#ie: the same unhelpful bullshit ppl told me when i had cystic acne all over my whole face that was causing excruciating pain

[stardew-bajablast]

i hate the way people talk about skincare discourse on this site bc like the reasons people use skincare products are pretty varied and not always just vanity or buying nonsense products that do nothing bc tik tok said so.

but based on the average tumblr user’s take on it, that’s exactly what you would think. every skincare product in the world is a lie and everyone who buys them (ie: most people) are idiots who are throwing their money away on nothing, but if only those poor idiot babies knew the secret: that any and all skin issues can be solved by simply drinking water and wearing sunscreen.

believe it or not, most people are actually not dumb idiot babies who will keep buying expensive stuff over and over that doesn’t do anything for them! and women (primary market of skincare products) are not brainless, self absorbed bimbos who only care about vanity! there are actually a lot of reasons why someone might use a serum on their skin such as being in pain or itching caused by overly dry (or oily!) skin.

like yes we can talk about how the non-beauty related reasons for buying skincare aren’t really pushed by its marketing (except for acne, which even then is framed as a beauty concern and not something that can cause a lot of pain and discomfort), and we can talk about how that leads them to manufacture new bullshit insecurities to get people to buy their products, and we can talk about how social media is pushing this marketing to an ever-younger and younger audience who probably have no real need for any of these products. yes, we can and SHOULD talk about all that.

but just framing people who buy skincare products or have a skincare routine as vain, insecure idiots whose experiences aren’t real and just love throwing their money away on useless shit is not helpful to anyone and also just blatantly untrue

your skin is an organ. there are a lot of reasons to be concerned about it besides aging and beauty. like can y’all try to have even an ounce of nuance when talking about this shit