Two words: Extremely important. But is just doing your skincare routine enough to have dewy, glassy, even, smooth, glazed donut skin? Sadly no.
Skin health is such a big part of our lives – it affects our appearances, confidence levels and self-esteem, which may have a flow-on effect to other parts of our personal and professional lives. In fact, the skin is the largest organ we have.
Like everything else in life, a skincare routine cannot sit in a vacuum. You may have seen ads for eye-catching, “life-promising” skincare products, but cannot seem to get rid of certain skin concerns. When you travel, you ask a friend to recommend a popular product from that country but alas’ it doesn’t work for your skin after you excitedly bring it home. Or, sometimes a product works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Skincare, why add such confusion to our lives!
We’re here to share a few important things that you should consider in the context of your skincare routine to achieve the best skin outcomes.
Three Cumulative Factors That Matter
Extrinsic and intrinsic factors interact to result in different skin responses and outcomes to skincare products:
- Biological factors
Your age, gender and genetics may play an important role in your skin aging process. According to scientific studies, hand male skin has a thicker dermis than females but has a thinner hypodermis – suggesting the influence of gender-related hormones. Ethnic skin has thicker and structurally more compact dermis, and higher skin melanin content, resulting in earlier pigmented spots and delayed appearance of wrinkles. Collagen and skin elasticity also decreases with age.
- Environmental factors:
External factors – the sun, climate and pollution – play an important part to your skin process. Sunlight comprises different wavelengths (UVA, UVB, UVC, visible light and blue light) that penetrate the skin at various levels. Seasonal variations also impact on skin appearance and texture. And sadly, urban air pollution in a number of countries is a major contributor to skin stress and skin barrier dysfunctions.
- Lifestyle:
How Should I Personalise My Skincare Routine Based On Those Cumulative Factors?
The skincare routine that you choose to go with will depend on all the factors above.
Start with thinking through all what your existing skin concerns are when purchasing your first bundle of skincare. For example, do you have dark sun spots? Do you have fine lines and wrinkles? Do you have acne or uneven skin tone?
In addition to thinking about what your current skin concerns are, we also like the idea of pre-empting future skin concerns. Because prevention is way better than fixing a problem.
This will involve thinking about the continent that you live in the most – if you’re in Australia like we are, UV rays are one of the highest in the world, and sun repair skincare products will be more important. If you live in Southeast Asia, close to the equator, you may sweat more resulting in future clogged pores, meaning that you might want to consider skincare products that unclog those pesky pores.
Most importantly, certain skincare actives work better from some ethnicities than others at specific ages. For example, younger Asian or darker skin tone girlies may wish to focus on dark spot treating products earlier on than Caucasians, whilst Caucasian girlies may wish to focus on fine lines treatments earlier on.
As you change careers (e.g., move from an office job to an offsite role) or move countries, you should also consider whether your skincare routine should evolve with the rest of your life. What works at one stage of your life may not work during another stage.
Remember – in spite of the above, always start by experimenting and patch testing new products with lower frequency.
However, one thing that remains consistent, regardless of where you live or your lifestyle or genetics, is that you should always wear sunscreen if you are outdoors or in rooms that have natural light. We suggest, for best outcomes, to wear SPF50, water-resistant sunscreen that provide broad-spectrum protection (against UVA and UVB rays). With the recent influx of ‘skinscreens’, you may want to consider the above factors when choosing amongst those types of sunscreens.
Finally, in case of prolonged discomfort or when in doubt of unusual shapes or colours on your skin, always seek help from a dermatologist.
