Essay on beauty and skin health

The ultimate goal of beauty should be to serve the health of the skin. All beauty methods that depart from the physiological laws of the skin and sacrifice the long-term stability of the skin, no matter how amazing the short-term results are, will eventually backfire on the skin and even cause irreversible damage.

To be honest, when I was studying in the dermatology department of a tertiary hospital two years ago, I met a young girl who impressed me deeply. She was a 22-year-old e-commerce anchor. In order to make her face tighter and brighter for the camera, she applied a whitening mask every day and went to a beauty salon for exfoliation once a week. Her makeup was so thick that even her pores were invisible. She spent more on beauty every month than her rent. As a result, when I came to the doctor, my face was completely red, and even ordinary moisturizing lotion stung when I applied it. The doctor diagnosed it as severe barrier damage. It took me almost a year to slowly return to normal skin care. Can you believe it? Survey data from the Dermatology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association in 2023 shows that 72% of adult skin problems come from improper cosmetic procedures. On the contrary, the correlation with innate skin quality and age is not as high as everyone thinks.

Over the years, after working in the supply chain and dealing with formulators and dermatologists, I discovered that there have always been two completely opposing schools in the industry regarding the relationship between beauty and skin health, and no one can convince the other. One group is the "efficacy first" ingredient party. They believe that as long as the ingredients are precise enough and the concentration is high enough, they can bypass the skin's self-healing logic and get results quickly, such as high-concentration prototype vitamin C whitening, retinol anti-aging, acid peeling to improve closed lips. To put it bluntly, "strong medicine works wonders"” ； The other group is the moderate group that "barrier comes first". They advocate that all beauty treatments should be based on not damaging the stratum corneum and sebum membrane. They even think that healthy skin does not require the use of additional functional products at all. Cleansing, moisturizing and sunscreen are enough, and troubles can easily lead to problems.

Don't think that I am taking any side. In fact, both of these ideas have their own prerequisites. I know a beauty blogger with oily acne-prone skin. In his early years, his face was covered with cysts and acne. He went to the hospital and applied medicines but couldn't get rid of them completely. Later, he did his own homework and started to slowly build tolerance to low-concentration salicylic acid, combined with anti-inflammatory essence and strict sun protection. In less than half a year, most of his skin was smoothed, and it is now in stable condition. This is the correct way to start the functional school. But on the other hand, I have also seen too many girls with dry and sensitive skin who followed others' skin rejuvenation and followed the trend, tearing the originally good "face body armor" into holes. Eventually, they become red and allergic at every turn. They even have to wear two layers of masks when going out in the spring. This is because they don't understand their own skin background and directly apply other people's standard answers to themselves.

There is also the issue of medical aesthetics, which is particularly controversial now, and there are also two groups of people arguing fiercely. Some people think that medical aesthetics is a "skin care cheat" that is more effective than applying skin care products for ten years. Some people think that medical aesthetics is overdrafting the future health of the skin and will definitely ruin the face when you get old. In fact, both of these statements are too extreme. I have gone through photorejuvenation with my friend three times. She was born with red bloodshot skin and dullness. The doctor at a regular hospital adjusted the energy according to her skin condition. After three treatments, the redness was reduced by 70%, and her skin tone was two degrees brighter. As long as she wears sunscreen in the future, there will be no problems with darkening or sensitivity. But if you dare to go to a three-no beauty salon to do "seven-day peeling" or "skin peeling with bare hands", your face will be ruined sooner or later. I once treated an aunt who had a so-called "Chinese medicine peeling" in a beauty salon. In fact, she used illegal high-concentration acid to burn the cuticles. In the end, her face turned into a "hormone face", which was not completely cured after several years of treatment.

Let me tell you about my own embarrassing story. When I first entered the industry a few years ago, I followed the trend and bought a bunch of big-name essences, such as anti-aging, whitening, and repairing products. I applied them layer by layer on my face. As a result, I became depressed and silent within half a month. Later, I was scolded by a dermatologist I knew well and told me to stop all effective products. I only used Vaseline and cheap repair cream every day. After three months of maintenance, my skin was even more translucent than before when I applied a lot of expensive skin care products. To put it bluntly, the skin is a living organ. The more you apply something on it, the better it will be. It has its own metabolism. If you give it more than it can absorb, it will become a burden.

After talking so much, you can also find that beauty and skin health are not antagonistic at all. There is no need to think that applying skin care products and doing beauty treatments is "harming the skin", and there is no need to ignore it at all in pursuit of so-called "health". The most important thing is to find a rhythm that suits your skin type: it is okay to use strong medicine occasionally for healthy oily skin, but for dry skin, just do a good job of moisturizing and repairing. For medical beauty, choose a regular doctor from a regular institution, and don't believe in the myth of "one-time results". To put it bluntly, as long as your skin is healthy, a few small freckles and small pores are not a problem at all. It is much more comfortable than those "beauty faces" that look radiantly white but actually cause allergies when the seasons change. After all, when we dress ourselves up, don't we ultimately want to live a comfortable life for ourselves?