Settle in friends because it’s time for Spooky Stories….. skincare edition.
With Halloween just around the corner it seems like the appropriate time to discuss some scary skincare. The internet is a fabulous, funny and (sometimes) freaky place! You have the total wealth of human knowledge at your very fingertips, and then you have people on Tiktok telling you to rub raw potato all over your face to…clean it? We still aren’t sure.
Let us take you through some skincare spookies.
While we are on Tiktok here are some terrifying ones that we do not recommend trying at home.
Spooky Skincare #1 - TikTok Skincare Trends
Getting rid of acne by; crushing aspirin or Panadol and applying it to the face, putting baking soda, the age-old toothpaste trick (WHY/HOW IS THIS STILL A THING. STOP IT PEOPLE!) and finally putting a band aid on a pimple to get rid of it…. If anything, this is just bringing up early 2000 Nelly vibes (ft Kelly Roland ofc).
But seriously, it won’t work.
Instead of a band aid try a pimple patch.
We recommend the Subi Perfect Pimple Patch. They are made of hyaluronic acid and work to draw out the infection while keeping it protected. Also worth noting, they were literally designed to get rid of pimples, so you know you are on the right track.
We love a pimple popping/blackhead squeezing video as much as the next person. In fact, probably more!
We’ve lost hours of our lives mesmerised by the intoxicating oozing of pus from the skin.
But seriously, don’t buy one of those kits and start doing it at home. You will end up with wide pores, popped blood vessels, scarring and damaged skin.
And if you are guilty of a little finger picking and popping yourself, please, please stop!!
It pretty much only works to damage, irritate, and inflame the skin and, we speak from personal experience here, the lasers which treat scars hurt – both physically and financially.
If you struggle with blackheads we recommend trying something more gentle like APLB's Blackout Cleansing Oil. It’s got pore-clearing properties and won’t dry out the skin.
Spooky Skincare #3 - Celebrity Skincare
Remember how the Kardashians were spruiking those Celebrity Slim shakes for years and claiming that’s how they achieved their perfect bodies but really it was just hundreds of thousands of dollars of body modification surgery?
Yeh, it’s kind of like that.
Now, we haven’t actually tried Kylie Skin but if it’s anything like Kylie Swim (refer to every review ever if unsure) then we may as well just reach for a large tub of toothpaste to solve all of our acne woes.
As one dermatologist said “Celebrity skincare has a glamorous look but glamour isn’t a great skincare ingredient”.
We aren’t negging on all celebrity skincare but we would highly recommend having a big look into the ingredients list and, where possible, get insight into the manufacturing process. In the meantime, if you want to start feeling like a celebrity then we recommend the Subi Holo Dream Brightening Pore Minimising Mask. It comes in a fun, holo box that shines brighter than most famous people.
Spooky Skincare #4 MLM Skincare
Ok, we have a proposition for you. How do you feel about being your own boss, six figure commissions and flexible working days? All you have to do is… Kidding.
As much as we would love to get you involved in a K-Beauty pyramid scheme, we do things above board here at STYLE STORY, unlike certain multi-level marketing skincare companies.
One such example is Rodan + Fields, who are currently facing a class action lawsuit for unfair marketing. Turns out the $150 Lash Boost eye serum they were selling needed to come with the following disclaimer “side effects may include change(s) in iris colour, eyelid drooping, itchy eyes, eye/lid discoloration, thinning and loss of eyelashes/loss of eyelash hair, eye sensitivity, eye infections, and vision impairment.”
I don’t know about you, but our eyes hurt from just reading that!
The MLM skincare industry is rife with lawsuits and stories of manipulation and bankruptcy. Our only skincare recommendation for this one is to stay away.
Spooky Skincare #5 Clean Skincare
You're terrified already, right?
While clean skincare doesn’t sound scary and certainly won’t do anything scary to your skin it’s more the marketing around it that we find insidious and slightly problematic.
In recent years there has been a huge shift in the market to avoid any ‘chemicals’ at all costs. We will often see ‘toxin free’ when shopping for skincare.
We definitely see the reasons for this shift and K-Beauty as an industry pride itself on its use of natural ingredients. Where it starts to get problematic are claims that ‘unclean’ skincare is toxic and dangerous.
Pretty much everything becomes toxic once you up the dosage enough. Which brings us on to our second point, the positioning of ‘chemicals’ as bad for the body and the skin is actually a move away from science.
By putting all the onus on the products that we use on our skin, we are taking away from genetic and hormonal factors, which can be huge driving forces behind a lot of our skin’s issues.
Having suffered from hormonal acne ourselves, we think it’s really important how the conversation around acne is positioned. Implying that someone’s acne must be a result of the products they are using isn’t helpful.
Sometimes acne does need medical intervention and there’s nothing wrong with that.
While having an awesome skincare routine will, of course, assist in your acne journey there should be no judgement on the products that people choose to use.
For those of us who suffer from eczema or psoriasis, you will know just how glorious it feels when the doctor gives you that sweet sweet chemical filled prescription to stop the condition in its tracks.
Dr Anjali Mahto sums it up best, “While ‘clean beauty’ is not bad in itself, it’s unnecessary. It creates and propagates a myth that ‘chemicals’ are bad and ‘clean’ is better or more virtuous. Even ‘clean’ products have the ability to cause sensitivity and allergy.”
At the end of the day it’s your skin journey and you need to do what’s right for you (our slogan isn’t Your Style, Your Story for nothing) but shaming people for their skin journey? That’s scary.
If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this spooky tale then we salute you. It’s probably time to take a shower and sleep off the fear. For that we recommend Jelly Ko’s Cherry Blossom Sleeping Mask.
"...seriously, don’t buy one of those kits and start doing it at home. You will end up with wide pores, popped blood vessels, scarring and damaged skin."
