You're Doing Too Much for Your Barrier

More is not always more.

Don’t get me wrong: I love a hot take on social media as much as anyone. And, honestly, a lot of them are great. But every once in a while, a skincare take goes viral that is so wrong it ends up hurting, not helping, a lot of people’s skin. For me, the problematic trend du jour is overloading your barrier.

I wrote a Thread about this earlier this year and ended up talking more about it with the amazing Lindy Segal for Allure. But with the weather absolutely freezing in NYC, I’m seeing the trend reemerge and it’s got me thinking (and worrying) all over again.

Last year, I started seeing lot of people coming into The Studio complaining of “irritated skin.” They didn’t have acne, but rather, they all had blemish-looking spots that looked like little red pimples or rashes. As someone who specializes in problematic skin, I always start a session by playing detective, which means I’m asking about the usual suspects: are you on exfoliating acids, retinols etc? As I would walk through their issues and their routines, a common theme emerged: they were all using tons of products designed for barrier support. Think: a creamy cleanser, a milky serum, a milky toner, a barrier butter, and a rich cream, then a hydrating SPF. All of a sudden they’ve got five layers of ceramides, peptides, and oils on their skin — no wonder they were breaking out.

Especially in the cooler winter months, people tend to get really worried about protecting their skin and protecting their barriers. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing. The problem occurs when you stack tons of them on top of each other and your skin cannot breathe.

My advice is to find one barrier supporting cream you love and keep the rest of your routine really simple. If you’re already too far down the barrier stacking path, consider starting over with the Skin Diet and trying one product again once your skin has calmed down.

When in doubt, remember less is truly more. Your skin will thank you.

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