Need I Say More? Actually Yes, I Need To
Martha Stewart was generous enough to share, in great detail, her daily beauty routine with The New York Times*. And it is quite a daily beauty routine! Stewart is a beauty product junkie, and not just any beauty product junkie – a high-end beauty product junkie. Since she can afford it – more power to her in my opinion, but I digress. While Stewart also explains her make-up, fragrance, hair, fitness, and diet regimes I’ll focus on her skincare routine in this post. Let’s start with a few highlights:
I get up a couple hours before I’m supposed to leave in the morning and I’ll put on a mask. … I’ll do this about five days a week and I don’t repeat the same mask two days in a row. I’ve always done this – well basically since I discovered masks.
Stewart lists four different masks that she uses on a regular basis (just not two days in a row, of course). I’ll address the fact that Stewart is a product junkie later on in this post because right now I want to address the issue if you need to rotate your skincare products as frequently as Stewart does. Martha Stewart never outright states that you shouldn’t use the same skincare product each day; I found that idea implied by her beauty routine. So the answer to the question if you really need to change your skincare products so often is a resounding no! I actually wrote about this very issue in my blog almost three years ago in a post entitled How Often Do You Need to Change Your Skincare Products? In the post I explained:
You need to change your skincare products when something changes with your skin or if you want to treat a specific issue. For example if you’ve never used or needed a moisturizer before but now you feel that your skin is dry and/or dehydrated you can add a moisturizer to your skincare routine. Most people might find that they need to change their products as the seasons change. …
Also as the seasons change you’ll find that you need different formulations for your favorite products – instead of a creamy moisturizer you might want to switch to a gel or serum formulation. You’ll need to change your skincare products/routine as you age since you’ll want to add products with antioxidants, peptides, and other anti-aging ingredients to your routine. While you are pregnant and nursing you’ll need to stop using certain products like prescription tretinoin creams.
Still not convinced? Watch this video from WebMD.
Stewart switches between a anti-aging, a hydrating, and a gommage mask (which is a fancy way of saying a mask that helps exfoliate). Now are all these masks necessary? Can’t she just use an anti-aging serum, a moisturizer, and a separate exfoliant? Adding a hydrating mask to your skincare routine in the winter is a good idea for someone who suffers from extra dry, flaky skin during colder months. Anti-aging masks are a waste of money in my opinion; invest in a good anti-aging serum with retinol for daily use instead. I believe that Stewart is mask addicted and intervention might be needed.
Moving along. Stewart tells The New York Times:
I slather myself with serums.
Serums are wonderful. Once you find the right one you can treat a myriad of skincare issues with it. Do you need to slather yourself with serums which are usually quite expensive? Personally I think not. (For more information about serums please see my post What’s A Serum?)
And now we’ve reached the part of the article that drove me crazy. Stewart might be a lifestyle guru, but thank goodness she is neither an esthetician or a dermatologist because the next thing she says in the article is just downright wrong:
I use the same products on my body as I use on my face. I don’t think there’s really any difference between the two, so the more moisturizers and serums you use, the better off you are.
Oy! Where do I begin? Once again Stewart is flaunting her product junkie tendency, but more sinister in my mind is her proclamation that our face and body skin are the same and do not need different products. This is simply not true. For example, the skin on our face is always exposed to the elements making it more sensitive to environmental factors such as sun and temperature and thus usually in need of extra TLC, the skin on our faces has more sebaceous glands than the skin on our body, and the skin on our face usually shows the signs of aging much sooner than the skin on our bodies because of its exposure to the elements. Someone, not Martha Stewart of course, may have oily skin on their face but dry skin on their arms and legs and obviously would then different products for those different areas of their body. As further explanation please read The Beauty Brains explanation, in their book Can You Get Hooked On Lip Balm? (page 53), why you can’t use hand lotion on your face or vis-a-versa:
Three Reasons Why Moisturizers For The Hands and Face Should Be Different
Kay’s question: Is there a difference between moisturizers for your hands and for your face? Also, is there a reason to use specially formulated antiwrinkle creams rather than ordinary moisturizers that you would use on your hands?
