It seems as if in a single day, everybody on #beautytok has added slugging to their skin-care routines. For the newly initiated, slugging refers to the skin-care strategy of slathering a heavy occlusive, like petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline), because the final step of your nighttime skin-care routine to lock in moisture and hydrate the pores and skin. It gives wonderful water retention and hydration, leaving your complexion wanting supple and bouncy. Slugging additionally works to revive the pores and skin barrier and is a preventative towards floor water loss.
Apparently, in contrast to most TikTok tendencies that stick round for just a few weeks, max, this one appears to be right here to remain. Pores and skin-care manufacturers like Jouer and Loops are embracing slugging, a lot in order that they’ve included slugging merchandise into their new launches. And it doesn’t cease there: Starface founders Julie Schott and Janet Park just lately launched Futurewise, a skin-care model devoted solely to slugging—one other indication that this pattern isn’t going away anytime quickly.
The Slug Life
Regardless of slugging’s current reputation on social media, it’s truly been round for hundreds of years. The hydration methodology was first found by the Native American Seneca tribe in the 15th century and has since been handed down by way of generations inside completely different cultural communities and grow to be a Okay-beauty mainstay. Furthermore, it has been used as an efficient methodology to restore the pores and skin barrier and supply hydration for very dry pores and skin in dermatology for many years.
Pores and skin slugging, as per the specialists, gives a large number of skin-care advantages. “If the pores and skin is dry, slugging may restore a few of the pores and skin’s pure moisturizing elements, locking in hydration, defending the pores and skin’s barrier, and sustaining pores and skin integrity and elasticity,” says Jodi Logerfo, DNP, a nurse practitioner in New York. “Slugging may additionally assist enhance the indicators of getting older, like effective strains and wrinkles, as a result of it may possibly assist clean and plump up the pores and skin.”
Associated Tales
The issue with slugging, warns Julie Russak, MD a board-certified dermatologist practising in New York Metropolis, is that it’s not applicable for lots of pores and skin sorts.“When you’ve got oily pores and skin, acne-prone pores and skin, or seborrheic dermatitis, you shouldn’t be slugging,” she says. “Should you’re utilizing retinol in your skincare routine or in the event you’re utilizing exfoliating acids, slugging will seal them in and may result in irritation.”
Nevertheless, the observe may be significantly useful within the case of dry pores and skin with a broken-down protecting barrier. “When the pores and skin is sealed with an occlusive barrier akin to Vaseline or Aquaphor because the final step, it helps the energetic substances in serums or moisturizers to penetrate into the pores and skin higher. It additionally decreases transepidermal water loss,” says Dr. Russak
Slugging goes past Vaseline
Whereas Vaseline is mostly used for slugging, it is not formulated particularly for facial pores and skin. So increasingly more manufacturers are creating slugging merchandise which can be extra cosmetically elegant than their predecessor.
Christina Zilber, the founder and artistic director of Jouer Cosmetics, has been slugging since her mom taught her to place Vaseline underneath her eyes within the Eighties and just lately launched Luminize Overnight Dark Circle Slugging Balm ($30), a darkish circle slugging balm. “I believed Jouer may provide a extra fashionable strategy by incorporating substances that focus on particular under-eye points, akin to vitamin Okay and caffeine for darkish circles and puffiness,” she says. “I additionally felt as if there have been stronger substances than petroleum, Aquaphor, or Vaseline to supply occlusive advantages, so we have loaded it with shea butter, jojoba seed oil, sunflower seed oil, and extra.”
One other frequent problem with Vaseline is that it may possibly get very messy. Meg Bedford, the CEO of Loops, wished to unravel that downside, so the model launched Dream Sleep Nighttime Slugging Face Mask ($7 to $35), the primary hydrogel sheet masks particularly designed for slugging. “With a layer of the first-of-its-kind Slugging Serum delivering nourishing pure oils, nutritional vitamins, and antioxidants to your pores and skin in a single day, Dream Sleep works to seal, hydrate, and plump your pores and skin when you dream, making it each a practical barrier in addition to an energetic serum doing the work when you sleep,” she says. “In simply ten minutes, earlier than you drift off to sleep, you let the masks do the work, and it received’t depart any mess in your pillow like different occlusives.” It comprises energetic substances akin to bakuchiol, ceramides, and niacinamide, which promote cell turnover, improve elasticity, defend towards free radicals, brighten, and fortify the pores and skin.
And although sure TikTok tendencies come and go, Futurewise has banked its whole model on the idea that slugging is right here to remain. “We had been engaged on the model for some time, and positively, the thought happened a very long time in the past, and it wasn’t one thing we determined to create due to the virality,” explains Futurewise co-founder Janet Park. “Slugging is a observe that actually works and is backed by historical past and medical professionals. We had been very considerate about creating high-quality merchandise that would stand on their very own other than any pattern. And if something, the virality isn’t even doing justice to the efficacy of the method, which is why we’ve created a ton of content material to assist educate folks.” The model has three merchandise, and you may get all of them—Slug Enhance, Slug Cream, and Slug Balm—in a $66 kit. This energy trio comprises humectants, emollients, and occlusives that work collectively to deeply nourish and revitalize your pores and skin, restoring its pure stability and offering intense hydration
Cocokind recently launched the Ceramide Recovery Balm ($22) and it’s filled with a mix of pure substances like ceramides, squalane, and vitamin E to nourish and strengthen the pores and skin barrier in a single day whereas locking in moisture. Ceramides “assist protect the limitations of the pores and skin and lock in moisture in addition to defend the pores and skin from pollution,” Sheel Desai Solomon, MD, a Cary, NC dermatologist beforehand advised Well+Good. For these allergic or delicate to petroleum jelly, this balm is freed from fragrances, preservatives, and different probably dangerous components, making it a extra pure and mild possibility for these with delicate pores and skin.
It is going to be fascinating to see how the observe of slugging evolves and is included into new skin-care merchandise as extra folks uncover its advantages. As with all skin-care approach, in search of skilled recommendation is at all times a good suggestion in the event you’re uncertain about what’s finest in your pores and skin.
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