do for deep wrinkles. Even the most efficacious products are limited.

Another video showed a woman smoothing a dropper full of some miraculous ointment on her hyperpigmentation spots- and the spots disappeared instantly!!! Wow! So amazing!!! That was some product!

Since videos like this are everywhere, let’s just spell it out- there is no product or even treatment in the world that can make wrinkles and hyperpigmentation disappear instantaneously. Full stop. Our skin does not work that way. Our skin heals over time. What we can do is set up the right environment for healing (using well formulated products with clinical levels of relevant, active ingredients and use these products consistently), receive professional treatments if needed/desired to boost the process, and then simply allow our skin time to heal and rejuvenate. When we put the right support in place our skin will begin to heal itself. (And this actually is pretty miraculous.)

Also impossible…

Instantaneously get rid of all blackheads? Ummm…..

Sure, you can try the gelatin mask/glue/sticky tape strip/suction tool/whatever DIY hack or miracle product out there (which may mildly damage your skin, do nothing, or possibly even help a little bit temporarily by just removing the uppermost, visible portion of the blackhead). But what none of these hacks will ever do is prevent the blackheads from coming back or from just continuing on unabated. They do nothing to change the daily situation that allows the blackheads to flourish in the first place. So even if your DIY mask or pore strip temporarily removes the top of your blackheads, the blackheads will just come back again.

This is why a good skin care regimen is your first line of defense. Always. We want clear, refined skin for always, people! Nothing else will do.

There is no getting around doing this:

Using a deep cleaning, non-drying cleanser every single PM (cleansing twice if you are wearing makeup) and ideally every AM as well;
Using a really good quality exfoliating product (or two) as often as needed;
Making sure your serum, moisturizer and sun protection are all non-clogging and that they all keep your skin hydrated enough to put the kibosh on any excess oil production.

*If all these things are not in place, a DIY trick or “miracle” product is not going to do any long-term fixing.

A good professional facial with extractions (as well as other beneficial pro tools like peels, professional cleansing brushes, ultrasonic exfoliating tools, etc.,) and the HydraFacial treatment are both options that can also help to remove blackheads more fully, especially when received regularly, and can be used in addition to a solid homecare routine.

If your skin is dried out and your blackheads are compacted and dried in your pores (“nailed in with a nail gun!” an esthetician friend used to proclaim when blackheads were really hardened in place and tough to get out) it may take multiple facials along with an improved home care routine to get them cleared out. Don’t lose heart, though! Its do-able! Sometimes long term, positive changes must happen in steps, but if you stick with a good skin care routine, your skin will become (and stay) more clear and refined. The end.

Science note: Blackheads are a dark color because they are oxidized (meaning they’ve been sitting there awhile, getting exposed to the air, gradually darkening). The more on top of a viable skin care routine we are, the less opportunity blackheads have to begin, become enlarged, and darken).

More tips for achieving and maintaining refined, clear skin here.

The Overstated…

Gua Sha and Jade Roller Facial Tools~

The good news: I like the Gua Sha and Jade Roller facial tools! They can feel good, like a massage, help to relax facial tension, and can help to move stagnant fluid (which may help your face to look a bit more toned temporarily if you are retaining fluid). Jade Rollers can be cooling, and Gua Sha tools can provide a bit of exfoliation, which is also nice.

However…we just can’t have nice things in the skin care world, as the marketing trolls ruin it for everyone by making all kinds of claims about these tools that are…aspirational…to say the least.

The less good news: I’ve seen claims from “get rid of wrinkles” to “sculp jawline” to “reduce sagging” to “reduce pore size”, to “increase collagen production” to “increase product penetration” to “reduce hyperpigmentation” and all these claims are a stretch and a half. (These claims mostly depend on the tools being able to stimulate collagen production, which, if you have ever used one for any length of time you would know is simply not true.)

This is what Dr Michelle Wong, chemistry PhD (aka “Lab Muffin”) has to say about these marketing claims about Jade Rollers and Gua Sha tools: “Now theoretically, increasing your circulation could possibly lead to increased collagen production, and massaging can increase circulation. But massaging has never been shown to increase collagen production in studies, so they can’t really say this will happen. It’s like saying that because fast food gives you energy and energy makes you run faster, eating lots of fast food would make you a really good athlete. There’s a theoretical mechanism, but without more solid data you can’t confidently make this sort of claim.”

One other note- if you have inflamed, rosacea prone skin, cystic acne, eczema, psoriasis, or other type of inflammation, scraping a Gua Sha tool over your face and even rolling a jade roller is probably not helpful for your skin. (Anti-inflammatory skin care products, a calming mask, and no scraping, no rolling is a much better plan.) If you have skin prone to clogging, or breakouts, or have oily skin, its not going to be helpful to do the put-oil-on-your-skin-then-scrape-with-the-Gua-Sha tool thing. You might be able to get away with it a few times, but doing this regularly will definitely increase the probability of clogged pores.

