thatwriterchickyouknow:

archemedes:

what skincare culture should be:
-strong encouragement to use sunscreen and stay away from tanning booths
-encouraging little black and brown kids to love their skin color, giving love to people with skin conditions such as vitiligo/albinism/hyper-pigmentation/etc.
-good smelling lotion for all
what skincare culture is:
-unless a women has totally clear poreless pale skin that glows like paintings like the virgin mary she is gross and unhygienic and doesn’t take care of herself
-don’t want to be that girl? spend $1000 a year on expensive goo sold by glossier and lush and inject weird chemicals in your skin to get rid of freckles and moles and wrinkles even though you’re only like 25

all excellent but i would like to submit that skincare culture should also be:

-destroying the idea that acne is something gross or shameful and spreading real information about how to soothe breakouts so they’re not as uncomfortable

-discussion of the skin as your body’s first line of defense against a lot of disease so it needs to be kept healthy

-acceptance of scars, stretchmarks, birthmarks, etc. and conditions like psoriasis and eczema as things that aren’t shameful

-stopping the culture of “look ten years younger!” and acting like aging is something disgraceful