Slugging isn’t new, nevertheless it is in all places. In spite of everything we’re in peak slugging season, when pores and skin tends to be its driest, and strategies like slugging work extra time to entice moisture onto pores and skin. For many who haven’t skilled the pure chaos pleasure of skincare Tiktok, slugging is the place you slap on an occlusive product—usually an ointment—as the ultimate step in a skincare routine. We’re speaking literal Vaseline smothered throughout your face (or wherever you occur to be dry). Skincare obssessives swear by it, and everybody else…properly they’re not so certain. However concern not! You can also hop on the slugging bandwagon. Under, a information to get into slugging, even in case you’re scared to.
The Technique
Slugging is helpfully uncomplicated. Begin at evening, if solely so that you aren’t pressured to stroll across the day sporting a reflective veil of goop. Cleanse first, after which proceed with the remainder of your nighttime routine as regular. When you tone, tone, in case you serum, serum. It’s OK to make use of actives (retinols, acids, choose your-heavy-duty ingredient) as properly, however you might need to take a look at a small space first, lest you irritate your pores and skin. Slugging’s entire function is to maintain issues near your pores and skin, and also you don’t need to be taught the arduous manner that trapping a 10-percent AHA beneath a thick cream would possibly do your pores and skin extra hurt than good. However! You is also advantageous doing this…that’s the factor about pores and skin, everybody’s is totally different.
As soon as your toner and/or serum and/or simply cleanser is out of the best way, you completely MUST moisturize. That is essential! The thick occlusive you utilize to “slug” isn’t going to provide the excessive moisture job you’re on the lookout for. What it actually does is make your moisturizer beneath work tougher by trapping humectants and water molecules near your pores and skin. Solely after you’ve loaded up with a moisturizer do you slap an occlusive on prime. Let’s name this the slugger. Questioning what precisely it is best to use?
The Merchandise
When you’re petrified of tremendous thick goos in your face, that is the place you’re going to need to put in your huge boy pants. For a correct slugging job you want an occlusive, which is a class or part of merchandise that “keep on the floor of the pores and skin and sluggish evaporation.” Petrolatum, the important thing ingredient in Aquaphor and Vasline, is essentially the most extensively identified occlusive. It’s thick, it’s sticky, it will get the job completed. BUT! These aren’t your solely choices. Swap in one thing barely thinner and fewer cheesy, and we promise you’ll nonetheless discover outcomes. Some good sluggers for the ointment-averse are Weleda’s Pores and skin Meals and in addition After Baume, which is made by ITG’s pals on the opposite facet of the workplace. These choices are occlusives on the lighter facet which might be made to be extra user-friendly. And no mater which occlusive you select, at all times use a small—we’re speaking pea-sized—quantity. Heat it in your fingers first, and, as NYC-beloved dermatologist Dr. Howard advises, pat it onto your pores and skin. You’ll go to mattress like a glazed donut, and get up with a snug, properly–moisturized face.
The Warning
A ultimate observe to think about: Slugging isn’t for everybody. On condition that slugging’s sole function is to entice moisture onto your pores and skin, skip the slugging in case your pores and skin is already oily. Your physique’s oil is doing the slugging for you! Additionally! Proceed with warning when you’ve got acne-prone pores and skin. One strategy to go about it’s a focused method. If your breakout space is your brow, for instance, simply skip over it. However in case you have a tendency to interrupt out throughout, deal with anti-acne therapies first. Slugging will at all times be round; it could actually come later.
Picture through ITG
