What exactly do beauty brands mean when they say “healthy skin”? The internet’s favorite esthetician, Sean Garrette, unpacked this at the “Healthy Skin Is a Flex” panel at Beautycon yesterday. He was joined by industry heavy hitters and skincare brand founders like Sabrina Elba, Kalani Hilliker and Britni Ricard.
The panel opened with speakers talking about where their love of skincare came from. Hilliker shared that her struggles with acne jump started her skincare journey. Meanwhile, Ricard found inspiration in her late brother’s self care routines. As for Elba? She was motivated to fill in the industry gaps. “I didn’t feel like the brands I was buying into were thinking about me,” Elba said. And that’s why she now puts melanin-rich skin first with her brand, S’ABLE Labs
Elba also talked about how important it is for her to center African practices and ingredients in her brand. Then, she educated the audience about the industry’s exploitative practices surrounding ingredient like shea butter. Because of this, she makes it a point to keep ingredient farmers in mind when it comes to her formulations.
Garrette then pivoted the conversation to self-care routines. A practice that all four aligned on, for example, was skincare on the plane. Ricard then explained, despite the argument for 10-step routines, only four are truly necessary: face wash, toner, serum, and moisturizer. And, to end the conversation, Garrette importantly called out that there is no such thing as “flawless” skin. He reminded everyone that it’s all about having a healthy skin barrier and, at the end of the day, healthy skin looks different for everyone.