The Skin You Had Before You Started Worrying About It
3 min read
I ask this question sometimes in consultations.
What did your skin feel like before you started your current routine?
People pause.
Not because the question is difficult.
But because they haven't been asked it before.
And then, slowly, they describe something.
Skin that was simpler.
More predictable.
Less reactive.
Not perfect — they're always careful to say that — but theirs.
Something they understood.
Something that didn't require so much management.
I find this interesting.
Because the assumption in skincare is almost always that more knowledge leads to better skin.
More understanding of ingredients.
More awareness of what skin needs.
More steps to address what's missing.
And yet the people sitting across from me are often describing skin that felt better before all of that.
Before the routines.
Before the research.
Before the pressure to get it right.
I'm not suggesting that skincare is the problem.
I don't think it is.
But I do think there's something worth sitting with in that observation.
That many people describe having a quieter relationship with their skin than they do now.
When something changed, they naturally went looking for relief. They tried the products that were recommended, hoping one of them would be the answer. Sometimes they helped. Sometimes they weren't quite the right fit.
Over time, that search can become confusing.
Not because the products are wrong. But because skin rarely responds to one thing in isolation.
And somewhere along the way, many people begin to believe their skin is simply difficult.
I wonder if what they're really missing isn't a particular product.
It's the quieter relationship they once had with their skin.
The one where they noticed when something felt dry.
They responded.
They noticed when something felt comfortable.
They left it alone.
That kind of attention — simple, responsive and unhurried — is actually quite sophisticated.
Perhaps because it asks us to trust our own observations a little more.
I think about this when people ask me what they should be using.
The honest answer is almost always less than they expect.
Not because their skin doesn't deserve care.
But because the skin they're describing — reactive, overwhelmed, unpredictable — often became that way gradually.
Product by product.
Step by step.
With the best intentions.
What I've noticed, over many years of caring for peoples skin, is that the return to simplicity is rarely a step backwards.
It's usually a return to something the skin already knew how to do.
Before it was asked to do so much else.
So if you find yourself wondering what your skin actually needs —
it might be worth asking a different question first.
What did it feel like before you started worrying about it?
That answer is often closer to the beginning than anything else.
On the smallest routine worth keeping
The Smallest Possible Routine
On what skin is communicating when it changes
The Seasons of Skin
The NUA Journal is a collection of observations gathered through years of caring for people's skin and helping them better understand it. The articles are intended for education and reflection, not as a substitute for personalised medical advice. If you have persistent, worsening or concerning skin symptoms, please speak with your GP, dermatologist or another qualified healthcare professional.
