The Madness of Beauty Trends (or Skin of the Week)

 I was just recently talking about being more frugal with beauty purchases. We all want to take care of our skin and hair - or just look nice - and I'm glad there are a variety of products out there. The problem is there are too many products out there. Not just that, but there are trends coming and going so fast that it's hard to keep up.

The K-beauty trend is one I latched on to a few years ago. I immediately loved the whole idea of focusing on my skin's health and not just being vain. Also, I realized K-beauty as something people of my mother's generation understood, that good skin and hair care is not just about what you use but about consistency. One difference is, my elders stuck to a soaps and lotions while K-beauty can be very involved if you let it. I don't I stick to a wash, tone and hydrate routine, using the occasional mask.

So, while K-beauty is something I appreciate, now that it's become so popular in Western culture, it's getting a little crazy. I have to restrain myself from getting swept up in all the madness and just stick that what has been working for me.

I use a few basic K-beauty products along with a few others that have worked well, but I almost got hooked on the "glass skin" trend. Almost. I was this close to adding a bunch of things to my routine before common sense kicked in. And it's a good thing because, while glass skin was so the thing yesterday, a new thing is "silk skin". I just barely finished reading about that when I saw an article on "butter skin". What? The trends are just whizzing by in a blur!

Let's go through them briefly:

• Glass skin is when your skin looks almost Sim-like - super smooth and pore-free. Think of what some people look like after they've filtered the heck out of their Instagram photos. It looks flawless and glass smooth.
  
• Silk skin - the best way I can describe this is to say that it's smooth and flawless but without the glass skin shine. 
• 
  Butter skin (and this is what I think I've been trying to achieve without knowing about it) is a lot like silk skin except looking very matte. If you've ever seen an ad for a product that promises to "blur" skin imperfections, you'll know what I mean.

I expect the next trend will be to look as much like an AI as possible - no pores, no smile lines, no humanity. 

While I sometimes get a little frustrated by the adult fixation on skincare, I don't know how to feel about getting kids into the mix. These folks are starting a skincare line for kids and... I don't know. I think that it's enough to teach kids to use sunscreen (of course) and lotion or oil on their skin. I'm not sure I want to create more consumerism by getting them into using masks. Let kids be kids. Teach them good hygiene; protect them against harmful sun rays and ashy skin, and make sure they brush and floss. Isn't that enough?

Anyway.

I think people should stop jumping from skincare trend to skincare trend - because they all have a different set of products - and stick with what works. And that's coming from someone who loves trying a new product every now and then. I just try not to go crazy with every new thing that comes around. No one could possibly keep up with that.

Maybe next time, I can discuss haircare trends...

Peace

--Free