How To Become A Skin Detective

I know I start a lot of posts like this, but honestly, the number of new skincare trends popping up every single day is wild!

Every time I open social media there's another miracle ingredient that's supposedly going to change my skin forever. If I have this problem, then apparently all I need is that ingredient to fix it. Cue eye roll.

I've been saying exactly the same thing for more than twenty years and I'm about to say it again because, despite everything that's changed in the beauty industry, this hasn't.

There isn't one magic ingredient that's going to fix your skin overnight.

It's not celery juice, salicylic acid, salmon sperm and it isn't peptides, exosomes or whatever the latest trend happens to be by the time you're reading this. There isn't one special ingredient that works for everybody because skin simply doesn't work like that.

More often than not, healthy skin comes from lots of different things working together. In exactly the same way, skin problems rarely have one single cause. They're usually the result of several factors gradually building up over time... unless you've recently started using face wipes, an apricot scrub, a cleansing brush or a silicone makeup primer. If it's one of those four, I'd probably start there!

Joking aside though, think about how much your skin changes during stressful periods. Add a few nights of poor sleep, throw in some hormonal fluctuations, a change in weather, perhaps a holiday, a busy few weeks at work or a diet that's been all over the place, and suddenly your skin is behaving completely differently.

Our skin is far more intelligent and far more complicated than we often give it credit for. It's constantly responding to what's happening both inside our bodies and in the world around us, which means it rarely changes without a reason. That's exactly the reason why I created the Tsui Life Pyramid.

After years of sitting with clients and talking through their skin concerns, I realised I was asking the same questions over and over again. How have you been sleeping? Are you particularly stressed at the moment? Have your hormones changed? What's your diet been like recently? Have you introduced anything new into your routine?

It started to become obvious to me that skin concerns almost never came down to one thing. They were usually the result of several different factors overlapping together. That's why I love the Pyramid as it is is simply my way of helping people see that bigger picture.

You'll probably notice that skincare isn't sitting at the bottom of the pyramid either. That isn't because it isn't important. Of course I believe skincare makes an impact on the skin. It's there because skincare works alongside everything else. A great routine can support your skin yes, but it can't just magically replace months of bad sleep or remove the effects of chronic stress.

Something else I've learnt over the years is that we're all so different. I have clients who could happily eat Smarties for breakfast every morning and never see a single spot. Others only have to walk past a packet of Haribo and they're convinced they've got a breakout by lunchtime. The same applies to stress, hormones and even the weather. Some people's skin is incredibly sensitive to one thing, while somebody else can barely notice it.

That's why I don't want you buying products simply because someone on TikTok says they're life changing. They might genuinely have transformed their skin, but that doesn't automatically mean they're right for yours.

One of the reasons skin can be so confusing is because these factors rarely stay in their own little lanes. They influence one another all the time. Poor sleep can make us feel more stressed. Stress can affect our food choices. Hormonal changes can alter our skin barrier. Then before long, it becomes difficult to work out where it all started because everything is feeding into everything else.

This is why I'd love you to become your own skin investigator. The next time your skin changes, I'd love you to resist the urge to immediately Google, "What's the best serum for..." Instead, take a step back and look at the pyramid. Ask yourself what's been happening in your life recently. Have you been sleeping well? Have work or family life been particularly stressful? Are your hormones changing? Have you introduced a new product? Has the weather suddenly turned colder?

When you start asking yourself those questions, you begin to notice patterns. Those patterns help you understand your skin, and once you understand your skin, you're in a much better position to know what it actually needs.

One of the nicest side effects of thinking this way is that social media doesn't have the same impact on you. You can watch somebody raving about the latest miracle ingredient and instead of wondering whether you need to buy it immediately, you'll probably find yourself thinking, "That sounds great... but my skin doesn't actually need that right now." It's rather liberating!

Everything I write, whether it's here on the blog or over on socials comes back to the same thing. I don't want to add to the constant noise for you. I want to help you understand your skin well enough that you can filter the noise out for yourself.

So the next time your skin decides to throw a little hissy fit, take a breath before you start buying products. Have a look at the Tsui Life Pyramid, think about what's been happening in your life recently and see if your skin might be trying to tell you something. Sometimes it really does need a new serum but sometimes, it might just want a few early nights, a little less stress or a better routine.

If you would still like some extra help though, why not book an online consultation with me here or fill out my skin check-in form here and we can create a new plan just for you.

Either way, I hope these blogs help you feel more confident in understanding your own skin.

Thank you so much for reading,

Emmaline