Skincare has morphed into far more than just a few brands selling skin products. It’s become an entire industry, and the expectations about how we use our money and the overall culture around skin health have drastically exploded into 20-step skincare routines, cold plunges, and red light therapy.
Every teenage girl ever has moaned and groaned to their mother about slathering their skin in Bubble moisturizer and dabbing in the smallest dot of Drunk Elephant serum (because the bottle’s so small for the price you pay).
Ulta and Sephora are popping every day with savage teeny-boppers draining their parents’ bank accounts to purchase a claw clip and some pimple patches, a makeup brush, or a Tangle Teezer hairbrush. Photoshopped women stare seductively into the camera in their “clean makeup” as if there weren’t hours of repetitive patting, concealing, and changing.
In an article from Refinery29, one woman claimed she spent “$35 on cleanser, $113 on moisturizer, $86 on serums, $90 on exfoliators, $80 on masks, and $26 on little extras.” Let me just do that math for you: that’s $430. For comparison, on average, people in Texas spend $286 on groceries a week. The amount of money this woman spent on skincare, an optional spending, is almost double something we require. (Food!)
Advance Dermatology experimented on over 1,000 people in 2022 and discovered that the average American spends around $722 annually on skincare and beauty products. So, if this particular woman from above is spending almost $450 on skincare alone, I have another question.
What time of year do people buy skincare products? The shelves look emptier at certain times of the year, and more skincare-related content pops up only sometimes. According to Statista.com, most people buy skincare products in the spring-summer, which makes sense: people either want to prepare for the summer or the school year.
As fun and trendy as skincare can be, there are some negative effects to all of what we discussed.
- Skincare’s expensive.
As you can imagine, skincare is expensive. People will spend 30 dollars on 8 oz of serum and 50 dollars on a brush at Ulta, and with taxes and all the convincing the cashiers do for you to buy another item, you’ll walk out having spent over 100 dollars on just 2-3 items. So what can we do about this? I’m no dermatologist, but from my experience, you really only need 2-3 skincare products to have relatively acne-free and moist skin. A face wash, a moisturizer, and maybe a serum or cream for those blemishes and acne spots. Some pimple patches could be good too, but that’s optional, and pimples go away on their own with time.
A brand I would recommend is CeraVe. Their products work well, and you get a decent amount for what you’re paying for. Each product averages 10-15 dollars, and seeing how expensive every other skincare brand is, this could be a steal. I purchased a day moisturizer for around 8 dollars at Ulta, which felt like being awarded a million dollars when my overall price came to under $40. With the moisturizer, I also purchased a CerVe face wash and serum, and like I said, the price wasn’t atrocious.
It’s best to just look around online or in stores and find local or chain brands that don’t have insane prices. Keep in mind the quantity-to-price ratio as well, and factor that into your purchase.
2. You don’t need to be constantly slathering your face in product.
A while ago, my mental health got pretty bad, and I was only able to wash and moisturize my face once a day. I thought my skin would break out and become dry and crusty, but it really stayed at about the same level as when I wash and moisturize my face two to three times per day. Washing once in the morning or once at night will be enough for your skin. It’s durable, and also needs time to soak up all that product and get the benefits of the expensive products you are using. Stick to one to two times per day!
3. Don’t give in to the trends.
Yeah, it probably feels really cool to walk around with Chanel or Valentino body spray and star pimple patches, but like I mentioned before, those prices add up quickly. The social pressures of media can get super overwhelming. I know I’ve given in to it multiple times, but find and do what works best for you. For some people, Drunk Elephant might be too harsh of a product for their skin and actually cause them to break out. For others, they might be allergic to a Gua Shua or not like the sensation of ice globes on their skin and opt for something else. For most people, 20-step skincare routines are burdening, not relaxing.
So to all the savage teeny-boppers out there, stick to the basics. Don’t blow all your money on 2-oz containers of moisturizer; look into local or chain brands that have the prices and products right for your skin, and most importantly, don’t feel pressured into doing more than necessary.
