The difference and connection between beauty and skin health

The boundary between the two is very clear - skin health is the basic state for the skin to maintain normal physiological functions and is the prerequisite for all skin-related behaviors； Beauty is an act of beautification that is based on health and meets individualized aesthetic needs. The two are neither related nor antagonistic. They are more like a combination of "foundation and upper-level decoration." The perennial debate in the skin care circle about "whether functional skin care belongs to the category of health management or beauty" is essentially a blurred understanding of the intersection between the two.

I have been reviewing beauty products and items for nearly 6 years, and I have seen too many pitfalls when the two are confused. What impressed me the most was a post-2000 fan who came to me last year and said that in order to eliminate sun spots on her cheeks, she applied AHA once a week for three months and applied 10% niacinamide essence every day. The spots were not lightened much. When the season changed, her face became red and hot, and it was itchy even if she blew the cold wind. She went to the hospital to find out that she had severe barrier damage. The doctor said that she put the beauty need of "whitening" directly above the basic requirements of skin health, which was completely putting the cart before the horse.

In fact, many people’s criteria for judging skin health are wrong. Do they think that having no acne or redness means being healthy? Not at all. The clinical criteria for healthy skin in dermatology include, first, no pathological symptoms (no diseases such as dermatitis, acne, and rosacea), and second, normal physiological functions: the stratum corneum barrier is intact, the transepidermal water loss rate is within the normal range, the water and oil are balanced, and the immune status is stable. In human terms, if you are exposed to the sun for two hours, it will not immediately swell into a pig's head, if you switch to ordinary skin care products, it will not sting or itch, if you are oily in summer, you will not feel stuffy, and if you blow cold wind in winter, your skin will not dry out. This is called a truly healthy foundation.

The logic of beauty is completely different. Its criterion is never "whether it's normal", but "whether it looks better": if your healthy yellow and white skin wants to turn into yellow and white skin, this is your beauty needs； You don’t have wrinkles on your skin but you want your nasolabial folds to be lighter. This is also a cosmetic need. ； Even many beauty programs themselves are "break first and build later" - for example, photorejuvenation causes controllable micro-thermal damage to the dermis and then stimulates the regeneration of collagen, and fractional laser directly peels off the surface layer of skin to repair acne pits. These operations themselves will break the healthy homeostasis of the skin in a short period of time. If you have a poor foundation and the barrier has been broken, and you still do these things, it is not called beauty, it is called asking for suffering for the skin.

The two factions that have been quarreling most fiercely in the skin care industry in the past two years happen to have completely different understandings of their priorities. One group is the "health first party", most of which are dermatologists or advocates of gentle skin care. They believe that as long as the skin is healthy, it does not matter even if it is a little yellow or has a few small freckles. Any beauty behavior that may damage the skin barrier must be eliminated. ； The other group is the "efficiency is king" party. Most of them are senior beauty enthusiasts or medical artists. They think that in order to achieve better beauty effects, it is perfectly okay to occasionally sacrifice a little short-term skin condition. For example, if you are red for a few days after applying acid, as long as the follow-up repairs are in place, you can get more delicate skin, which is completely cost-effective.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with either of these views. I used to know a dermatology nurse from a tertiary hospital. She was born with healthy normal skin. She underwent low-energy photorejuvenation every month for almost three years. She is now 35 years old and has almost no fine lines on her face. She has never had any sensitivity problems. Her logic is that "healthy skin itself has a strong ability to repair itself. As long as the degree of cosmetic intervention is within the tolerance range, it will not hurt the skin at all." But I have also met a girl who underwent fractional laser treatment three times in a row to eliminate acne pits without even a month's recovery period in between. She eventually developed rosacea. She still gets redness repeatedly when the seasons change. This is a typical example of not understanding the health threshold of her own skin and over-intervention.

Talking about the connection between the two, there are actually many more intersections than many people think. You will find that for people who really keep their skin healthy, even if they don’t use any whitening and anti-aging products, their skin will be translucent and shiny, and their pores will not be enlarged. This naturally good condition is more natural than applying 10 layers of foundation. On the other hand, if your beauty practices are used correctly, they can also consolidate the health of your skin - for example, if you have large areas of post-inflammatory discoloration on your face, using a suitable whitening essence to speed up metabolism can actually reduce the residual inflammatory factors and avoid repeated inflammation of the skin. ； For example, if you use compliant Thermage, after the collagen is regenerated, the skin's ability to retain moisture will become stronger, which can actually reduce the probability of dryness and sensitivity.

Oh, yes, the last time I attended a salon in the beauty industry, a skin care product formulator who had been working for 10 years complained that many brands now deliberately confuse the two concepts, saying that their ordinary cosmetics "can treat sensitive skin" and "can eliminate acne". In fact, they are just changing the concept and have therapeutic effects. The medicines used are approved by the state. Ordinary cosmetics can only help maintain skin health at best, and have no therapeutic effect at all. Many people are deceived by this kind of marketing. They originally had skin problems and needed to see a doctor. In the end, they bought a bunch of beauty-related skin care products, and the more they were used, the worse they got.

In fact, there is really no need to distinguish the two so clearly, and there is no need to forcibly tie them together. If you just like to be comfortable without makeup, then lay a good foundation for your health first, go to bed early and get up early, and apply sunscreen and moisturizer. This is better than anything else. ； If you have an important occasion and want to become more beautiful quickly, or you just like to be whiter and have fewer wrinkles, it is absolutely fine to use some qualified functional products and do some compliant medical beauty projects as long as your skin can tolerate it. After all, if your face grows on your own body, you have to be comfortable and good-looking, and you have to occupy one of them first. If you can occupy both, that is of course the best.