A client's comment about her mom's old skincare routine got me thinking

She said her mom just used cold cream and a washcloth for 40 years and her skin was great. It made me remember when I started 15 years ago, we pushed so many steps and products. Now I see a shift back to simpler, gentler care. How do you balance modern treatments with that kind of basic, effective upkeep for your clients?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy_wilson2mo ago

It's true, we built a whole industry on making people feel like they needed ten different bottles. Maybe the real skill now is knowing when to add a modern active ingredient and when to just leave skin alone with a good cleanser. That cold cream worked because it was consistent and gentle, not because it was magic. Our job might be to find that one modern product that actually fixes a specific problem, instead of layering six things that just irritate. Stripping everything back to basics shows you what the skin actually needs, if anything.

betht3216d ago

Honestly I feel like we're giving this whole cold cream thing way too much credit. Like @jessereed said, simpler routines work great for some people but I've also met plenty of clients who looked terrible after 40 years of cold cream because it wasn't actually cleansing properly. Maybe her mom was just lucky with genetics or maybe she had a really good water supply who knows. I'm not convinced going back to basics is always the answer when half the time the basics people remember aren't even that effective. It's just one anecdote and I wouldn't build a whole philosophy around it.

jessereed2mo ago

Doesn't it make you wonder if we overcomplicate things? My own routine got way simpler a few years back and my skin is better for it. Sometimes the old ways just work.