The difference between beauty and skin health

Beauty is a short-term modification/improvement action centered on "visual beautification", while skin health is the basic state of long-term stability of skin physiological functions. The two are "the icing on the cake" and "the way to settle down" and are completely different.

Don't laugh, there are really a lot of people who have done these two things the wrong way. When I was doing skin care consulting for the sixth year, I met a 24-year-old girl. In order to look good in her wedding photos, she went to a beauty salon near her home a week in advance to get a "seven-day whitening package". She exfoliated her skin frequently and introduced high-concentration prototype vitamin C every day. Her face was really bright on the day of the wedding photos. I needed to shine, and even dermabrasion was not needed for the original film. However, on the third day after the photoshoot, my face started to become red and a small rash started. I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with contact dermatitis. It took more than three months of treatment before it disappeared. Later, she told me that if I had known better, I would have better take good care of my face in the first place, which would have cost me two more hours of sex in the later stage.

You see, this is a typical example of treating the "short-term effects" of beauty as the "healthy state" of the skin. To put it bluntly, your daily application of foundation and highlighter, manicure and eyelash extensions are beauty treatments. Even medical beauty treatments such as acid rejuvenation, photorejuvenation and thermage, as long as the core appeal is to "make the skin look more in line with aesthetic standards", it essentially belongs to the category of beauty - it pursues "others look good", and the evaluation criteria are completely visual: whiteness, fewer wrinkles, fine pores, and whether the skin is comfortable or not, and whether it can respond to external stimuli normally, has nothing to do with it.

The evaluation criteria for skin health are not so “pretty” to say the least. The hard indicators used by dermatologists to judge healthy skin are actually very simple: the transepidermal water loss rate (TEWL) is within the normal range, the skin pH value is maintained at a weak acidity of 4.5-5.5, there is no spontaneous itching or tingling sensation, and there will be no redness and acne breakouts when the seasons change, skin care products are changed, or when the weather is cold or hot. Even if you are born with fair skin, a few sun spots on your face, and you can see your pores if you look closely, as long as you meet the above standards, you have healthy skin. I know several dermatologists from tertiary hospitals. They are over 40 years old and have faint nasolabial folds on their faces, as well as a few acne marks from adolescence. However, their skin will not turn red or peel after two hours of sun exposure in the summer, and it will not become tight if they turn on the air conditioner all night in the winter. This kind of durable skin is worth more than any number of "polished fake whitening products".

In fact, the entire beauty industry circle has always had different opinions on the boundary between the two. There is a group of medical aesthetic practitioners who put "efficiency first". For example, when doing anti-aging projects, they will recommend that you use higher energy. Even if there is redness and swelling for a week after the operation, the final lifting effect will be more obvious. Their logic is that "short-term barrier damage is reversible, but the beauty effect is real." This is suitable for people who are rushing to attend important occasions and are willing to take short-term risks. ； There are also conservative dermatologists from another group who firmly oppose this approach. They believe that all cosmetic procedures should not exceed the tolerance threshold of the skin. Once the homeostasis of the skin barrier is destroyed, it will take several times the time and effort to repair it, which is not worth the gain. There is no absolute right or wrong between these two views. The essence is a demand-oriented choice - if you want to produce a film in the short term, it is okay to choose the former. If you want to be comfortable in the long term, the latter is definitely more secure.

It's quite interesting to say that I have met many girls before. They read too much about the standard of "zero pores and cool white skin" through Xiaohongshu. They came to me with other people's refined pictures and asked me how to achieve it. For the so-called "good skin", they applied acid and high-concentration drugs every day. In the end, their faces became hypersensitive and turned red even in the wind. On the contrary, they even lost their most basic health. In fact, to put it bluntly, it's like raising a potted plant. Beauty is when you spray leaf brightener on the leaves and cover the flowerpot with a nice decorative shell, while skin health is the soil and roots underneath. If the roots are rotten, no matter how much leaf brightener you spray, the leaves will turn yellow in less than three days.

When I chat with clients now, I rarely recommend projects first. I usually ask first, "Do you want temporary relief, or do you want long-term comfort?" ”If you're going to be a bridesmaid next week and want to brighten your skin temporarily, it's okay to find a compliant agency for a gentle peel, but don't treat this short-term procedure as a daily routine. In daily life, you still have to put your skin health first. After all, your face is yours. Only you know whether it feels comfortable or not. You can’t live under filters and thick foundation all your life, right?