Once wildly personal, skincare has gone public, often verging on theater—whether it’s a faux-casual selfie of someone eating pasta while masking or a highly produced video of a celebrity washing their face and getting dragged for doing it badly. There’s also an abundance of advice offered by experts and enthusiasts, sometimes the two unable to agree (and people having a hard time deciding who’s right).
The world of skincare, in its sheet-masking, serum-applying, carefully-documented glory, is often touted as the great unifier for people of all skin tones, skin types and needs. There’s something for everyone, it claims, the inherent invisibility of products allowing the industry to be slow in its focus on inclusivity and avoid the discussion in a way the makeup sector never could.