Why skincare?

The initial question I encounter when I tell my friends about the decision to write this blog. The question to which I answer unthinkingly: BECAUSE I LOVE IT! Why write about skincare? Why write about the products I buy, try and test on my face, in the hope that others will read what I have to say?

For as long as I can remember, skincare has played an important role in my life. From a young age, my mother – a former beauty therapist – instilled within my sister and me the importance of good, regular skincare. As a child, this only took the form of a gentle cleansing lotion and moisturiser, but the fact remains that the concept of a skin routine was never alien to me, and importantly, my mother taught me the importance of regular skincare; taking care of my face was as important a part of my day as bathing and brushing my teeth.

As I got older and made my way through the awkward and cringeworthy years that are adolescence, my skin was fortunate enough to remain relatively unscathed by teenage hormones. Aside from the occasional breakout of spots across my forehead (not helped by the presence of a fringe!) and ever-present blackheads, my skin thankfully remained in a decent condition.

Not all my friends were as fortunate. At the age of twenty, with those teenage years behind me, my friends and I are now assessing the current condition of our skin; some of us never blighted by acne, and some still plagued with it now. For many of them, skincare seems inaccessible. Whether it is the repeated disappointment from products that simply do not do what they promise, the overly verbose jargon on packaging (a lot of it being complete nonsense), or the fact that they simply don’t know where to begin, they struggle with how to select products that work for their skin.

But why write about skin? When I would take just as much pleasure talking about makeup, and the inclusion of light-reflectives and hyaluronic acids in foundation, why am I choosing to write a blog on the topic of skincare? Because skin is universal. The desire to look in the mirror and see our natural, unmasked faces in the best condition they can be is completely universal; a desire shared by men, women, young and old. Not everyone wants to wear where makeup – and frankly finding makeup that works for you can be even more confusing – but everyone would love to be untroubled by pimples, acne, fine lines and the like.

So where does this blog come in? My hope for this blog is to create a way of bridging the gap between people – like my friends – who don’t know where to start, and the information we have at our fingertips to improve skin. Unaffiliated with any skincare brand, I am aiming to create a resource that consists of honest product reviews and the science behind skincare, stripping away the unnecessary and nonsensical, and demystifying the beauty industry.

ALEX

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