This is one of those cases where there really is some science behind the marketing hype. Here’s why facial lotions should be different than hand lotions:
1. Skin on the hands and face is different.
Skin is very thin on your face and thicker on your hands. Also, your hands don’t (usually) develop acne or blackheads. Therefore, they need to be treated differently.
2. Drying Conditions are different for hands and face.
You may wash your hands in harsh soap many times a day; you may wash your face only once or twice a day with a gentle cleanser. Hands are in and our of dishwater or laundry water; your face is not. The cumulative effect is that your hands can be much dryer, even cracked and bleeding, and therefore they need stronger moisturization.
3. The hands and face have different cosmetic needs.
You might want to tighten the little crow’s-feet wrinkles around your eyes, but this isn’t the case on your hands.
The Bottom Line:
For the reasons cited above and more, you need to use products designed to suit your skin’s different needs. Hand lotions should be heavier barrier creams to protect hands from harsh conditions. Facial moisturizers should be lightweight, noncomedogenic and many have film-forming agents that tighten skin to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. While hand and face products may share some of the same basic ingredients, the functions they need to perform are significantly different. Using the right product on the right skin will give you better results.
I hope I’ve sufficiently explained why you need different products for your face and body; as for Stewart’s comment that the more moisturizers and serums you use the better off you are – I have to say that is just silly. At a certain point your skin simply cannot “absorb” product after product. The products, instead of performing their function, will sit on top of your skin making make-up application impossible. Overkill is overkill. You need the right products for your skin not a crazy number of products.
And now for the good advice from Stewart’s beauty routine. Stewart uses a hot towel and oils to remove her make-up (she uses either an expensive oil based cleanser or simply Johnson’s baby oil). This is actually a great way to remove make-up. I’ve tried a lot of oil based cleansers and still haven’t found a favorite though I do love to use jojoba oil nightly to remove my eye make-up. Additionally, Stewart is a strong advocate for daily use of sunscreen and proper sun protection when outdoors. I am glad that she promoted both in this article. She constantly hydrates while on a plane which is wonderful (for more information about how to care for your skin while traveling see my post: Airplane Travel and Your Skin: How to Care For Your Skin Inflight). Lastly, Stewart gets monthly facials and how can I argue with that?
And now back to the product junkie point I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I’ve called myself a product whore or junkie in this blog before but Martha Stewart puts me to shame. I’ve met more than my share of product junkies since becoming an esthetician as such I have concluded that being a product junkie is definitely a psychological issue not a skincare issue. Basically it comes down to: “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” feeling. In my opinion, beauty product junkies always feel that they are missing out if they aren’t trying the newest and greatest products. I completely understand why someone would want to try the newest products on the skincare market and would chase after trends in skincare. But please remember the best ingredients for your skin are those with a proven track record, such as retinol and vitamins, and those ingredients have been used successfully in skincare products for years and years. While skincare products proliferate and the ones you haven’t tried appear shiny and bright take a moment to think: do I really need this? Does my skin really need this? Does my skin really look that bad?. And just because a celebrity or a glossy fashion magazine recommends a product doesn’t mean it is any better than what you are already using.
What more can I say? Some of Martha Stewart’s skincare routine is excellent but a lot of it is just plain overkill and over the top. There is no need to go crazy when it comes to your skincare routine or buy multiple soaps or serums. And please, please remember your face and body DO need different products.
Further Reading:
It turns out I was not the only one intrigued by The New York Times Martha Stewart article. Here are what some other sources had to say about the article:
*The Gloss points out that Stewart already shared her beauty routine with Allure last year where even more products are listed (spoiler: Stewart is also obsessed with soaps). The New York Times piece just seems to expand on the lunacy of her beauty regime. I am hard pressed to understand how she finds the time, while running her lifestyle empire, to devote so much effort her skin. The routines she details in both publications are that extensive. (By the way, for an interesting article on how Stewart’s empire is faring read this Vanity Fair article.)
And I have to share two more very “interesting” quotes from the article:
I don’t get clogged pores.
You can be the most beautiful person on earth, and if you don’t have a fitness or diet routine, you won’t be beautiful.
And now I really have nothing else to say.
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