January 01, 2020 at 02:00AM by CWC I only buy Vaseline when my skin looks like it’s been through the shredder, and that’s how I started slugging. After a no good, very bad cold, my nose and mouth were dry and chapped to tatters, but my go-to lip balm had been contaminated with sick-kid germs, so I’d tossed it. Left only with a tub of petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline), I started Googling how it could help my cause and wound up on a Reddit thread all about “slugging.” Slugging is a K-beauty practice that simply means layering on the (notoriously thick) moisturizer overtop your entire skin-care routine. Vaseline has been around for 100 (I repeat: 100!) years, so while “slugging” itself is a new-ish concept, for all intents and purposes, people been doing this for years—even dermatologists. “I’m obsessed with using Vaseline as a facial moisturizer,” says board certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD. While Dr. Gohara doesn’t slug (or apply it quite thickly all over the skin), she does apply it every day. “I use it morning and night, but I don’t slug. I just use small amounts to repair my skin barrier. In small amounts, it rejuvenates and hydrates the skin to help it glow.” Now the fine print: If you have dry skin, slugging is great because it creates an occlusive (locked-tight) barrier that traps other skin-care ingredients within the skin. Using it in large amounts (as with any skin-care ingredient), however, isn’t advisable. Research from the Journal of
Tag: Facials
The new class of lip glosses are just as hydrating as your go-to lip balm
December 31, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC We’re thankfully living during a time when most-every product in our makeup bags is skin-friendly. We have skin care-foundation hybrids, lipstick with skin-boosting ingredients, lip-to-cheek palettes spiked with serum-worthy ingredients, and at last, a hydrating lip oil gloss that’s packed with good-for-skin ingredients, while giving lips a shellac of pigment. “Lip oils tend to be more nourishing than traditional lip glosses since skin-care ingredients are in the formula versus traditional glosses where shine is the main goal,” says Jeannie Vincent, a Boston-based makeup artist. “These new options also tend to be less sticky, which is a nice alternative, since regular lip gloss has a pretty gluey reputation.” She points to the new-ish Kosas Wet Lip Oil Gloss, which has hyaluronic acid that works to “draw hydration back into the skin” and the Tower 28 Lip Gloss, which uses “various oils to moisturize like apricot, castor, raspberry, and avocado.” That said, if you go with a colorless option, she recommends topping your gloss with a waxy balm to seal in moisture because “an oil alone generally isn’t enough for the lips—you might lick it off or it will disappear after a while.” Her fave? Drugstore staple Moroccan Magic Rose Lip Salve ($4). As someone who ditched lip gloss after middle school, I’m a born-again shine fan, because these lip glosses douse my lips in hydration that is much needed this time of year. Keeps scrolling for the ones to grab next. Kosas Wet Lip
One of the best ingredients for dry skin is found in, um, your pee
December 30, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC As a beauty editor, I frequently find myself having to tell people: “Please, don’t put that on your skin.” Case in point? Kombucha. But one freaky thing that actually might be worth slathering all over, particularly during the colder months of the year? Urea, which is a nitrogen-rich compound that’s naturally excreted through urine, folks. Before you freak out (or worse pee in a cup for an au naturel skin remedy), it’s important to note that while urea is excreted when you go number one, the stuff that’s used in cosmetics to help with dry skin and keratosis pilaris (aka chicken bumps) is synthetic and manufactured in a lab. I repeat: It’s not like someone is actually extracting it out of the toilet (and neither should you!). The best way to describe urea is that it’s a moisturizer and a chemical exfoliant wrapped up into one. “Urea is a great winter ingredient,” says board-certified dermatologist Dhaval Bhanusali, MD. “It’s a moisturizing humectant, which helps keep skin hydrated, but also a keratolytic, which means it can get rid of dry skin (particularly thicker buildups), and is really good for softening the skin in general.” And there’s science to back it all up: One study discovered that urea can help with the permeability of other topical ingredients (aka: it can help make the serums that you use alongside it more effective), and research has also found that it can help with conditions like dermatitis, excessive dryness,
Derms say “moisturizer layering” is the fastest way to hydrate skin that’s dry all the time
