If you’re a woman over the age of, say, 10, you probably have some semblance of a skin care routine. Whether you and your dermatologist are on a first-name basis to tackle your problem skin together or you’ve been using the same bottle of Neutrogena since Y2K, skin care takes up space in a lot of our lives.
Which is why the idea of skin fasting both intrigues and scares the living sh*t out of me. Simply put, skin fasting is cutting out skin care products to reduce its reliance on your products. By not using anything on your face for a little while (anywhere from a few days a week to weeks at a time), the idea is that your skin won’t depend so heavily on synthetic ingredients to hydrate your skin and will instead lean on its natural barrier.
While reviews on skin fasting are mixed, you can’t really debate that we collectively spend insane amounts of money on beauty products (most of which are just for basic maintenance!). The global skin care industry is a nearly $140 billion market -- yep. In that sense, perhaps you should try skin fasting, if for no other reason than to decrease your expenses.
Fasting is a detox for your face, a break from the pulling, scrubbing and scraping it goes through on a (twice) daily basis. And if you find that your skin can take care of itself a bit more than you thought, well, all the better.
The “science” behind it is reasonable, after all. Our skin “breathes” and secretes sebum, fatty acids that prevent moisture loss, which products can mess with. So, remove them from the equation and see where your skin lies in its natural state. Then, as you reintroduce your products, you can tell which ones are actually benefiting your skin and which you can cut out for good.
So...do you need to go on a skin fast? Check off every product you use regularly on your face and we’ll decide for you.