4 Scary Skincare Trends to Avoid

Tips from an aesthetician on bad habits to ghost for good 👻

Hello, Gorgeous!

Last night I visited some new friends. As we wandered around their neighborhood, we happened upon what can only be described as a visual love letter to Halloween.

Boy, are they going to be sad tomorrow.

I guess you don’t have to worry about monsters under the bed when they’re all hanging out on your front porch. Oh, and photo credit: Rachel Weingarten

Meanwhile, with all the talk about things that haunt and scare us, Halloween is the perfect time to ghost your most dubious skincare habits.

Nichelle Temple, Aesthetician and Founder of Inderma Studio in NYC shared four things to stop doing to your face.

• At-home dermaplaning. Temple said this DIY skin routine can cause more harm than good without professional guidance. “Attempting this at home without being trained on the technique, or using improper tools, can lead to irritation, cuts, infection, and uneven hair removal. It can cause damage to the skin’s barrier, leading to breakouts and even scarring.”

• Over exfoliating. This one is scarier than Donald Trump’s spray tan. Temple said “The skin barrier is crucial for keeping moisture in and irritants out,” and pretty much “our line of defense against the pollutants in the world.” When you over-exfoliate, you disrupt that barrier which she explained leads to redness, sensitivity, and an increase in oil production as the skin attempts to re-balance itself. And it can become a vicious cycle. You may reach for an exfoliant hoping to fix a sketchy skin situation and then scrape off the top layer, irritate your skin which then produces more oil and creates another incoming breakout. And one more reason to cut down on aggressive exfoliation. “Too much exfoliation weakens the skin’s protective barrier function making it more susceptible to dehydration.”

• Picking at your skin. Temple has some excellent advice here. “Please just take an arm’s length step away from the mirror. Can you see any blackheads? No? Neither can anyone else.” She said by picking at your skin you might also be pushing debris deeper into the pores since dirty hands can introduce bacteria to the skin. But, wait! There’s more. “Applying too much pressure can increase inflammation, cause hyper-pigmentation, or even scar the skin tissue.” This can all take months to correct. Instead, Temple recommends pimple patches. The Inkey List Hydrocolloid Invisible Pimple Patches are her go-to.

  Need a bit more help with your skin? Temple says to use a bit of BHA on the congested pores, schedule a HydraFacial, or find a spot treatment that works for you instead of picking. Be kind and gentle to yourself.

• Skip the majority of TikTok skincare trends. Temple said “Many of the trends we see are not backed by science or an understanding of the skin.” You end up buying and using too many products you don’t need. That said, she’s a fan of the Skin Cycling Trend by Dr. Whitney Bowe. 

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  A quick primer on Skin Cycling:

  With Skin Cycling you break up your skincare routine into a four night cycle.

• Night one is exfoliation

• Night two is retinoid

• Nights three and four are recovery nights.

And on it goes repeating the above routine. We’ll discuss in greater depth in a future post.

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So are you guilty of any of these super scary worst skin habits? Shall we discuss in the comments?

Rachel, Your beauty concierge 💋