If you are looking for real enhanced product penetration, the Stem Cell Facial Treatment, the Microcurrent Facial Treatment and the HydraFacial Treatment all reliably do just that. For real. Not a marketing gimmick.

More info on jade rollers here.

LED Light Therapy is Proven and Fabulous (and also Overstated)…

The good news: LED Light Therapy works well to reduce redness, to calm breakout prone skin, to accelerate healing, is anti-inflammatory for our skin (which can be very age-preventative- especially so when used regularly) and can stimulate healthy skin cell activity. (Hurray!)

The less good news: Marketing claims however, tout “Cures acne! “Brings out an effortless, youthful glow!” “Solves stubborn skin problems!” “Allows you to regain smooth, firming, elastic and youthful skin!” All this is claiming…a lot. In my experience, LED light therapy is a great addition to a good skin care regimen and other skin care treatments, especially when received regularly. Expecting LED light therapy to heal breakouts or calm rosacea, etc., all on its own without the support of a beneficial skin care regimen and possibly other treatments, is not the strongest protocol.

More info on LED Light Therapy here and here.

The Wrong….

Big proclamations about what everybody should and should not be using on their skin!!! (Ack.)

No good news here: One scary trip through YouTube took me though an endless stream of videos, and each had someone telling me (with the complete confidence born out of profound ignorance or just a desperation to suck in viewers or sell something) what everyone should and should not be using on their skin. “Stop Using these 5 Products!” “Must Buy Skincare Products!” “The Worst Skincare Products!” “Products that Saved My Skin!” “Three Must Have Products!” “Miracle Product for Clear Glowing Skin!” “You’ve Found Your Miracle Scrub!”

Then, confusingly, many “experts” weigh in on useless tips, such as demonstrating the proper way to put on a face serum. (Pro tip: If you put your serum on your face in the prescribed order of your skin care routine and use clean hands, you are not putting it on “wrong”.)

First, it goes without saying that someone with dry, rosacea-prone skin will need different skin care products than someone with very oily skin, or hyperpigmented skin, or prematurely aged skin, or eczema-prone skin, or thickened, leathery skin, or thin, sensitive skin, or breakout prone skin…or any combination of these. There is no one product or group of skin care products that will work beautifully for everyone.

Second, there is no getting around making sure your skin care basics are covered (here). Once you’ve got that down, you don’t need some rando on YouTube (or TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or anywhere) telling you what you do and don’t need for your skin. You will be the wise and educated judge of that for your own skin, thank you very much.

The Weird…

With alarming regularity, weird things storm the skin care world, grabbing attention and making big claims before fading fast. (Bee venom! Bird poop! I wish I were joking, Fire Facials! Don’t make me go on…)

Now we have snail mucin (also known as snail slime or snail mucus or snail excretions).

The good news (I guess?)….Snail mucin contains chemical compounds that are known to be beneficial and hydrating for human skin, such as glycosaminoglycans, proteoglycans, hyaluronic acid and more. While there is lots of speculation about it doing much more (such as supporting our skin’s extracellular matrix and disabling free radicals) so far it appears as if at the very least it can be a part of a nice, hydrating moisturizer.

The less than good news…When snail mucin first came on the market, the snail “growth factors” were a big selling point. Supposedly snail growth factors present in the mucin were supposed to be similar to human growth factors (uh….?) and our own human skin could benefit from them. (You know this will not end well…). Not only is this impossible (please note that if any product marketing claims that animal-sourced-growth-factors can behave like human-growth factors, that this is not reality). So far snail mucin growth factors have been very unsuccessfully used as a treatment for after micro-needling.

Also, snails secrete the particular mucus used in skin care under duress. So no matter what the marketing says, this can’t be very nice for the snails involved.

Finally, the beneficial compounds in snail mucin are already available from other sources, and there is no evidence that the snail mucin version is extra special or more efficacious than what is already available in the skincare market.

More articles on weird things in skin care:

What not to do~

Buy your skin care products on Amazon because it’s a “good deal?” Oh, hell no….

Did you know that someone ordered a brand-new waffle maker from Amazon and it arrived with an old, burned waffle stuck in it? (This does not inspire confidence in getting “new” stuff from Amazon.)

Did you know that major, established, reputable, skin care lines (like Epicuren and SkinCeuticals and so many others) have copy-cat sellers with fraudulent, imposter products posing as the real thing that get sold through mass online distribution centers (like Amazon and eBay) and that “previously owned” products get resold through mass distribution centers as well?