December 27, 2019 at 09:32PM by CWC Using a moisturizer is the most important step in any dry skin routine. It delivers hydration, seals important natural oils into the skin, and strengthens the barrier so that it can better defend itself from the (harsh! cold!) environment. But every once in a while, particularly when the weather gets extra cold and dry, your regular cream just won’t cut it on its own. In those cases, says board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, you’re going to want to double down. “Just like you think about layering your clothes, you’re going to want to think about layering your moisturizer,” she says. To start, you’re going to want to look for products that have wide-ranging ingredients, like squalane, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, and ceramides that can benefit skin in different, yet complementary ways. If you’re finding skin to be particularly dry, make certain that whatever moisturizer you’re reaching for is a heavy cream versus a lighter lotion. To enhance the moisture in your skin even more, derms suggest “moisturizer layering” aka using a moisturizing ingredient in every skin-care step you complete. Start with a serum, then slather on a moisturizer, and finish with a facial oil as the final step in your routine. Topping everything off with an occlusive oil helps to seal all of that hydration in, and prevents any H2O from evaporating back into the environment. While in most cases, using too many products on your skin may not be the best idea, in the
The 3-part skin-care equation that will make stressed-out skin a thing of the past
December 27, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC Stress. It’s happening all the time to our skin whether we like it or not. Internally, we’re dealing with mountains of modern-day mayhem that sends stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol soaring. Externally, we’re confronted with environmental aggressors such as UV exposure and pollution that can take a toll on our complexions. And when you add all of this up, you’re often left with breakouts, redness, and an overall compromised skin barrier. When you’re stressed internally, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode. “It goes back to when human beings were living in prehistoric times,” says Dennis Gross, MD, board-certified dermatologist and founder of Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare, a brand that just released a trio of skin-care products formulated for stressed-out complexions. “It wasn’t about anything more than survival, so when faced with animals like a saber-toothed tiger, they’d react with the fight-or-flight response. It’s the same in the modern day. When you get an email from your boss, you get increased elevations of adrenaline and cortisol.” With these two stress hormones pumping throughout your body, certain physiological things happen. “You have to ration your blood flow, so you’d have to send more blood to your heart so it can pump faster, more blood to your lungs so that they can expand, and more blood to your brain so you can make split-second decisions,” says Dr. Gross. Because these reactions are happening to keep your vital organs operating at their optimal function, your
The only thing better than these pigmentation-correcting serums is Fraxel
December 27, 2019 at 02:30AM by CWC Hyperpigmentation can come from any number of things: acne, rashes, bug bites—you name it. If you’re willing to drop a few thousand dollars on Fraxel Skin Resurfacing Treatment, you can treat hyperpigmentation at your dermatologist’s office. But if you’re just not ready for that kind of investment, a few hyperpigmentation serums are the next best thing. “Pigment-fighting serums block abnormal pigment production or enhance cell turnover to shed pigment,” says dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD. “Ingredients like vitamin C, Kojic acid, arbutin, and licorice root extract all work in the same pathway of pigment production. Alpha hydroxy acids and ingredients like retinol enhance cell turnover.” Below, Dr. Zeichner offers up his go-to hyperpigmentation serums. Keep this one timing note in mind, though: “I usually recommend antioxidants and other pigment blocking ingredients in the morning and products that enhance cell turnover in the evening before bed,” he says. Make sure you’re applying your ingredients-of-choice at a suitable time. The 3 hyperpigmentation serums to add to your beauty shelf, stat Photo: Ghost Democracy 1. GHOST DEMOCRACY LIGHTBULB VITAMIN C SERUM, $34 “Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that interferes with excess production,” says Dr. Zeichner. “It also calms inflammation in the skin to help right now and even skin tone.” Photo: Target 2. AVEENO POSITIVELY RADIANT MAXGLOW INFUSION DROPS SERUM, $18 “Soy extract brightens excess pigmentation and even skin tone,” says Dr. Zeichner. And the best news of all? You can buy this pick at the
I’m a dermatologist and this is exactly how many steps should be in your skin-care routine
December 26, 2019 at 11:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDP4SIOAIeA] Looking at the bottle-heavy shelfies that dominate Instagram, it’s easy to believe that, when it comes to skin care, more is more. But according to board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, that’s not necessarily true. In fact, all you need for an effective facial regimen is six steps—three in the morning and three at night—which means you’re about to get a whole lot of space cleared up on those bathroom shelves. Derms will tell you that using too many product at once can actually compromise your skin barrier, and ultimately lead to issues like dryness and acne. So in order to keep skin healthy, you really want to make sure you’re slathering on the right products, and nothing more. The best way to do this, says Dr. Gohara, is to think of your routine as being “protective” in the morning and “restorative” at night, and choosing products that will help achieve those goals. First things first, you’re going to want to start with a cleanser in both the a.m. and in the p.m. to clear away any grease and grime from your skin. In the morning, you’ll want to apply products that will stave off environmental damage from things like pollution and UV rays, so antioxidants and SPF are key. At night, it’s all about rebuilding and nourishing your skin barrier, which means you should reach for ingredients that stimulate collagen and contain skin-similar lipids to help support the barrier. To find out which
