I have a new mantra for you: “I will stop scrubbing my skin until it squeaks.”

As a professional makeup artist and fellow human with skin, please, please stop this. 

Skin so clean it squeaks has been stripped of its natural layer of protective oils, sebum and y’know, moisture. If healthy skin is moisturized and supple, then, this leads me to plead while weeping, “Please stop doing this.”

Over-exfoliating; using too many acids or harsh retinol products; and scrubbing your skin until it is so “clean” it is raw are all paving stones on the road to dry, damaged skin. We’re talking tiny broken blood vessels, bruising of delicate eye tissue, and upset skin that ages prematurely. The daily breakdown and destruction of your skin’s natural barrier makes your face more prone to surface damage. This is the kind of damage that creates unwanted texture, redness, and deeper damage that contributes to wrinkles, collagen breakdown, and all-around angry skin. We must STOP THE SQUEAK.

Despite the unfair rap that oily skin can get, your skin produces oil as a protective barrier that helps keep your skin stay supple and moisturized all the way down to a cellular level. Moisturizing is your skin’s best defense from living, loving (and the horrors we put our skin through while we enjoy  said, living, loving.) I talk more about the cellular barrier and necessary hydration in this piece about how to throw yourself a ‘Moisturizing Intervention,’ but let’s get honest and serious about that deep need to deep clean. 

The real goal: to moisturize and cleanse your skin clean without stripping your body of its best and first defense: the protective skin barrier. So let’s talk a little about the ‘skin science.’ The oil and sebum our skin produces is not a mistake of nature or just here to make you buy endless oil absorbing sheets. This layer is your largest organ’s natural armor against the UV rays of radiation, the toxins of our less-than-perfect diets, and the pollutants from our environment. Sure, these oils build up; for some of us producing a dreaded oil slick before lunch, but there are ways to work with your skin. Let’s give up the game of working against it.

I would also bet that if you’re in this article (and you don’t like it,) that you are also using something harsh to remove your makeup. As your sister in skin, hear me when I say: There’s a better way!  Choose a makeup remover and cleanser that strips your makeup, not your skin, and say it with me now, “STOP THE SQUEAK.”

If this reads like I’m pleading, that’s because I very much am. Loves, it is time for a new affirmation! 

Your sis in skin,

Kat D.