Does This One Suit You
How to choose a category, what the label can and cannot tell you, and how to use the thing once it is open. Devices and breakout washes lead. The rest is grouped by the skin you are buying for.
Written around the disagreements. A range is rarely good or bad as a whole: the same brand can make a cleanser that suits oily skin very well and a moisturizer that breaks the same people out. Blanket brand verdicts hide exactly the information you needed.
The bottle is physical vs chemical sunscreen. Hair, acne light, and wrinkles are IPL, an LED mask, and radiofrequency. A wash for the back is back acne body wash. Some pages carry affiliate links, disclosed where they appear, and a link does not move a verdict.
Devices
What each trial measured. Skin-tone and hair-color exclusions are on the IPL page, from the makers.
Breakouts
A wash for the back, with the minutes and the strength the label has to match.
Oily and breakout-prone
Where the goal is removing the day's oil without paying for it later.
Dry, and the dryness ordinary moisturizer does not touch
Two different problems: the usual kind, and skin that stays tight whatever you put on it.
Combination
A center strip that behaves differently from the rest of the face, which is most faces.
Sensitive and reactive
Separating skin that stings from skin that is being damaged, because they need opposite things.
Body
Arms, thighs and everything below the jaw, where the form of the product matters as much as what is in it.
Hair and scalp
The scalp is skin, and the labels on its products are drug labels; read them as such.
Comparing two products
What a label lets you settle, and what it never will.
Makeup, chosen and used
We do not test products. What we can do is the technique and the choosing.
- How to Choose a Brow Product: Pencil, Powder, Pomade or Gel
- How to Choose a Lipstick: Matte, Satin, Cream or Liquid
- How to Apply Blush: Two Guides, Two Spots on a Round Face
- Makeup Tools Worth Owning: The Short List, and What to Skip
- How Often to Clean Makeup Brushes, and Why Sponges Are a Different Problem
At-Home IPL Hair Removal: What the Trials Support, and Who the Box Excludes
At-home IPL hair removal has a graded evidence base and a printed exclusion list. What the trials measured, and why the first question is whether you qualify.
11 min readLED Face Mask for Acne: Three Published Doses, and the Number the Box Leaves Off
An LED face mask for acne reaches one kind of acne, by the AAD's own sentence, and the dose on the box is one of three that disagree. What the trials measured.
12 min readAt-Home Radiofrequency Device: What One Trial Measured, and Where It Sits on the AAD's Ladder
An at-home radiofrequency device is graded B on one randomized trial that measured a brow position. Where that puts it on the AAD's ladder of skin tightening.
11 min readBack Acne Body Wash: The Minutes the AAD Gives and the Label Does Not
A back acne body wash is a medicine with a contact time: the AAD says two to five minutes, the label says less. What to buy, how long to leave it, what to stop.
11 min readIs CeraVe Good for Oily Skin? Reading the Formulas Against the Evidence
Is CeraVe good for oily skin? The cleanser page says it removes excess oil. These two US labels print no niacinamide percent for the 2% result.
11 min readThe Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%: Unusual Transparency, Unsupported Timeline
The Ordinary niacinamide serum publishes its concentration, its formula and its study size. It also promises results in 15 minutes. Both facts matter.
11 min readSkincare Dupes: Which Ones Can Actually Be Checked, and Which Cannot
Most skincare dupes cannot be verified, because labels omit concentrations. One category can be checked exactly, and that is where the savings are real.
11 min readProducts for Oily Skin: The Two Decisions That Are Not About Your Face
Products for oily skin: the two decisions that pay off most are your shampoo and the toner you stop buying. What the AAD names, with the clearing timeline.
9 min readProducts for Dry Skin: Two Lists, and Where They Contradict Your Other Advice
Products for dry skin: nine ingredients dermatologists say to look for, three to stop, and the two places that list disagrees with advice you have been given.
10 min readProducts for Very Dry Skin: When the Problem Is the Form, Not the Ingredient
Products for very dry skin: the lever that matters is the form, not the ingredient. Where the dryness comes from, what it is like, and what actually helps.
11 min readProducts for Combination Skin: Your Face Is Running Two Programs
Products for combination skin work best split by zone rather than averaged into one bottle. What a dermatologist tells patients, and where to put nothing.
9 min readProducts for Sensitive Skin: Mostly a Subtraction Problem
Products for sensitive skin: about half of adults report it, but only 1% have a fragrance allergy. What a dermatology reference names as the usual causes.
10 min readHow to Choose a Brow Product: Pencil, Powder, Pomade or Gel
How to choose a brow product: pencil, powder, pomade and gel solve different problems, and which one matches sparse, oily or unruly brows.
7 min readHow to Choose a Lipstick: Matte, Satin, Cream or Liquid
How to choose a lipstick: what matte, satin, cream and liquid formulas actually do, and what to reach for if your lips are already dry or chapped.
8 min readHow to Apply Blush: Two Guides, Two Spots on a Round Face
How to apply blush: two guides put round-face color in different places. The spots, the two-finger caveat, and the AAD line on breakouts.
9 min readMakeup Tools Worth Owning: The Short List, and What to Skip
Makeup tools worth owning: a short list of what earns its place, when synthetic beats natural bristle, and which brushes you can skip entirely.
7 min readHow Often to Clean Makeup Brushes, and Why Sponges Are a Different Problem
How often to clean makeup brushes: every 7 to 10 days, and sponges after every use. Why the two numbers differ, and how to wash both without wrecking them.
9 min readKeratosis Pilaris Body Lotion: The Word in the Search Is the Form the AAD Says to Skip
Searching for a keratosis pilaris body lotion? The AAD's self-care plan names the form, the actives, the timing, and the one step that is not a product at all.
11 min readCracked Heels: The Half of the Popular Tip That Has a Source, and the Tier Above It
How to heal cracked heels: within 5 minutes of bathing, a cream with 10 to 25% urea, then petroleum jelly and socks at night. Skip the vinegar soak.
12 min readAthlete's Foot Treatment: Four Boxes, Four Durations, and One That Depends on Where It Is
Athlete's foot treatment: four OTC antifungals with four label durations, one that changes with the part of the foot, and one that says the sole is unknown.
12 min readDandruff Shampoo: Six Actives, a Rotation, and the Minutes No Label Prints
A dandruff shampoo is one of six actives. The AAD says to rotate them, leave some on for minutes, and set the frequency by hair texture. The labels say less.
11 min readHow to Use Dry Shampoo: The Two-Use Cap, and the Can Called Bare That Is Not
How to use dry shampoo, from the AAD's dermatologists: it absorbs oil, it does not clean, wash with water after one or two uses. Plus the 2022 recall record.
11 min readLeave-In Conditioner: Hair, Not Scalp, the Smallest Amount, and a Week
Leave-in conditioner is a different product from the one in the shower, and two AAD dermatologists say where it goes, how much, and when it comes out.
11 min read