- Is that mean?
I shouldn't say that (laughs) oh my god.
People are gonna be like I'm not going to her, she's judgy.
- [Woman] No!
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Hi guys, my name is Dr. Cindy Bae,
I'ma board-certified dermatologist
at the Laser and Skin Surgery Center of New York.
I also teach residents at NYU Department of Dermatology.
There's so many podcasts, websites, blogs
about skincare, everyone's an expert nowadays,
so I'm here to give the official rule.
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So I do recommend a cleansing method to my patients,
especially at bedtime, because throughout the day,
you've been exposed to pollution, debris, oils,
your sunscreen, everything that's built up
so absolutely you need to remove all of that.
So if you need to use a makeup cloth, use it.
If you need to use an oil balm, use it,
and then follow it up with a cleanser and then
if you need an astringent or a toner to remove
any further residue, use that, and then moisturize.
And if you wanna get fancy and add extra steps,
you can add a serum, an ampule, a booster,
there's so many things you can add to your skincare regimen.
So Hannah Y comments, "my dermatologist said
"to never use scrubs," and someone commented,
"not harsh ones like sugar, salt, nut shells, et cetera,
"but gentle scrubs."
So there's truth to both points.
You wanna be very gentle with your skin,
because if you are harsh, you can cause micro-tears
and irritation in your skin, so you wanna be gentle
and if you want that exfoliation from a scrub,
you can also use chemical ones too.
There are many different products with acids in them
that help remove debris and sticky skin
so that you get a nice exfoliant experience.
All right, so Kat F asks "your face feels tight,
"the product is too harsh for you, what?
"Like every product I've ever used has done that
"for me and I thought it's normal
"and you just moisturize well after, dang."
So Kat F is actually correct.
If your face feels too tight, it is probably
a little too harsh for you and let's go back
to the science behind that.
That just means that your soap that you're using
is alkaline, so your pH is a little bit higher.
Our skin is a little bit acidic at a pH
of about 5.4, 5.5, so when you use an alkaline product,
your face can feel tight and dry and that actually
affects the skin barrier, so it is probably
too harsh for you.
So Kat F, great point.
Okay, so Brisel Cabrera comments "micellar water and toner
"are not in any shape, way, or form the same thing.
"Micellar water is stripping everything
"away from your skin and is taking away
"your natural oils and is actually
"throwing off your pH balance.
"Toner restores your pH balance.
"If you're going to use micellar water,
"make sure to use a toner after it."
So there's some good information, some incorrect information
and some confusing information in this comment.
So historically the reason why we use toners
is because a lot of people use soaps,
alkaline soaps that were harsh and they left residues
and that's why we followed up that cleansing with a toner.
So nowadays we're much more sophisticated
in our formulations, and so we don't really need
a toner for that purpose, and you can see
that toners come in a variety of formulations,
ones to hydrate and ones to actually remove
the extra debris, so micellar water is actually,
it's just soap dispensed in a water solution
that's gentle enough to remove stubborn makeup
and oil-based sunscreens, stuff like that on your face.
So yes, micellar water and toner are not the same thing
but toner also comes in a variety of forms
so you can't, it's like comparing apples and oranges.
They're not the same, but micellar water
won't really strip everything, it will just help
remove stubborn things like waterproof mascara
in a gentle manner.
Sophie Kilmer comments "never use a scrub
"next to your eyes, Christ."
So (laughs) you have to be gentle 'cause the skin
around your eyes is much thinner than the rest
of your skin and body.
I don't think you need to absolutely completely avoid it
as long as you're gentle with it.
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So serums actually help deliver nutrients
or active ingredients to the skin.
It's very concentrated so you don't need that much
and you'll see that they're sold in smaller bottles.
There are so many products out there on the market,
serums, boosters, ampules, and basically
their function is to deliver nutrients to your skin
or active ingredients like antioxidants
and phytonutrients and vitamins,
so that's what you can use to you know,
add oomph to your skincare routine.
Cubicle comments "he has sensitive skin prone to redness
"and he used a serum full of fragrance,
"phyto-corrective gel, L-ohh-L."
If you have sensitive skin, you shouldn't use
a bunch of products or you should really look
at the ingredients and see if there's
a common denominator of a certain ingredient
that makes you sensitive and avoid it.
Fragrance is added to some skincare products
just to mask some unpleasant smells from the formulation,
but it's also added to make it seem very fancy and nice,
so that you'll use it.
Sometimes you can actually react to fragrances,
especially if you have sensitive skin,
so if you are one of those people who have sensitive skin,
make sure you look at products and look for
hypoallergenic or fragrance-free.
Oh my gosh (laughs) Jackson Stacy,
wow, you're observant: "anyone notice she didn't
"put a moisturizer on after the HA serum?"
So what, what if she didn't need it?
What if she's in some humid environment
where it's full of moisture?
You don't know, you don't always have
to use a moisturizer, especially if you have
oily-prone skin or if you just use an HA serum
that helps moisturize.
You know hyaluronic acid is a moisturizer,
so don't judge.
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Common actives, so active ingredients like retinoids,
vitamin C, anything that we know has an effect on the skin.
There's cosmoceuticals and drugs and the difference
between that is that cosmoceuticals are like
adorning the skin, but drugs actually affect
the structure and function of skin.
So sometimes that line can be blurred too.
Gymnasmic says "so uh, why do no celebrities
"use Tretinoin, when it's literally the only substance
"on earth that the FDA has confirmed
"is effective for anti-aging?"
I think some celebrities are in the know with skincare
and probably do use Tretinoin, because a lot of them
do see a board-certified dermatologist,
but you do make a good point, a lot of,
many people should be on a retinoid unless you're pregnant
or breastfeeding, it's actually really good for the skin.
