Who Gets to Talk About Skincare? The Myth: Skincare Expertise

Image credit: Brittney Weng, Unsplash. Image description: A small clear glass pot filled with a skincare product sample is sitting on a beige tile. The sun is shining on the pot, causing a shadow.

The world of skincare can be difficult to navigate and there are a lot voices. It’s challenging to figure out who to listen to. This raises the question: Who even gets to talk about skincare?

Well, the answer is, anybody. Everybody.

The increased presence of doctors and other skincare professionals online has created an illusion of authority (about skincare). The fact is most of the products spoken about on social media are considered cosmetics.

Cosmetics are consumer territory both in use but also from a regulatory perspective. For context, there are two main product categories. Cosmetics or therapeutic goods. These categories vary slightly across the world, but the principle is mostly the same.

The TGA’s definition is as follows: “A cosmetic is a substance intended to be placed in contact with any external part of the body, or inside the mouth, with a view to changing its odour or appearance, cleansing it, keeping it in good condition or protecting it.”

Nearly all skincare products we interact with fall under the category of being a cosmetic. These products are not intended to treat anything, therefore do not require any level of education or training to talk about them. Cosmetics are about the external effect: how something feels, how it applies, how it smells.

How it sits under makeup. How it wears throughout the day. Potentially how it maintains the skin or protects it from additional damage, and maybe how it helps temporary or short-term skin conditions such as mild irritation, dryness, or occasional breakouts. That’s it.

• Doctors have their own vantage point, which of course leans medical and clinical in nature.

• Esties (estheticians) are often trained by specific brands and take brand education as gospel. And chemists have tons of technical knowledge.

• Influencers, however, are receiving criticism for not being “professionals” and some people are starting to believe it’s taboo for anyone without a title to discuss topical products.

The fact is influencers are consumers. There is no better way to assess or discuss cosmetics than having personal use experience with them. The clinical or technical theory behind a product does not equate to the result of a product in real world use.

Doctors, as an example, often make the mistake of correlating the effect of a product to the ingredients contained within. This is normal for a drug or therapeutic treatment, as the ingredient itself has been tested for efficacy. Cosmetics don’t work this way.

Two products with the exact same ingredient with the exact same percentage can still have very different results. There is room for everyone to discuss skincare because ultimately everyone is flawed in only being to assess a product from their own vantage point. To get the best idea of how well a product may potentially work is to listen to different voices. A clinical perspective, a technical perspective, and real-world experiences.

Real-world opinions can come from your friends, and yes, also influencers.

That’s not to say influencers behave perfectly. Where influencers go wrong is that the scope of what they talk about should be related to personal experience only. Not trying to “diagnose” anyone else. It’s a big red flag to have an influencer charging for consultations or creating skincare routines for other people.

It’s also a red flag for esties and even doctors to do this without it being in a formal setting. There is also the question of sponsored content often following a word track and brand brief, rather than a voluntary testimonial. And the fact that influencers get inundated with gifted products.

The thing is, doctors and other skincare professionals are prone to the exact same shortcomings. A sponsored post from anybody, regardless of title, is following a word track supplied by brands. There is just an illusion of authority coming from the message being delivered by someone wearing a white lab coat or scrubs.

If you think about it, what does a niacinamide serum or retinol serum have to do with a medical condition?

Absolutely nothing.

This is all a long-winded way of saying that opinions are great. But everyone is best served taking on advice from a wide range of sources to get full scope of a product’s potential. Influencers can highlight some of the more aesthetic benefits. Doctors can highlight functional properties for skin conditions, and chemists can discuss behind-the-scenes elements of a formula.

However, none of this is a replacement for personal experience with a product. Regardless of who the information is coming from.