4 min read
Let's Talk
Let's Talk is a series where we invite individuals from all cultures, genders, ethnicities and backgrounds to share deep and personal topics to help us undertsnad and connect better with ourselves and each other.
Skincare is a powerful tool.
We can use it to change our skin: to smoothen, brighten, and heal. Blemishes, pigmentation, and redness can disappear. Our skin can become more resilient and it’s that process, of how skin can rebuild and support itself, that has always fascinated me in my skincare journey. One day, my skin will be bright, clear, and calm and the next, my skin will be aggravated by a host of things, usually the weather, hormones or endometriosis. Spots erupt and my cheeks are inflamed by redness and yet, every time it changes, I know that I can fall back on my trusted skincare products to gradually heal and restore my skin and that reassurance is one of the reasons I love skincare.
It has taken me a long time to not panic when my skin takes a turn. Before, in a time when I was still trying to work out the Rubik’s Cube that is the skincare world, I would throw everything at my face in hope that it would get better. I was always chasing that ‘better’. What did I think ‘better’ was? Clear skin? Free of spots? Free of hyperpigmentation? In the past, every new blemish was met with a voice in my head exclaiming, ‘once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more’ as I descended into another battle with my skin. I was always trying to get rid of the parts of my face that I thought made me ugly. Retrospectively, I know there was nothing ugly about my face, despite what popular media and outdated beauty standards perpetuated. However, at first, skincare to me was simply a means to an end, the end being ‘better’ skin.
But now, skincare is so much more than that.
Yes, skincare can improve the quality of your skin, it can help to heal redness and spots, prevent sunspots and protect from skin cancer, but it can also heal our mindset.
I’m no longer trying to get rid of parts of me in the hope that I’ll look ‘better’. Perhaps ‘better’ skin is simply skin that I feel comfortable in. Instead, I’m using skincare to support and look after my skin. Every day, I work on being kinder to my skin and myself through my skincare routine because I understand that things will fluctuate and that’s okay. This is why I appreciate the ethos of Sachi Skin, which focuses on the different states of skin. Our skin will always change but skincare will be there to help every step of the way, no matter what our skin looks like.
Now, skincare isn’t just something I use because I want to look a certain way. Removing my focus on ‘better’ skin has helped me appreciate everything else about skincare. Skincare helps my mood in the same way a good workout or uplifting song does. I can go from feeling tired and tense to feeling myself relax as soon as I start using my favourite cleanser. Cleansing my skin is quite possibly my favourite step. The sensory experience of a good cleanser is wonderful - the soft textures, the scents, the feeling of massaging the tension points in my jaw are as essential to my routine as the actives I use. Taking the time to complete my skincare routine is a reset for both my skin and my mind. I use the time to think about things - my day, my feelings, random unanswered questions (why don’t eyebrows count as facial hair?) - and that time to myself is as valuable to me as the results the products give.
When something can simultaneously help your skin but also the way you see yourself, that is a wonderful, powerful tool.
