With our eyes constantly glued to our smartphones, for many of us, the number one source of news is your uncle’s Facebook status, and our source for healthcare products is more likely to be that TikTok ad rather than your family doctor. And we really don’t get a break from it! Most of our personal, social, and professional lives happen behind a screen and with today’s algorithms fueled by big data, advertisers know exactly what they should be selling you. And when. And how much of it can you handle before you dive in.
If you’re reading this article, well give yourself a pat on the back because you’re already a few steps ahead of the flock. Because when it comes to your health, you don’t want to be packing your bathroom shelves full with everything that pops up on Instagram promising “quick solutions.” That’s not how it works. As any doctor or pharmacist will tell you, medications, creams, ointments, and pills should almost never be the first thing you reach for.
And that’s not to say they can’t do wonders! The advancement of pharmaceutical technology in the last half century has been nothing short of a miracle and has saved or extended millions, possibly billions, of lives around the world. So no – we’re not going to be one of “them” to tell you to go through your medicine cabinet with a big trash bag and keep your body “natural” by using only herbal medicine. Yes, herbal medicine has been used for thousands of years, but for thousands of years, most people didn’t live past 40 or 50!
The world of science and medicine has come so far that it would be nuts to not think you should embrace at least some of it as beneficial for your body. In fact, we think most of it is pretty damn good, but here’s the thing you probably haven’t heard much of. Just like everything else we consume, medical care products should be consumed in small doses. And when we need them. We know that might be hard to comprehend in today’s consumerist world where everyone is trying to get you to buy everything and anything, but it’s what all doctors, pharmacists, and physiologists will tell you.
In terms of your health, nowhere is this “less is more” mindset more important than with skincare. Your skin is among the most vital bodily systems for care, as it’s always being exposed to the elements, including toxins and germs. It’s meant to take the hit for the rest of your body, absorbing all the unwanted stuff that your body doesn’t want and keeping the more sensitive and less care-demanding systems below it safe. And it does a pretty good job, but it takes huge hits in the process. Every month or two, each skin cell dies and is replenished in a process called exfoliation. While other external parts of the body, such as your hair and nails, do serve a similar function, they are not living tissues full of live cells like your skin.
While your skin certainly needs some tender loving care, the last thing it needs is too much skincare! While the products themselves might contain compounds and minerals that can be beneficial to your skin in small doses, they’ll all contain some type of base (usually water or oil), which is also not bad for your skin in small doses (rain isn’t bad for us, after all!). The last thing you want to do to your skin is moisturize it too much. If you keep it too wet, it starts to get a bit lazy and produces less moisture on its own, making it essentially dependent on the skincare products you use and hooking you into the consumerist mentality. So it’s not surprising why some people feel like they need a whole cabinet full of skin creams and oils, and why skincare brands keep bombing us with ads to buy more!
Skincare That Works: Delivered in Small Doses
While the mass media, mainstream health industry, and Instagram influencers might love it, most of us with an actual scientific background have been fairly disappointed in the mass commercialization of the health and skincare industry, to say the least.
This is exactly what Melissa Arpino thought when she launched Stripped Beauty in 2018. With a family background as a chemist and being well-researched in her field, Melissa had had enough of learning about all the new discoveries in skincare medication over the last decade while seeing no changes to mainstream skincare products. What sells will continue to sell, after all. So she sought out to use her scientific background and decades of research to create a simple, affordable skincare product that would be beneficial for the body and free of hype and “instant solution” promises. And most importantly, something made to be used in small doses, when needed, without the overpromises that serve no point other than getting you to buy more products.
For example, let’s have a quick look at one of her flagship products, Glow-To Oil. The first thing you’ll notice about it is its small size. It’s not a huge jar or tube like most skincare products; it’s a tiny 30 ml bottle! And no, that’s not just because Stripped Beauty wants you to buy more—this tiny bottle should last you almost a year.
Made of squalane, a simple anti-oxidant compound that acts as a ‘boost’ to your skin’s natural barrier between the body and the outside world, the beauty of Glow-To Oil lies in its simplify. You just need to put a drop or two on your skin for it to do its job. And beyond squalane, there are only a couple of other ingredients in the bottle: Organic Argan and Jojoba Oil, and they’re both in very small doses.
Beyond the simplicity of its composition, Glow-To Oil is also incredibly easy to use and easy to understand. It can do wonders for everyone, regardless of your age, gender, skin type, or other skincare products you’re using. No matter who you are, you can benefit from the simple yet antioxidant-rich compound that will make your skin just a tad bit better at doing what it does best! To use Glow-To Oil, simply add a couple of drops to your face after washing and rub it in gently. Your skin will immediately feel refreshed from the powerful oil, and over time, you’ll appreciate the benefits of letting it do its job and giving it just a tad bit of a boost!
Glow-To Oil might be that perfect, simple, one-size-fits-all oil that can provide a small-dose benefit to almost anyone, and that’s great! But for many of us, we seek solutions. And Stripped Beauty has the same “less is more” answer to this as well! Unless you have some serious issues with your skin, in which case you should consult a doctor, simple solutions usually work the best. Take something like acne, hyperpigmentation, or sensitive skin. Despite what you might hear in the Instagram influencer industry, something like this is usually a simple matter of oil imbalance. You don’t want to mess up your skin by pumping it full of medication, creams, oils, and ointments; try a simple formula instead!
And for that, Melissa Arpino has developed another of her best-selling products, Flower Hour Toner.
The key active ingredient of Flower Hour Toner is lactic acid (also called AHA), which is a powerful exfoliation agent that helps the skin through its natural process of replenishing itself. And it’s powerful stuff! The acid makes up just 5% of the formula’s droplets that you’ll be putting on your skin, so you’re really just introducing your skin to a tiny amount of medication. Because that’s really all you should!
The formula’s powerful active ingredient is balanced with a few more soothing ingredients, including rose water, aloe, and chamomile. These balance out the acid, mitigating any potential side effects, and also give the skin a soothing moisturization, allowing for the acid to better work its way in.
As this is powerful stuff, it is only recommended to use 1-2 drops of the formula a few times a week on your skin. To use, apply the droplets to a cotton swab and run gently across your clean facial skin. It is recommended to apply it at night for both a better effect, since your skin is more relaxed as you sleep, and because the effects of sunlight during the day can dampen the acid’s exfoliating effects.
If you’re looking for a skincare solution that will do wonders in small numbers—that is, it won’t cost much, won’t take much of your time, and won’t clog up your medicine cabinet—look no further than Stripped Beauty’s products. For less than $30, you can get your hands on a product that will last you up to a year and do all sorts of wonders for your skin. And at the same time, you’ll be not only treating your skin with some state-of-the-art products, but also keeping it free of all the over-the-top treatments that the industry always tries to sell you.
* In partnership with our friends at Stripped Beauty LLC.* Photo courtesy of Stripped Beauty LLC.
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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