I would call myself a pretty chill person. There are very few things that get me all riled up, but more recently I've come across a lot of misinformation on the internet... and wow that makes me so so mad.
First off, don't get me wrong. I'm totally here for social media. Yes it can be a bit of a curse sometimes, but I have built a lot of my business off the back of it and I can only say that I am truly grateful that I'm alive in a time where I can broadcast my skincare thoughts for the world to see without having to pay for an advert in a local newspaper (which never gets seen, let alone read!).
However, like I said before, it can be a curse sometimes...
Now I don't want this post to be super long-winded with me just ranting about all that is wrong with social media, so I will keep this quick and hopefully short!
I get so frustrated when people say to me that you shouldn't apply SPF or certain products because they've seen something on TikTok... please excuse me whilst I go and bang my head into a wall.
So, two things here that I need to address...
1 - WE ARE NOT WALKING SPONGES
We do not 'absorb' everything that goes onto our skin. Imagine how ridiculous and dangerous that would be. Everything that we touch just gets slowly sucked up into our skin so that if we sat in a bath long enough we would pretty much just melt into the bath water because we would absorb it all.
Okay, sorry I know it's a bit over the top example but I'm sure you get my drift.
Our skin is designed to keep things OUT. It's our outer layer protecting our organs and skeleton. It's also pretty waterproof too. If we could absorb products and ingredients that easily, why would we need micro needling, injectables and delivery systems? Why would we pay so much money to patent products and molecules to get them 'into' the skin. It's super hard and I spend my life trying to push good ingredients into the skin and repairing damaged skin barriers that keep the bad things out.
So no, we don't just 'absorb' products. It's really hard to get ingredients into the skin, trust me, brands are not going to spend thousands and thousands on patented delivery systems to get ingredients into the skin that shouldn't be there (especially SPF).
Obviously I'm talking about skincare products here BTW, I'm not saying if you decide to massage battery acid onto the skin it won't 'soak in'. Please don't try that!
2 - JUST BECAUSE IT'S ON SOCIAL MEDIA, DOESN'T MEAN IT'S TRUE!
I could just go on Canva right now and create a post with a load of fake stats and studies or perhaps a stock image of a person doing a facial with a quote underneath and a fake name. We need to be careful what we are reading and where we get our information about skincare.
The skincare industry is heavily regulated and I have to jump through hoop after hoop to get my products on my shelves. Always be conscious about taking skincare advice from social media. Don't try to needle a concoction of acids and retinols into your skin at home for example because somebody said it cured their acne. It didn't and it won't.
I get my legal advice from a solicitor, financial advice from my accountant and so on...
I will be doing more of these 'skincare myth' posts just to help put people's minds at ease when it comes to confusion in the skincare industry. What facts/myths have you heard that you're unsure about?
I hope you've found this useful, if so, why not share it with a friend.
Thank you so much for reading,
Emmaline x