Intuitive skincare seems like a whole mood for 2022, but the truth is that it’s been part of the Skin Creamery philosophy from the very beginning. Ready to tune into your own skin? Let’s go…

WHAT IS INTUITIVE SKINCARE?

Ever heard of intuitive eating? It’s a dietary style that does away with obsessive rule-following and restrictions, and instead advocates for tapping into your body’s actual hunger cues. No, not the cues telling you to eat a bag of Chuckles every five minutes – the ones that are more like, ‘Brain fog alert; I need more protein in my life’. If this were the Metaverse, we’d probably call it a user-led nourishment experience.

Intuitive skincare is the same concept. Forget robotic adherence to a daily routine and instead nourish your skin with what it needs in that particular moment. The really cool part? Unlike bodily hunger cues, which can take some practice to tune into, your skin is an open book just waiting to tell you how to help it out.

Let’s be clear: intuitive skincare is not some woo-woo, unscientific exercise. It’s about conducting an empirical investigation of your own face in terms of moisture levels, oil balance and texture, then linking what you observe to a probable cause and choosing products accordingly.

WHY PRACTICE INTUITIVE SKINCARE?

• Because it’s unlikely that your skin is the same every single day
  Your skin is the barrier between you and the rest of the world. It faces a constant onslaught of environmental (and dietary) factors and it fluctuates accordingly.
  
  Another thing? We tend to think of skincare in terms of am and pm routines, but if you’re someone who menstruates, your skin is set on a monthly cycle – not a 24-hour one. For better or worse, we’re at the mercy of our hormones, which means you could cycle through dryness, sensitivity, a radiant glow, acne and oiliness, all in the space of a month.
   
  In short, your skin is constantly changing to meet life’s challenges, so your skincare should be equally agile.  

• Because it’s a golden opportunity for genuine self-care
  If you’ve joined the Slow Beauty movement, then intuitive skincare will be right up your alley. That’s because rather than racing through a routine, intuitive skincare forces you to slow down, notice, assess and respond lovingly.
  
  It also helps you to practise answering the question ‘What do I need right now?’ (Hot tip: take this questioning practice into the rest of your life – to work, to the kitchen, to your relationships. It’s not selfish. You’re not prioritising your needs over others’. You’re just reminding yourself that you have needs in the first place.)

• Because it’s good for the planet
  The more mindfully we buy and use products, the less waste we create. Happy skin, happy planet. Win-win. 

• Because it works
  Saved the best for last, didn’t we?

Too often, the skincare industry is focused on skin beauty rather than skin health. That’s putting the cart before the horse, because the glow-up we’re all looking for is actually just a byproduct of helping your skin barrier to function optimally. Opt for skin health, rather than piling on products to target surface-level imperfections, and say hello to the glow.

This is also the philosophy behind well ageing. By nourishing your skin, rather than trying to ‘combat the signs of ageing’ (you know, the marketing spiel we start receiving in our pre-teens), your skin will look happy and healthy no matter what stage of life you’re transitioning into.

HOW TO PRACTISE INTUITIVE SKINCARE

1. Take a good look
   What’s actually going on on your face?
   
   • Are you excessively oily come 3pm? Maybe your cleanser is too harsh.
   • Do you have a lot of very fine lines (not wrinkles)? Time to up the hydration.
   • Are any areas rough or bumpy to the touch? Might want to reach for the exfoliator.
   • Do you have sensitivity, possibly caused by an impaired lipid barrier? Skip the actives and bump up the moisture.
   In short, try to really notice what’s going on with your skin (with as little judgement as possible) then feed it accordingly.
2. Curate a collection of interchangeable products
   You don’t need an entire cosmetics aisle’s worth of products, but you do need a small selection of hard-working heroes that you can cherry-pick from based on your skin’s current needs. Make sure you’ve covered the basics: cleansing, toning, exfoliating, hydrating, moisturising and protecting (SPF).
   
   Psst… The Skin Creamery range can be used interchangeably without the risk of adverse ingredient interactions, because our products are formulated with gentle ingredients that help to maintain a healthy skin barrier. And while we don’t use active ingredients in our formulations – because not all skins can tolerate them – our range can safely be used with products that do contain actives.
   
   
3. Try a skin fast
   It’s the good advice that you won’t hear from a lot of beauty brands. When things are getting a little out of hand, resist the temptation to go in with the big guns, which will probably just wreak more havoc. Instead, try a skin fast. Strip back to gentle cleansing, moisturising and protecting to allow your skin to reset and rebalance itself as naturally as possible.

When you’re practising intuitive skincare, you want to know that you’re giving your skin the best. We’re so grateful that a lot of you out there think that ‘the best’ equals Skin Creamery. In fact, so do the judges at The Beauty Shortlist Awards 2022, which celebrates the best products and brands in the natural beauty and wellness arena. Skin Creamery recently took home not one but two Editor’s Choice awards, for our Shower Oil and The Balm. Reason enough to give them a try!