Skin is skin, head to toe—so why waste money on specialty products that aren’t specially formulated.?
From the neck down
Neck creams, throat creams, breast creams, thigh creams, and creams for the elbows, knees, and heels abound throughout the cosmetics industry. While the cosmetics industry loves to sell products for every corner of your face and body, the basic fact is that, with very few exceptions, what applies to the face applies to the body. That means almost every aspect of skin care designed to work from the neck up will work (to one degree or another) fine from the neck down. Dry skin; cracked, callused heels; acne on the back and chest; and skin discolorations all require the same skin-care formulations as the face. The names on the products may differ to fit a company’s marketing campaign, and lots of body-care products are less elegantly formulated than those for the face, but when it comes to the health and appearance of your skin it’s always about content and results.
Of course there are differences. If you shave your legs or underarms there are techniques for that, manicures and pedicures are unique, and vaginal care has special nuances as well. But those differences are anatomical—they aren’t about skin care.
Dry or cracked skin on heels, elbows, or knees can require more emollient, even greasy or heavy formulations than the face, but the basics about exfoliation, antioxidants, cellcommunicating ingredients, and skin-identical ingredients still apply.
Interestingly enough, when it comes to body care women often neglect their skin from the neck down. Many women tell me they would never tan their face because they want to prevent sun damage and the inevitable wrinkling and discoloration it can cause, yet they happily brown and bake the rest of their body. Sometimes there is a disconnect between head and body—or perhaps there is a misconception that the legs, arms, and chest are tougher or aren’t subject to the same ruination caused by sun damage. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Unprotected skin anywhere on the body develops the same thickened, brown-spotted, lined, and rough texture as skin on the face does, and is subject to the same skin cancers. There are women who fly into a tizzy at the appearance of one facial blemish, but who ignore breakouts on their chest and legs, never thinking of applying the blemish-fighting basics to any other part of the body. This is also misguided. Skin is skin, head to toe—so why accept artificial boundaries between parts of the body?
The number of products dedicated to bathing and body care is growing, but they tend to be all about pampering, fragrance, and indulging ourselves rather than addressing concerns
about blemishes, wrinkles, sun damage, exfoliation, and reducing irritation. A veritable deluge of overly fragranced moisturizers, cleansers, bath salts, scrubs, bubble baths, hand creams, and massage oils, in every aromatic combination imaginable, promises to soften, scent, stimulate, smooth, and soothe your body, yet more often than not those products have nothing to do with really helping your skin.
You can’t find a square inch of the body that has been neglected by the cosmetics industry. Large cosmetics companies, small cosmetics companies, prestigious lines, simple lines, and even businesses for whom body care is just a sideline, all want us to soak, scrub, and moisturize everything from dry skin to stress and emotional woes out of our lives with bath oils, bath salts, loofahs, body masks, fragrant moisturizers, and perfumes. And we love buying the stuff. Bath and body-care products and fragrances account for more than 33% of all cosmetics sold! Yet more often than not these products are poorly formulated, don’t contain sunscreen, are overly fragranced (which causes irritation), or contain other skin irritants, and in general they just don’t measure up to the quality of products we put on our face.