Beauty Regimen

Skin is an organ, not a surface. It is fed by blood, repaired during sleep, and it reports fairly accurately on what the rest of the body has been doing. This is why a regimen built only on what goes on top can only achieve so much.

The whole regimen, honestly

Clean, moisturise, protect. That is it for most people, most of the time.

Sun protection is the highest-value step by a wide margin and the most commonly skipped in India, where exposure is year-round. The majority of visible skin ageing is sun damage rather than time passing - which means a large part of it is preventable rather than inevitable.

The part that happens before the shelf

Water, because dehydrated skin looks dull and creases more readily. Sleep, because skin repair is concentrated in the night and chronic short sleep is legible on a face. Food - vitamin C for collagen, zinc, and the fats in nuts and seeds. And not smoking, which ages skin visibly and by a considerable margin.

A ten-step routine on four hours of sleep is a losing arrangement. The order of operations matters.

See a dermatologist for

A mole that changes shape, size or colour. A sore that will not heal. Severe or scarring acne, which is very treatable and leaves permanent marks if left. Any rash that spreads or comes with fever.