What do you use?
2 min read
It’s one of the questions I’m asked most often.
What do you use?
And I always pause before I answer.
Not because the question is difficult.
But because I’ve learnt it’s rarely just asking for a list.
What people are usually asking is something closer to:
Where would you begin if this was your skin?
And that’s a different question entirely.
After years of treating skin, the thing I keep coming back to is that there isn’t one routine that suits everyone. Not one cleanser. Not one order of steps. Not one approach that works across every skin type, every season, every decade.
Skin is too personal for that.
What I’ve noticed is that when skin feels overwhelmed — when it’s suddenly reactive, or dry in places it never used to be, or just not responding the way it once did — the instinct is often to add more. Another product. Another step. Another solution.
But my instinct is usually the opposite.
To pause.
To simplify.
To give skin a little room to settle.
And then to notice.
How does it feel in the morning before anything is applied?
Where does it feel tight?
Where does it feel comfortable?
What changed recently — in routine, in season, in life?
That noticing is where I’d begin.
Not with someone else’s routine. Not with a ten-step system. But with observation.
Letting the next step come from what the skin is actually asking for, rather than from urgency or habit.
I think the most helpful place to begin isn’t with what I use.
It’s with learning to notice your own skin.
That’s where everything else follows from.
On asking a different question when skin changes
The Seasons of Skin
On the smallest routine worth keeping
The Smallest Possible Routine
The NUA Journal shares observations gathered over more than two decades working as a beauty therapist and caring for people’s skin. It is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalised medical advice. If you have persistent or concerning skin symptoms, seek advice from your GP, dermatologist or other qualified healthcare professional.