It treats acne, prevents acne, prevents fine lines,
helps with the appearance of your pores,
so it's wonderful, so if you're not using it, use it.
A retinol is just vitamin A, so there's all
these different derivatives and ultimately
the main ingredient that's active in our skin
is retinoic acid, and so Tretinoin is a type
of retinoic acid or retinoid which mimics
vitamin A activity, and there's actually one
that's over the counter that used to be prescription.
I do not get a kickback from this, but it's Differin Gel
and it's only $12.99, the biggest beauty bargain.
So Nina El comments, "there's a lot of people
"who are in their 50s and 60s now
"who have been using retin-A since their teens.
"Keeps 80% of wrinkles at bay
but sagging happens regardless."
So, you're sort of right, yep.
It does help with wrinkles, I don't know where you got
the 80% but that's very supportive
of using retinoids, which I applaud.
But sagging does happen because there's gravity,
time, things like that that make things naturally fall.
Retinoids have been around since probably the 1980s
because that's when isotretinoin, otherwise known
as Accutane, was FDA-approved for the use of acne.
So Shormee Sohani says "I thought we should not
"use retinol and vitamin C together."
So it depends, it all depends on formulation,
the stability of these active ingredients,
sometimes when you add ingredients together
that are active, it can cause irritation or dryness
to your skin, so you just have to try.
Basically the reason why we say not to mix
a lot of things together is because one,
we don't want them to cancel out or two,
we don't want your skin to be irritated.
Barking Spider comments, "if you're going to use a retinol,
"don't wash your face with SA, salicylic acid, prior.
"Very surprised that wasn't mentioned by her."
I wanna ask Barking Spider why he thinks that,
or she thinks that.
I don't think it really matters to that degree.
We know salicylic acid, it frosts when we use it
as a peel, it's very quick in its action,
so maybe you're commenting on that you don't want
your skin to be irritated because both are being used,
but if your skin's used to it, which it can get
a tolerance to some products, it should be okay.
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Moisturizing is important because we want
to prevent water loss in our skin,
so we call that transepidermal water loss
and so when we lose too much water, our skin gets dry,
irritated, we lose our barrier that protects us
from bacteria, microorganisms, things like that,
so we wanna maintain a good moisture barrier.
Itzel Lopez says "basically coconut oil
"is working as a moisturizer."
Great, if it works for you, keep using it.
There's different types of moisturizers.
There's oils like petroleum jelly,
there's vegetable oils, there's oils like coconut oil
in that category, there's waxes like beeswax,
dimethicone like silicones, so if coconut oil
is working for Itzel Lopez, rock on.
The comment is "does anyone know of an eye cream
"that actually brightens up the darkness under your eyes?"
Eye creams are great in that they moisturize your skin.
I don't think that there's a magic wand eye cream out there
otherwise there wouldn't be so many different types
of eye creams and different types of procedures
to treat problems like darkness under your eyes.
So the darkness under your eyes can be caused
by so many different things.
One, you could have a loss of volume of soft tissue,
of bone, or you can have blood vessels underneath
'cause the skin is thin so it's not very good
at camouflaging the blood vessels,
so it's multifactorial, or it could be pigment.
You can maybe have some melasma there or some sun damage
so it really depends.
There's no eye cream that fixes everything,
so I think you need to figure out what it is you're seeing
and then address that problem.
If it's volume loss, you can use soft tissue filler.
If it's pigment, you can use vitamin C,
like an eye cream with vitamin C to lighten up
the skin there, so it really depends.
Okay, so "moisturizer then oil.
"Small molecules, typically found in serums first,
"biggest last," I agree.
So I would say if you're gonna use
a water-based moisturizer, use that and then
follow up with an oil because the oil
kinda seals everything, so once you put that oil on,
nothing's gonna really penetrate afterwards.
So the comment after that is "not necessarily.
"Oil and water repel one another.
"If you want the nutrients in the oil to absorb,
"you apply it first, otherwise it will sit
"on top of the moisturizer.
"Most moisturizers, even the ones with actives,
"advise on the back to apply over serum.
"An oil would be the serum in a routine.
"If we're talking about sealing in moisture
"like in cold climate, then a heavier moisturizer,
"not an oil on top, should be used."
So again, this, let's go back to the basics.
So a moisturizer can come in so many different forms.
So when people say oil and moisturizer,
they're almost saying oil versus water,
but it's not that distinct.
Moisturizer does have some oils in it,
otherwise it wouldn't be a moisturizer
and then going further back to the basics,
we categorize moisturizers based on occlusives
which trap the water in, and humectants
that bring water to your skin.
So you need an occlusive like an oil to keep
the water in your skin, otherwise your skin
would just dry out.
So speaking of oils, let's jump into the next category.
(percussive music)
So Kelkno comments "I thought we were over the myth
"that only oily skin is acne-prone and that all oils
"break you out, and suggesting a microbead scrub
"for your face, I'm out."
Okay, so there's many different pathogenesis
that cause acne, there's hormonal acne,
there's cystic acne, there's scarring acne,
there's comedonal acne, and yes, oily skin
can contribute to acne but not everybody
with oily skin has acne, so that's just not,
you know, blanket statement.
And that all oils break you out, that's not true either.
Moisturizers have oils in them so no,
they don't all break you out.
And that was our last comment.
So it's really important that you're very consistent
with your skincare routine, and don't believe
everything you read or hear.
Talk to your board-certified dermatologist
if you have any questions.
Don't just go reading the internet, Mr, Dr. Google,
whatever, talk to your doctor.
They've studied very long and hard to help you
answer a lot of these questions.
This has been Derm Reacts, a new series
from Harper's Bazaar.
Subscribe to get more videos like these,
and give this video a big thumbs up.
Follow me at @drcindybae on Instagram
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Thanks, guys!
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