Dear 10-Step Skincare Routine,
We need to talk. Not because I don't love you — I do, in the way you love a gym membership you haven't used since January — but because I think it's time we both acknowledged the truth: I have never, not once, completed all ten of your steps before 10 PM on a Tuesday.
I want to be honest with you about what our mornings actually look like. It's not the serene, candlelit ritual I imagined when I spent $340 at Sephora on a Thursday. It's me, in a towel, with three minutes before I have to leave the house, trying to remember whether toner goes before or after essence and whether the Vitamin C and the retinol are allowed to touch each other.
The Graveyard Under My Sink
I want you to know that I kept everything. Every product. The enzyme exfoliator. The "deeply hydrating" snail mucin serum that I bought because a 22-year-old on TikTok had flawless skin and said it changed her life. The facial oil that was supposed to be the last step and that I always forgot because by step nine I was already half-asleep on my bathroom floor.
They're all there. Under the sink. In a basket I bought specifically for them, as if organization would be the thing that finally made me a person who does ten steps.
"I once stood in front of my mirror for four minutes trying to remember if I'd done the toner. I had not. I also had not done the essence, the treatment serum, or any of steps four through nine. I had done the cleanser and called it self-care."
What I Actually Did vs. What I Said I Did
Here is the real routine, for the record:
- What I told people I did: Double cleanse, toner, essence, two serums, eye cream, moisturizer, SPF, face mist, facial massage with a jade roller.
- What I actually did: Washed my face with whatever was closest. Sometimes the hand soap. Applied moisturizer if I remembered. Fell asleep immediately.
I am not proud of this. But I am also not surprised. Because somewhere between buying step seven and learning what step seven was actually supposed to do, I lost the thread entirely.
The Spa Appointment That Changed Everything
A few months ago, a friend suggested I book a consultation at a local spa instead of spending another $80 on a serum I read about in a newsletter. I did. The esthetician looked at my skin for about four minutes and then looked at my bag of products with the expression of someone who has seen this before.
She told me I needed three things. Three. A gentle cleanser. A good moisturizer with SPF. And a retinol, used twice a week, at night, only.
I sat in silence for a moment. Then I said: "What about the enzyme exfoliator?"
She said: "How often do you use it?"
I said: "I've opened it twice."
She said: "Leave it."
What I Know Now
The ten-step routine isn't wrong — for some people, it genuinely works and genuinely gets done. But for most of us, the best skincare routine is the one we'll actually complete. Consistently. Without requiring a spreadsheet or a ceramics-class level of quiet focus.
A professional can look at your actual skin, on your actual face, and tell you what it needs. Not what an algorithm determined you needed based on your search history and a quiz that asked whether you were "dewy" or "matte."
Claim Your Free SpaPass
Get matched with a GTA esthetician who'll tell you exactly what your skin needs — and what to skip.
Claim My Free SpaPass →So. 10-Step Routine. I'm leaving you. Not with hostility. Just with the quiet confidence of someone who finally knows which three things her skin actually needs.
The enzyme exfoliator stays under the sink. It was never going to be used anyway.
— A woman who is finally washing her face correctly