Do you, Tiffany, promise to love, honor and cherish Brand X, until something better comes along?
Yes, indeed, ladies and germs, we have a problem. The one door closes and another one opens leitmotif of product relationships that has created a 70% skincare dissatisfaction rate with Brand X…and Y…and Z…and so on.
A friend notes her descriptors of romantic partners resembles brand research comparisons of late, which inspired the Dork to take pen in hand.
She gave up on the dog metaphors some time ago: “he was like a Great Dane” or, my favorite, “a Shih-tzu,” in favor of blind test marketing identifiers like Brand X in order to keep in check her own bias for animals.
The skin is forever swooning, it seems, from one ill considered skincare product affair to another. The visible outcome has been an unhappy one for 70%. Chronic flare-ups are now the norm and many age conscious consumers are using upwards of a dozen products per day with a low average (repeat: low) of six.
These are skin orgies, not relationships or even brief affairs. However, the consumer (somehow this does not capture the essence) will tend to fault a single product or Brand Y, etc., as the root cause of her distraught skin.
For many the skincare affair to address a visible decline in youthful charms tends to focus on Brand X for a certain period, then jump to Brand Y resulting in a sudden flare up or whiteheads, or excessive pinking, oily breakouts, or very dry and often itchy skin – anything can happen in other words. Worse, the problem seems to have a life of its own.
Sometimes the leap is not so far – picking another product to add from the Brand X catalog for example.
Those who find themselves in a constant battle with unstable skin are often inclined to add a new product to the affair which seems to help for a short period (like a week) and then suddenly, all hell breaks loose. Or, more commonly, the skin just looks worse after a brief twilight and the vicious spiral downward goes on.
There is a pattern underneath all this, deeper than the swapping out or adding to of topical products. The transition.
The difficulty in accepting the idea of transition is that it feels counter intuitive. It doesn’t feel like a choice, let alone the correct choice. The notion to leave things alone when the house is on fire makes little sense. But that is because the skin is not a house on fire, it is the next most complex organ you have (evolved from the brain) and it has a singular function: protect what’s underneath it.
Let us for a moment assume you have been a faithful consumer of Brand X for several months. As things go on, what started as a brightening and other visible improvements day by day deteriorates. You remain loyal, but visibly the situation calls for a change.
By whatever means you introduce Brand Y and within a few days the change is remarkable, or just very positive. Then as quickly the visible situation goes way wrong.
Key to this whipsaw effect is the skin dynamics under stress. Brand X has slowly or rapidly weakened skin defenses. What the skin cannot shed, or break down into waste product fast enough, it adapts to and makes it part of its metabolism – it does so as a self-sacrifice to save the internal organs.
This sounds strange but it is a way of neutralizing a toxic overload. The skin does not regard those expensive ingredients in Brand X as nutrition – far from it. The continued application is a burden and a signal that the body, the internal organs, could come under assault. And so, the skin sacrifices itself.
When Brand Y is introduced in the midst of this defense cascade the skin receptors not so far affected will welcome the change but much more quickly will reverse into even greater overall instability. Anyone who has overdone it with skincare products has seen these unexplained reactions. Now you know.
So what to do. Transition. This simply means you leave your skin alone, apply nothing but the mildest cleanser (to understand what a mild cleanser really is see REFERENCE TOPICS: CLEANSERS at 302Skincare.com) for a week. That means no makeup, too
Usually what will occur is that the skin will go through product addiction withdrawal. This means even more instability and craziness. Those who have addicted themselves to exfoliating acids will experience the most difficult withdrawal – sometimes experiencing skin instability for a month or longer. Typical withdrawal from a non-acid regimen is under ten days.
Most important: do NOT introduce cortisone creams to stop the inflammation. This move will backfire badly. Wash only, once a day. Nothing else.
Once the skin has reached some sort of stability, visibly not on fire, introduce REVIVE as your cleanser/moisturizer. This will assist you in the transition. It will help to bring your skin to a normal baseline functioning. You are not going to look younger, but you won’t be a train wreck.
At the point of stability – where the devil invites you back to Makeup Purgatory – be aware that your choice in makeup is a choice that ensures some level of instability. Avoid creamy makeup, avoid makeup with vitamins and magic things. Powders are best. Go to 302Skincare.com/GUIDANCE for help in sorting through bad actors.
Transition back to a normal baseline with REVIVE allows for the introduction of Brand Y without also risking unstoppable instability.
At this juncture you want to consider the totality of what goes on your skin so you do not fall right back into the trap.
Get guidance. The Dork recommends skincare guidance that is not a checklist made up by a marketing department. An excellent venue is the PERSONAL GUIDANCE (free) that you can find at 302skincare.com.