This blow dryer is the best thing I bought this year, and it has rendered my straightening iron useless
December 26, 2019 at 04:02PM by CWC Let’s get this out of the way right here at the beginning: I know how absurd it is to spend $400 on a blow dryer. Which is why for two years, I resisted the urge to try the Dyson Supersonic, rolling my eyes at the people who told me it changed their lives thinking, “It’s a blow dryer—how great can it really be?” Welp, I’m here to (reluctantly) tell you: It really is that great, and worth the $400 price tag. I tried the Dyson Supersonic ($400) for the first time this year at the behest of famed celebrity hairstylist Jon Reyman, who (like so many other people) told me the dryer would change my life. Turns out, he was right. The dryer, equipped with its new wide-tooth comb attachment, is honestly the best thing I’ve ever done for my hair. Photo: Amazon Shop Now: Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer The Dyson Supersonic has become a sort of unicorn in the beauty world—even if you haven’t tried one for yourself, you’ve likely heard someone bragging about how magical it is. When it came out in 2016, its technology was touted as above and beyond anything the haircare world had ever seen before, and it wasn’t an exaggeration. There are a number of features that set the Dyson apart from every other dryer on the market: The motor is teeny-tiny, and located in the handle of the dryer to help you avoid mid-styling shoulder soreness; it’s
Ready your cart: These are the absolute best beauty launches of 2019
December 25, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC In June 2019, the global beauty market was valued at $532 billion dollars—and it’s growing faster than ever. That means that this year, there were a lot of new launches worth checking out, from new-to-market brands to innovative products that have the power to change your life—or at the very least, change your skin and hair. Over the course of the last 12 months, Well+Good’s beauty team has tested hundreds (possibly thousands—I lost count somewhere around July) of these new launches. In addition to making our desks very messy, this gave us a chance to determine, for sure, what the best of the best have been. Below, our picks from 2019 that you’ll be using in 2020 and beyond. Hair: Garnier Fructis Hydrating Treat with Aloe Extracts, $6 Aloe is stacked with 75 actives, including antioxidants like vitamin A and vitamin E, and will leave hair clean, strong, and silky. It’s also ultra-moisturizing, which means hair won’t suffer during even the coldest, driest, most blowdryer-friendly times of the year thanks to this product line. Photo: Garnier Pantene Pro-V Intense Rescue Shots, $5 These hair booster serum shots will rehab dry, drab strands in a minute flat, leaving them looking shiny. Slather them through strands before hopping in the shower, then rinse them out and watch dryness become a problem of the past. Photo: Pantene Tresemmé Colour ShinePlex Sulphate Free Mask, $7 If you’re spending big bucks on a dye job, you want it to
50 million dead cells give you dull skin—here’s what you need to do to make it shine
December 25, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC Lately my skin looks like it was forced to sit through a screening of The Irishman. It’s tired, dull, and just generally lacks that glow that normal alive people seem to have. Dull skin is “skin that doesn’t reflect light and feels and looks sluggish,” says Renée Rouleau, celebrity esthetician and founder of her eponymous skincare line. I enlisted both Rouleau and dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, to explain why dull skin happens and how to fix it. There could be several things making your skin duller than that one date you went on where the guy ordered Chardonnay. One of the main culprits, according to Dr. Gohara, is dead skin. “Dull skin usually comes from dead skin cells that are clinging on for dear life—evict those babies to bring back your glow. We shed 50 million dead skin cells a day, they need an extra nudge or else they will hang out on your body for a long, long, time,” she says. “As the skin ages, everything tends to slow down including cell metabolism, blood circulation, oil production and the natural exfoliating process of the skin,” Rouleau says. Not moisturizing your skin properly or stripping it with harsh products (e.g., sulfate-based soaps and cleansers) can also contribute to a dull complexion, says Dr. Gohara. Lack of blood circulation can also contribute, Rouleau says. “It means that less nutrients and oxygen are being brought to the skin cells causing skin to look dull,” she