Although the extra melanin is good news for those with darker skin tones, it doesn’t mean damage from unprotected sun exposure isn’t happening. Uneven skin tone, wrinkles, and slower healing time (particularly for scars) is primarily a result of sun damage. Even though it takes longer and more intense sun exposure for visible damage to occur on darker skin, sun damage is always greater on skin that’s chronically exposed to sun than on skin that’s properly protected. [8,9]
By now you can tell that many beauty myths drive us over the edge—this is one more to add to our list. Simply put, as far as biology and physiology are concerned, regardless of your ethnic, racial, or cultural background, you do NOT need special skincare products. Let go of this idea—in most cases, it won’t help (and could actually hurt) your skin.
You’ve probably heard or read that Asian skin is more sensitive and, therefore, needs products that don’t contain irritating ingredients. Even if that were true, no one in the world, whether Asian or not, needs products with irritating ingredients. Everyone needs beneficial ingredients that are gentle on skin, and everyone should be treating their skin gently. Using irritating, overly fragranced products is detrimental, no matter who you are.
Whether you have normal, oily, combination, or dry skin or your skincare concerns involve sun damage, wrinkles, breakouts, large pores, uneven skin tone, rosacea, sagging skin, and on and on, there’s no research showing that different skincare formulas are needed based on your race or heritage. The ingredients that benefit skin and the ingredients that are a problem for skin are global. Aligning your skincare routine to a specific brand that wants you to believe this myth would do your skin a disservice.
DO THE NECK AND CHEST NEED SPECIAL PRODUCTS?
Wrinkles, crepey skin, and brown or ashen discolorations show up sooner on areas that haven’t been shielded from the sun. This is especially true for the neck and chest because we tend to neglect those areas far more than our face, leaving them exposed to the sun and the damage it causes. That’s why, for women, skincare really needs to start at your boobs! What we mean by that is that the products you use on your face can and, in fact, should also be used on your neck and chest!
Cosmetics counters are packed with endless creams and treatments targeting the neck and chest (often labeled as for the “décolletage”). The truth is that buying a separate neck, chest, or décolleté cream or treatment is a complete waste of money. These “specialized” products are rarely well-formulated, rarely contain sunscreen, and almost always are overpriced given what they contain. Most important, they’re completely unnecessary because the products you use for your face (provided they’re well-formulated) will work beautifully on your neck and chest, too.
There’s no research showing that the neck and chest need ingredients or formulations different from those you use on the face. In fact, copious research makes it absolutely clear that what it takes to keep skin anywhere on your body acting and looking young requires the same brilliant ingredients. Gentle cleansing, products loaded with antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients, along with dedicated use of a well-formulated broad-spectrum sunscreen work for your face, neck, chest, and décolletage.
It’s important to point out that the neck is a bit of a different issue, not in terms of what products you use, but in what happens to the neck as we age. For certain, the neck will show the same signs of aging as the face, but usually not as quickly because the neck typically is shielded from the sun by our heads. Regardless of how slowly the sun damage may show up, if you neglect your neck it will suffer the same woes as any other part of your body that you don’t protect from the sun.
What’s frustrating about the neck is that it tends to sag faster than other parts of the face. This is to some extent about skincare (or lack thereof), but it’s also because of gravity and physiology.
Skin on the face and chest are well supported by bone, while the front of the neck has no supporting bone structure (only the back of the neck does, but not all that much given the size and shape of the neck’s vertebrae). The elaborate network of neck muscles don’t provide much support. This means that the neck and its fat pads can be affected by the pull of gravity sooner than other parts of your body and face. [39, 40]
Regrettably, despite the claims and gibberish you’ve probably heard, there are no special skincare ingredients that will help tighten a sagging neck—the same products that help firm skin for the face work for the neck; it’s that simple. But (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?), there is a point of no return where age-related sagging can be fixed only with surgery, not skincare.
Why Skin Reacts Badly to Products
Sometimes, using a new product or a new mix of products can cause skin to have a negative reaction—even if the products are well-formulated. Such reactions are usually perplexing because it’s hard to determine exactly what’s happening and why. Even more frustrating, it isn’t always clear what to do about it, especially when you hoped the product would work as promised. You may wonder if you did something wrong, or if the product itself is faulty.
There are five primary reasons why skin reacts negatively to a new product, a new skincare routine, or even to products you’ve used for months or years.
The product was poorly formulated with ingredients that can irritate your skin, such as alcohol, fragrance, or fragrant plant extracts. The reaction can happen immediately or it can develop over time; sometimes, when several fragranced products are used, the skin reaches a critical tipping point and suddenly reacts, often strongly. [2,5,7]
Often an allergy to a specific ingredient or combination of ingredients in the formula is to blame. This has nothing to do with the quality of the product; rather, it’s a personal reaction to an ingredient or a mix of ingredients. It’s like being allergic to cats, an unpleasant fact for some, but not the fault of the cat, nor does it mean cats are bad.
Using the wrong products for your skin type; for example, using oil-absorbing products when dry, flaky skin is the problem or using overly emollient products when oily skin, large pores, and breakouts are the problem.
Using too many “active” products at one time. With anti-aging or anti-acne products, some people think that if a little is good, then more (or more often) must be better. So, they use three types of exfoliants at the same time twice daily, followed by a high-strength vitamin C serum, a prescription retinoid, and then a prescription skin-lightening product. For some, this combination may work at first, but it can quickly backfire, causing skin to become overly sensitive or reactive when it was normal before. This reaction can be even worse if you’re also getting professional peels or aggressive facials involving lots of massage, steaming, and extractions.
Some people have skin that’s just more reactive and sensitive to cosmetics, no matter the ingredients. For them, the more products they use, the greater the risk of a reaction, especially if the products contain fragrance or fragrant plants. If that describes you, the worst thing you can do for your skin is to hop frequently from product line to product line, hoping something will stop this skin misery merry-go-round.
What to Do
First, be certain the products you used don’t contain problematic ingredients that are known to cause irritation. Using only well-formulated products (preferably without fragrance, because fragrance is a common allergen for everyone) is essential. [5,6,10,11,12]
Next, be certain the products are a good match for your skin type. Oil-absorbing or matte-finish ingredients will be a disaster on dry skin, while emollient, thick moisturizers will be a problem for someone with oily skin or when applied over the oily areas of combination skin.
In situations where highly reactive skin is a primary concern, be cautious about products with active ingredients; don’t use too many of them or use all of them at the same time. It’s OK to alternate application of such products; anti-aging and anti-acne isn’t an all-or-nothing