Thanks to the wellness industry blowing up, skincare has never been more in. But can those same skincare products we love actually benefit our mental health?
I start my skincare routine the same every morning. Getting out of bed I scrape back my hair with my fluffy lilac headband (a definite ‘TikTok made me buy it’ situation). Sitting cross-legged in my chair I drag a micellar water-drenched cotton pad along my skin. It’s cold and welcomingly soothing. I then tap my serum into the high points of my face and finish rubbing my watery, citrus-scented spf into my skin. Taking a deep breath, I’m comforted by those therapeutic ten minutes before I start my day.
In the past, my mornings looked very different. I’d have days where I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. It didn’t matter how many alarms I’d set or how many sticky note lists I had stuck on my bedroom mirror urgently reminding me of things I had to do – my mind would shut down and my body would refuse to budge an inch. Nine am would turn into eight pm in a couple of seconds. The curtains and door would remain shut, locking out my friends and family worried about me. Resorting to self-criticism, because that’s obviously the best thing to do in these situations, I’d have a go at myself, calling myself lazy.
It wasn’t until I took myself to a doctor and was later diagnosed with an eating disorder and depression that I realised I had an actual problem.
That was a year and a half ago. I’m doing much better now. I still have those days when I can’t get out of bed but they come less often. To make sure I start the day right, instead of fixating on the lists of things I have to do that day, I focus on doing the easiest things first. For me, that is my skincare routine.
I’m not alone in this mindset. With the skincare industry worth over $186.6 billion worldwide (Statista, 2024) and #skincare being tagged over 17.5 million times on TikTok many of us have become drawn into the world of skincare for many different reasons. But these products sitting on our vanity or bathroom sink have become much more than the skin blurring, pore minimising or anti-ageing claims that feature on their labels.
Ruth Ronsen, an NHS nurse, thanks her skincare routine for providing a chance to relax before she starts her ‘pretty stressful job’. “When I think about it, I forget how much I really value my morning and evening routine”, says the 27-year-old from Reading. “My shifts can vary throughout the day one can start at six am and one at three pm so knowing that I have ten minutes before and after my shift is a saving grace as it’s my time for me”.
Ruth’s step-by-step routine consists of spf and eye cream, amongst other skincare products, as well as the occasional sheet mask which is what she likes to call her ‘little treat for the weekend’. “There’s something about applying your moisturiser in the morning or putting on a sheet mask that just cools me down and I can take a sigh of relief as all I can smell is tea tree oil,” she says. “When I might be having an overly stressful or overwhelming day and my skin is literally glowing it makes me feel so good, I have a kind of ball-busting confidence and that’s just something I can thrive in as I go about my day”.
This ‘ball-busting confidence’ Ruth is unknowingly describing is a result of ‘reward processing’, a process which Dr Alia Ahmed, a practising psychodermatologist and guest psychodermatology lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, believes is one benefit of using skincare as self-care. “Reward processing focuses on the idea that if you do something you enjoy, you will feel better about yourself,” says Dr Ahmed.
Studies have been done that confirm consistently applying your favourite skincare products decreases the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, in the human body by 83 per cent. According to a study published in Frontiers in Psychology,
anticipating positive events like self-care has also been shown to activate a certain area of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region associated with a sense of wellbeing, causing a little natural high.
“When you do things for yourself to reduce emotional distress, you’re reducing your stress response,” adds Dr Ahmed. “If your stress response is inflamed, it makes your skin barrier dysfunctional driving allergic responses and causing immune dysfunction, so the more you can control your stress response the better and having your skincare as self-care is a really good way to do that”.
Even though we may all be in our own skincare era at the moment, it’s been around for longer than we think. Skincare dates back to Ancient Egypt where different oils like caster and sesame oils were used to stop the skin from ageing. Queen Elizabeth II even applied a mask of white lead every week to erase her bad pox scars.
Since its origins, skincare has been used to ‘fix’ or ‘conceal’ the things we are most self-conscious about. Today, those insecurities are used by brands to make us spend that extra coin to fix them. Ever felt insecure about your oily skin when your face feels like someone could slide down it like a water park slide? I know I have. Well, fun fact, the skin types ‘oily’, ‘dry’ and ‘normal’ which we fixate on when shopping for our skincare were actually created for marketing purposes, not by medical professionals, oh no, but by cosmetics brand founder Helena Rubinstein. *taps the exploding brain emoji*
Dr Ahmed believes, until recently, our ‘skin has generally been forgotten about when we think about looking after our bodies’. We try to help out our bodies on the inside with our five a day (which is actually meant to be ten a day now…yikes), taking vitamins and maintaining a balanced diet, so why have we only now started looking at nourishing skin in the same positive ways?
“The marketing is getting so much better as ten years ago there was a lot of anti this and anti that but now it’s very much about embracing your natural skin, your natural glow or your natural features meaning we are talking a lot less about the negativity associated with skincare,” says Dr Ahmed. “People don’t have to feel that they’re doing it for vanity but as something they deserve to and something their skin needs.”
In the past, Ruth admits to diving into skincare after getting stressed about the fact she didn’t look like the influencers she was following on social media. “I remember I’d follow people like Zoella and think why doesn’t she have dark circles and fine lines like me making me think I had to buy the same expensive skincare to get rid of those things,” says Ruth. “As I’ve got older, I’ve slowly realised the products I use should be because I like them not because people like Zoella do”.
“When I come home from a shift, I’ll really take my time with my skincare routine,” says Ruth whilst explaining the irregularities of her shifts means she would go to bed at times when others may be starting their day. “I need to let my body know its bedtime so I light lavender incense whilst doing my skincare prioritising products that may not be the most expensive or have best reviews but I use them because I like the texture or scent or honestly even the packaging”.
Dr Ahmed agrees, insisting a good self-care skincare routine isn’t necessarily about the products you use but how and where you use them. “I always encourage people to perform their skincare in a relaxed environment, in front of natural light is a good place to start,” says Dr Ahmed. “Exposure to natural light, especially in the morning, can help reset your brain’s rhythm ensuring when you are exposed to daily stresses you produce a healthy amount of stress hormone production throughout the day.”
After a long stint at university or a shift at work, I know I can come home, dump my bags, put my fluffy lilac headband on and breathe again. Wiping off the day with a face cleanse and soothing myself with my moisturiser cools down my brain (which honestly feels like mush at the end of the day) making me feel so much better. Yes, it may sound silly and you may be thinking, what is this girl on? Honestly, I don’t blame you. If someone told me skincare could benefit your mental health a year and a half ago, I would have said: what a load of bollocks, along with an intense eye roll. But if it works for some, shouldn’t those people be able to enjoy that time to relax in their unique way?
I know a skincare routine isn’t obviously going to magically erase everyone’s problems in one swipe of a cotton pad. I do know for certain I take a little bit of comfort in knowing we have another welcomed tool in our toolbelts to peace and pout our way through it.
Expert Insight: Dr Alila Ahmed
Dr Alia Ahmed BSc DRCOG MRCP is an award winning psychodermatologist working since 2017. Being dual trained in dermatology and psychology she has a keen interest in psychodermatology. She runs specialist NHS psychodermatology clinics in London and Windsor, alongside her research work as part of the Trial Generation and Prioritisation Panel for the UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network.
