Glass is Lifeless. It’s nothing, really. It exists to be seen through. It is a faceless material with nothing of its own. It possesses no beauty of its own.
Really!
I do not want my skin to look like glass.
And yet! There are 242 emails in my inbox telling me I should. There are 840k posts on Instagram suggesting the same. There are over a billion Google search results for “glass skin” Articles and blog posts written by top beauty gurus, dermats and beauty experts claiming that a product can turn my skin into a piece of glass?
All of them offer advice on how to make my skin look less like skin and more like a lifeless material.
“ Remove Your Pores with an Easy vampire skincare routine! “
“ Remove Your Dead Skin Cells Overnight and have brand new skin like an infant! ”
“ A Guide To poreless skin with 23 products. Like & Comment to learn more! “
“ 3 weeks of Resurfacing Treatment – The bridal package to look like brand new vinyl flooring! ”
“ How To Completely Transform Your Human Skin With freshly baked Korean dumplings! ”
Alright, fine, these headlines are made up — Exaggerated, but the energy behind them isn’t. You know where I’m going with this…
To embrace glass as the aesthetic goal is the most unrealistic thing to demand from our skin and yet everyone is out there selling it.
Why are we not bothered by that?
There are many reasons our skin does not look like glass!
The aesthetically curated Instagram life has been glorifying glass skin for a while now, at least—long enough that the K-beauty, Japanese beauty, French Beauty have all taken back seats.
Like all beauty standards, Glass skin is physically impossible, it’s an addiction, it’s never-ending and TBH, ridiculous!
The path to perfectly poreless dolphin looking skin is curated with products/treatments that you will always need to jump to from one to another, senselessly rubbing these products onto your skin and walking around with real life filters.
It inspires teenagers, mid-aged women, women who are pregnant, women who are in postpartum trauma, women who are on a path to change the world, but not without wearing their glassy skin.
Everyone is giving into this obsession.
IT – IS – MADNESS & RIDICULOUS!
I know for a fact that my textured, sensitive skin will never look like glass, or a glazed donut, or a steamed dumpling, or a zip-lock bag, or a peeled potato?
Or a peeled egg?
Or a french coconut macaroon?
Hmm… yum!
And here’s the fact: It’s a good thing that glass skin is unachievable.
Honestly, have you ever seen glass skin outside of social media? Because all the filters I would need to use in order to get that smooth glassy glow literally exists only in the virtual world.
Like Hello Pores!
Pores exist for Sebum and Sweat, the skin’s natural highlighter/moisturizer and the body’s natural detoxifier. You cannot shrink your pores, and you wouldn’t want to. Without pores, or with too small pores, you would overheat and/or explode. BOOM!
And Dead Skin Cells! News: They aren’t “dead”. They serve an important physical purpose as part of the important skin barrier functions. These dead babies, when they’re scrubbed, sloughed, or acid-burned to oblivion, the overall health of the skin suffers. In other words, dead skin cells are actually a good thing, and you could probably use more of them!
The young, fresh skin cells underneath ( you know, the ones you expose in an effort to look like glass ), don’t do that. That’s when over-exfoliation can lead to dry, flaky skin.
And Pimples! Think of your pimples as communications from your body, alerting you to what it needs. Cysts on the jawline? Time to take a hard look at your Hormones. Closed Comedones? Your skin’s not releasing Congestion.
Inflamed Cheeks? Your body might be begging for a fruit instead of another round of fried take-out food.
Even if you could patch up the blemishes, I wouldn’t recommend ignoring them. They’re sharing need-to-know information.
Skin is Skin. Let it do the same. Let it be the same. Take care of it. Nourish and heal but with realistic expectations.
NONE OF YOUR FAVORITE CELEBRITIES OR INFLUENCERS HAVE GLASS SKIN. PERIOD.
Love & Light
Payal
SHUT UP…ARE YOU KIDDING ME…THIS IS THE REALEST…TRUEST BLOG I HAVE EVER READ. I am all about embracing the natural ‘human-skin’ because yeah the ‘perfect’ skin that you see online has its own imperfections. People tend to skip out the fact that skincare doesn’t happen only from what you apply on your skin but majorly from what you put in your body. You can apply all the anti-ageing products but if you keep on eating sugar in excess, it WILL get reflected on your skin. It’s weird how people willingly skip the science behind skincare and just voluntarily fall into the traps.