Did you know that harmful skin care product ingredients that are banned in the U.S. (like mercury) can still be found in skin care products sold through Amazon and eBay?

(And when we are talking about Amazon and eBay, we need to add all the mass online sellers like walmart.com, overstock.com, jet.com, and kapulet.com, etc. because the same problems exist with all of them.)

The best place to purchase your skin care products is directly from your skin care professional (esthetician, dermatologist) or directly from the company that makes them. We don’t need the lack of care these mass, difficult-to-regulate distribution centers practice to be involved in our skin care in any way.

Believe only the ingredient list matters? (Not quite...)

The pervasive trend that only the ingredient list matters is seductively simple. (And oh, how I wish this were true!). If all we had to do was check for the presence of certain ingredients or the absence of other ingredients to know if a product would perform well or not would be a dream.

Yes, ingredients are supremely important, but the powerful equal to that is the formulation those ingredients are put in. Creating an effective skin care product (like baking a perfect, rustic, healthy loaf of bread) is chemistry. It is your skin care product’s formulation that determines if it will penetrate, if it will work compatibly with your skin, and ultimately if it can accomplish the task its supposed to do. (If a bread baker uses too little yeast, too much flour, too little water, doesn’t knead or proof the dough long enough then bakes the dough for too long at a temperature that is too high – it doesn’t matter if the flour used was hand grown and sprouted from wholegrain, heirloom seeds and milled on a bespoke, organic, Buddhist monastery farm by meditating peace monks giving blessings… you will have a dense, tough mess instead of a soft, fragrant, perfect loaf of nutritious bread. Ask me how I know…)

Yes, ingredients are important – we must have high quality, beneficial ingredients at clinical levels. Without this, skin care products will be useless from the get-go. But just as important (and this we cannot tell from the label, unfortunately) is the formulation. If the product is not created wisely with a keen understanding of cosmetic chemistry, it won’t be able to perform the way we want it to. So, YES to looking over ingredient labels, but then also YES to paying attention to what each product does and does not do for your skin, because this is where the efficacy of the product will truly show its stuff.

Subscription skin care boxes?

Where you choose a few products based on what they seem like when described online, and then also get a few “surprise” products? And a new, different box comes every month? Oof. If we were looking to sensitize our skin, we might follow a program just like the Subscription Box. Why is this a dicey prospect? Too many wild cards. Not enough thoughtful, educated, specific matches being made for your particular skin type and needs. Too many different products, changing too quickly to new, different products. Hard if not impossible to really know which product is doing what. Also, lots of different ingredients being introduced to our skin in rapid succession creates the real possibility of sensitizing our skin, and leaving us in the dark about what, if anything, our skin really liked and what, ultimately, started to subtly irritate our skin and what, at the end of the day, didn’t do anything at all. (If I were looking for confusion and more questions than answers, I’d just do a bunch of Subscription Boxes.)

One Last Not To Do~

Please do not use a “hack” or “DIY tip” to take care of a problem created by not following a solid skin care regimen each AM and PM. (Let’s bring some peace and ease into our lives and improve our skin mightily forever onward by following a good AM and PM regimen religiously. Amen.)

Now for my favorite part- what TO DO!

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You want to do some online sleuthing for solid skin care info? I hear you! Fortunately for all of us, not all paths lead to the sad, wrong, unhelpful thoughts of the profoundly misinformed or the desperate to sell you something. There truly are experienced, reputable estheticians and others who are educated and highly qualified in the science of skin care. Here is a great place to start…

The Rich Earth Blog, written by yours truly, licensed Advanced Esthetician with a decade and a half of hands-on experience, but mostly me pouring out my heart and soul and knowledge to you, in the spirit of healthy, lovely skin for life for all of us…

Rich Earth Blog

and also…

In Conclusion!

Your prescription for healthy skin for life: Tune out the noise. Let no influencer, no fad, no rumor, and no social-media-sensation-of-the-moment knock you off your game or sway you from what you know to be true.

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ~G.K. Chesterton

Blog written by Marna Herrington with Rich Earth Organic Skin Care Studio
Blog copy editing and polishing provided by Karen-Eileen Gordon (MsGordonLovesWriting@gmail.com)

This blog is not intended to take the place of in-person consultations with qualified skin care and health care practitioners. This blog is for the purpose of education and fun only.

All images and text in this blog are under the legal ownership of Rich Earth Organic Skin Care Studio or are unambiguously in the public domain. Permission is not granted for this text or these images to be copied and used out of the context of this blog, or for commercial purposes. If any part of the text is quoted in an article or other blog for educational purposes, a hyperlink to this page must be included.

These “fresh,” “new” trends? Ummm…..